Credit: Jon Newman’s Daydreams & Nightschemes
Graphic designers are rarely afforded the opportunity to hand-pick what projects they get to work on (unless your name is Stefan Sagmeister). I’ve been lucky enough to work on interesting and exciting projects at Delucchi, but even I sometimes feel that the types of projects I’m working on lack diversity. Like with anything else in life, if you do the same thing over and over, it’s easy to get bored or stuck in a rut. So what do you do to keep that passion for design alive when things get repetitive?
A few months ago, I went to an event where designer Jon Newman, a former graphic artist at MTV, spoke about his 52 projects in 52 weeks “experiment” in design called Daydreams & Nightschemes. He admitted that although he loved his job, MTV had a very specific brand identity that sometimes stifled his creativity. To combat this, he started using his free time to create his own projects, and eventually featured all 52 projects in an exhibit in New York City.
The idea is this: Stop complaining that your job is boring, and get out there and do something that interests you. Not only will you keep your passion for design alive, you are also learning new skills and shaping the designer you want to become. To keep myself accountable in this, I’m sharing with you a list of my top five dream design projects:
That last one might be inspired by all the nights I’ve been spending at Starbucks with my laptop and a Moleskine working on some “me-projects.”
It’s all about finding new, creative ways to blend your interests with design. Yes, design is my job, and some people believe work stays at work, but by creating my own projects, design has once again become a labor of love.
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