MEET #1348 DAN BLACKMAN

Working Not Working March 13, 2015

MEET #1348 DAN BLACKMAN

Designer • Brooklyn, NY

WNW Member #1348 Dan Blackman is an award-winning graphic designer and director, currently working full-time at Tictail in Brooklyn. The ADC Young Gun has also created stunning work with such companies as VSA Partners, FWIS, Sapient, Sagmeister & Walsh, and Mother New York. Dan spoke to WNW about the benefits of both freelancing and full-time.

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1. How long have you been full-time? How do you weigh the benefits of freelancing and full-timing?

I've been full-time on and off my entire career but this latest stint about a year and a half. Between Tumblr and now Tictail. Which for me is weird since I never imagined working in the tech industry. But here I am, learning more than ever.

Both full-time and freelance have their ups and downs. Throughout my career I've been between the two and and have found satisfaction in both. When freelancing I have had the freedom to take on what I want, when I want. Which wasn't always the case. I used to spend most of my freelance time jumping from agency to agency working on branding projects.

When working full-time (especially in-house) I've found that it's really rewarding to concentrate on one brand and a bigger long-term goal. With freelance it was typically project to project without a lot of time to spend on one thing.

2. Is there a time or place that you feel most creative/have the best ideas?

I find being alone for a couple hours in the morning before all the meetings start tends to be my most productive. Typically between 7am and 10am

3. What's your ideal Working:Not Working ratio?

Working 90% of the time, all the time.

4. Do your parents understand what you do?

They try their hardest. Luckily "Graphic designer" is usually enough for them.

5. What scene from a movie makes you laugh just thinking about it?

Shit that's a tough question. The "Jobin" quote in I Love You Man used to get me.

6. If you were stranded on a desert island, with your computer, what 3 websites would you take with you?

New York Times, Tumblr and Vice.

7. What do you do when Not Working?

Drinking, socializing, traveling, and hanging out with my lovely girlfriend.

8. Do you have a hidden talent?

I really enjoy photography in my off time. A talent that I hope one day to make more use of.

9. Do you have any tips for freelancers and fellow full-timers?

Get as much experience as you can. If you aren't happy, change it.

10. What's your favorite thing on the internet this week?

The last couple episodes of Radiolab were pretty amazing. Boston Big Picture is always fun to explore and Tim Goodman and Jessica Walsh's book release antics have been fun to follow.

11. Who are some other WNW members whose work you admire, and why?

That's such an unfair question haha. I really believe that everyone on WNW is insanely talented, that's what makes WNW what it is.

If I had to name a few though they would be Skip Hursh who I was lucky enough to hire when I was at Tumblr. The guy is super-conceptual and seems to be capable of doing anything. Another guy that I really respect is Derrick Lee who I worked with at Mother NY and is now at Nike in Portland. Last would probably be Brent Couchman who in the last year opened up his own shop in SF, the guy's a monster. Oh and Mike Burton, because the dude is Mikey Burton.

More of Dan's Work

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MEET #4977 CHARLIE CLARK

Working Not Working February 17, 2015

MEET #4977 CHARLIE CLARK

Front-End Developer • New York, NY

WNW Member #4977 Charlie Clark graduated from Parsons in 2012, and has since been working as a developer, building a number of award-winning sites. He's currently a full-timer at B-Reel. Charlie offers some advice to his fellow creatives: "Whenever you have an idea, write it down. Then, whenever you have some spare tame, look at your list, pick an idea and start working on it, and then keep pushing it until you have something that you’re happy with. And don’t keep your work to yourself! Share it all over the place, you never know what people are going to like."

The Colors of Motion

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1. How long have you been full-time? How do you weigh the benefits of freelancing and full-timing?

I’ve been full-time for almost 3 years, since I graduated from school. Aside from small projects I don’t have much experience freelancing. But as far as I can tell there are advantages and disadvantages to both. As a freelancer, you have more flexibility to move around, and - if you’re good enough - to cherry pick your projects. As a full-timer however, I think you’re more likely to work on the more fun and experimental projects, which is often where you learn new skills.

2. Is there a time or place that you feel most creative/have the best ideas?

I really like working in coffee shops. That’s usually where I like to be when I’m working on a personal project. Some people find the noise distracting, but for me it’s almost the opposite. There’s this place around the corner from my apartment that has great wifi and where a lot of people go to work and the energy is contagious.

3. What's your ideal Working:Not Working ratio?

I’d love to have more time to work on my personal projects. I think if I could one day strike a 50:50 ratio of Working:Not Working I’d be really happy.

4. Do your parents understand what you do?

Hah. They know that I do something with computers and the internet, but as soon as I mention writing code their eyes glaze over.

5. What scene from a movie makes you laugh just thinking about it?

In Hannah and Her Sisters, Wood Allen’s character is a huge hypochondriac. He convinces himself that he’s got a brain tumor or something. When he goes to the doctor and finds out that he’s totally fine, he’s relieved and happy for like five minutes, before his fear of death kicks in again. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac myself and I find that scene pretty hilarious.

6. If you were stranded on a desert island, with your computer, what 3 websites would you take with you?

Netflix, Wikipedia and Reddit.

7. What do you do when Not Working?

When I’m not working I like to check out new restaurants. I also like to cook. Basically I really like food. I’m also into yoga, movies, cocktails and running (preferably not in that order.)

8. Do you have a hidden talent?

I make a pretty mean guacamole.

9. Do you have any tips for freelancers and fellow full-timers?

The cool thing about being a developer is that if you have an idea, chances are you can execute it (or at least prototype it.) So my advice is this: whenever you have an idea, write it down. Then, whenever you have some spare tame, look at your list, pick an idea and start working on it, and then keep pushing it until you have something that you’re happy with. And don’t keep your work to yourself! Share it all over the place, you never know what people are going to like.

10. What's your favorite thing on the internet this week?

I thought this was pretty neat: http://www.fromanchovy.com. Type to create gradients that can be made into silk scarves.

11. Who are some other WNW members whose work you admire?

Mathias Paumgarten, Kyle Phillips, Simon Lindsay, Daniel Savage

The Colors of Twitter

We Are Visual Animals

Popup Gradients

The Best Fucking Shit

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ON MONEY: KATE PROULX

Working Not Working January 30, 2015

ON MONEY: KATE PROULX

WNW Member #542 Kate Proulx is a full-time UX/IA Designer at Huge. She recently posted a refreshingly honest piece to her blog titled "On Money: How I got my shit together, paid off my credit cards, and finally started saving money." In the post, Kate opens up about her spending tendencies, and offers her take on personal budgeting programs. In her own words, "What's a self-sufficient and unsatisfied designer to do? Solve your own problems and make the thing you wish existed, duh. [I made] a plan for how to spend the money I have right now and am able to re-evaluate when I fuck up that plan."

We figured this was sound advice for all our members and wanted to learn more. So we spoke to Kate.

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Hi! Who are you?

I'm Kate Proulx, a digital product designer in Brooklyn, NY. I recently returned to Huge and I've been working on a mix of pitches and client work since I've been back. Before that, I was working at Studio Rodrigo, a small digital studio in Flatiron—they finally put up a website and it looks great, check it out!

You + money = ?

Frenemies.

When it comes to money, what's the toughest thing for you?

Impulse and patience! For a long time, when I had money in the bank I felt like I had to figure out what to do with it, like I couldn't just let it sit there. It sounds crazy, I know! Sometimes I still get those feelings—a lucky moment where my bank account is flush with cash and I'm like 'Hell yeah! Time to buy that rad leather jacket!' I have to remind myself to not think that way. Relatedly, I can feel really bad when I look at my savings account and feel like "I am NEVER going to get to my 10k savings goal, what's the point?"—I have to remind myself that saving takes time. Patience has never been my strong suit.

What inspired/motivated you to write this?

One of my resolutions is to write one real thing a month this year. I'm hoping that 2015 will be the year of less fluff, less re-blogging, less hype-manning and more of being a real person with thoughts & opinions. I think almost anyone that knows me in the real world (and not just on the internet) can attest that I am very honest, blunt, and prone to over-share. If that's what I want to see more of this year, why not be the one to set it off? This post felt like a baby step towards that.

How did you feel about going so public with this topic?

A bit nervous, for sure. I could have easily written the post without sharing anything about myself or my finances—you know, be a lot more safe about it—it's really scary to be open and vulnerable online, everyone has an opinion and isn't afraid to tell other people that they're wrong or why they suck. But like I said, I really want to read more things where people seem like people, and less perfect. I'm nowhere near an authority on money, the beginning of the post should make that clear, I'm just sharing a bit about what I suck at and something I made that helped me suck less at those things.

What's been the response so far?

People have been saying that they want to dig into it and give it a shot. That feels cool!

What's the biggest takeaway you want us to have?

Everyone has their own relationship and weirdness with money, and if you're someone who struggles with stuff, know that you're not alone. And sometimes you can build fast solutions out of unglamorous tools!

Did you learn anything about yourself in writing this?

Writing this made me realize that I've actually come a long way—I used to feel so shameful and avoid even looking at my bank account. Now I enjoy staying on top of stuff and making good choices. The second paragraph actually made me pat myself on the back a little bit and realize even if I haven't reached my 10k savings goal (yet!), I still have a lot to be proud of.

Why do you think creatives are stereotyped as being bad at managing money and other admin type stuff?

I don't believe that—I know so many freelancers that have their shit locked up. I like to think that people do what they're good at and what interests them, for me, if I was good at numbers and finance I'd probably have been better at school growing up and would have gone to business school.

Best piece of advice about money you can give us:

Last year when I was hanging out with my brother—he's the opposite of me, he plays golf and is a business consultant—he said "Dude, you need to realize that when you buy things on your credit cards that you can't pay off right away it's as if you're like 'Yeah, let me pay 20% more for this thing'—it's expensive money." It's so obvious, but it made me think a lot differently about buying things I can't afford right away on credit.

A Bit of Kate's Work:

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The Top Companies WNW Freelancers Would Kill to Work for Full-Time 2014

Working Not Working May 28, 2014

The Top Companies WNW Freelancers Would Kill to Work for Full-Time 2014

When we launched The UnJobBoard™ last month we asked Working Not Working creatives to choose the one place that would get them to give up the freelance life. We were overwhelmed with the variety of responses. Of the 187 total agencies, brands, studios, networks, magazines, publishers, blue chippers and startups that were mentioned, these were the 46 most popular. Some want to work in advertising, some want to work in tech and just a few want to shoot themselves into outer space. The diversity of these companies serves as both a testament to our members for finding new places to create and to the companies on this list that they're doing something right.