On the subject of unicorns

I’m a web designer. Well, currently, I’m an “everything” designer. I work for a small company that, luckily, values the hell out of design and gives me tons of opportunities to improve our brand. Some days I’m working on a marketing site and other days I’m working on application UI. I might take a break from all that to jam out on a new t-shirt design or crank out a full on trade show package that includes brochures, swag, backdrops, tableclothes, bandanas, socks. You name it, I design it.

Some people call me a “unicorn”.

I understand why. I’m majestic as fuck. Not many people believe someone like me exists. Lisa Frank has my number on speed dial. But really what they’re talking about is someone who possesses a keen design sense paired with the ability to bring those designs to life through programming. You see, a lot of what I do by myself falls into several positions within larger corporate environments. And that poses a problem. What would someone like me be called in a large agency? I’m not strictly a designer and I’m not strictly a programmer. I need both to maintain sanity. Besides, doesn’t it make sense that, in order to get the best quality interactive product, one ought to understand both sides of the process? I create designs with a plan to execute in my mind. I don’t have to sell a programmer on my ideas. I just breathe life into them myself. Maybe it’s slightly anti-social, but it works.

This is why I’ve made my career working for smaller firms and start-ups. The freedom to experiment paired with a smaller group of decision makers give me a chance to really push the envelope with design.

There is an argument to be made for “specialization”. In the agency/large corporation world it means being able to scale quickly. Division of labor make larger projects go much quicker. And what’s the reward for being the best worker-bee in the company? They make you stop designing and start managing designers. And if you do a good job at that, they make you a director and you get to manage managers. And if you do that really well, you get to be a VP and manage all the directors. Every step of success takes you further away from creating.

For me, I’m content to remain in the trenches, creating great work for appreciative companies that value the mythical creature that I am.