BrandiSea Design Studio

Because your design won't direct itself.

This week Michelle and Brandi interview Web Designer, Podcaster, and Letterer Tim Brown. They talk about blue collar clients, and who’s inspiring Tim right now.

Tim Brown’s info:

Instagram: timishness

Website: timbdesign.com

Twitter: @timbdesignmpls

Podcast: It’s A Code World

1:14 On this week’s episode we have Tim Brown, hailing all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota!

1:43 How Brandi and Tim crossed paths: Through Sean Wes and Instagram hashtags (#minnetype).

2:01 The #minnetype challenge on Instagram shows us Tim’s progress from Day 1. This guy is incredible! Go check out his stuff from beginning to end and be inspired!

3:49 Patience plays a huge part in getting better at what you’re trying to be better at.

4:00 Persistence pays off.

5:08 Putting pen to paper is therapeutic!!! DO IT.

6:00 Tim is primarily a web designer, and he also has his own podcast! Check it out!

8:46 It’s quicker (and more satisfying) to sketch on paper than it is to sketch from a sketch app.

9:15 How has he incorporated the #minnetype challenge into his work now?

9:41 It’s a loose interpretation. Some of the creative concepts, knowledge, and experience is used in his every day work now.

10:49 Typographical Contrast: A fancy font with a simple font… The contrast creates a type of interest. (This has to be some sort of psychological thing.)

11:00-12:00 Lots of Graphic Designer jargon is said in this minute. Try to keep up.

12:15 What is Tim’s Process?:

-Discovery meeting with the client

-Cleaning up the creative brief

-Paper wire frames

-Create a visual design of wire frame along with client feedback and iteration.

-Launch the website

13:21 What the heck is a wire frame?: A wire frame is creating the general structure of the website. The “bones to the house,” or a demo of a song.

15:58 Brandi asks, why doesn’t Tim iterate his websites in public on Instagram?

16:51 He likes to use Instagram as his accountability for specific things.

17:30 Sean Wes says that you have to be very careful how you curate things, but Tim shares the things he wants to share.

18:02 Tims work is kind of boring. It’s not very… “sexy.” (interesting.)

18:29 Mike Monteiro’s book, You’re My Favorite Client. It’s about process and maybe more…

20:00 It’s the money-making work, but it’s just not exciting for fun to look at.

21:04 Tim’s target audience is the “Blue Collar Baller.” 😀

21:30 What’s inspiring Tim right now?

21:50 Gary V! (Uh duh.)

Grant Cardone: The 10X Rule. A challenging book that says you should take a goal and multiply by 10. (A good place to start)

23:21 The Magic of 7. Another Sean Wes thing (big surprise).

28:00 Tim is currently (musically) into: Rae Sremmurd, Childish Gambino, Chromeo

29:00 When he’s in the creative zone he listens to this playlist he put together on Spotify: 10x Growth Conference

29:25 “Entrepreneurship is like eating glass!!!”

29:45 He’s also into a lot of wordless music like Tycho

30:26 Is Tim pursuing his passion?

30:26 Yes. It’s tiring, but there’s a lot more freedom.

31:52 Following your passion is very important. To do that you can create a lot more efficiency in your ability to be excited about what you’re doing as well as ready if you’re financially stable before you go into it. “Paving the path”

33:45 Tim talks about the fear he had to push through in order to go out on his own.

35:53 Make sure your self motivation is HIGH. like really really really HIGH.

36:30 Create that runway (pave that path) a few months out… Make sure that you will be ok for a certain amount without making money.

37:27 Don’t take on things that you know will suck.

39:30 Use the fear you have to your advantage! Work hard, get things done.

Find us on all forms of social media via @BrandiSea!: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and you can email us any questions you want Brandi to cover at brandi@brandisea.com. Thanks to Vesperteen for letting us use his creative genius (“Shatter in The Night”) in every episode of Design Speaks!