Focus. Don’t Focus. And How.
Pt. 2
As a creative person is it better to specialize or generalize? Well at least for the purposes of selling your brand, which is better?
I’ve had discussions with numerous creative professionals here in Boulder about this topic. I have also had countless discussions consisting unrequested career advice from family members ever since I started working at age 12.
Work has always been a “don’t fuck around” type of topic since I was kid. I am proud of that work ethic that was instilled in me at a very young. It’s the same work ethic that my siblings have and the same one we all make sure to highlight when interviewing. We thrive on solving problems … and sometimes everything else has to fall to the wayside until that problem has a solution.
I have been solving problems, professionally, since I was 12 years old. I was a farmer, a veterinary assistant, a cook at a pizza joint and then again several years later at an irish pub, a delivery driver, a fucking cable guy, a sales rep, account rep, and marketing manager to name a few. Lots of hats and lots of take aways, what to do and what not to do… a lot of what not to do.
As a graduate student, this is the first time in almost 16 years I haven’t been getting a regular paycheck. It feels weird and makes me a little anxious most of the time. This leap of faith I took back in August, enrolling in BDW, was a chance for me to specialize my skills and receive a toolset to allow me to succeed and do the work I want to do. The work I’m referring to is creative work and more specifically design.
I wanted to stop being a spectator of creative and visual work and start being an active contributor to that community. So I reached back to the work ethic I inherited from my dad and his dad, I put my head down and figured out what I had to do to get myself there and then I did it. No more fucking around!
Mastering Design is Like Hitting a Moving Target
Design isn’t like any other job, in which you have a pretty limited toolset and once that is mastered you are just spinning your wheels on every job. Those jobs suck and I should know, I’ve had a bunch. But It takes the same dedication to master as anything else that is truly great. Mastering design is like hitting a moving target though. It is complex, compelling and always changing in techniques and tools. Anything is possible. I mean you really can make just about anything you can imagine, and you can do it any number of ways and create the same product. That’s what makes design so amazing to me, it is always changing and evolving and you have to stay sharp to last. To be good, you have to put in the time. It is a learned skill. You did not have to be born with any special to be a good designer. There is no magic to it. You just have to put your head down and dig. It’s hard work. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. That’s why I like trying to hit this moving target in particular.
To conclude, design is a moving target. And your skills are constantly evolving and changing. So do you interview by saying you can do … (insert list of all the tools, programs, and languages you know)? Or do you say this is what I am? This is what I am. This is what I love to do. Oh yeah! And I’m also pretty damn good at these other things too.
I think it’s more powerful to cut away all the bullshit of what you think you are capable of and what you think they want to hear. Be honest. Be authentic and show some damn conviction in what you want and what you are.
I’m a designer. I love to make shit, and want to make really good shit. Oh yeah! And I’m also a pretty damn good strategist, developer, … and I cook mean shepherds pie.
