Design Feast Series: Designer’s Quest(ionnaire)

Callie Neylan

Designer and Curator / Producer / Moderator at AIGA

Primary design concentration:

Interactive, but I’m trying to move into film. 

Most preferred tool for designing:

Pencils, Prismacolor markers, a Moleskine, my laptop. And my brain.

1. How and why did you choose to become a designer?

Hmmm.... Well, I think design kinda chose me. I’ve always been kind of artistic; I used to paint Christmas windows to earn extra cash as a teenager in my hometown of Durango, CO. That's how it all started.

But I’ve also always been pretty good at science and math; my husband has told me more than once that I'd make a great engineer. Design is a perfect melding of both sides of the brain, the analytical and the artistic. That’s why I chose it back.

2. Challenges you encounter as a designer and how do you deal with them?

Being creative on demand. And trying to focus on just one design discipline. I’m a sucker for all of them: industrial, graphic, architecture, fashion, photography.

3. Your definition of an “elegant solution,” that is, good design?

Simplicity. Good design is more about what you leave out than what you put in.

4. From skills to values, what makes a designer successful?

Talent combined with empathy and really good people skills. I’ve met some really great designers who were total assholes. I’ve also met some mediocre designers who were assholes, which is a lot less of a shame, but still. Who wants to deal with mean people, talented or not?

5. How do you stay motivated and grow personally and professionally as a designer?

I try to expose myself to as many experiences as I can and to keep my mind open to new things. I read a lot. I travel. I try to surround myself by designers more talented than I am. A lot of my friends are from foreign countries: very stimulating.

6. For those aspiring to become a designer, whatever the discipline,what is your advice?

That producing good design is a lot harder than it appears. If you’re going to pursue it as a profession, make sure you love it. Make sure it consumes you. Don’t take your insecurities out on fellow designers. It’s a collaborative profession that requires a lot of teamwork and swallowing your ego. And to open your mind. Design is not a good profession for the skinny-minded.

7. What is your quest in design?

This is so cliché, I know. But to make a difference. To someday help design a product that fills a need for the world’s underprivileged in some way. It’s not fair that the top 10% or so of the world’s population benefits from 90% of design innovations. I would like to help change those numbers.

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