This week, as I was sitting down for a chat with Jeff Freedman, founder of Small Army, he asked me one of the most interesting questions I’ve heard in a while. We had been talking about the agency’s unique approach to advertising, and the challenges inherent in getting clients and designers to think beyond features, benefits and pictures and into the story behind what we’re doing. I shared my experience as a theatre major in high school and college, and how that shaped my approach to design and collaboration – and the ways I used that experience to help clients make that shift in thinking.
Then he asked, “What do you like more – the art, or working with clients?”
My instant answer was, “Depends on the day, really.” I followed up with a couple of clarifying thoughts, but I don’t know that any of them really pinned down what I love about what I do. What I really love is the act of making. How I make depends on the day, and what I’m making.
Some days, I’m taking a deep dive into code, or working with a client to evolve their web strategy. Other days, I’m playing with colored pencils and bookmaking supplies. Still others, I’m helping a client think through their business’s vision so we can figure out how to communicate it. It all feeds the same thing – helping someone make something that’s worth making.
What’s been interesting to observe, particularly in the last few months, is how often the methods I use for making shift – and how important it is to let them shift.
Right now, I’m on a letterpress and bookmaking kick; the sheer physicality of it appeals to me, as does the notion of taking raw/found materials (metal type, paper, etc.) and turning them into something beautiful. But I’m also thinking through a strategy for upgrading the zen kitchen’s site to Drupal 7, and restructuring the content to make up for 6 years of throwing way too much into it.
Both of these things require a very different set of skills, but there are certain commonalities. Both need a certain amount of careful planning up front, but they also need room for things to “just happen.” There’s also a heavy amount of craft in both. While bookmaking is much closer to what you’d commonly think of as “crafting,” working with Drupal, and the web in general, requires an intense level of craftsmanship to do it well. With the push towards HTML5, and the increasing prevalence of the mobile web, the need for craft in web design will only intensify.
So yes. Short answer: what I love depends on the day. Slightly longer answer: what I love is the act of making – how I make depends on what I’m making, but it all feeds the love.
By the way, I’ve been uploading some of my letterpress and bookmaking fun on Flickr. You should check it out if you’re interested.