I love my job.

Design is absolutely a necessary part of life and you rely on it every day. While good branding is important, there is so much more to design that than a logo or a website. From the simple directional arrow to help you merge onto a highway, to the instructions on assembling that new bookshelf.

We rely on designers to help us communicate and understand ideas, products and services. To navigate our cities, to provoke thoughts, to convince, to change our minds and influence social change. Try and find a place in your home or in your region with no design. Yep, that trail marker was designed by someone like me too. 

Content-driven design. I’ve been preaching this since the beginning. For the love of all things, the template for a new project should never ever come before the content and the content should never come without an identified brand and some clear meaningful goals.

Designers are not just the image-makers to get your marketing and revenue goals met. With just one image, you can influence, start a trend, make an idea go viral or tarnish a reputation.

As a designer, I feel like I would do my clients and the world a disservice if I didn’t do everything I could to advocate for their customers. I am responsible for the messages I put out to the world and just because I’m getting paid to do it doesn’t mean it’s not my business. A good discovery call can help me deliver the clearest, most authentic, and socially responsible message, product or service. If I’m not able and willing to sell it I’m not going to design it.

Now more than ever, as I see and hope to facilitate all the pivoting, transformation, and brand coaching of businesses. I really, really, love my job.

FURTHER READING:

Want to jump down this rabbit hole? Start here. AIGA has a great article on ethics and social responsibility.

Check back later for updates, as I come across additional resources I’ll add them here