One Minute With

Author Archives: Conor O'Driscoll

About Conor O'Driscoll

Conor O'Driscoll is a designer and writer, who writes for AppStorm.net. He also enjoys writing about himself in the third person.

One Minute With… Sacha Greif
October 22, 2012 5:05 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Sacha, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Hi! I would usually say that I’m a freelance user interface designer, but these days I’m not doing much freelancing or, in fact, design. So I don’t know how I’d describe myself. Maybe “product designer”, except in this case the product is myself! So I guess I’m a “self designer”, although that sounds really pretentious…

Anyway I’ve got lots of things going on, including my blog and newsletter, Folyo, and an upcoming open-source app that I’m hoping to unveil very soon…

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

I didn’t wake up one day and decided to be a designer, it was a much more gradual process. I started out doing websites for friends and small clients on and off for about 5 years while studying Chinese and Computer Science. I then lived in China one year, working as a project manager in a small web agency. I then came back to France and worked at UNESCO for one year, then started freelancing.

All throughout these years, I fluctuated from doing design, to coding, to doing both, before finally settling into being purely a designer (because dealing with IE bugs was just too much of a pain). But now that I’m working on my own projects, I’m finding myself spending a lot more time coding again.

So to make it clear, I have no formal design training and I’m pretty much entirely self-taught when it comes to design.

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

I would have to say one of the biggest achievement was working with Hipmunk. Here’s a popular, successful startup in San Francisco (which has an amazing concentration of design talent), and they decided to work with me out of all the designers in the world. Working with Le Monde on their first iPad app was really cool too!

My biggest failure is probably the year I spent working at UNESCO. It took me one year to build a fairly complex survey tool, but then I left before ever building the tool to extract the survey results. So I’ve always suspected that those results are just sitting in a database somewhere, forever waiting for someone to build the second half of the project…

Personal projects are very much your thing – From the reasonably small Patternify, to the more substantial Tooolbox, to the even bigger Folyo. How beneficial is it, do you feel, to work on these self-initiated projects, as opposed to just paid client work?

If we’re talking about benefits in terms of money, the answer is “not beneficial at all”. But in terms of having fun and getting my name out there, then the benefits are huge. I also find it much less stressful to only work on personal projects, as you don’t have deadlines or external pressure.

So my goal is to eventually reach a point where my personal projects enable me to live comfortably, and even surpass the income I would get as a freelancer.

So you started off selling themes on ThemeForest, and you’re now selling an e-book “Step by Step UI Design“. How important do you think it is for designers to have a source of passive income, especially in an industry where work can fluctuate so much? Do you think this trend will keep becoming more prevalent, or do you see a saturation point on the horizon?

Again, it’s very important for me. But from speaking to other designers it seems clear that a lof of them just want to design, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m a bit different in that I can code, and I’m also interested in marketing, so selling my own products is a good fit for what I can do, and what I want to do.

So my message is more that I tell designer that they can sell their own products if they want to, and I often try to show how I do it myself. But I’m not interested in forcing everybody to see things my way.

And to touch on the third thing you’re best known for – Your blog, where you share all kinds of great tips, resources and opinions. Do you feel an obligation to contribute back to the community that fostered you? Do you think your writing has improved your design skills in any way? Are there any skills which can be transferred from one to the other?

“Contributing back to the community” is a nice way to put it, or you could call it “self-promotion”. Either way I try to put out informative and useful content, and people seem to like it. Although it does worry me that you’re saying I’m best known for my blog, I would prefer to be best known for my designs… Guess you can’t have it all ;)

And yeah, writing a lot definitely helps become a better communicator, which is almost always what design is about, too. Again though, not every designer has to become a great writer. It’s perfectly acceptable to choose to focus on other things, if that works for you.

I guess what I mean is that the world needs designers like me who spend a lot of their time writing, but it also needs people who can create awesome iOS icons that get 500 likes on Dribbble!

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I’ve been mentally preparing for this question after seeing it in previous interviews! If I could switch with another creative I would like to switch with the head creative at a troubled company like BlackBerry, HP, or Yahoo. I think it would be an amazing opportunity to change the course of an entire company and try to come out with an iPhone-like revolutionary product.

Plus, since we’re only exchanging for a day, if my idea doesn’t work out it won’t be my problem anyway.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

I think success is different for everybody. For a lot of people, being successful means making money, but for me it also means minimizing stress. Of course, both these things tend to be inversely correlated… So I guess for me, success will be finding a way to achieve both at the same time.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Care. If you really, truly care about something I don’t see how you can avoid getting good at it. I think we often don’t allow ourselves to care about things because we’re afraid that caring too much will lead to disappointment. You just need to get past that and realize that it’s okay to care so much about design that you spend your whole day reading old Smashing Magazine articles, or obsessing over a single icon.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that teenagers get so good at things so quickly: they don’t have that little voice in the back of their head that tells them it’s not responsible to invest yourself 100% in a single thing, so they have nothing to hold them back.

So channel your inner teenager or even better, you inner 10-year old, and you’ll become a great designer in no time!

Thanks Sacha!

I’m really grateful to Sacha for spending a few minutes with One Minute With. Hopefully you found his responses as interesting as I did!

Why not check out Sacha’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Jay Fletcher
October 19, 2012 7:17 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Jay, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Thanks for having me. You’ve got some rockin’ interviews on your site with a lot of people whose work I really admire, so I’m honored to be a part.

I’m 33 years old, originally from Connecticut, and currently living in Charleston, South Carolina by way of the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve been down here for around 11 years and have been full-time on my own for the past four or five. People often ask me that question – “how long have you been on your own?” – and I don’t really know the exact answer. One day I need to take a minute and do the math.

In school I majored in illustration and my first job out of college was as a staff illustrator at a daily newspaper in small-town South Carolina. I worked there for about a year with my sights set on Charleston, and then got a gig in 2001 at Charleston’s daily newspaper, The Post and Courier. My focus at that point was 90% illustration and 10% design, and it seems like that balance has slowly shifted to the opposite over the past decade.

I’m not really sure what I can say about my work that’d be interesting, but it seems like that early illustration focus has played a big part in how I approach things now. I wouldn’t necessarily call all my work “illustrative,” but I tend to always try and boil a project down to that one main visual narrative. It’s important to me that things speak with a clear voice and that all the bits & pieces paint a single picture.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

There was definitely a turning point when I became more intrigued by design than illustration. Design seemed more challenging to me, which I found exciting. It’s more interactive, more functional. It’s less “here’s the story, now go put your spin on it” and more “work in tandem with somebody to find their voice.” I think I discovered that I’m more comfortable thinking of myself as a medium or a filter than I am thinking of myself as an artist. There’s obviously a lot of overlap between an illustrator’s and designer’s mindsets, but design is primarily about crafting somebody else’s experience, which is a cool responsibility.

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

Working full-time for myself and paying the bills completely on my own was a huge achievement. It took many years of burning the candle at both ends and a lot of learning. There have been some great milestones along the way – the first time I saw one of my logos on a storefront, the first time I got work into Print and CA, the first time somebody called from overseas about a project, and so on – but I’d say just the basic accomplishment of supporting myself, by myself, is what I’m most proud of.

As far as my biggest failure goes, I think it’s more that I’ve had lots of little failures along the way. Sometimes achieving a harmonious, fruitful client-designer relationship is challenging, and often times what people want and what they need are two different things. It takes a while to find the balance required to give people both, and that journey has had its share of missteps.

Your work spans all kinds of fields – Branding, print, web, illustration, and so much more. If, in some horrible parallel universe, you could only do one of these, which would it be?

I’d have to go with branding / identity work. I love the process. Getting to know the ins & outs of a new client, taking a look at their needs, formulating a game plan, and eventually ending up with something that’s ideally hitting all the right notes to set them up for success. I like that it’s not a one-off thing. You’re creating the basic puzzle pieces that’ll come to represent the brand and what it stands for. The identity will grow and take on meaning as their business grows. Those puzzle pieces have to be interesting and unique, but flexible and organic at the same time.

I’m going to totally bite something I recently read in a Scott Allen Hill interview that stuck with me. I don’t remember his exact words, but it was something about the joy of getting to team up with people / products / services who deserve to look a lot better than they do. I couldn’t agree with that more. There’s nothing better than a new client who is absolutely fantastic, but doesn’t look absolutely fantastic.

Quite a bit of your work seems to be for other designers/design events – How does having a designer as a client compare to a “normal” client? What new challenges does it bring?

I’d like to say “creative clients are better or worse in the following ways…,” but my experience has been that everybody’s different and I probably wouldn’t make a generalization. Sometimes creative clients are more mindful of the process and sometimes they’re not. Sometimes “normal” clients are a bit more trusting because they’re not mindful of the process, and sometimes they’re not. Each client-designer relationship is oddly unique.

You also do quite a bit of design for local businesses in your hometown of Charleston – Do you think it’s important to work for local businesses as well as these companies from far-flung parts of the world? Does it have any particular perks?

It’s without-a-doubt important to me to stay tied to Charleston. Us Charlestonians have a huge sense of pride in where we live and our creative community is unbelievably supportive of one another. I think our creatives are quicker to sing each other’s praises than we are our own. So from a community pride standpoint alone, I absolutely want to be thought of as a “local designer.” I’ll always be ready to team up with my neighbors and try to make Charleston an even better place.

And as cheesy as this might sound, that’s also the perk. Traveling down some of the most beautiful streets in the country and seeing my hand in things is a very rewarding feeling.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Anybody at Pentagram. Probably Michael Bierut. The guy learned from Vignelli and I’m in awe of Pentagram’s body of work. It’s such pure design. They marry form and function so damn well, and they do incredible stuff for entities that must be extremely difficult to navigate. It’s like they’re off digging the English Channel while I’m building popsicle stick bird cages. I’d love to know what that’s like.

Outside of that, I’d like to know what it’s like to be an amazing chef. I can’t imagine looking at a bunch of raw ingredients and thinking “OK, now I’ll whip all this random stuff up into something delicious.”

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

I think this goes back to the “my biggest achievement is just working for myself” answer I gave earlier. If I can keep that going and live a comfortable life with the fruits of my labor, I’d consider that being successful. So I guess while I’m proud of where I am, I’d hesitate to definitively say “I’ve found success.”

Though it’s relatively fleeting, I also feel successful when my clients are successful. When somebody immediately sees a return on investing in good design. The hamburger slinger who’s selling twice as many hamburgers because their business now looks credible, or the real estate guy who’s selling more homes because we put together a piece that speaks properly to his potential customers. Those moments make me feel like I know what I’m doing, and reinforce the fact that design can make a huge difference to the people I’m doing it for.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Focus on what design actually is and you’ll have a much easier go at things. I think a lot of people get into design because they’re creative and they want to express themselves, and while there’s room for that at times, design is supposed to be about the expression of somebody else. Young designers and clients often butt heads because the designer likes what they’ve created on a personal level but fails to realize it isn’t meeting the client’s needs. Just because something is beautiful or trendy-looking doesn’t mean it’s good design.

Learn how to articulate and defend your work. Putting good work in front of people and expecting them to understand why it’s good rarely ends well. Creating well-crafted work is only half the battle. You have to usher your clients through a logical, layman’s terms explanation of why it’s right for them and how it’s solving their unique problems. The conversation shouldn’t be about whether or not something looks good, it should be about why it is good.

And hard work really is everything. Getting to a point where you’re doing the work you want to be doing, for the people you want to be doing it for, takes time and a lot of elbow grease. In the beginning, take whatever project you can get your hands on and knock it out of the park. Despite what you’re getting paid, every minute you put into something is a minute you’re investing in yourself.

Thanks Jay!

Thanks so much to Jay for giving us an insight into his world! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Jay’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Emir Ayouni
October 1, 2012 4:37 pm 2 Comments

Hi Emir, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Hi Conor, thanks for having me. It’s an honor. Well, my name is Emir Ayouni and I’m a 33-year-old kid from Piteå, Sweden. A couple of days into the millennium, I moved to Oslo, Norway, and now that’s where I live and from where I now work as a graphic designer and run my little design studio Growcase. My work mostly consists of branding, re-branding and packaging design for various people and their little businesses they run from various places around the globe. I also do a fair share of illustrative work.

Then once every second full moon I get to do what I really enjoy most of all: draw and design a record sleeve. Unfortunately the music industry is broke, so there aren’t too many decent budgets out there for stuff like that anymore. And I should take this opportunity to give thanks to the giant major labels for putting up a fight against technology. That worked out really well, guys…

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

Oh man, I have been drawing since as far back as I can remember. When we were young, growing up, they didn’t give ADD diagnosis to kids, but if they had, I’m pretty sure they would have given one to me, haha. But drawing was like my Ritalin, I guess. That was pretty much the only thing that could get me to sit still for more than 5 minutes. I drew my own Garbage Pail Kids cards and MAD Magazine Covers and just dreamt about one day getting to do something like that for a living. So I guess I was always into design, just not professionally.

Fast forward, through the teen years (when beer, moonshine and friends were far more exciting than pencils), to 1997, when I was studying in Stockholm and all the computers there had Photoshop installed. So on my off time, I started to learn it by myself and from there, I schooled myself on the various Adobe software available and made the transition from pen and paper to mouse and monitor.

At that time, I knew a lot of people that were making music in Stockholm, and when some of them needed a design for some release or a little website or whatever, I was there to help them out. Then some of these people started getting record deals and all of a sudden, I was doing gigs for them via their labels and they actually had something called money. I guess that was a pretty major defining point.

And how it shaped me as a designer? I dunno really. I felt like I was already shaped, back then, and had found my “own voice”, as people like to call it. Obviously it has evolved a whole lot throughout the years, but there’s a certain style I’ve always stayed true to.

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

I actually stopped working with design for a couple of years. Took a regular shitty job at a big evil corporation that makes soda and drains water from small villages in Africa so that kids die from thirst and starvation… and worked in their warehouse. I did this because I just wasn’t making enough money on my own, as a designer. And I was too stubborn to work for some agency. So I figured this horrible job would do for a while, as I saved up some cash. I always took some design gigs on the side and never completely stopped designing, but it turned into less and less.

But that “temporary” job lasted for some years and I slowly started becoming a boring (almost bitter) nine-to-five kind of guy. Then one day, something inside me finally snapped and I just decided right there and then that I had to find my way back to “my calling”. Wow, that sounded really corny, but you get the idea.

So I just stopped going to work at that horrible place. I didn’t quit. I literally just stopped going there and just sat down at home by the iMac and dug right into design again. It was really a “Nothing to lose, so here goes nothing” kind of moment in life. I went back to the really long hours by the desk and re-schooled myself and updated my knowledge. Turned out it was actually pretty easy and fast to get back into it. Then I got a letter from my employer that said I was fired due to absence without notice. I was really happy. And I had already filed the papers for starting up my own business again and had scored a couple of clients.

I’ve never looked back and I obviously do not regret it for a second. I think that whole experience made me work harder and appreciate and respect my profession on a whole new level.

Well, there you go. Both questions answered with one story. The dumbest decision I ever made, followed by the best decision I ever made.

Photo by Nicolas Richter

You describe your style as “Simplexity” – Can you go into a bit more detail about what that entails? How do you think it differentiates you from other designers?

I’m from Scandinavia, the mecca of minimalism. IKEA is a perfect example of what Scandinavian design looks like. It’s such a stereotypical slick clean style that I’ve never enjoyed, alhough I can still really appreciate simplicity and strong, well balanced hierarchy in design of any form.

So when I try to create something, I want it to be grand, in a sense, but not overwhelming. I try to combine something complex in a simple composition and work with limited palettes. It has to work both in 4 colors and in 1 color, yet still have some kind of wow factor. What I try to achieve is just a combination of complexity and simplicity that works in a balance.

Your blog, despite being updated somewhat infrequently these days, often features and promotes the work of others. How important is it, to you, to support your peers?

Community over competition. I know that sounds very hippie-like, but I seriously believe that the concept of “competing” is unhealthy and if you support your fellow man, instead of trying to beat him, that will reward itself tenfold. In all aspects of life. Simple as that.

Although you do a bit of web and print, most of the work you do seems to be branding. Was this a niche you especially tried to get into, or one that you simply fell into? How beneficial is it, in your opinion, to have a niche in an industry as broad as ours?

I used to work in a much broader field of design. I took on everything. Worked a lot with web, illustrative elements for animation and infographics and whatnot.

But I think there’s something grand about branding, you know? It’s that feeling of getting to create the identity for someone that will be their standard. Their flag. Something that will represent them every day and something that defines them and hopefully stays with them for many years. That has more value and essence to it, than a site that will be completely redesigned or overhauled within a year or two. It has more value than a illustrative piece featured in some ad that will run for a few months.

It’s something that I always wanted to do, primarily, as a designer. And yes, I think when you go deeper into a certain niche that fits you that you have a passion for and you study it and immerse into it, that will benefit you more than working as “a hybrid”. Can’t speak for everybody of course, but that’s how I feel it works, in my case.

I do however like to step into other areas of design too, obviously. And quite frequently. Variation and versatility is still important and one of the most important aspects to keep evolving.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I guess the in-house design staff member at Wired, who thought it was a good idea to steal Bobby Solomon’s logo (for The Fox Is Black) and call it a wolf and use it as a iconic piece for an article, without permission and without crediting him for it. I’d like to be him, for a day and kill myself. Then I would automatically switch back to being myself again, right? Isn’t that how it works?

Note: One Minute With does not in any way condone the killing of others by committing suicide whilst possessing their bodies. However, if you do manage to do so, let us know, because that’d be pretty darn impressive.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

Get stronger at my own typography. And I’m actually working on that as we speak. I used to draw letters all the time and I had a real passion for it. Over the last couple of years I’ve discovered the work of some really talented people that work with type and they’ve inspired me a lot.

I lost that passion for letters somewhere, but have had the urge to get back into it again for quite a while. Just haven’t had the time, really. But now I’m making time and I’m certain that it’s gonna be worth every second of it. Gotta keep evolving.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Try everything. Find the thing that you enjoy the most and dedicate your life to it. Work hard at it, because even if you’re talented and don’t put in the work, you’re gonna get nowhere. And don’t rip off your fellow designers. Learn the difference between inspiration and theft, because once you’re labeled as a rip-off artist, then you’re gonna find it very difficult to bounce back. Just be original and you’ll be fine. It’s actually pretty easy…

Thanks Emir!

Thanks a million to Emir for chatting to OneMinuteWith! I loved talking with him, and hopefully you enjoy his answers as much as me!

Why not check out Emir’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Joel Felix
September 25, 2012 7:26 pm Leave a Comment

Hey Joel, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

I’m a 32 year old designer with an affinity for typography and the analog process. I live and work in Northern California doing a wide variety of work for a wide variety of clients (i.e. Identity, Illustration, Web Design, etc.) I’m married and have a teenage step-daughter (like OMG), a newborn on the way (teen & a toddler, what the hell was I thinking!?) and two hyper-active dogs. When I’m not in my studio (which is rare) I enjoy being outdoors (hiking, my daughters softball games, etc.).

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

I honestly knew nothing about Graphic Design until really late in my education. Back in high school I was really into Art (drawing, painting, sculpting, the works, I loved creating with my hands). When I got to college it was pretty much the same, I declared Art Studio as my major and got pretty deep into the program until I started looking down the road and just couldn’t see myself making a living off my work (paintings, drawings, etc.). I lost interest in school and I actually took a year off and just worked several different jobs (I even worked for the Post Office delivering mail for a short time, the pay was good but the polyester shorts didn’t help me out with the ladies). After realizing that I didn’t want do deliver mail the rest of my life, or work retail, or be a bank teller, I decided to go back to college.

When I did, I decided to take an introductory course on Graphic Design. The class was part lecture and part lab. It was in this college level introductory class at the age of 25 that I opened up Photoshop and Illustrator for the very first time. I fell in love with it as a new artistic medium to work in and after that semester I declared Graphic Design as my new major (and because I had already taken so many art classes, they fulfilled a lot of requirements already so the transition was almost seamless. I even had enough classes to declare a minor in AS). My background in art helped me in the fact that I didn’t have to rely on the computer to get my ideas out of my head. I could convey my ideas develop concepts with a pen and paper and I wasn’t too bad of an illustrator.

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

I think actually getting to do what I love for a living is a major achievement. Receiving validation from my peers and people that I look up to, other designers and such really makes you feel accomplished. I think my failure was not doing something with my talent earlier. Not realizing that I could do this sooner has set me back. I graduated late but I can’t feel to bad. I think being a late bloomer and my maturity level really forced me to hustle. I always felt I had to catch up because it took me so long to decide what I wanted to do, that when I did finally decide I gave it my all.

A lot of your work is lettering, but you recently designed Citizen Slab, an awesome free slab serif font. How different was this process? What new challenges did it bring?

I’m a huge typography nerd and darn proud of it, (even though it doesn’t make me very many friends at house parties) it’s definitely a prerequisite to being a good designer. I think after working with fonts day-in and day-out over the years, the natural progression was to try and make something of my own. Citizen Slab for me, was that growing pain that feels bit uncomfortable, that uncertainty when you step out on a limb and try something new. And I love that, I definitely feel I’m still in the process of defining who I am as a designer, still trying to find my niche. There are so many things I want to do, (type-design being one of them) that I just had to try it. If you’ve ever tried to design a custom typeface (I mean an entire alphabet, numerics, punctuation marks, diacriticals, etc) it’s incredibly challenging and it will test your patience. Citizen Slab is not incredibly elaborate or by any means a game-changer in the world of typefaces, but I think it taught me a new found appreciation for what really good type-designers do.

You seem to work a lot with, or are at least very interested in, more traditional, analogue design practices – Letterpress, hand lettering, etc. What is it about these things that you find so fascinating? Do you think it’s important to keep stuff like this alive?

I think my love for the hand-made/analog process stems from my background in Art. There’s nothing like getting dirty during the creative process (something I sort of miss in the professional world of design), most of the process I do now is now on paper and the computer. I think print will always have a place in the design world, and analog processes such as silk-screening, letterpress etc. will continue to have that “more personal, craftsmanship” feel. Digital prints will never be able to reproduce the tactile feel of a hand-pulled screen or freshly pressed ink on 100# cotton. It may not be the most cost effective solution for a client but it speaks volumes more.

You do all kinds of work – Print, lettering, logos, illustration. If you could only work in one of these disciplines for the rest of your career, which would it be, and why?

If I had to chose one right now, I would tell you lettering. Each solution is unique and gives you more freedom to experiment, which I like.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

There are a ton of hand-letters that I can think of (Jessica Hische, Dana Tanamachi, Mary Kate McDevitt), but I think I would love to be Jon Contino, that dude hustles and has mad skills. He’s spawned so many imitators it’s ridiculous. I think his work is amazing and his client list is awesome.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I’m still pretty young in my career, and I love where it’s taking me. I’ve been doing more and more hand-lettering (which is awesome) so I don’t think I’d change much. But on a global scale I would change the way people view design. We’re not just artists, we’re critical thinkers and creative problem solvers. I think the public perception is that anyone can be a designer, anyone can make a logo, which really de-values what we do. Just because you have a copy of Photoshop on your computer doesn’t mean you have the wherewithal to strategically position a company through the development of their logo.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Do a lot of work. Then do some more. It’s really the only way to get better. You’ll look back at work you did and school and think “What the *!@% was I thinking?” but just keep putting things out there and you’ll see your work progress. It’s inevitable, you will get better. Also, never stop learning or lose your willingness to try something new. I fully believe that “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.” The more things you try and explore, the more likely you are to find a niche that you love doing. And that is the ultimate goal, to get paid doing something you love. Don’t chase the money…do what you love doing, do it well, and the money will chase you. You’ve got to have a passion for what ever you want to do for a living. If you don’t have a real passion for design, don’t pursue it, stop right now. Save your self the torture.

Thanks Joel!

Thanks so much to Joel for giving us an insight into his world! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Joel’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Joachim Vu
September 17, 2012 7:58 pm 1 Comment

Hi Joachim, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Hi Conor, thanks for having me! I’m a quarter-century old french designer trying to make a living out of my passion. Most of my work is about drawing things, and most of those things are letters.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

I think I first came to design because it seemed a cool and easy way to make money without doing any “real” work. I was right about the “cool” part, and so wrong about the “easy” one. I pretty much didn’t care about anything when I was in school, so when I had to choose what to do for the rest of my life, all I wanted was a job which didn’t look like a job. With both my parents being in creative fields, I knew they would be supportive if I chose this route, and it seemed cool even if I didn’t know anything about it, so I went for it. Since I didn’t want to go to school, I started directly with internships that I managed to get with my poor Photoshop skills. I was paid for making things such as web banners, flyers and posters. It was crazy, even if at that time I didn’t really love design itself, I mostly loved the fact that I was getting money for something that didn’t feel like work.

After about a year, I finally decided to attend a work-and-study design school to feel more legitimate about my job, and get a degree. I have nothing against design schools – I know it’s probably just me not being fitted for such things, but I hated it. Being told “how” to do design, being forced to learn and do stuff I totally didn’t care about, I felt like I was wrong all that time about what I thought design was, and that I got involved in something so boring and codified. Truth is, I was wrong, but it’s definitely not school which gave me the love of design and taught me dedication and hard work. I spent those years spray-painting walls with my friends instead of doing my design assignments, and started to draw a lot for myself during my work days as a print designer in a shitty press agency where we had to do the job fast rather than good. I ended school by not showing up to the final exam, left my job and joined a small painting workshop. I was able to work on whatever I wanted, show up at 8am or 3pm, I was really free. I practiced my drawing, painting, and was encouraged to learn new stuff by myself. That may be the defining point you asked about because that’s the moment where I realized that my skills in design would only depend on my dedication and the amount of effort I put in. Since then, I learn and study more than I ever did before, and it turns out that I truly love my job. After that, freelancing, a lot of personal work, thousands of letters drawn, and more recently a new step with the creation of Hooraylabs with two friends of mine.

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

Hard to tell, I feel like I have still so much to learn and try that I don’t even know if I can speak of a “career” for now. My biggest achievement to date may just be when I accepted that I wanted to do design the way I liked, not the way I’m told. Starting my own business, and also, specialize in lettering, which is what I love, instead of just being another designer in one of those big advertising agencies. To me, when you choose design as a career, it’s to be free and have control on what you do of your days, and how you do it. So if it’s to end up doing some work you don’t enjoy in a company where you just feel like another pawn on the chessboard, what’s the point?

About failures, man, I have failed quite a lot. I tried twice to enter one of the best art schools here in France, and failed the entrance exam twice, which made me ask myself a lot of questions about my work. Now, years have passed and I realize that I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it anyway, but at that time it was tough. I have failed my design degree, not that I try hard, but still. What I consider my biggest failure is probably the fact that it took me time to realize that being a good designer is above all the result of a very personal process. I wanted to do something easy at first, so I kind of postponed the moment where I would have to really involve myself in it. Luckily, that moment finally arrived, and I couldn’t be more happy about that.

So, you co-run Hooray Labs, a design & development agency. How does this sorta set-up compare to working freelance? What new challenges does it bring?

It may be a bit too soon to really have a valuable opinion since we’re just started, but building its own business is something crazy for sure. When you work freelance you already have this “business” side of the job that can be surprising because it’s something you’re def not taught about in school. I’m not talking about making a quotation or an invoice, but how to handle a client, and make yourself stand as a professional. You have to care even more about that when you’re a company, because you’re not the only one involved, you just can’t say or do what you want – everyone has to talk the same language. Dealing with the administrative tasks, estimating taxes, having the right pricing for your services, all of that can be tough when freelancing, and it’s tougher within a company, but I feel like it’s nothing compared to the difficulty of building the right “image”. That’s why we also want to get involved in side projects, and open source, because as a company I think it’s a duty to really be a part of the industry and why not – Makes the job better! Maybe that’s too ambitious, but I think of when we’ll have to hire people – I want those people to be proud to work with us.

Also, one of the best things of working as an agency is that you’re looking for full projects. It’s not like making a logo under another agency’s creative director and having no power on how it will be used, or designing a website but having the branding imposed upon you, or a developer you don’t know and haven’t even met. Hooraylabs is a three-headed beast, and each one of us have our specialty, so we can take care of projects from its beginning to its end. I don’t want to talk too soon and I’d prefer to focus myself on hard work for now, but I hope that starting this business will be a way to participate on much bigger projects than I could have if I’d just keep freelancing.

And of course, you don’t have to spend your days with that asshole you hate since day one and you’re forced to bear because he’s your supervisor. We are three friends and we all love our jobs, so all we want is to have control on what we work on, and do the best of ourselves.

Now, come back next year, and we’ll see where we’re at, because there is so much to do and I think I can’t even imagine the half of what we’ll have to go through!

It seems that a huge portion of your process is sketching – How important do you feel this is? What about it do you prefer to digital work?

Sketching is the base of everything in design. No matter if the final product is digital of traditional, it should first start with sketching. I often hear that a good designer doesn’t have to know how to draw – I’m not sure I agree with that. Let’s say that a designer can be good without being able to draw, but he would be way better if he was. Drawing teaches you how things work together, how an object reacts to another object, to a source of light. It teaches you how colors work, how composition, perspective, and space work. I’m far from being a great drawer: I’m not very comfortable with portraits or human body for example, but I work a lot on perspective, lighting and composition, because it seems to me that they are essential elements of good design.

About working traditionally, it’s something I enjoy more and more. I like the fact that I can produce something with my hands that’s real, that I can touch. It just feels more honest, it has a story and people who see it can feel it too because there’s always little imperfections in handmade work that make your pieces so much more alive. And no matter how hard you try to simulate those effects in Photoshop with brushes, textures or whatever you want, it just won’t look the same. Of course, traditional is hard to sell today, so most of my handmade production is personal work for now, but I feel like it’s something I need to do.

Anyway I still like to work on the computer, it’s just about using the right tool for the right job. It’s fine to spend hours in Illustrator tweaking a logotype, looking for the perfect curve – it’s less fine to spend hours on Photoshop trying to recreate the imperfection of a brush stroke, while you could just use a real brush.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

It’s a tough one because there are so many talented designers I admire. Let me choose two. For the first twelve hours, I would want to be Doyald Young for the unequaled style – he’s responsible for some of the most beautiful letters I’ve ever seen. For the last twelve hours, let’s say Niels Shoe Meulman because he first inspired me as a graffiti writer, and then as a designer. I have mad respect for the guy and his career.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

What’s done is done! If I do something wrong I know I won’t do it again. Mistakes are part of the process of being better in what we do, at least I hope so, because I’ve made a ton. If you really want me to change something, that Indian food I ate once was really bad.

Where do you see yourself, in, say, 5 or 10 years?

Hopefully I’ll still be a designer, and still be passionate about my work. Our business will be a success and I’ll have a ton of intern chicks, who look like models, but they’re interns. And maybe – but I won’t put money on this – I will have finished a typeface.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

I don’t know if, from my short experience, I can really give some tips. All I can do is talk about what works for me, even if there are probably a ton of better ways to go. I’d say, if you have a good time doing whatever you’re doing, you’re all good. Design requires a huge amount of time and effort, and the only way to get through this is to enjoy self-learning. You’ll have to try a lot, fail a lot, and try a lot again. I guess it’s that simple after all: the more you do, the better you get, and if you don’t fully enjoy it, you won’t do enough to get good anyway. Thing is, you will never feel like “Oh, that’s ok, I’m good enough now.” This is like some never-ending studies, even if at some point, it’s studies that get you money because people call that a job. If you’re okay with that, I think that’s all you need to become a great designer, because there’s no such thing as innate talent.

Thanks Joachim!

Many thanks to Joachim for talking to us. I really enjoyed his answers, and hopefully you did too!

Why not check out Joachim’s site, and follow him on Twitter and Dribbble?

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One Minute With… Graham Erwin
September 13, 2012 7:35 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Graham, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Hello! My name is Graham Erwin and I am an illustrator, designer, and screen printer living in Columbus, Ohio. During the day I work at a custom t-shirt shop, and at night I do freelance poster illustration.

How did you get into illustration? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a illustrator?

To be completely honest I never really chose to get into illustration, it’s just something I have done since day one. I’ve been drawing my own characters since I could hold a pencil so I really never gave myself any other option. I took art classes at a local college starting in 1st grade, and at the time the illustration program was very strong. I saw at an early age that illustration was a legitimate career path and I pretty much knew immediately that it was something I would be doing for the rest of my life, in one way or another. I never really considered any other career path!

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

The biggest achievement for me so far was getting to work with Mondo on a Nightmare Before Christmas screen print. I have been a huge fan of Mondo for years so when they asked me if I wanted to do a poster for them I was blown away. The only problem is that early on in this project I experienced my biggest failure as well. I completed a set of posters Nightmare Before Christmas posters and after months of waiting for studio approval they were denied by Disney. This was a huge blow at first because I really had no choice but to just start over from scratch, and was totally worried that my second poster wouldn’t go through either. Fortunately the second set of posters was approved and everything worked out so I can’t complain!

On Etsy, you sell a whole load of awesome prints of your work. How beneficial have you found this? Do you think it’s important to maintain a source of passive income, in an industry where work can fluctuate so greatly.

Oh totally, having an Etsy shop has definitely helped me a ton. The small trickle of Etsy sales is building to a steady flow, and is giving me more wiggle room to be choosier about the freelance projects I take on. The more time and love I put into a poster almost always translates into better sales, so seeing that direct correlation really pushes to to make a better poster every time. I also actually love the packaging, shipping, and talking to customers part of the job. I would say that poster sales account for about half of my freelance income, so it is very beneficial.

You have an incredible, very unique style, which really has to be seen to be understood. Did you intentionally develop this style, or was it something that just evolved? How important do you think having a style is, as opposed to being a jack-of-all-styles?

In a way my style has mostly evolved on its own. Very rarely do I start a project with the intention of changing my style up completely. With every illustration something new and interesting pops up almost by accident, and is then there is yet another rabbit trail to follow. After several months I may think I haven’t progressed much, but when you compare new and old work there is always an interesting evolution and you can see things slowly growing. For instance in the past I never used much linework, but for one project it crept in and now you can see a ton of linework in my illustrations. I never sat down and thought “oh wow, this looks great, I need to do more of this”, it just happened subconsciously. The main thing I consider while working is “would I buy one of these prints if it wasn’t mine?”. That is the driving force when adding and subtracting elements while working.

As for the importance of being a jack-of-all-trades, I am very torn. I find that variety is definitely the spice of life, but the old saying “a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none” still holds true. The thing is that there are so many amazing young designers and illustrators out there that you really have to find a way to stand out in the crowd, and for me a specific style has done it. I think if you want to be a jack-of-all-trades you better be the master of every skill you advertise, and if not, don’t bother.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Oh wow that’s a good question! Honestly it’s hard to pick a specific person because my decision would be based upon lifestyle, not artistic style and I don’t have enough info on other artists personal lives to make that call! However there is a guy in town who owns a small gallery called Chop Chop, with a print shop and a mini ramp for skateboarding in the back. This guy has been screen printing and building skate ramps for years, so both set-ups are amazing. I’m sure his daily grind is just as monotonous as everyone else’s, but having access to the perfect skate ramp when you need a break from work would be a dream come true. There is also a killer bar across the street from his shop, so I’m sure I could have a pretty awesome day in his shoes if I was given the chance!

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I wish I would have spent more time drawing in my sketchbook this past year. I used to draw every day for fun, but when freelance began to pick up I would spend less time drawing and more time clicking away with my mouse. Turn around times were quicker, but I can’t help but wish I would have kept my drawing skills tighter. I have set aside more time recently to correct this problem and everything is moving a lot smoother.

Where do you see yourself, in, say, 5 or 10 years?

In 5-10 years I hope to be freelancing full time without a day job. Hopefully selling more original artwork in addition to screen prints. I would love to be able to travel more by then, and attend more of the gallery shows I participate in. Having a solo show with very, very limited runs of large screen prints is a dream of mine, and is something I would like to do in the next 5-10 years. A show overseas would be great!

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design or illustration?

Stay busy. Really freaking busy. You can’t help how much talent you start with, but you can control how quickly you progress. I once heard that every artist has 1,000 bad drawings in them, it’s just up to you how quickly you want to get them out of the way and I totally agree. Failure teaches you more than success, so the less you let that slow you down the better. Besides that I would say find ways to stay passionate about every project. If you love what you are doing then it’s not hard to work 12-18 hour days, you look forward to it! If you’re not having fun you’re not doing it right, and it generally comes across in the work.

Thanks Graham!

Thanks a million to Graham for sharing his thoughts! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Graham’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Kate Bingaman Burt
September 10, 2012 7:50 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Kate, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

I am a design educator, illustrator & designer & organizer living in and loving Portland, Oregon. My personal work mostly consists of exploring different aspects of personal consumerism and my client work mostly consists of illustrating for fun people like IDEO, Poketo, Princeton Architectural Press, Madewell and Knock Knock to name a few.

Walk us through a typical day in the life of Kate Bingaman-Burt.

My days consist of client work, teaching, personal projects and a whole lot of talking and emailing. When it is summer time, I tend to load up on client work and really focus on figuring out bigger ideas regarding my personal projects. When school is in session, my focus switches to teaching and curriculum development, some client work and then maintaining my personal projects.

How did you get into illustration? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a illustrator?

I actually got into illustration by accident. I was working mostly in photography, design and installation and I only started drawing because this was a medium that I didn’t feel that comfortable with. I have been working with aspects of documentation and consumption for over ten years, but the daily purchase drawing project started in 2006 (after a few years of photo purchase documentation and also a few years of drawing my credit card statements). This was the project that really pushed me into freelance illustration work.

How do you approach a new project? What’s your creative process like?

I make a lot of lists. I make a lot of moodboards. I read a lot about the topic I happen to be working with. And then I dive in.

You do quite a few self-initiated projects (to the extent that you’ve even published a book of one of them) – How beneficial have you found projects like these? Are they solely for fun, practice, or have you found that they also bring in new client work?

These projects are the reason that I am working with clients today. However, I didn’t start the projects because I thought they would attract jobs. I started the projects because I had ideas that I wanted to make tangible. The extra fun stuff that comes along with them are perks :)

In addition to illustration, you teach and regularly speak at events. How does that differ to your design work? What new challenges does it bring?

Teaching is my main gig. I am starting my 11th year of teaching this fall and it informs everything that I do. Working with students (both mine and traveling to other schools for workshops and talks) is really rewarding. I learn so much from talking with students and talking about design and the weird creative process. Teaching energizes me and gives me fuel for my own work. Working and talking with students is a big part of what I do and I don’t ever want to stop.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I would like this time travel schedule please:

One day as each of the following them: Dorothy Parker, Lucille Ball, Patti Smith, Steve Martin, David Byrne, Saul Steinberg, Diane Arbus, J. D. Salinger, Truman Capote, Terrence Mallick, William Eggleston, Martin Parr, Joseph Beuys, Sophie Calle, Yoko Ono and Margaret Killgallen. Could you make this happen for me please?

What design tools could you not live without?

My Faber Castell Artist Pitt Pens.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design or illustration?

Spend time figuring out what you want to say. What is your voice? How do you want to best share it? and then execute the crap out of it.

Thanks Kate!

Many thanks to Kate for taking some time to talk to One Minute With. I really enjoyed interviewing her, and hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Why not check out Kate’s site, and follow her on Flickr and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Jordan Metcalf
September 6, 2012 5:40 pm 1 Comment

Hi Jordan, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Thank for getting in touch. It’s nice to be in such great company.

I’m a graphic designer, illustrator and artist living in Cape Town, South Africa with my lovely girlfriend and cat. I have a fascination with letters and words, designed and written, and for the last few years have been lucky enough to be able to make a living working mainly with custom drawn and experimental type.

Walk us through a typical day in the life of Jordan Metcalf.

I wake up at around 6:00, check my mail, read for a bit, have some tea and head to the studio around 8:30. I don’t have a very regimented daily routine once at the studio, so I bounce around between work, meetings, e-mailing, and sketching before heading home around 18:30. I try to keep fairly regular work hours as much as possible. I work at night and on weekends when I need to but I try not make it a habit and usually try project-manage jobs in a way that allows me to do most of the work during working hours. I love what I do, but I also know it’s important to nurture life outside of it, so trying to create a degree separation between work and life is important to me.

Photo by Morné Van Zyl

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

At first I studied it because it seemed like a pragmatic compromise between art and industry. I had wanted to study fine art, but worried about not being able to make enough money to live. But fortunately the more I got into design the more it resonated with me, and I quickly discovered it was a much better choice for me.

I imagine my defining moment was probably when I first started messing around with creating custom lettering. It wasn’t something I had seen much of, so I think it happened quite organically. I was working doing graphic, web design, and later directing motion graphics at the time, but at home i was messing around with random type experiments for fun. Little did I know that it would turn into the focus of my work once I went freelance. It wasn’t so much a defining moment as much as an incremental shift.

How do you approach a new project? What’s your creative process like?

I usually start projects with some rough sketches, which I either elaborate and refine by hand or in Photoshop. Some pieces start and end on the computer though, as the result of a digital experimentation that gets elaborated into something more. Depending on what it is I usually execute and refine the design in Illustrator and once everything is in vector, I take it into Photoshop for final grading and texturing. To be honest, up until execution stages, my process is fairly erratic and largely fuelled by stress. Once I know what I’m doing it becomes a lot more fun though.

You’ve got an awesome style, with lots of strong geometry and great type. Where do you get inspiration?

Thanks. I’m constantly inspired by the intersection of man made objects and nature. I live in a city where there are mountains, trees and beaches visible from almost anywhere you are, so there is always this amazing juxtaposition of the sharp geometric lines of buildings and roads and the natural forms and curves of nature. I think there is something beautiful and revealing about our desire for rigidity and geometry in a world that so completely defies that. This informs my work and my thinking quite a bit. Using basic forms and hard geometry to create things that then become soft and detailed and voluminous, and hopefully organic int their own right.

Your best known for your lettering and illustration. How do these disciplines compare? Which do you prefer, and why?

I’m definitely more focused on design and lettering at the moment. I love that at its best, design can be art without the ego. It can be beautiful and conceptual but also is required to communicate a message in an honest, open way. It lacks much of the self-indulgence and ambiguity of a lot of art . I like that openness of communication and am really trying to translate it into personal art pieces. I do still enjoy illustration though, but it is a much more difficult, draining process for me.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I would love to have spent a day as Shigeo Fukuda. He was a Japanese artist working with graphic, sculpture and spacial design. I was lucky enough to hear him speak a few years prior to his death, and he had an amazing energy, passion and joy for the work he did. His humour, insight, creativity and versatility are still massively inspiring to me.

What design tools could you not live without?

Pens, paper, a computer, Illustrator, Photoshop and a Wacom Tablet are all pretty much indispensable.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Spend more time having fun experimenting and less time on the internet. And bear in mind that it doesn’t all happen at once. It will more than likely take a few years before you’re doing work you really love and getting paid for it.

Thanks Jordan!

Thanks a million to Jordan for talking to me! I really enjoyed talking with him, and hopefully you love his answers as much as I do!

Why not check out Jordan’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Jeffrey Buchanan
September 3, 2012 8:01 pm 2 Comments

Hi Jeffrey, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

This is a huge distraction from watching terrible movies on Netflix and browsing Reddit, but thanks for having me Conor. I’m a graphic designer from Chicago. I’m into typical things like music, dogs, food, Seinfeld, girls, etc. I guess I officially started designing five years ago. Since then I have been trying to make things that look good and meet cool people. I mostly work with typography, print, and branding.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

Like a majority of creative people, I was always drawing, painting, whatever, when I was a kid. Fast forward to 7th grade when I discovered Photoshop and started re-designing my MySpace every week. You have to start somewhere…I guess…? Anyway, when I started high school I got more interested in music and started designing t-shirts and posters for local bands. That’s when I realized I could do what I want to do and make money doing it. I would call that my defining point. It made me realize that you can do whatever you want if you’re good enough at it. That realization has motivated me a lot.

What do you think of as the biggest achievement in your career so far? And for balance, what do you consider your biggest failure?

I hate you for this question. I don’t think I can even choose a biggest achievement. I’m still too unsatisfied with where I am to be able to do that. I have a lot of big failures though. All of my attempts at reaching out to Michael Jordan to work together have been failures. Oh and when I first started designing I made a logo for a client in Photoshop at 72 dpi. Ouch.

In my eyes, you kinda have two definitive styles – Your style seems to switch between awesome and retro and organic, and awesome and retro and geometric. In this industry, how important is having a unique style to call your own, in your opinion?

In my opinion, having your own style is one of the most important things. Especially in freelance. It separates you from every other designer and it’s what draws interest to your work.

And whilst we’re on the subject of your style, where do you get inspiration for your work? In particular, is there anything, outside of other graphic design, that really inspires you?

I get inspiration from a lot of things other than graphic design. I’m really inspired by architecture and cars. Both of them take a lot of problem solving and creativity to be successful. Other than that I draw inspiration from movies, music, dreams, reading, and doing hoodrat things with my friends. I get a lot from music though. Mostly hip hop. Oh, and people. People in general are so fucking weird. It’s cool.

At 19 years of age, you’re still relatively young – Are you at college at the moment, or did you decide to forgo that? In either case, what was the reasoning behind that decision, and what has been your experience with it so far?

I’m not in college. There are a lot of reasons I decided not to go, but the main one being that I didn’t feel like I absolutely needed it. Also because school suxxx. In the past year I’ve had more unsuccessful job interviews than I can count. I got my first in-house job a few months back, though. Which has allowed me to learn a lot about how things work in the industry. Right now I’m just trying to get my name out and make moves.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

It’s a tie between ScHoolboy Q and George Clooney. ScHoolboy because I love his music and he’s just the coolest dude. George because I’ve always secretly wanted to act, and because of Fantastic Mr. Fox and Burn After Reading. Thanks George.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I would like to have done more work for strip clubs, because currently I have done work for none.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Learn about yourself. Go outside and do things. Meet people. Knowing yourself and what you like is just as important as any technical aspect of design, in my opinion. All of your work is going to come from your brain, right? Other than that I think it’s pretty basic. Use the internet to your advantage and talk to other designers. Practice and do a ton of work, even if it’s self-initiated and you’re not going to make any money from it. Build your portfolio with projects you love. Learn about the business side of things too. If you work hard and put time and effort into every aspect of your work, you should be fine. Do drugs.

Thanks Jeffrey!

Thanks so much to Jeffrey for giving us an insight into his world! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Jeffrey’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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