My Creative DNA

The influences, tools, and turning points behind how I make things.

Media Taco TeamFoundingJuly 11, 20264 ingredients

From the creator

A portfolio shows finished work. This shows the machinery: what I stole from, what I failed at, and what I reach for when a project is stuck. If you want to know whether we would work well together, this is more useful than my best case study.

Creative work

The project that almost failed

A launch that was rescued in the final two weeks by throwing out the clever version and shipping the clear version.

Why it mattersIt taught me my most durable professional rule: clarity beats cleverness every single time the two are in conflict.

Image

A page from my sketchbook

Thumbnail sketches, most of them bad on purpose, exploring twelve directions in twenty minutes.

Why it mattersPeople think creative work starts with a good idea. It starts with volume. This page is what volume looks like before anyone sees the polished result.

Story

The influence I do not talk about enough

A high school art teacher who graded process, not product. She wanted to see the three versions you rejected.

Why it mattersShe is the reason I document my work. Half my professional habits are her classroom rules wearing a trench coat.

Question

What I want to make next

Something collaborative. I have spent years making things for people and I want to spend the next stretch making things with them.

Why it mattersStating an ambition in public is a commitment device. This entry exists so people can hold me to it.

A question for you

What is the one influence your work could not exist without?

Answer it in a response below, or build your own version of this Taco.

Respond in a way that means something

Responses

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