Hijack your Mentors!

I can’t help but feel that I just ended up on some NSA surveillance watchlist but I can assure you that I’m just going to go on a a rant about design. Stand down!

After reading Michael Beirut’s book How To for the 19th time I decided I would head to YouTube to see what other spectacular content I could find. I found Michael’s speech at at the 2015 AIGA Design Conference What I’ve Learned in which he said to “Hijack your mentors” and suddenly it clicked. I was not alone in my thinking.

All this time I had felt like a loaner endlessly sifting though the books and portfolios of my favorite designers desperately trying to figure out their secrets and “crack the code” of great design. But you can’t but feel odd when you are so invested and people you don’t even know. Even a bit creepy!

What is so magnificent about the internet is that it serves as an all access pass into the minds of designers and makers alike. You can learn tricks of the trade from those who have been mastering their craft for years, without them ever knowing you existed.

This month I am starting a podcast in which I am setting out to meet as many creatives as I can. I want to find out what makes them tick and why they love what they do. As for the rest…..well…they are gonna get hijacked.