Last week I shared the creative principles I’ve defined for myself as a sort of filter for making decisions about my work going forward. The first of these principles is that I am a problem solver. And really, isn’t that what most folks do for a living in one form or another? We all spend our days coming up with solutions…the problems differ in type, seriousness, consequences, etc., but we are all just trying to fix something.
This is easy to lose sight of as a visual artist, or as someone who doesn’t understand the work of a visual artist. It can be easy to think that making things pretty doesn’t move the needle on any problems. And there’s some truth there…when you make something pretty it may not move the needle on any problems. So it’s important to focus on how to use your skills to be a problem solver.
The client work I do falls mostly into two buckets - communications and applied arts. Communications takes a lot of forms (print, social media, email, web design) and is more straightforward. The problem I’m solving on a communication project is how do I convey my client’s message in a way that is clear and engaging to the target audience? I use my experience and knowledge as a designer along with research to craft a message that will be received in the way the client needs so that folks in the audience will take some kind of action.
When it comes to applied art (patterns on products, for example), the problem is how do I get people to buy a thing? On the surface, this seems to carry less weight than the problem of communication might. But I’m still bringing my experience and knowledge and research together to come up with a solution. And how I use those tools determines how deep the problem I’m trying to solve really is.
For example, Client X would like me to design some drinking cups for children. In their brief, they have asked for a variety of boy and girl designs. After I finish rolling my eyes (which takes a minute in a situation like this), I begin brainstorming designs that meet the client’s brief, but that also subvert those societal labels of boy and girl designs. I focus on gender-neutral designs that all kids will love, and on changing up color schemes so that something that would’ve read “boy” on the shelf now feels accessible to girls, and vice versa. Do I have delusions of grandeur and believe I deserve a Nobel peace prize? Certainly not! The stakes could not be lower! But I do know that I’ve used my skills in a way that promotes equity in some small way.
Another example: Client Y would like some imagery for their website advertising a business conference. While there are lots of design considerations for me to take into account here, one thing I need to be sure of is to not default to photos of a bunch of white dudes in suits. White dudes in suits have been the poster children for business for long enough - let’s get some other folks in the picture! Again - I’m talking about a VERY minor way of promoting equity and diversity, but every little bit helps.
Do you know what else this does? It lets you know if you’re working with the wrong client on the wrong project. I’ve literally had a client tell me that they wanted only photos of white people for a project. Or that girls don’t like dinosaurs. These are clear red flags that my values don’t align with these folks and I’m not the designer for them. Which brings me around to the most important problem we need to solve when we take on work - just because I can do this, should I?