I need a reason.
I’m relentlessly driven and motivated when I have an objective. It stems from an insatiable thirst to be the best.
If I’m doing something, I’m going to work harder than anybody else in doing it. Ability aside, I’m confident that I’d out work anyone in most things. I’d even say that without being sure of it, as a challenge to myself to back it up.
From a creative standpoint though, my dips have cropped up from mindset of “If I can illustrate anything I want, why should I do it at all?” There are infinite possibilities in a drawing and what’s the point of hashing them all out?
And that’s why I actually have little to no interest in art guess 😅 To me, art is making stuff for the sake of it. Design is building something on intention, something underpinned by an objective.
To beat complacency though, I’d need to learn new skills. And I think that’s why I’ve grown so much during my time at PlusNarrative. Given a shot in my last year of college, I started with vectors and learned Photoshop composition, then photo manipulation, then UI and the adoption of Sketch, InVision, Moqups and the like. There was always learning to pickup, always challenges to navigate. Always @byronbanana to chase and @thegregdavies’ innovation to keep up with.
The incubative environment meant that I could exercise my differentiating factor as a creative too — by being hands-on with strategy, measurement and reporting while also teaching myself the basics of animation in effort to stay relevant in the ever-evolving industry.
With my expanded toolbox, I joined a bigger team, and in the past year, became addicted to work. Not the worst of addictions, not even the most evident - but spending everyday in an expectant environment cultivated a productive monster out of me. And I embraced it. Tight deadlines became exciting, turnaround times and volume became a welcome challenge and instead of loving the craft and the process that I enjoyed in the years preceding — I loved the tension, the pressure, and stress.
I got my 944 though. And that means that I reached what I was working my ass off for since I left college. But now what? Only an unknown horizon would do. While I’d miss my new hombrés (name dropping design stalwarts @alexrassool, @sadhana_sahaye, @the.great.ginger & @kerriberrri) and even though I’d regret it, like I regretted my previous move — growth meant taking my next job offer.
Fast forward a bit and I’ve learned how to use Google Analytics, Ads, have dabbled a bit in Augmented Reality with Facebook’s Spark and have just begun learning Blender. But in my new position, things flipped entirely and I’m bored with the pace of things altogether. If I don’t have football podcasts in my ear, I’m listening to hip hop interviews from The Breakfast Club & lunch is the most exciting part of my work day.
Now I need a reason.
To keep on my toes, and flex the ol’ creative arm, I challenge myself after hours to create at least 3 design concepts a week. Check them out here
