Advice to Young Future Designers

In case you haven’t heard of the website, The Great Discontent, they do these really interesting, long interviews of awesome famous artists, designers, etc.  They also always have a great photo of their subject.  A couple weeks ago they spoke to Olimpia Zagnoli, a great Italian illustrator.

When asked about advice for kids starting out she said:
“Be different. Keep your eyes open. Record everything you see, process it, and then spit it back out in your own very personal way. Get inspired by something that’s not just illustration. Be serious. Be silly. Get drunk sometimes. Dream a lot. Don’t think you can’t do it, because you can.”
– Olimpia Zagnoli viaTheGreatDiscontent

Their most recent interview with Matthew Smith was great in its entirety, but here is my favorite quote about his advice to young future designers:
“I would say three things. One, spend time learning the visual language rather than just learning to style.

Second, learn to be a businessperson. Designers need to know how to solve business-oriented problems and ask questions that get at the heart of things. If you don’t already listen to The Businessology Show with Dan Mall and Jason Blumer, that might be a good place to start. Jason was my CPA for a long time and is one of the smartest, most interesting people I’ve ever met and Dan is a business owner who is doing amazing things. As designers, we need to be well-versed in marketplace and business issues, otherwise we remain stylists.

Third, for those designers who have a similar story to mine, limit your exposure to approval. Find the people you trust the most and stick with them. Ask them to help you build your own set of judgements to know when you’re doing great work because the guys who tell you that you’re one pixel off are not doing you any favors.”
– Matthew Smith viaTheGreatDiscontent

IMAGES: Olimpia Zagnoli illustrations here // here // here

Link Round Up!

1. Vintage Vogue Magazine Covers From The Early 20th Century. here.
2. Deb from smitten kitchen posted this recipe for her favorite brownies, and trust, when she posts it, it is gonna be good. Everything I’ve ever made from her site has turned out awesome! Plus, she’s one of the most famous and oldest food bloggers around! here
3. A creative review of the 2012 London Olympics. (for me, really interesting.. ) here
4. According to Vanity Fair these are the most fashionable films of all time.  WaxWane did an interesting post about a film they may have forgotten..
5. I her first 3 days Tina Roth Eisenberg (one of my favorite lady crushes of ALL-TIME) surpassed her financial goal in kickstarter! DAMN STRAIGHT I want to support this! I’ve mentioned Creative Mornings videos a couple times on my blog already (here, here), because they really are so good (note: IF you’re interested in working in the creative industry). They also just have a great concept behind them: get the inspiring feeling of a conference more often! And for cheaper!  You can get to the Creative Mornings Website kickstarter page here.
6. This pinterest board called ‘SPACE’. Amazing uses of space and light, and some awesome installations, if I do say so myself.
7. This song. Bang Bang He Shot Me Down by Nancy Sinatra. It kills me..
8. The quote above was said by Seth Godin on The Great Discontent and was found viaSwissMiss.
For this quote I did not want to use any fancy fonts or any graphic design. I could not bear even to use color in the background.  It all just looked so wrong. I just wanted the quote to speak to the world and to any of my readers that may happen upon it.  For you all, Pick yourself.