SCAD to Pentagram to an air mattress
Three books that will make designers feel like everything will be okay after they graduate
With graduation approaching, I found an irrational air of uncertainty hanging over my head. Where I would be going, and what I would be doing once I graduated? I remember working on my physical portfolio senior year, while already having the good fortune of having an internship at Pentagram lined up and still felt like once I walked in the door there, they’d see I looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo and fire me immediately. I felt like I didn’t know anything then, and lucked into an internship at an incredible firm. There was this weird chasm that I would need to hop in order to feel alright once I got there, so I read a few books. Some of them helped me feel like everything would be okay.
Never Sleep: Graduating to Graphic Design
What a weird book. It’s set entirely in Courier and Arial—an active avoidance of feedback they received from friends. I loved this book. It set me on a course that made me feel like things would be okay even if I didn’t know what was going to happen after college. Andre and Dan take you through a series of stories from graduating to working at MTV, to eventually starting their own firm. If you’re a graduating designer, I highly recommend this read. It was the most relevant book I found when I was in that position.
How to Be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul
All throughout college, my end goal was to start my own design firm. I asked my professors a billion questions about boring logistical things all the time. So many “What if…” questions about how to treat clients or to how to invoice properly. This book provided me with a lot of insight into what running a firm or being a freelancer might be like in a time when my experience was slim to non-existent.
It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be
Three months into my internship at Pentagram, I emailed a few of my professors at SCAD asking them if it was okay to leave Pentagram. I got a range of responses, from “No.” to “No, stick around at least a year.” to “I’d leave my teaching job just to take your spot.” So like Andre and Dan using Arial and Courier in Never Sleep, I decided to ignore their advice and leave Pentagram four months into my internship. When I left my boss/the associate partner on the team I was working for gave me a Pentagram Bible, and this book. It gave me the confidence that even though I was leaving this incredible place, I’d be alright. If I wanted to be.
After Pentagram
I left Pentagram to work on a startup with some friends back home in Vegas. I was living in one of my buds spare rooms, sleeping on an air mattress for the better part of a year. Long enough for it to transform from an air mattress to a giant, uncomfortable, plastic blob. I ran out of money not long after that and was getting hounded by Sallie Mae, Chase, and whoever else I owed money to. It was great.
After about three years of that I worked at another startup where I had a salary. That was pretty sweet. And about a year and a half after that I started Motel. And, get this—I’m not dead!
If I had two lives I could live simultaneously I would have loved to see where that Pentagram track would have taken me, but I’m pretty happy with where leaving has brought me.
