Weird Design

Welcome to our new site! A little update never hurt nobody. 

I wanted to talk about a recent discussion panel I attended last month at the Mia Third Thursday: Design Night with AIGA Minnesota. The conversation left me incredibly motivated and inspired. It was moderated by Charles K. Youel of ARTCRANK and it featured incredible designers/creatives of the Twin Cities: Jeff Johnson, Lindsey Wright, Luis Fitch, Emily Callaghan, and Lisa Troutman. 
The theme of the night was "Making Design Weird Again" -- an interesting twist on that awful political slogan that shall not be mentioned. 
What I loved about the conversation is that the main theme and energy was "showing up to work on projects (and to life) fully as ourselves, weird or not" That's definitely something I believe in and try to live by in my daily life, and also in my creative projects. 

Maybe I am a bit too antisocial and don't have enough of these conversations, but it's always such a relief to know even the most successful designers and creatives are dealing with the same existential questions I am. For so many of us, graphic design was a way to have a somewhat stable career and at the same time be fully creative and artistic. But once working with clients, small or big, we have to still make that balance and figure out what is TOO out there. Should we convince the client to go with our crazy wild idea? Should we go the safe route? When is the right time to do these things? It made me feel so much better knowing that these questions are never ending. No one has it all figured out, and I guess that applies to life as well. We are all a little weird and we can find solace in that. 

My biggest takeaway were the final words of Luis Fitch, owner of UNO Branding, one of the designers I look up to in the Twin Cities. Mostly for being the biggest Latinx reference in graphic design here. He said we should be using graphic design as a tool for our other passions. If you are an artist and creative, you probably have many interests. Graphic design should be our language, our tool, our vehicle. It really resonated with me and inspired me to continue doing what I have been doing. 
Keep being a weirdo! The world needs more of us. 

 From left to right: Luis Fitch, Emily Callaghan, Lindsey Wright, Lisa Troutman, Jeff Johnson.