My biggest 5 lessons from 10 years in design
What a decade in the creative industries has taught me
“Like a dandelion floating in the breeze, if you try and grab it, it flies away in the wind, but if you relax and gently open your hand, it will land all on its own.”
Learn about yourself, not just design.
A decade ago I graduated from uni and entered the creative industries, taking a non-traditional approach to my career and finding my own winding-way.
Over the years I’ve worked with dozens of startups, scaleups, SME’s and corporations including John Lewis, National Geographic and Crisis.
I’ve designed an array of physical and digital brand experiences like; interiors, furniture, trophies, identities, theme parks, websites and marketing campaigns. But in all that, my biggest lessons were about life, not design.
Here’s my top 5 lessons learned so far;
The only constant in life is change.
We can try to resist it, but sometimes you need to be like water and go with the flow.
Growth mindset > fixed mindset.
Like it or not, life will stretch you out of your comfort zone, so you might as well lean into it.
Nothing lasts forever.
Be present. Enjoy the moment you're in, and the people you're with at the time. One day you’ll look back on this as the ‘good old days’.
You can’t control others, but you can influence them.
The more you try to change someone, the more they'll resist and move away from you. You can influence them tho. By setting a good example. With kindness, honesty, vulnerability and empathy. (Non-violent communication is a great framework for this).
You can’t force it. Be patient.
We're not in control of how and when it happens. Having a clear goal is great, working towards it consistently is even better, but you can't force it! When you do, you'll likely push it further away. Sometimes you need to relax, breath, and let it come to you in it's own time.
Like a dandelion floating in the breeze, if you try and grab it, it flies away in the wind, but if you relax and gently open your hand, it will land all on its own.
Learn from my mistakes.
Like most, I learned these lessons the hard way.
This substack is a place where I share real examples of project headaches and massive fails that taught me painful lessons over the years.
I don’t name names, but I do include the most important details, the value that I learned from my mistakes.
Subscribe to get them straight to your inbox (semi-monthly-ish).
Cool Links 🔗
KeironCalder.com ✌️
KenPlaylist.com 🪩
TheGoodWord.Club 💬
Health is Wealth 🧘
Banger of the Week 🚨
Our bodies will age but we’ll never grow old,
we’ll keep on running ti'll we run out of road.
Fine Wine
Saint Motel