This week we wanted to talk about why it’s a good thing to share your imperfect work. Thanks for joining us!

Featured Music:

The Civil Wars – “Billie Jean”

Shawn Mendez – “In My Blood”

Inspirations, Thoughts, & What We’ve Been Up T0

Sharing your imperfect work and the benefits of doing so. But before we get into that we talk about Brandi’s week where she took a trip to Cancun for her mother-in-law’s wedding. She also shares about her experience at a Michael Jackson tribute show, and her song this week goes right along with that as it is Billy Jean by the Civil Wars. We hear all about Michelle getting into the Christmas spirit as she got her Christmas tree and found a new great Christmas movie on Netflix, however, she is not listening to just Christmas music as she brings In my Blood by Shawn Mendes which is a pop song Brandi has heard. Shocker!

Then we jump into the topic this week, which is the benefits of showing your progress even if it may be imperfect. It can be a sign of relief seeing that another designer’s sketches are as rough as your’s may be. Brandi also encourages the listeners that it’s okay if in the early stages of your design process look awful. Your sketches should only be for you in your process. And your sketches are a great roadmap to see how you got to your final design. It can also be really fun for your followers to see behind the scenes of your work, to see how you got to your final result. However, we also discuss the question of if there is ever a time when someone should not share their imperfect work. Brandi encourages listeners to maybe plan posts accordingly so as to not give your client a panic attack because of what you may do in your process make sure that you share what your client is okay with you sharing. Don’t release branding they aren’t ready to release, but never be afraid to share bits of your process just because it isn’t “perfect”.

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK!!!!

“Because… I really needed it. I am a mom of 2 girls and a wife. I was a graphic designer 20 years ago. I drifted away from it to do other things. Became a wife, a mom, a stay at home Home Schooler Mom. Found out that Pricate school is a better fit for our family and came back to design with a born again love for Adobe Photoshop. I was searching for a good podcast about design and randomly found you. God Moment. Thank you for being there.”  – Krista’s Design on iTunes

Find us on all forms of social media via @BrandiSea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and you can email us any burning questions you want Brandi to answer on an episode at brandi@brandisea.com.

THANK YOU to the ultra-talented  Vesperteen (Colin Rigsby) for letting us use his (“Shatter in The Night”) track in every episode of Design Speaks.

Transcription:
Michelle: This week we will be talking about sharing your imperfect work and the benefits of doing so. Side note, Brandi is tired this week because she just got back from vacation and vacation tires you out?

B: Specifically travel tires you out. Luging around your luggage, anxiety from flying. All of it just wears you out.

M: So since we’re on the subject of your recent travel should we jump into your week?

B: Sure, so I guess it’s been 2 weeks since last week we had a sabbatical week. Which I wanted to clarify the sabbatical week with you guys. So we don’t burn out since we are sticking to this thing for the long haul.

M: Yeah, we decided we are recording 6 episodes, and on the 7th we will record either a short episode or a fun little blurb of something or we do a throwback episode, and this last week we did a throwback.

B: Yeah, it’s a chance for us to just take some time off, for Joelle not to have to type show notes, and for us not having to record a full episode. And this is a Sean Wes thing. He started doing what we are doing, taking every 7th week off, he pays his employees to take every 7th week off. He is also starting to take every 7th month off, and he’s working towards taking his 7th year off. There’s something significant about taking that 7th day, week, a year off. It’s important for our sanity and it does help us be more productive when we don’t feel like this thing is killing us.

But for now, back to my week, we just had Thanksgiving which was more traveling. My family is all over New Mexico, but we got lots of amazing food, my pants are feeling a bit snug these days. That’s probably why everyone wants to do something in the new year about it, you hit the holidays and you feel so bloated. Also, this past weekend, my mother-in-law got married in Cancun Mexico, so I was in Cancun from Thursday to Sunday and we are recording this on Monday. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called The Moon Palace which despite sounding pretty goofy was actually really nice. I had never experienced all-inclusive resort and I was just starting to adjust to it when we had to leave. Also, the sand! I have never felt sand like that before in my life. It was like flour. I took lots of pictures we I’ll be posting those. They also had a Michael Jackson tribute show, and it was interesting and actually kind of fun, I didn’t want to like it, but I kinda did. They had a guy who memorized his moves and parts from his show to make it as true to life as it would have been. And this leads perfectly into my song this week which is a song I was listening to a bunch before the trip, but it’s a cover to a Michael Jackson song, Billy Jean but the Civil Wars I hope you enjoy it.
Brandi’s song: Billy Jean by the Civil Wars
I’m very surprised that I haven’t brought a Civil Wars song yet. I am a huge Civil Wars fan. I have all of their things on vinyl, but they are no longer a band which breaks my heart. But we can move on, how has your two weeks been?

M: Well, Thanksgiving also happened for me, lots of food, my pants are also feeling tighter like yours. Right after that we went and got our Christmas tree and decorated the house for Christmas. We usually go cut down a Christmas tree every year, but this year we decided not to. Kelly, was really upset about it this year but he just told me it was a good idea because we really didn’t have time to do it this year. It takes basically a whole day, the permit to cut the tree only costs $10.00, it’s $1.00 a foot so we usually get about a 10 foot tree, which isn’t a lot until you realize you have to drive to the specific spot where your allowed to cut a tree which means gas money, it takes the whole day, you have to pack a lunch, hunt for the tree, so all that to say we skipped it this year and I was just fine with that. So we just went to Lowe’s and got a tree and it smells so good! And we’ve been watching Christmas movies like a crazy family this year. My favorite Christmas movie this year is new and on Netflix, unfortunately, it is not family friendly, but it’s called the Christmas Chronicles Kurt Russell is so good! We’ve watched it like 3 times. That’s it for me, it’s literally just been Christmas. My song this week, however, is not Christmas. I have been obsessed this week with Shawn Mendes and I’m bringing the song In My Blood, I love it so much. And little-known fact, he actually got his start on vine back in 2011. Anyway, I’ve really been loving this song because I’ve been noticing lately that people are coming out and talking about their struggle with anxiety. This song really encompasses that idea of fear and anxiety but also saying I can’t give up it’s not in my blood.

Michelle’s song: In My Blood by Shawn Mendes

Alright, so I guess we can get to the topic this week which is the benefits of showing your progress even if it is imperfect, or maybe even especially because it may be imperfect.

B: Alright, so I did get the benefit of knowing you were bringing this topic because at the end of the year closely approaches we are trying to plan out our episodes ahead of time. This week’s topic is good because recently I posted some rough sketches of a logo I’ve been working on for an author named Dakota Cook and they were just really rough sketches. I have told you guys before that I am not an illustrator, I don’t want to be, and when I am in the sketching phase it is really just a way for me to get my rough ideas across to myself. It’s just to get it out of my head onto paper so I can see if in case I want to execute that idea later. It could be random shapes with notes telling me what it is supposed to be. This time it was a logo with words only. Just words no graphics. So, it really just came down to typefaces, but that gets difficult when you are just doing it freehand. So when it came to actually share this part of my process it was a lot of over thinking because I’ve seen some other people logos at this stage and it looks basically finished. So I can start looking at how I’m not as good as that, but this is the way I do it. So I opted to share it anyway. Either I share my process and show people how I actually work, or I share nothing and people just assume my process is something that it’s not. And because I shared this part of my process I ended up getting some messages from people who were so grateful that I did. Part of what I wrote was that these sketches are for me not to show to clients. It’s not for trying to get people to hire me, it is for after I have a client, it is my process and how I work through stuff. It is what that specific phase looks like and it is what works for me.

As far as benefits, I’ve been realizing this for a while. I have a personal Instagram and I’ve been posting these real-life projects, it’s just something I do now and I’ve been doing it for almost 2 years. I try and take a picture or pictures with my kids, my family, my work, whatever it is I may be doing. I’ve been getting some response back about it and I’ve been trying to figure out ways to incorporate it more into my work while still keeping it curated to what I want it to be. I just don’t want to be so caught up in not posting something because it’s the wrong color or whatever. That’s fine if that’s something you want on your page, keeping it more matchy-matchy, but for me to reach the people who I want to reach I need to keep it more authentic. The most curated thing I’m doing at this post is keeping things either black and white or in color. It just all around makes you more relatable, especially to young designers, young creatives who are just wondering if that they are doing is enough. It can be helpful to see a more professional designers sketches when they look more like your own sketches. It’s a sign of relief when other designers are like you. I also got another comment back from someone who liked the idea of their sketches being for them. Which is really how it should be. Your sketches in the early stages of your design should be rough and just for the purpose of getting out as many ideas as you possibly can. It’s visual brainstorming, and showing that you sketch as part of your process shows that you don’t just have bright ideas right off the top of your head. You don’t just sit at your computer and then magic happens. Another great thing about having this stage is that it shows you how you got to where you were in the end. It shows how you think and how you work.

M: Very rarely does someone sit down and have one idea that explodes and goes all over the world. That’s not really how it works, even though some people can make it seem that way. Usually, your best idea isn’t your first idea.

B: So true, and I also think that it can be really fun to have a look behind the scenes. Often times a designer can just show you the finished product, but it can be really fun to see how they got to that final design. I do really like that, to have work to look at for inspiration. I follow photographer and bloggers who will post time lapses of their behind the scenes stuff and you can see all the many hours that went behind one post or one photo, and you can see how everything else is pretty much a mess. It helps you relate to them and realize they are like you. You don’t have to stress over your office not looking perfect, or that your work space isn’t completely organized. Don’t get me wrong, I try to keep my work space clean because I work better that way, I try to keep photos clean because they focus a lot better that way, but every once in awhile it’s ok to share imperfect stuff because it makes you more relatable.

M: Is there anytime when people should not share their imperfect work?

B: I don’t think there is a time when you shouldn’t just because it is imperfect. I think maybe there are times you shouldn’t if they are still in the design process. I waited to share this post until after I had already sent my client the final design. Because with social media now your client has the opportunity to maybe see what you post and either say, ‘oh I love what they are doing’, or they could panic because they don’t understand it. SO I would encourage you to not share things you are not comfortable with your client seeing yet. But if it’s just a personal project, share often. Also be aware if you’re working on branding that your client it’s ready to release yet. So really it depends but share at your discretion. Specifically though, if you are afraid to share your work because it is imperfect, just do it. Don’t be like me and let something sit in your draft for a week because you’re afraid to let it go.

So that’s all I had for that topic, remember we are here for you.

M: Yes, so if you have any questions or comments you can email us at brandi.sea@gmail.com You can also find us on Instagram via @brandisea We are still trying to figure out our design speaks page but you can go follow us there now if you want to be ahead of the game @designspeakspodcast

Also huge thanks to Vesperteen for letting us use his song Shatter in the Night as our intro and outro music