Creative agencies are never short of work you’ve never done before

Tell me something that’s true, that almost nobody agrees with you?

I’ve gotten into some unusually heated arguments about my feelings on ketchup. It’s absolute trash when it comes to condiments. Any adult in the western world over the age of 5 shouldn’t have to reach for red sugar paste in order for their food to taste better! It’s flavorless, unhealthy, and completely inferior to mustard in every way. It’s surprising how often you have to defend that position in the US.

How did you get interested in web3 and what you are currently working on?

A couple months before 2020’s “boom”, a close friend of mine ran me through what he understood about bitcoin while we waited in a Wendy’s drive-thru. I got my first few coin investments before the end of the line. I happened to bring it up to a few other friends, and the more we talked and looked things up together, the more I was excited about how much bigger web3 was than I originally understood.

I don’t write any code in the space yet, but I have launched one series modifying famous logos into NFT’s. More recently, I did the branding for FingerprintsDAO, who own the $PRINTS coin, and have a very nice virtual gallery that I’ve visited a couple of times. I’d love to do more branding work in this space.

What soft & hard skills have been most helpful in helping you succeed in web3?

I’d say the biggest “skill” per se, is actually just doing the thing you said you would do. Not as many people are overly practiced in this space yet, so I think it’s more important to just see an idea through to the end. Honestly, that’s probably been my most helpful discovery in any creative or technical projects.

What’s the best thing about your job? The most challenging?

Creative agencies are never short of work you’ve never done before, that needs to get done right here, right now. I think that’s something that works well for my brain; it has an easier time working through new problems with a little pressure behind it. There’s always a new project, and when you have an office like I work with, there’s always good teammates to help you with ideas and problem solving.

I honestly think the best part of that is seeing each new project when it goes live to the public, and you get to celebrate your blood, sweat, and tears.

What is different working as a Designer for web3 & blockchain projects?

Less pressure! As someone that still very actively codes for the current web, any project always has that thing in the back of my mind that goes “it still has to work, how am I supposed to make that work?” But a project that comes along that is design-only, I can let someone else worry about the nittiest and grittiest. A designer is then freed up to focus on accessibility and legibility, or other visual/audio needs that need to be met. It can get pretty messy trying to focus on both.

What are the best decisions and the worst decisions you have made in this industry?

Oh man. Well, the best would be to find a regular-ass job that pays well and forget about all this career fulfillment, right?! No, the best decision was definitely to stay in when the going got tough. I think very few designers are ever really worth their mettle out of school, and if you can stick it out and improve through all the muddy times, you’ll learn that the most important part of being hired as a designer is sometimes just following through and getting it done.

The worst decision…that might have been the time I accidentally published a website’s copyright as “©1998 – 2000-late”. Definitely don’t try to put in jokes for another developer to catch before a production release goes out! I’ve also had some inconspicuous things on my desktop while doing screen recordings…but those don’t need to be told right now.

What is your favorite web3 Project? Among the people you’ve worked/interacted with in web3, who do you admire most and why?

I get really into generative art projects – the concept of randomized, programmable art projects is just mind blowing to me. I’ve seen it used for audio and visual projects, too. I think for my exploration so far, I enjoy DEAFBEEF’s generative art the most; especially the Transmission series. I didn’t interact with the artist directly, but they were an influence to the type of creative work I did for the DAO that curated his work.

Favorite web3 thinker on social media?

I don’t know if he qualifies as a “web3 thinker” necessarily, but Dann Petty is someone who had a very similar entrance into the space as I did. Graphic design wasn’t a widely sought discipline for the space when I started researching it, compared to digital illustrators or 3D videographers. He’s got a huge audience from Dribbble, so it’s nice to read his positive takes on a designer’s role in the growing web.

What is your vision for your niche? What do you expect to come in the next few years? What developments in the field do you find to be the most exciting?

I honestly try not to picture too far ahead. So far, I’ve always been pretty wrong about what I thought my life was going to evolve into, but it’s been for the better. From my recent experiences in VR and AR, I have to imagine at some point I’ll be interacting with them; sometime in the next 5 years, at least.

Until then, I really do enjoy designing and coding for a browser. I mean, look at how far JavaScript has come in its two decades, I can’t even begin to picture what comes in the next decade of releases!

What quote has actually stuck with you and changed your life?

It’s a little embarrassing, but in an Oscars acceptance speech, McConaughey essentially listed his future self (in 10 years) as his hero/mentor. At surface level, it seems very narcissistic. But, the more I thought about it, doesn’t everyone kind of idealize their next decade? Or at least, have some sort of picture of how much better you’ll be at X, Y, or Z?

I kind of use that gut feeling as my drive to do more, rather than sit back in security. I mean, I should really hope 42 years old Derek can design a better logo, or build a better code project than 32 years old I can! They should be living the dream compared to now! And fortunately enough, when I think back to 10 years ago, I am doing exactly what I assumed was mostly a pipe dream. So, it must be working?

Any tips for beginners who aspire to work in this domain, but feel completely overwhelmed to even start competing?

Oh man, it will certainly help to know that everyone is overwhelmed when it comes to starting out! But, much like working in any tech project, you fail a lot while trying to do some basic things for a while at the beginning, and things slowly begin to make more sense the more experiments you try. Know that there isn’t an exact right place to start, just work up enough internal drive one day and jump all the way in! Your first projects won’t meet your standards, but the next few might. And the next few after that, you may even impress yourself.