Month: October 2022

About 16 years ago I joined a band. I had just gone to trial for crimes related to graffiti. I painted trains through my teens and early 20’s and an old warrant I was completely unaware of caught up with me. The result of this was distancing myself from a long time friend group, most of whom were graffiti writers. I was feeling pretty directionless.

A friend of mine contacted me and said she was starting a band. I was living with a drummer at the time and had been casually playing drums in the living room in my spare time. with the limited experience I had playing the drums I was hesitant to join a band. My friend said she didn’t care and the band was wildly experimental and I could make my own percussive instruments. So I did. Over the next 6 months we went on two tours and recorded and album in Seattle. It was on this trip that my friend decided to move here. She encouraged me to move too.

Leaving all of my friends and family behind. I got on a plane and flew to Seattle. I had very little money as I was still paying off restitution from my trial. I had no friends or support group other than the band I was in. This change of scenery made me anxious, but I just kept reminding myself that if I ever wanted to I could move back home and everything would be the same. 15 years later I’m still here.

I found Joe Hollack’s lecture fascinating. I was surprised by his candid approach to presenting some of the truths about what working for one of the world’s largest companies could look like.

I’ve primarily focused on illustration and comics works for small companies, bands, and alternative newspapers. In other words environments with a specific audience and a low information density. In these settings I only need to empathize with small groups. I find it much easier to focus on a singular audience than say, the entire world. At this point it seems likely that I’ll stick to that trajectory. But! I entered this program with the hopes of expanding my horizons and finding ways to make meaningful and accessible work. That, and I want to make money. Based on Joe’s lecture it seems like it might be possible to achieve both things simultaneously.

I’m not sure what type of environment I’ll eventually want to work in. My participation in this program is an effort to figure that out. Admittedly, when considering working for a company like Microsoft I immediately feel some internal resistance. Half of it is the idea that I won’t be able to maintain my integrity working for a gigantic company, the other half is a fear of failure. After all what could I possibly offer the The Wizard of Oz? So I’ll probably need to do some soul massaging on that topic. Joe and his colleagues painted a picture in which some corporate designers mostly focus on being empathetic to users, while admitting their vulnerabilities and working together to create products that are effective for huge portions of the population. That seems pretty good. Is it real? I don’t know. Is it a part of my future? I’ll let you know at the end of year two.