The Quest for Knowledge
Other people may claim it, but I really do have the best job in
the world. My job is to inspire those who inspire me and to help
talented people advance their careers. The opportunity to see
something or someone new gets me into the office each morning, and
I am constantly reminded of the immeasurable creative talent our
industry employs every day.
My company's main challenge is to remain useful and relevant to
an increasingly diverse group of people who utilize creative
thinking to connect clients and causes with their audiences. Being
creative on-demand certainly has its rewards and challenges, and
most of us got into this field because of our desire to craft
messages and objects. But I've come to discover that one of the
best benefits of designing for a living is the opportunity for
lifelong learning—not just keeping up with software updates, but
learning about people, business and society. Visual communications
really is a great career choice for the perpetually curious, as
each design project has a unique set of issues to explore.
Communication Arts annuals.
I often tell students that to be successful they need to be
cultural sponges. And while my wish is that everybody will read
Communication Arts, there's so much more going on outside of
visual communications that can be a tremendous source of
inspiration—such as fine art, dance, music, architecture, history,
science. A great deal of what we in design do is to reflect culture
back to society. To do that effectively we have to know what's
going on. And that doesn't happen by skimming People
magazine, but by reading more critical books, magazines, newspapers
and blogs. The more we increase our awareness, the more
opportunities we have to connect with a potential audience by
making visual associations from seemingly disparate ideas. This is
one of the few professions in which everything we experience can
ultimately help us produce better work and why simply receiving a
college education in design will never adequately prepare creatives
for a successful career.
If I knew 35 years ago how important writing would be to my
career, I might have paid more attention in my high school English
classes.
Regrets? Like many in our profession, my interest was in
communicating visually and I focused my education on using
materials to create imagery. If I knew 35 years ago how important
writing would be to my career, I might have paid more attention in
my high school English classes. Back then I just didn't see English
or writing as that important. I'm reminded of that irony every time
I sit down in front of the keyboard.
Another regret was initially not letting the smart people I
hired do their job. When I joined CA in 1986, my biggest
fear was screwing up a good thing. Consequently, I tried to
micro-manage everything. Trying to be coach and quarterback meant I
wasn't giving either role my complete attention. Fortunately, a
loyal staff stuck it out until I learned to let go and work
collaboratively.
Publishing a magazine has proven to be a lot more complicated
than running a small design office. While I do miss the greater
variety of graphic design work in my own practice, running and
designing a business has been a fascinating challenge, and the
occasional sleepless night has been a reasonable price to pay for
the opportunity to be exposed to such a wide variety of new ideas
every single day.