We went to Dribbble Hangtime NYC 2019 — here’s what we learned
On June 6, 2019, the Milkshake Studio design gang descended upon the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center in New York City. The big time! The bright lights! We were there bright and early with our notebooks/iPads and freshly sharpened/charged pencils/Apple pencils ready for what was promised to be a full day of ‘connection, learning, and community’. We were keen to hear from others in the creative space about how they undertake their craft as well as be inspired by design CELEBRITIES including David Carson and Dan Mall.
Dribbble’s Hang Time programming was designed to be a ‘choose your own adventure’ for the day, offering various talks and workshops in break-out areas away from the main spectacle. We were able to split as a team and cover various parts of the scheduling. As a result, each of us took away a differing key message from our time. These are our collective takeaways:
Break convention
It’s no secret the design world has become a bit homogenized. With all of the tools, resources, and platforms available to us, it’s easy to replicate other’s success and style. This, however, is not how it’s supposed to be.
For us, the words of Jon Contino, Matt D. Smith, and the great David Carson resonated. They thrive on trying different things, getting their hands dirty, making things ‘ugly’, and breaking the mold. Creativity cannot be measured, and the reason designers choose their path is to make things that feel personal and a direct reflection of themselves. Their idea of creativity is to ‘break the grid’, make what you want despite what’s popular, and create your own point of view, despite what’s popular.
At Milkshake, we struggle with this as well. Clients and businesses want what’s trendy. They want new, fresh, and ‘what that other guy has.’ This is a dangerous mentality, and I predict you’ll see a shift to more individualized and risky design work in the coming years.
Make the type of work you want to be hired to do
Joshua Davis makes some pretty trippy stuff. He works in digital or ‘new media’, using code to create moving 2D and 3D graphical patterns. He’s notably done a bunch of video media for shows including Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, and others.
Davis is often asked how he gets to ‘make cool shit all the time’, and his answer, fittingly, is to ‘make cool shit all the time’. So what exactly does this entail? Basically, make the cool stuff, put it out there into the world, and they will come.
The Hood sisters of Hoodzpah Design also give credit to channels including social media for enabling them to work for an impressive list of clients. They have been contacted through Instagram, Twitter, and Dribbble to do work for the likes of 20th Century Fox, Target and Red Bull — to name a few.
Don’t worry about everybody else, be yourself (and good things will happen)
At a time when content sharing platforms are at their height and eyeballs are inundated with curated feeds of similar work, rather than hearing a call to follow and be inspired, more often, I’m starting to hear a message that was framed in various ways throughout the day at Hangtime — just be yourself.
Matt D. Smith put it in pretty simple terms — everyone is on their own path, A to B, while the rest are on theirs, X to Y. Simply worry about what you can control, take one step at a time and you’ll get places.
As to what places we’ll get to, we don’t always know and that’s perfectly fine. Amy and Jennifer Hood offered up their roundabout backstory, highlighting that you don’t have to fit your journey into a predefined box — great school, great company, etc. — because, one, there are plenty of different routes to get the same end and more importantly, two, if you let yourself be open to opportunities and follow your heart or whims a bit, you’ll end up doing interesting work you wouldn’t have done with people you’d never have met.
David Carson, arguably the king of marching to his own beat, gave my favorite quote of the day when talking the audience through one of his largely illegible editorial layouts, “what you find readable depends on what you’re interested in reading”. Whatever you’re passionate about is valid. Your perspective is valid. Don’t worry about rules and trends, just make your work your own and there will be people out there who share your passion, will listen to what you have to say and maybe even champion your work.
Design with purpose and intent
The internet is for everyone — let’s design it that way. Cat Noone’s voice did not go unheard. With more and more design trends bubbling up on dribble, it is easy to see how young designers forget there are many different people interacting with their work. Some can’t see or hear the same way they can, some are older and less tech-savvy. It was honestly a much-needed talk on accessibility. While hers was about as blunt as you can make it, designing with intent was part of many of the talks.
Mackey Saturday’s talk on ‘The Craft of Creating Visual Identities’ touched on this very sentiment. Designing with the client’s wants in mind, but creating something that satisfies their needs. While Jon Contino’s spoke about putting a bit of yourself into your work and making it mean something to others.
Purpose can be the differentiator between good and bad work. People tend to think of design in a purely aesthetic form, but it’s supposed to be much deeper than that.
Can’t wait for next years Hangtime!
