Hey friends
Hope y’all are doing well, I’ve been sick this past week but managed to get this small write up out for y’all!
My Formula for Great Work
As a graphic designer, I spend countless hours working in solitude in my home office.
I work on average about 40 hours a week and I think that time is crucial for me to get everything I need to done and expand on my skills as a designer, artist, and content creator.
However…
The power of good art and design comes from having good taste and a pool of inspiration you can pull from and expand on when you get into the work.
And that good taste cannot be formed sitting inside an office all day.
We cannot get new ideas by sheltering ourselves from the outside world.
We need:
New perspectives
New places
And new people
When I am constantly in the grind mode though that pool of ideas, inspiration and creative flow begins to deplete. No matter how much you sit there and chip away at the work for me that creative energy is a finite supply and cannot be refilled by just doing more work.
As creative people, we need to go out and live to gain new experiences and have that creative energy to put back into the work.
Tasteful design comes from being a tasteful person and I don’t believe you can make meaningful art without going out and living a meaningful life.
I recently took a trip to Europe with my fiancé, while on this trip I thought a lot about this question people online ask me all the time:
It’s a deep one and something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully answer
Because quite honestly I have no idea where they come from either.
Somewhere in the universe these ideas flow into my mind and are a mishmash of my hero’s work, inspiration all around me in the world, and my own personal experiences.
Having artists and designers that you look up to and gain inspiration from is only one piece of the pie.
The other aspects are being in the world and personal experiences.
Every single person knows something that you don’t, including yourself.
If we embrace that idea and live our life to the fullest outside of just being a slave to design programs or social media algorithms we can make our best effort to add our own little footprint in the greater world of design.
I had such a fun time on this trip and was inspired by the new environments and so much beautiful things I saw around me.
Design, architecture, nature, coffee, food, all of it combined is something I can take from and out into my future work.
And even if these times you spend not working or “resting” don’t feel like they are directly going to benefit your design work later, I promise they will.
You can get just as much value from going to a museum as going out to a bar with your friends.
It all helps contribute to your own unique voice and perspective that you can bring to the world of art and design.
I know that real work has to be done and I’m still a huge advocate for discipline and locking in during my time in the studio.
But
I just want to stress the importance of also living your life and rest
Being a graphic designer is important to me but it will never be more important than being more human.
And conveniently enough
Being a more fulfilled, lively, and considerate human, makes me a better designer in the process.
Live your life however you see fit my friends, be a sponge, and bring all that beautiful energy back into the studio.
So quite honestly my secret to becoming a better graphic designer has nothing to do with design and all to do with being human.
If you want to see the video version of this newsletter, place go check my latest video here
Much love and talk soon!
Cool stuff to check out
Fav Design of the week below
Weekly Wrap Up
The secret to becoming a better graphic designer
Zulu Album Art Concept
Thanks for reading!
I plan on keeping this newsletter free, but if you want to support, the best way is to buy me a coffee:)