dealing with the dreaded imposter syndrome
Do you ever feel like an imposter? How do you know if you are being confident or just arrogant? I’ve met lots of designers and creatives over the years and one thing is certain, we all doubt ourselves.
Books About Color
The Creative's Library Collection Books on Color Curated by BrandiSea One of the questions I am asked the most is where did I learn about color and what are my favorite books on the subject. So, here' ...
Things You Should NOT Say to Your Graphic Designer
In thinking about topics over the past weeks, I’ve also started thinking about things that clients or potential clients, or even just casual acquaintances might ask me that frustrate me. So here's a ...
My Top Five Design Tips on YouTube
If you’ve been following me for the past year or so, you already know that I have a YouTube channel where I post short design tips (usually) every Tuesday. These tips are meant to be really brief ti ...
8 Skills They Don’t Teach You at Design School
Graphic design is becoming a very popular career path these days. Whether it is the idea of just doing art all day or being creative for pay, More and more people are becoming drawn to it. But what ...
How to Not Suck at Design
I know a lot of people who have dabbled in design. I know even more people who, when I tell them I'm a Creative Director and Graphic Designer, that tell me something like, "I've always wanted to try g ...
Enjoy Your Work
https://youtu.be/KwXuodlJb8k Enjoy your work. Show joy and exude excitement in your designs and people will hire you not only because you're good at it but because people want to hire someone who l ...
Encouraging Quotes for Creatives
It's been hard to get back into the writing habit after a summer spent traveling and making my family time a priority. So waking up this morning atound 5:30 was quite the cho ...
Do [Design] Math
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x5g9fKRQHE Many designers look at their work and think, “It’s still missing something.” But maybe it’s actually that something needs to be missing. Your design is d ...
Why I Do What I Do
Why do I write this blog? I mean, what's the point? There's probably lots of other designers or creative directors that know what I know (and more) that don't feel the need to talk about it. This we ...
Cheat, Sometimes
https://youtu.be/ZYA6yb7qLb4 "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" right? Well, sort of. What does it mean to be a cheater as a creative? I have a couple of ideas. Also, check out these blog ...
Be Tenacious
https://youtu.be/deF8yioLBWs Tenacity: it's not giving up, not letting go... But how does this relate to being a better designer or creative? ------------------------------------------------------- ...
Try to Just Say No
https://youtu.be/GmPldhzL1wE There’s obviously a lot more than just saying no to your clients; but for today’s tip, try to think about saying no to certain client requests and using your expertise to ...
Ask Why
Asking why, or questioning your decisions, tests your motive for every design decision you make. Knowing your reasons requires that you, have gone through some questions and had to answer for them. T ...
What You Can Learn from the Hipster Mindset
There's a phenomenon that has gripped the country (and possibly the world); it's the hipster. Whether you love them, hate them, tolerate them, or maybe you don't even really get what a hipster ...
Passion Projects (why every designer needs one)
A few months back a we brought a designer friend of mine, David Schwen (owner, DSchwen) into town to speak at our 99u event. He spoke about passion projects. His work is fun and goof ...
See Type Differently (Conference Talk)
This past week I had the opportunity to speak to designers from the SEE/PRC at their annual conference. SEE is a professional association of communication directors, editors, graphic designers, and ...
The Myth of the Right-Brained Designer
If you are a designer, and someone were to ask you if you are right brained or left-brained, chances are that you would answer without hesitation, “right-brained”. Designers are marketed to and told ...
Creative Courage & Using Your Fears
So I talk about design on this blog, why would I talk about fear? No one is afraid of design right? Well, not exactly, but sort of. We may not be afraid that the Baskerville capital letter "G" is go ...
Embrace Your Weird
When did weird become a bad thing? I grew up with parents who never discouraged my weirdness so I freely accepted who I was. In fact, when I was in high school I had a bumper sticker (from Hot Topi ...
How to Use Music to Unlock Your Creativity
Music is my secret weapon in the arsenal of my creative process. As I am writing this post I have music playing in my headphones. My music choices vary dramatically based on what I am doing or wh ...
You Should Try to Use Paper
What difference does it make if you actually use paper or if you just start making stuff and fleshing out your ideas directly on the computer or on an app? Tons, trust me on this one. https://www.yo ...
Why You Should Care About Pantone Color Trends
The purpose of the colors is not just to set a trend. There is so much psychology behind colors and color theory; the reports are meant to represent the zeitgeist (spirit of the time) of the entire world.
Don’t Fall in Love with Your Ideas
The creative process is all about coming up with a ton of ideas, and realizing the most of them will probably not ever see the light of day, and we need to be okay with that. There’s a few reasons why we designers can tend to fall in love with our ideas. But why shouldn’t we?
Design problems don’t have ONE solution
I’ve been asked more times than I can count, “How do i know if i’m going the right direction with my design?” or “What if i chose the wrong idea to go with?” Designers are often more insecure about t ...