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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.
Callie Neylan is currently
a Lecturer at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Her sources of inspiration include other designers,
especially those of other disciplines, design annuals,
books, Leonardo da Vinci’s codices, and the
visual arts in general, especially photography and
cinematography. Her blog is 1934.
Image courtesy of Balakov
at flickr
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