“I think freelance life has shifted my focus from doing what I love to worrying too much about money and business. That makes me feel like something is not working. I want to be excited about what I do again.”
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Asking Not Asking #31: Ready for Creative Expansion
As I work on my plan for the next five years I'm craving an expansion while holding onto my mastery. How do I expand to take on a bigger creative role, while keeping the market's trust in what I do very well?
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Asking Not Asking #21: To Keep Going or Not
“I decided to give freelance a go after the contract ended and I assumed work would just come in. But the truth is, it hasn’t. Every month I tell myself this is it. If I don’t get more work, I’ll start applying to companies and take a break from freelancing. But I don’t want to do that. I want to keep working for myself and really build something I love.”
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All photography by Geoff Levy
Engagement In the Grid: 3 Ways Creative Professionals Can Approach Their Instagram Feeds
“Just because you’re unsure how it will be received on social media doesn’t mean that the seed of the idea that’s scratching at your soul doesn’t have a home. Instagram isn’t a parameter for your art; it’s a visible publication platform.”
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Parisian Typographer Tyrsa Discusses Donald Glover, the Influence of Graffiti, & Us By Night
WNW Member Alexis Taieb (AKA Tyrsa) is a Paris-based Typographer who has worked with clients including Nike, Jordan, Drew League, Criterion, Timberland, and Donald Glover. In our interview, we discuss his recurring collaboration with Donald Glover, from “This Is America” to Guava Island, and also touch on how graffiti has influenced his typographic work and why he’s excited to return to the Us By Night festival this year (and the next ten.)
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Illustration by WNW Member Tallulah Fontaine
Selling Your Soul: Can Artists Consciously Work with Big Brands?
I am constantly searching for the alignment of the truest truth between myself and the brands I service. Where can I celebrate synchronicity? ... As small businesses, we can’t solve these brands’ idiosyncrasies, but we can anchor our messages to the values we support. Can we find a way to bring impactful work into existence for someone that wouldn’t be reached otherwise?
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This Well-Traveled Creative Duo Brings Worldly Advertising Wisdom to Their New Home in LA (& This Interview)
Federico Munichor and Joaquin Lynch Garay teamed up over a decade ago, and in that time have traveled from their roots in Buenos Aires to Shanghai on to New York and most recently to Los Angeles. They discuss why collaboration comes easy, which campaigns make them proudest, the ways in which each creative market is distinct, and how their creative approach is shaped by these stops on their creative journey.
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Header Illustration by WNW Member Rachel Denti
How to Find a Mentor Anywhere
People of great wisdom and conviction know: I’m not ready for it. This has yet to deter me from seeking out mentorship from friends, motivational speakers, new age philosophies, and books. No one has outwardly consented to mentoring me, but I find myself privately cataloguing their advice and experiences so that I can apply it to my own life.
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Illustration by WNW Member Jamie Polancic
More than Hands-On Experience: The 3 Goals of an Internship
You’re an intern. You are not expected to know everything. They already know you’ve got enough of the skill set they need because they hired you. But now is the time to fill in your knowledge gaps. The company may use different software than you’re used to. Ask them how to use it. You may be unclear about a part of the project you’re working on. Ask for clarification."
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Asking Not Asking #18: Freelance Life is Like A Drug
“Freelance life is like a drug. The just not knowing what might be possible around the corner can be addictive and exciting. But it can also be hard to know just when the time is to move on. To know when it’s over. You just don’t know. There’s always a maybe/possibly hanging around out there. It makes it hard to commit to something else, something more solid, something more stable.”
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“Genius Loci” Sees Artist Marina Esmeraldo Traveling Through Her Memory
“The goal was capturing the essence of my travels, wanderlust being a recurring theme in my work. Through the abstract interpretation of the places of my memories, I created an installation combining mural painting and relief works, as well as a collection of wooden sculptures.”
Read MoreAsking Not Asking #17: The Girl Who Got Lost in the Fire
“I’ve tried side projects, going on art-dates with myself, taking self-care days. I’ve tried making up small projects just for me, but I can’t seem to find the motivation or passion to do it. I feel trapped in this illusion of freelance because I constantly feel I can do it better, do more, do things differently, but every time I have some time off, I feel paralyzed and tired.”
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Illustration by WNW Member Yifan Wu
The Case for Copying: Ideas to Beg, Borrow, and Steal
“Discussions surrounding copying are pervasive, i.e. 'DON’T DO IT,' but few safe spaces existed in which to explore. As with the topic of safe sex, how can we as a community expect to arrive at healthy decisions if abstinence is the only option?”
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Illustrations by Michelle Mattar
Mission Uncomfortable: Embracing the Breakups & Breakthroughs of Creativity
I wasn't following up on my own work – which is awkward to say, but I don't think the majority of people in this industry do. My old style was to hand it off and hope for the best, largely because the deliverables were designed for that. Lately, I don’t hand off and hope.
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Motion Artist Marco Mori’s World is a Collision Course for the Human Form
Marco Mori’s visual storytelling is simultaneously smart, grotesque, funny, and dark. It relishes in a queasy manipulation of the human form through inhuman experiences, from bodies bouncing boneless down a staircase to heads expanding, melting, and colliding.
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Want to Work on the Technological Frontier? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About The Mill
A full-time Recruitment Manager at the Mill’s New York office shares insights into the projects and culture of The Mill, how her hiring process evolves with the company’s expanded capabilities and breadth of work, and what she looks for in new talent for freelance and full-time roles.
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A Quick Q&A with Markus Magnusson, Motion Designer & Patreon Tutorial Maestro
We caught up with WNW Member Markus Magnusson, a motion designer and illustrator who has worked with top clients like Google, ESPN, YouTube, and Dropbox, to discuss his favorite projects, industry struggles, the future of motion, and his new full-time creative career as an animation instructor on Patreon.
Read More8 Creatives Share Everything You Need to Know About a Career in Motion
We dive into the details and discuss topics specific to motion, like the importance of sound in enhancing their work, whether a showreel is still a necessity for motion creatives, and how artificial intelligence will impact their craft and careers.
Read MoreDesigners Ada Sokol & Alice Isaac Talk Creative Approaches, Advice, & Excitement for Us By Night
We’re excited to be partnering with Us By Night for the second consecutive year. The Antwerp-based design festival has already announced some of the lineup for this September’s festival, which has created a significant amount of hype 5 months out. We caught up with two speakers on the lineup, Ada Sokol and Alice Isaac, to discuss their creative approaches, favorite projects, advice for creatives, and why they’re excited to take part in Us By Night this year.
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