Reflections on HOW

Photos: Zilker Botanical Garden; Heroes of the Alamo monument at the Texas State Capitol; buildings on Congress Avenue

The one thing I’d sort of hoped to glean from the HOW Design Conference in Austin last week was guidance. Direction. Some affirmation, or some way to gauge whether what I’m doing is what I should be doing. What am I missing here in my unmentored shelter of designing for engineers and scientists, who want nothing more from me than to “make it look cool!”? Could I cut it out there in the hard core design world?

Some part of me imagined I’d come home with pages of notes, sketches, ideas out the wazoo. It’s what I wanted. But I didn’t get any of that – no mind-blowing revelations, no deep discussions for introspection and reflection. Instead – and I’m quite sure of this – I got exactly what I needed.

Photos (clockwise from center): Summer berry compote with lemon panna cotta, from Annie’s Cafe & Bar; Art the Vote logotype by Travis Brown; Austin Convention Center; Downtown Austin (from Congress Avenue Bridge), Annie’s Cafe & Bar dinner menu; Austin Museum of Art exhibition poster — “The Lining of Forgetting: Internal and External Memory in Art”

Much of what the presenters had to say were things I instinctively knew – whether by nature or by training. But for the first time, I started feeling confident in my choice of an MA in communication, rather than an MFA in graphic design. In a way, it feels like having devoted that time to focus on the purpose and the meaning of communication apart from the medium might set me apart – in a good way – from other designers, and enable me to steer my career in the direction I imagine it going. And despite having made no effort to actively “network” with other designers, I can say that I feel far more connected with people and resources within the design community than ever before.

More importantly, for the first time, someone else – more than one someone – told me to do those things I always want to try to do. These are things I’ve been telling myself I need to focus on, but somehow hearing it from someone else is more empowering.

Tell stories. Have fun. Be brave. It’s my new motto!

In other words, design at its most powerful should not only be one-hundred percent functional and aesthetically strong — it should also be meaningful and create a relationship with the viewer. It should be authentic and meaningful to you, the designer, and it should be created without inhibition – “Fun, not fear!” to paraphrase Von Glitschka, who presented Living a Creatively Curious Life.

The trip itself, the conference — it was all a bit of a whirlwind. There was so much to take in all around that at the time I wasn’t sure how much I was really getting out of it. Four days later, I’m having some difficulty putting everything into words. It turned out to be a fantastic creative recharge — I’m even feeling a bit sassy. Sassy is good. Sassy is fun. Sassy is uninhibited.

Photos (clockwise from top left): Zax Pints & Plates; Mexican vanilla ice cream from Amy’s; Cookie packaging from Annie’s Cafe & Bar; Milk book jacket by Barbara deWilde; Annie’s Cafe & Bar interior; “Bad Typography is Everywhere. Good Typography is Invisible” by Craig Ward; Paramount Theatre

So although my head is still spinning with all the ideas and inspiration, the concepts, and the possibilities, I’ve begun to realize that great design is not the sum of these things. It’s no good trying to equal or emulate anyone else. The best thing I have to offer is my own perspective, my own voice, my own vision: authentic, passionate, liberated.