The best graphic designers come in all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life. But what do they all have in common? They all share a core set of traits – the same traits that transform a good graphic designer, into a kick ass awesome designer!

But what are those traits, we hear you cry?

Join The Angry Designers as they share their top 10 traits of really really successful Graphic Designers. In this episode, the bearded not-so-buff guys share:

• where this list came from
• the traits (you’ll have to listen to find those out)
• what it takes to go the distance

This episode will make you realize traits you have, you want to work on to get better at, and ones you need. 

 00:00
Dude, I'm going to do this longer than I'm going to be a designer 70 year designer. Oh, I'm loving this right now. I started young enough that I'm going to be a 70 year designers. I'm going to f*****g make sure that happens. That's awesome. Yeah, I know you will crush it. Hit my chest. Designer will cut through the industry down frustrated graphic designers, survive and thrive. Well, we're here to talk about today is traits that graphic designers have some of the most popular traits of very, very good graphic designers. I'm going to say they're very good because number one, we involved our team with this. Our team is really good and they're really good. At the same time went, we did quite a bit of research on this one. When we looked at, some of the top design, we kind of dissected what they were saying, how they were seeing it. 

 01:11
What we've done is we've come up with like a top 10 list of some of the most common traits or characteristics of really good graphic design. We're not talking about the guys that all flashy that show up today are gone tomorrow. We're talking about the lifers. We're talking about the people that have been hanging around forever. The people that I think we kind of aspire to be, right? Yeah. I mean, I, I do anyway. Yeah, totally. Like I said, I've been at this almost twenty-five years. Right? Maybe even more if I go into my early teens when actually, when I got my first paid job, but the reality is I don't even think I met my prime yet. I've been at this for 25 years. Awesome. I feel like it's all just coming together, which is scary. Yeah. At the 12, 15 year mark, I feel like it was like, okay. 

 01:57
I figured out the business portion now let's go back to focusing on, but man, now it's just like, I'm just, I'm believing it. I'm feeling it. It's all just coming to the matrix, s**t happens. He's looking at the bullets go by. Right. And it's you. Yeah. You're so right now my light I'm walking around the mall and I don't see people shapes. I see a circle for a head with a cylinder for a body, squares for this. I'm just, I'm like, wow, what am I? Oh, that's great. Oh my God. Yes. Before we get into this, please, by all means, everybody hit us up, drop us some pretty decent reviews. If you can, if you like this episode, cause reviews actually help us get seen in other countries. That's kind of important because our message is spreading. We've got some really cool people all over the world. 

 02:49
We've hit up in Norway, in Portugal, in Australia, India. I'm, I'm totally loving this because the reality is there are angry designers all over the f*****g world and we need to spread this message that it's okay to be angry designer and just use us to be that outlet for it. That's right. Right. 

 03:10
Hey, how come anger isn't on this list should be number one. You're probably a designer. 

 03:18
That would only apply to the country of Italy. Yeah. I said it that way. Okay. Italian graphic design trades. Number one, anger. Number two, bastion. 

 03:31
Basha number three. Anger. 

 03:37
Well, that's kind of how this all started. Funny thing is it's. Cause again, not that I'm always p****d off. Yes, but we're really not because I'm f*****g because I'm Italian. Every time I talk, people are like, dude, why are you yelling? I'm like, honey, what are you talking about? Yeah, 

 03:51
No, I'm Italian. This is how I talk. I remember going to Italy and ask you for directions. Like, I don't know what he said. He said that like p****s me off, but it was probably like, your wife is beautiful and you are a nice guy. I'm going to tell you so true. You sound so angry. Very angry, but very passionate. I ended up at the top. 

 04:19
Okay. So here we start this list. What we've done is we've taken a giant list. I'm like, 30 plus traits, right. That we've found from lists, from reading articles, right. We've taken this and we've circled that around to our design community. We've gotten everybody to either add, subtract, and rank these. What we've got here are our top list of 10 classic Kravet graphic design traits that I think make a great designer. Yeah, no, totally. 

 04:49
Yeah. No, I think this is great. This is very true. Because some of these things I've met, other people you are stronger in other aspects of it and then weaker in myself. Like. 

 04:59
I'm not, I'm not all of this either. 

 05:02
I know, but it's something to work for. Right. 

 05:05
Right. And, and I think I'm being conscious of it, so. Okay. So let's start. The first graphic design trait graphic that, why is that so hard to say too much? Bourbon graphic design trait. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Communication skills is so f*****g important for a graphic designer to have good communication skills across the board. We were in the communication industry. Okay. We have to communicate with our clients. We have to communicate with our team, our staff, everything. Right. Communication is huge. And we totally underestimate this. Right. We broke this one down into two parts, number one, communicating your ideas and let's face it, Sean. Yep. 

 05:48
Do you do reels? 

 05:51
I am so bad at this guys. I apologize, but like, I mean, God bless those people. Who've been working with me for years who can dissect the indigo Matic s**t that comes out of my mouth when I'm asking them, don't you get what I'm saying for fuck's sake, but it's true. You need to be able to articulate in a very clear manner. You know what you're thinking, your thoughts. Right. Cause it's not up to other people to sit there and try to piece together the s**t that's coming out of your mouth. You're supposed to be a communication expert. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So in my opinion, 

 06:26
Oh, I, I think, it's funny cause we're just looking at stuff like designs that I done that you were looking at and you're like, I think what if he did, and then it was like, I knew what you're talking about. You know what I mean? Because it's like, oh yes, this is good. This is totally makes sense. Now then we've solved it, figured it out. And where you go kind of thing. 

 06:46
It's so funny. I saw this video on YouTube and it was a father and his two kids, son, daughter. Right. The whole task was, tell me, write down the steps to make a peanut butter sandwich. This video went on for the kids were so frustrated because it's like, we take language for granted, open a jar of peanut butter. He was like, how the hell do I eat these rankings? And they're like, no. Yeah, no. Again, they had to go back whist, open the candy, put the peanut butter on top of the bread. He would take the can and put it on the brand. And it's true. And it, I honestly challenge you. Okay, go watch this video as simple as making a peanut butter sandwich and kids. Totally. Right. And it's like, wow, like believable. Right? So communication skills are huge. So number one, communicating what you're thinking. 

 07:45
Number one, but number two, and this one, in my opinion is the most important communication skill listening. See. Many times graphic designers are guilty of listening. Just, just to prove a point or disprove a point. Yeah. They don't listen to understand. Yes. Right. They're trying to listen only to find it someplace where they can defend their stance. That's not what this is about. No. Right. No key is you need to listen to try to understand the person, understand what they're saying, understand the problem. Yes. If you go into a project with a preconceived idea that you've already figured this out, no matter what they're going to tell you're going to basically just discarded. It's only to give you some confirmation bias. Right? This is a challenge. That's good. We've had a lot of people we've had many, many awesome employees, great designers, horrible listeners, terrible. 

 08:43
Right. They couldn't listen to a brief the way the client was saying they would make their own assumptions and put that ahead of everything else. So they weren't listening to understand. Right. To me of the communication skills, communicating your ideas, one thing. Yep. Okay. Which in all fairness, I've proved that it's possible to suck at and still kind of be quasi successful. More importantly, I think I do pride myself on being a damn good listener and try to listen to all the points and then piece that s**t together. 

 09:11
Yeah. Big time. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's the key. Cause you're you gotta have big ears to do this job really. Right. 

 09:18
Yeah. You need to take it all in and not have a bias. And that's the hard part I think. 

 09:25
And, but that's again, that's I think that's the cool part of that is like you're taking, you're filtering in this information, through the experience and what you bring to the table, your, your talents and things like that. Right. That's the beauty of it. Because then if you're just listening and it's going out here doing whatever you want, how's that gonna make you gainfully employed to salute? You know what I mean? Like this doesn't make any sense, 

 09:51
He knows those people that they don't matter what you say. That's true. That's it? 

 09:55
I've got this idea in my head. I was like that when I was a young buck. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. I was. 

 10:02
Really young. Cause I knew you was like 20, 25 years ago. You were. 

 10:04
Pretty chill dude. Back then I was, but it was, I I've learned that, in order, like I, cause I hated revisions. If you listened the first time, you don't have to do as many revisions. But anyway. Yeah. So it's a skill. I think that you have to take a long time to learn basically. 

 10:25
All right. Number two, number two, important graphic design trait, observation. Right. And this is actually huge, right? People don't realize that, we w we kind of mentioned it in the past, the last podcast, like you are constantly absorbing good graphic designers. I'm constantly absorbing the world around them. And I didn't even realize it. You go into the apple store, you're just walking past all the beautiful artwork on the walls. You're absorbing that you're walking through the mall. You're, you're picking up all these signs and all the ads that you see, like, and this is just unexperienced at the mall, you're in a store and you're picking up all the latest trends on t-shirts. You're not even aware that you're doing this, right. This is where the whole observation part kicks in. This is great graphic designers do this. Right. They just kind of absorb almost like observe or learn by osmosis. 

 11:20
Visualize Moses, I guess you can say. Right. Totally. Yeah. I mean, I think that's in a really important trait too. I was happy to see this one. I was like, you're f*****g right. 

 11:29
Yeah. This is exactly. Yeah, absolutely. You're you're always kind of looking at stuff and thinking, Aw, that's so cool. Right. That's a great way to solve that problem. You know what I mean? 

 11:40
Sometimes I'm at the, like the weirdest place I'm at the bank, I'm in line at the bank to deposit some money or whatever. It's like, I see something at the bank. They have like really ugly, really horribly done, media screens behind the counter with their ads. I'm just like all of a sudden I see it. I'm like, wait a minute. It's yes. You know, I've got a problem. If I switch this and move this based on what I'm just seeing there, it could work. It could work, dude. I'm like, I'm the guy on my phone. I'm trying to draw it out before I forget it. It's the most. 

 12:08
That's so funny because I get like, like emails from my bank. Yep. And they'll use a thin icon. Yup. A solid icon in the same document. 

 12:21
And you're just like, oh, 

 12:22
Like, good. 

 12:24
You're not interesting. You're right. We're not only observing the good yeah. 

 12:28
You take the bad. That's because what grade X greater, a hundred percent, then you find something that does actually get your, the client at this point. You're like, dudes, this is how did this get past the, so true. 

 12:44
Yeah. What, even more so than a great graphic designer then pays attention to the bad. Not just the good, because it's easy to go online. You need to find inspiration. You go online, you type in, logo trends, which I hate that. We all know how much I hate that. But, and you only get what they would consider the best. Yes, exactly. You don't get to see the worst. Right. 

 13:03
How do you learn? You learn from your mistakes too. This is part of the whole gig that we do. Right. I have absolutely made so many f**k ups. So it's kind of like, oh, okay. I know not to do that anymore. When you see it in a professional setting, like at a bank, there's. 

 13:21
No excuse. Right. Absolutely. 

 13:22
Right. So yeah. So there's, I think you're right. It's, it's flip there's the good and I love the good to me is just like, that's what makes your heart go? Oh, that is so awesome. You know, 

 13:34
Above anything else, graphic designers are curious and of course are constantly just unknowingly observing the world around them. I think that is a massive, huge trait of wildly successful, awesome graphic designers. Right. Done. Bang on number three, traits, successful graphic designers. All right. They love to problem solve. Dude, I can't, I mean, I can't professor this personally speaking, I think that's my favorite part of this whole job sometimes. I mean, it's just like, I get jazzed when a customer's like, what? I've got a visual problem. We got a logo problem or we've got a, a flow user flow problem. Right? Yeah. S**t, dude. I like try to solve problems that have nothing to do with like graphic design at all. Like trying to figure out how to store my shoes properly at the house and stack my kids' shoes in this. The school's having an issue. 

 14:26
I love that. Right. We are, this is the industry that we are problem solvers designers must realize that they love to solve problems. If it's a visual problem, it's a brand problem. It's like, how do, how to express our brand in a visual meaning or what we stand for and in like, three visuals or last, or when, like that's huge. You need to love that. 

 14:49
S**t. Exactly. Communicating icon, they, what I mean? Like this is this is kind of one of those things where you're just like, 

 14:57
How do you create something that represents? Yes. You're like, you're looking at this and you've got it. You actually, and you create an icon that doesn't exist. The customer is like good f*****g job. Perfect. Right. They're like, yup. Yup. 

 15:15
That's awesome. That has been one of those. And it's stupid. It's small. It's a little, but it's kind of one of those things where you're just like you take keywords and things like that and search and what I mean? Like, it's just kind of a, it's an interesting problem that you have to take under weather. 

 15:34
Big or small. It's like when we solve problems, we validate our superpower. Right. And that's what it is. It's like validation that it's like, f**k, we really I'm really good at, and it's just whether it's like a set of user journey, whether it's like, a logo or just whatever order, whatever, up on the shelf that I had to build around a certain corner. I know some ridiculous. 

 15:56
Example, but, 

 15:58
But the reality is true. I don't care what the problem is that the customer has. When I go into a first-time customer, I'm not asking them about their logo. I'm not asking them about, you tell me what, what you want your logo to be like, yeah. That's amateur hour, dude. I'm asking them about the entire brand. You know, tell me about your ammo. Tell me what your business, how do you make money? Where are you losing money? What are your competitors do? Right. I want the whole picture and I want to solve that problem. Yeah. 

 16:24
Yes, exactly. Yeah, because you want that. That's exactly the whole point of this kind of thing. It's not, it's not just the aesthetics. 

 16:32
Right? 

 16:33
Bigger, deeper. It's the deeper, what are you doing? That's not working here and working through that. 

 16:41
Right. You need to ask those questions. You need to be curious and have like the observation skills to piece it together. You need to have the communication skills to listen to what they're saying in order to solve the right problem. Right. See how that's working. Wow. That's true. 

 16:55
Oh good. I was just going to say you're, you're just tied the three And you say, you're not going to create, 

 17:04
Nevermind it, nevermind. Problem-solving number four, a popular or the graphic design trade that the best graphic designers in the world have. We're just saying the best graphic designer worlds, because yeah, because it is everybody, who's angry designer. He's the best graphic designer in the world. Number four. Humility. No, no. Nowhere on this list is humility. It's a funny thing is I think that's one of the most important. 

 17:43
I know I was just saying that to say, but it's true. But, but how many traits do we have you said was like the other. 

 17:49
Thing it was over 30. Yeah. We can revisit this personally. I, how I feel, but that's another point. Okay. Number four, before we get too far ready or this yup. Rely a f*****g ability. Seriously. If you want to be known as a great graphic designer, you need to f*****g deliver. If a customer gives you a job, you need to make sure that you can deliver that s**t. You can be reliable to it. Right. Customers can get, because honestly, if a customer ever kind of takes a breath, when they're, when describing you and they're like, oh, they're great. They're they take a little line and get back. Boom done. Yep. You're not a great graphic designer. Right. They need to be reliable that you can deliver time and time again. Right. That's that whole experience part that's whole time management aware of how good you are. 

 18:43
That is a trait of I really good graphic that they can reliably turn out things again. Again, whether it's based on experience, whether it's just, I mean, customers need to be able to rely on you. Totally. And if they can't yep. You're enough. You're an artist. You're in this for yourself. 

 19:02
This is true. Yeah. This, this is, and, and is what's that adage over promising under promise and over deliver, right? A hundred percent. That's exactly. That's, that's even in a nutshell, right? 

 19:15
If you tell the customer, you're going to have him an idea in two weeks and you have it to them in a week and a half, what do you think? They're going to think, oh, he doesn't know what he's. 

 19:22
Doing. He doesn't know what timelines are to be happy. 

 19:25
You just got them three extra days, 

 19:30
Dude. 

 19:30
So true. Honestly, they need to be able to rely on you. This kind of now goes past the design part and more of the relationship part there. They need to be able to rely on you and a good graphic designer needs to be able to deliver. I think that's where a lot of graphic designers, they falter is they just, they can't deliver. They can't deliver enough. They start projects. If they can't finish them, they can't execute. They come up with a great idea. 

 19:55
The great idea. You got the problem solving the s**t off. Yeah. You can't, you can't rely D you're not reliable or you're not dependable. That's right. Forget about it. You, and back to our old pod or a podcast that we just did about clients for life, reliability is I would say probably one of the top five that they would have of any agency or any designer. Right. They. 

 20:20
Need to be able to rely on they delivery. 

 20:22
Right? Exactly. If they have a rush job, they need to know that you're, you've got their back. If they have a long-term project, they need to know that you've met the steps. Yep. The, the, the layout that has all gone down, like this is the steps that we've, we followed we've delivered at the time that we said were going to do this. These are the kinds of things that get you customers. 

 20:46
For life. Absolutely. This is what gets you, that badge of being a great graphic designer, design, boom. All right. Number five. Able to do good to accents because we're entertainers. We gotta be, you need to pull that s**t out all the time and entertain. No, no Boy. Do we suck as Officially the world's worst English accent. Oh my God. It's so unfair. But it's so. 

 21:19
Fun to do though. 

 21:21
Until they. 

 21:23
Get all that hate. 

 21:24
Mail. So number five. Okay. A trait of a great graphic designer, adaptability. 

 21:30
This I. 

 21:30
Love, well, you know what? The one thing that people don't realize is unless you are David Carson, who has a ridiculously, obvious style that nobody can replicate, okay. People are coming to you more times than less because of your design skill, your high level design script. Right. There's not many designers that can keep it consistent designs, get over and make a living. Yeah, sure. Some new Lincoln design, Aaron Draplin, David Carson, I get it. I love those guys. You know, they're all amazing. They are one in a million. I mean, literally they are one in a million. You don't hear many of them who have these distinct styles. Yeah. As a good graphic, a great graphic designer, you need to be able to adopt other people's styles at a whim based on what the project requirements, if this brand, job comes in, this local job comes in and it suited to something more, white Spacey and minimal got to be able to move to that. 

 22:29
If this other one comes in and it requires a wordmark, you need to adapt. Like you need to be able to, you need to be a chameleon. Yep. Right. Totally. Be able to best graphic designers are able to mimic other design styles. Are there other designers styles for that matter? Right. And be able to knock that s**t. 

 22:51
That's part of the beauty of that too, I think is because it's a huge learning experience. If you're going to copy muscle well, it's, you're not going to do it, but what you're going to do is you're going to figure out your style. That's kind of, if you're borrowing from other, 

 23:11
You're taking his grid, how he lines everything to a grid and making it work for your style, or a Michael B roots, simplicity, or assures all of these people's ideas. You're, you're making them your own, but you need to be able to. 

 23:28
Yes. Because you're not them, you develop your own style that way, because you're, you do things differently. You're going to come up with something else. By that logic gear, you're just trying to do something else. You end up with your own with. 

 23:43
Your own. I always tell, like, we, I always have early designers. What's the most important thing I should work on, ? I'm like, honestly, the most important thing as a junior designer that you need to work on is being able to do everybody else's style. Don't worry about your own f*****g style. Right. Learn how to adapt everybody. Else's because if, and this is what they don't want to hear, that they want to hear that their own style is going to make them famous. Again, they're one in a million and they take a lifetime to get to, it's not like Aaron Draplin overnight, bold in your face style. Right. That it's like, you can look at that and be like, yeah, that looks like his work, right? No, no, no. You need to be able to, you want a career, you want to go the long ma you want to go long-term you need to be adapt. 

 24:26
Right. Through, like you just said, a devastation of everybody else's work. Right. Right. Which gets you, jobs would get you paid, which makes you a reliable designer that is able to problem solve because observing, asking the right question. Boom. Oh yeah. Okay. There's of fashion, but the reality is that's how you become a great designer, right? Yeah, totally. Totally. I agree with that. A hundred percent. All right, cool. Number six. Should we go? Yep. Number six for graphic designer traits, great graphic designer traits. The ability to evolve with the rest of the industry. Ooh, that's a tough one. It is a hard one for people to do. I, I can't say for you for say, but probably, but when I got into this space, it was in a really funny time because I got into it in high school and we started on max. I had, at 15 years old, I had to make a conscious decision. 

 25:26
I am I going to keep going with a traditional pencil? Marker. Like brushes, or am I going to pick up a mouse? I had to decide which way I was going. I consciously was like, you know what? I love traditional. I love traditional art forms or whatever I'm picking up the most. This is the future of my industry. I had to make that conscious decision and everything I did from that point forward was going to be designed on a computer. Okay. That was my first three years of, learning design through high school, into my own early freelance before I got into college. Yeah. When I had college. Okay. They were doing everything manual stuff. Three years later after I'd already made a conscious decision that, Hey, the whole world is going this direction. Now they want me to put down my mouse because they didn't want to teach computer software until the third year of graphic design. 

 26:16
So it's like, you know, no. We want you to go back to pencils. People. We need you to learn, this and that. How to do mock-ups and how to mix paint colors. She's like, are you guys f*****g serious? Think the whole world is moving this direction. This old way of doing stuff is done. It's gone. Forget it. Like it's not even like I'm in the seventies. I dude, we're talking about the nineties. Are you that out of touch? Oh, well we feel you need to learn the fundamentals. I mean, again, it's this hardcore designer b******t that went on to f*****g start the RGD RG design vegan association. The reality is, w w they have to evolve. Do when we started at factor, there was over 30 other advertising agencies in the area. Yeah. Of those 30, obviously only us and two others were able to evolve from print to digital because they don't exist anymore. 

 27:11
Right now we have all these new companies, new competitors kind of competitors, but not really, but I mean, again, they're, they're all digital companies, they don't know prints anymore. Right. We evolved. We started in print. We learned that print was evolving to digital. We evolved. A lot of them were like, no, we're not going to do it. We're not going to do it. What happened to them? Exactly. They faded away. And I mean, I don't know. 

 27:34
I don't know. Maybe it's I think to me, it goes back to your adaptability section interests, because if you don't adapt to the current culture or the current way, things are being created, like now, if you're not in the digital space, 

 27:52
How much work do. 

 27:53
You have? Oh, 

 27:54
Dude. Honestly, 

 27:56
I can't even, I can't even, I couldn't even think of, and maybe it's just because we're Nishan with the text with the tech industry, 

 28:03
I think most of the world is still majority. I mean, again, you've got this whole digital first concept. Right. Everything kind of evolved that way, but prince got a huge. 

 28:12
Come back. Right. Also I think that's kind of, it's like vinyl records, what I mean? Like, do you bring your record player to the gym? 

 28:22
No, 

 28:22
Of course you have everything on your phone. You're right. This is exactly it. When I'm having a glass of scotch at home, it's cool. When you can appreciate it on the headphones, put on a record, put everything, it's a different animal for. 

 28:36
You're right. A hundred percent. Right, right. Yeah. It's, it's, what, whether they can, or whether they just refuse to evolve, they need to keep up with the times if they don't. Again, we're not done with all this evolution. S**t. I mean, I know we keep joking about this s**t with Zuckerberg and the metaverse, but shit's. 

 28:54
Coming. It's absolutely true. 

 28:56
Like soon, like all the design that we're doing. Okay. We went from print, which is 2d. All of a sudden we had a motion to it with web and this, that now with this, we're going to be adding like a 3d element. You're going to be living and experiencing you. You're going to have, you're going to have experiences in this. Metaverse they're talking about whether or not you believe it or not. It's not the story, but I mean, this is where the future is going. Right. You need to be able to evolve. If you think, no, I'm just going to do brand. I'm not going to think about web. Yes. Good for you. If you can pull that s**t off. Good. You need to think long-term, you need to be able to, you need to keep learning and have this willingness to keep learning, keep learning new techniques, keep learning new trends again, you can't be the same style. 

 29:40
No, this is true. This is true. I'd like to point out too, that, the evolution is, is fleeting as well. Like what do you mean? Well, I just think like I learned Dreamweaver 10. Yeah. 

 29:55
Well maybe not all the evolution is. 

 29:59
I was just okay, well that doesn't do me or flash. 

 30:04
Okay. So, so the way I see Dreamweaver, and again, we joke when we laugh about it. At the time when, I mean, I, I did dream. We didn't many sites in Dreamweaver. We was the thing, dude, we built that, contractor directory, KW contract, and one of the first online directories and the whole thing was a dream was this whole thing was a dream Weaver and it was painful, but it was, again, I was a designer. Yeah. I didn't know how to code. That was a hard thing to, so I managed to learn enough HTML and CSS to make them a dream Weaver files were right. Right. But I was still a designer. Right. I was able to learn enough nor I could never be what, our senior design, senior developers, dude, he's genius. I love that guy for what he does. He's f*****g God. Right. 

 30:52
Like these guys know their s**t. Yeah. Dreamweaver had his time and place during this evolution. Right, right. It did. Yeah. I don't think it was a bad thing. The thing is, if you wouldn't have learned Dreamweaver when you did right. When we first reconnected. Yup. Okay. You wouldn't have any understanding of web, right? It was that it was that. Okay. If I'm going to learn how to do web, I'm going to learn how to lay out web. You need to learn. So it forced you to bridge that. Yeah, totally. You could have been like, no, no. I'm going to stick with newspapers. 

 31:23
I could, I could stick with print and die on that hill or I could learn how to do, and I know a bit, of code. I haven't done it in a thousand years, but do what I mean? Like I was proud of myself. We don't need to build. 

 31:39
Absolutely. You did when you needed to. I mean, so the funny thing is now, if, as long as you're, here's the thing, keep learning, keep learning. Right. Not just about the skills itself, but the industry and what's happening. Yeah. Right now there are platforms that don't, that you could build an incredible f*****g website without even having to know how to code, web flow was made for designers and it is all cloud-based, it's all, it's like a better, better version of square or not square. Oh. Wix, we'll see better version of Wix. Yeah. Okay. That actually is meant for designers. You can build websites without knowing any code and you can build really nice websites. Again, but you have to still evolve. Granted, you don't have to necessarily learn how to code, but if you didn't learn about web design, you didn't learn about web strategies, web theory, how own the setting, your art form changes from offline to online, then you're done. 

 32:36
That was the biggest thing for us. Right. Although, we did end up bringing in, some developers, we did buy a, web company as they were going out of business. The reality is were able to take what we did offline and we learned how to do it online. And this is the evolution for us. I never became a coder because again, I just, I refuse to that. Wasn't my thing. I couldn't do it. It's. 

 32:56
Math. It's more math. It's not, it's not what we do was a by. 

 32:59
Skillset. Yes. Right? Exactly. Still I realized that what I was doing offline needed to work online. That was the evolution that kind of changed this company and made us write it through. A lot of the other companies, dude, they didn't do it. They didn't. And where are they now? Yeah, that's right. I don't feel bad because a lot of them, I reached out for help early on. They were like, oh, we're not going to do it. The funny thing is the ones that she did offer to help her still kicking around. Yeah. Evolution, this is a keep learning and you need to continuously evolve evolution. Great. Does that attract huge? Alright. Ready? Number seven design traits. But bump talk. Don't go. No, come on. Why? Oh dude, your sock, 

 33:46
You have started. You're going to like the way I, I announced it, 

 33:51
Dude. You can't take dresses. 

 33:54
It's criticism and I'm not good with it. 

 33:58
Number seven is this, oh my God. 

 34:03
This one is key. This is a huge. 

 34:04
S**t. Isn't it though. Right? Like honestly it can make the difference in a good day and a bad day, right? To like, not only, okay. So criticism two parts. You need to be able to take criticism. 

 34:16
Yup. Agreed analogy. I remember somebody, I forget it was an artist. He said, it's like somebody saying your children are ugly. You know what I mean? It's like, it literally is because these are your babies. You create this thing and you PResent it to the world and somebody says, that's stupid. 

 34:33
Absolutely. It's tough. It's really tough. 

 34:35
Really tough. You build up the skin, what I mean? Over there. And, and, and I'm sure you've experienced this in the beginning of absolutely. It's hurtful. It's hard. 

 34:46
Every single day. Every time you're here. Exactly. As people need to detach themselves, it's not personal. No, it consider number one, the person who, on the other side, who's giving you the criticism. Yeah. They're not always qualified to give you criticism, but not because they're not up to our standards because we feel so f*****g high on ourselves. No, it's because they weren't brought in on the whole project. They don't know all the different parts of we're certain that there's always things to consider. Yeah. Often they'll try to use terms that they think that you're going to like appreciate, but really just makes them sound like idiots. Right. It's like, you almost think like, oh dude, why are you saying that? The reality is we have to remember that we're doing this for them. Yep. Okay. Yes. Ultimately the s**t that we create, we hand over and we basically wipe your hands with and walk away and not in a bad way, but no. 

 35:35
We're being. 

 35:35
Paid to do something to give a weight. It is a source. Somebody else owns that s**t. Yep. Yep. Hey, we can try to enlighten them with our education, with our experience, with our professionalism. The reality is in the end, they are paying for it. Unless you're going to be a Dick and give them back the deposit and take back your work and, end up on the corner of a street begging for money, design logos for food. 

 36:02
So fast, 

 36:04
The reality is it's so true. The truth is, I mean, again, the reality is this is a business and if you wanted to do s**t for yourself, don't be a graphic designer. Be a f*****g artist. Yes. They know. 

 36:19
You can say, then you can say, f**k, f**k you. You don't like it. You don't buy it. 

 36:23
Exactly. We are in the service business. Right. We are designing things. I mean, grant, I don't care how high and f*****g mighty of a designer you are. The reality is somebody hires us for a project and it's not about us. It's about them. They're not always going to give us the best feedback. Nope. Okay. They're going to give us their opinions and sadly, because they're paying for it, you have to be able to listen to the s**t and piece through it. Okay. So this is how these all. 

 36:51
Work together and problem solving. 

 36:53
Right? You do. And that's the reality. The thing is if you give them logic yep. Why you did not feelings? Not well, because blue is so nice. Hot blue is better. No, no. They don't need that. They need logic. They need professionalism. They need experience. They don't need your f*****g opinion. Right. So, criticism, people don't take cause they take it too personally and has nothing to do with you as a person or you as a designer, it often has to do with the lack of what's coming from the other side, their experience. 

 37:26
I understand, I look at it like, and maybe it's because I'm kind of, self-conscious about stuff like that. I look at it, like I misunderstood what they were trying to communicate them. Fair enough. Do you know what I mean? Like yeah. There's something, some disconnect that I missed that we didn't totally. 

 37:44
See number one, but you're right. You're absolutely right. And so again, don't take it personal. Yeah. No, we'd need to be able to accept criticism. You need to be able to listen to what the hell it is that they're saying. Okay. Try to decipher what it is they're saying and try to either give them good reason for why you did what you did or give them what they want, but in your style, your way, your fashion, whatever it is. Right. Number one, you need to be able to take criticism, but here's another one. Yep. You also need to be able to give criticism. Okay. And that's tricky. 

 38:21
I'm not. 

 38:21
Good at that. Well, no, you're you love everybody. On the opposite, I'm kind of an a*****e. I always thought that. 

 38:29
Because you always say to me, you asked me, what do you think of this? And I'm like, Aw, f**k. I love that. And I know you're looking at me. You got like I know, I. 

 38:38
Know you don't mean. 

 38:39
The s**t. I saw this thing too, where it's like, if I gave you negative criticism, it would spark the conversation. You could, we could really discuss and get into the meta thing. This is something that I definitely need to, 

 38:54
Okay. It's okay. It's not about, what's more important. What you shouldn't do is you shouldn't feel obligated to give criticism. That often happens where people are like, oh s**t, you asked me for my opinion. I have to find a fault in it. Yes. That's also in fault of the person who's asking you for the opinion, right. That you need to be able to give criticism as in like, you have to be able to, and we'll touch on this afterwards, but you need to be able to explain what it is. That's wrong. Not just be like, I don't like. 

 39:24
It. Yes. Yes, exactly. And that's the. 

 39:27
Problem. You need to be able to explain, give it properly. The people around you be it, your customer be it, another employee or somebody else, you need to be able to actually give it to them in a way that's actually constructive. Yeah. That's why it's called constructive criticism. All right. Take constructive criticism and give constructive critique. 

 39:51
Right? Somebody told me once a long time ago that it's like a criticism sandwich. So you got two pieces of bread. Those are the new this, you did this. And I really liked this. Okay. This part isn't really the best. I don't, I don't think this is working so much, but what you were doing over here was really good here. You're right. This is kind of a, so you put it, you put the negative stuff in them. 

 40:16
Pad the beginning of the weekend. It's like, oh, the s****y stuff's in the middle. Yeah. 

 40:22
Well, you know what? It works. Yeah. Totally tall. I find that with the kids here, like if they do something that isn't quite on brand with whatever, this is great. I really liked your, you give them of middle part you're right. The person looking into the camera. No, I don't like that. Please take that out. But this other one is really good. So stuff a hundred present. Right? So you're right. It's the way you deliver that criticism is I could say no, that's f*****g terrible. Do it again. Who wants to hear that? It's crap garbage out or beach. 

 40:58
One person that was not good at giving criticism was Steve jobs. I've been listening to land of giants podcast. Man, that guy unfortunately was, in today's standards was a toxic boss. Dude. He was hardcore. He was back then maybe it was more accepted or people wanted it because he was a celebrity. I'm not very good at giving criticism for sure. 

 41:24
What, what is this? You're talking about Steve jobs. No, no. What what's the, you call it cans of giants. Land. 

 41:29
Of John's amazing. It's great. I'm listening to it right now. It's. 

 41:32
So he was an a*****e. Wow. A lot of flat. Oh, see that's to me is sad, but this is the kind of thing where you're like, he's a visionary. He, I know. 

 41:48
He did look in so many ways. That was s****y. That was good. But he was a horrible human being. He was a terrible human being. But the art from the artist. Yeah. Separate the, and that's a hard thing. 

 41:58
That's a nice altogether together, but it's legit. That's a good one. That really is. 

 42:02
Cause it's true. So many terrible artists. Yes. 

 42:05
What a great work, but great. Might've been miserable to work with. That's really sad to hear that, but yeah. 

 42:11
Yeah. Needless to say, what we're getting at is you need to be able to take criticism and you also need to be able to give it. Especially if you're giving it back to the customer, because not often they're going to show you what they did. Yeah. If you cringe a little too hard, they might actually take. 

 42:31
All right. 

 42:32
Yes. Number eight. Yes. Eight traits of a great graphic designer being self aware. 

 42:42
That's nice. That's a good one. Yeah. That's really, that's an important one is variable. 

 42:45
Because that's like personal growth. That's like what your capabilities are. There's so much to this, right? Again, self-aware, kind of, this is kind of where the whole humility thing can play into . Right? I think you're right. You need to understand, you know what? You're good at what you're not good at. You need to have, there's a certain level of self-doubt that's healthy. Yes. Big time. You don't want to have to fall into this imposter syndrome. Be like, hurry. So why am I doing this? No, no, no, no. You need to be aware of yourself, your capabilities, what you're capable of doing what you're not capable of doing what emotionally you can do and not what physically you can handle and not. Right. There's so much to the self-awareness thing that people underestimate it. This is what leads to burnout. This is why certain designers can keep going. 

 43:36
It's just like, f**k don't they ever burn out. They don't because they know what they're capable of and what they're not capable of. Yeah. They outsource, they bring in an expert, they figure out ways around it. Right. Self-awareness is so underestimated. But damn, is that true? You can't tell me that Paul Rand was the fastest inker, in his whole little group of agency and people that worked for him. Right. He would come up with the idea. He would pass it off to somebody and that person all day long, do ink s**t. They filled in with, like ink all day long. Like this is, or again, you can design the webpage, but you're not the best web programmer. Right. You need to be self-aware of what? 

 44:18
Yes, exactly. Your strengths, your weaknesses and you play on. 

 44:23
Yes. That's exactly right. Because I think that's where a lot of these people, this is where the humbleness and humility comes in. Right. Because some people are like, no, I can do it myself. I can do it myself. Yeah. No, no. You got to learn to tap that s**t out. Yes, 

 44:36
Exactly. How many times you tell me that it's like, dude, f**k all the time. It's like tap out if you, oh no, no. I've got to do it. I'm. 

 44:48
Going to do it. But you know what though? You really, you. 

 44:49
Always pull it off. I try, I, this is the thing is just like that. I like that. As you get older, the time management thing gets a little easier. You know what I mean? 

 44:59
No, one's going to take, you're like, I can crank this owner. Now I can bring this to, 

 45:03
This is going to take me a lot, time. Cause there's some brain books involved. 

 45:08
I know I was in a meeting two days ago with one of our competing agencies. If you know, I know. I mean, their head guy was talking and this and that. He was like, oh man, he's like half an hour as a world to me, you should see the kind of presentations I can do in half an hour. And I giggled, Right. Because in half an hour I could do a pitch and be like, wow, you must have spent days. He caught me laughing. He's like, oh yeah, Mohs knows what I'm talking about. He actually finished it off by saying, you'll just never know which presentations are. The ones that only took me half an hour to put together when you're self-aware of you, what you're capable of. Right. It's like, you can give yourself these unrealistic deadlines. Right. And crank that s**t out. You can know when it's like, dude, I got to tap out. 

 46:02
I need help. I need to reach out further. Right. Being self-aware is being, you know, humble. It's having humility on what you're capable of, what you're good at. Also what, you're not good at that people can't always admit to what they're not good at. Yes. Right. There's a lot of s**t. I'm not good at, 

 46:19
You know, if it's true. It's, it's funny. It's like, I've been doing a lot of layout stuff lately. I was just like, oh my God. Like this meeting that we had today. Yeah. What started out as very boring plain kind of design. Remember fair enough. Fair. It was just like, okay, so this is kind of one of those things where it's like, I haven't done this in a long time, so okay. Concentrate. Get, get back into that space. You know what I mean? It's true. It starts to come together. Again, the things that we looked at today was like, okay, this is pretty good. This is, this is a little minor tweaks, but it worked out, but it was still kind of there. Right? It's like a muscle almost to use our gym analogies. 

 47:04
Hey Jim and allergy. I can't lift 200 pounds. 

 47:11
Yeah. We, we probably could bench 3 50. We. 

 47:15
Won't, we just won't know no material. 

 47:19
Cause we know we are. Self-aware we're self. 

 47:22
Aware. Right? I. 

 47:23
Don't need to prove it. 

 47:24
Yeah. My good s**t, dude. I'd be lucky if I'm at like 50 pounds right now. 

 47:35
I struggle with the 25. 

 47:39
Oh you're a. 

 47:40
20, 25 ounce soup cans. Oh. 

 47:45
Yeah, yeah. 

 47:48
Yeah. That's it. 

 47:50
All right. All great traits of fantastic graphic designers. Number nine. I love this highly motivated. I mean honestly, how can you consider yourself a great graphic designer? If you just like, after I, as soon as you're done you clock out, you go home, you watch Netflix, you eat food, you play some video games, dude. There's no motivation there. Nope, dude, when I'm honestly. Okay. I hate saying that it's all Mimi. I can only speak about myself, unfortunately, but I got home, of course spend time with the kids, wife, everything else. Yep. Then I'm like checking out new trends. I can't even help it. I'm flipping through things like flip book. Right. Which you think you should be, flipping for articles. Yeah. I'm looking at the ads. I'm just like, and I can't even help it. Right. Like it's constantly highly, constantly trying to learn. I don't even realize it that I'm doing this half the time. 

 48:46
Right. It's to keep bettering myself, keeping up with the industry, with the trends, with what's going on. It's it's true. We need to, we need to be motivated by that task at hand rather than just like, Ooh, that paycheck at the end. Like if money is your only motivation dude, your career is so short it's because money is not the reason why not. And people get into. 

 49:07
No, that's not it at all. Yes. It's funny that you do that. Like, to me, it's like accidental. Like I see something and I'm like, oh, that's really cool. I kind of remember that. Yeah. And, and, and maybe that's two different ways of looking at things. Right. And, and like sometimes a lay down at night and I'm thinking of a job. If I did such and such, this would make it work. Do you know what I mean? Like quiet moments kind of things come to, you. 

 49:37
Really becomes part. 

 49:39
Of who you are. It does absolutely. 

 49:42
Love the, the challenge that's brought ahead of you. Right. You're observing on a regular basis, right? Like you're honestly, like you're motivated if you're not motivated, you don't care about that s**t after hours and on weekends. And don't get me wrong. Not saying you're working 24 7. That's not what, this isn't about a 24 7 hustle. No, this is if you're motivated, you're constantly like you're on all the time. You're absorbing all the time. Right? Because graphic designers we're in this really cool industry where, we can absolutely be defined by what we do. You know what I mean? On the flip side, it's like, I'm an accountant was the same thing. What are you going to think? Oh, I'm an accountant Like seriously. Right. 

 50:27
Make my money. And that's fine. 

 50:29
To be that's what was one thing or argumentative, if you're on the lawyer. Oh s**t. He's argumentative. No, seriously. As a graphic designer, it's like, it's not a job. I do. It's who I am. I honestly on my f*****g dude on my, like my tombstone, I'm going to have Massimo's every note, graphic designer and family, man, family, 

 50:52
Man, 

 50:54
Like, it's true. It's it's because it's who it actually defines who I am. That's what makes, what we do is cool. Right. The thing is you have to be motivated to do this. If not, it's just, it's not gonna have, 

 51:09
Yeah, this is true. To counter your point and I'm going to do the criticism, please, because I can handle it yourself. I think what you said is wrong. No, I, I, I I'd like to say that. I think you're constantly working. Yeah. 

 51:27
But not, 

 51:28
But not working. You know what I mean? Because, because it's not work. Yes. Exactly. My father-in-law calls it or my father-in-law my stepfather calls it, working without tools and it's kind of, it's kinda like that. Cause you see stuff and you absorb it. Yes. You're, you're aware of your surroundings and things like that. You're always kind of, you're always on, you're always looking out for things, what I mean? Like I think that's a really cool aspect because design is everywhere. It is, it is literally all around you. You know what I mean? Like, so absolutely that to me, I, I, I think that's kind of why we're always on the job, but it's. 

 52:13
Not, but it's not. 

 52:15
Working. You don't. I mean, this is the, and this is the best part of when you love your job. It's like you're working, but. 

 52:22
You love what you do. You will never work a day there. That's it. And again, proud. Oh my God. I will say that forever. I don't recommend that to every, 

 52:31
But it totally, I can't. I still can't believe I pinch myself that I'm doing this. Full-time kind of, it's like a joke. So. 

 52:38
I get paid some days we have days for the most part. I mean, Hey yesterday I had my kid in the office and she couldn't believe that this is what we do. She's like, your job is so cool. You drop pictures, you eat cookies, you have toys in your office. Everybody has toys on their escape boards on the wall that she was just like, 

 53:03
This there's a bike. 

 53:04
She couldn't believe this s**t. Right. So it's like, 

 53:08
Yeah, I know one other workplace. You can do that. Right. You're going to do that. Your accountant's office. 

 53:17
All right. Number 10, have a fantastic graphic design being brutally honest. This one's a hard one because I'm so honesty is probably an important part. I threw in the BR I threw in the brutal part. Yeah. That seems so brutal. Because at the scene it's angry Shaw. 

 53:41
I forgot. 

 53:41
The podcast, but the reality is I mean you could only sugar coat s**t to so much. Yes. If you sugarcoat so much, the problem is if you sugarcoat the truth, customers think there's potential that they can save something. This is where I'm going with the brutally honest, if a customer is like, what? Our website is pretty good. It just needs some of your help, of how well you can go in there and be like, wow, it's not bad. It looks a little professional. It's like, dude, you're not helping them. And you're not helping like yourself. If you're in there and be like, look, dude, in all fairness, I appreciate the amount of work you've put into this. It is nowhere near the caliber of your competitors. It's nowhere near the professionalism. It's not up-to-date, you're look like something. You'd look like a five-year-old site. Like it's that whole brutal aspect. 

 54:31
Right? Okay. Personally, I take it way too far with customers where they think of like almost offensive at times. I can't necessarily hide that too well, but the reality is you have to be, you can't try to sugar coat s**t. Yes. You can be honest. You can be professional, but the thing is you're not helping them out if you're constantly trying to sugarcoat or be nice about the truth. Yes. Because if you're nice about the truth, they think that you can help what they currently have. 

 54:59
Yes. And, and that just means minor tweaks. Exactly. Yeah. Which, you know, that's not the case. 

 55:05
We're doing is you're starting that whole process off with like, it's like with more of the Sherwin in to see the city, financial company and they're like, well, we're close. Yeah. But whatever. Well, what, if she wouldn't have been like, no, f**k that you screwed up, it's wrong. This is the direction. If she would have tried to comply to their, what they were trying to like, like give her and give her their ideas. Yeah. It might've been a a hundred thousand dollar job instead. She was like, no, no, you need a whole overhaul. This is the way it should look. This is what the role should look like. Yeah. $3 million, $3 million. Right? Like, and that's the truth, you know? And it. 

 55:40
Worked, it worked, 

 55:42
It absolutely worked great with professionals. We need to be professional. Yep. You can try to be as nice as you want, but all that does is give them hope that the bill is going to be smaller than it actually is. 

 55:54
That's exactly. You're doing the customer disservice by doing that. Right. Because you're not, you're, you're giving you essentially a bandaid. You're putting a bandaid on what they have rather than saying flat out. This is why this, and but, but again, that's back to your other point, communication is like, you're explaining the reasons behind that. 

 56:17
You don't have to don't make it personal. You tell them that they saw it's not professional. 

 56:22
Did this is terrible. Yeah. It's this is why this is working. 

 56:26
Zack elevated to another level, bringing their competitors, bring in what the market's doing, why they're falling behind. Right. The same with logos. Right. If they're like, well, I think we're close. I think what my daughter created, who by the way, is eight years old, created his clothes. I think you can just tweak it. It's just like, dude, really? Like, I get that. You have sentimental attachment to this, but this is not what the market is. And it's ridiculous. You hear this s**t all the time. As a designer, you do just sad. When people say fix this, fix that because it's almost there, dude, they're undermining you. Yeah. Right. They're undermining your abilities and they're giving themselves way too much f*****g credit. The reality is you got to politely again. I might not always be polite, but you have to politely be like, what, dude? No, like we need to dial this back. 

 57:21
We need to pull this back. Look at what everybody else is doing. And let's build it from the, 

 57:25
From there. Yeah. Like the great example that we, I think we did a couple of months ago where we looked at competitors websites and things like that. And, but the client ended up saying, no, this is not, what I mean? Like, this is the kind of stuff where, you've said this, you, you say, this is why this is working in, this is what your competitors doing. They're killing you out here. I mean, you can only go so far. Absolutely. Right. Don't care enough. Or don't take that kind of the constructive criticism that you're dealing out. Right? 

 58:02
Yeah. Again, brutally honest and I stuck in brutally. Cause I think it's yeah. I think you can sugar coat. You have to be you're right. You. 

 58:11
Don't sugar coat. I see what you mean by brutally honest. 

 58:14
I know it sounds awesome. 

 58:16
I'm sorry. No, no, no, but it's but you're right. Because ultimately you have the clients get a responsibility. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You, you want the best for them. What's best for the client. Right? This is the beauty of what we do. 

 58:30
With that being said, yes, there is a bonus. There is a bonus one. The my opinion, the most important trait of any fantastic graphic designer in my opinion. 

 58:46
Is because you're Italian, right. 

 58:49
Bringing it all the way back. You need. What, honestly, more times than not people get into this because it's what they love to do. And I get it. The industry sucks. Sometimes, sometimes worked over hard, underpaid, underappreciated, we're ghost designers, we're heroes, but nobody even recognizes us. I get that s**t. Yeah. Right. There's a time there's going to come a time. We're going to surpass that. We'll be above that. We'll get above that. The thing is, you can't lose your passion for this designers who go the distance, great graphic designers who make a mark. They're f*****g passionate, what they do totally. And everything it f*****g includes. That means the ridiculous requests we get from customers. The often late nights, the often apologies are trying to scramble to make these crazy last minute deadlines, dude, it's a rush. I'm surprised at her have an ulcer, but I f*****g wouldn't change a single thing to what we do. 

 59:56
Absolutely f*****g rock star, honestly. I love that graphic design has become such a cool thing right now. Everybody's all over this. Right. 

 01:00:07
The funny thing is too, is like, I even remember in like my darkest periods, when I wasn't a graphic designer, I would go out for interviews and things like that. I would always know that I had that passion. I had, I had that, whatever it took, like this part does on your resume or on your job description. I don't know what it is, but I'm willing to learn, I'll do this. You know what I mean? Like, because I like this gig, right? This is such a great, and I want to be in this space. Totally. Exactly. That's to me is like, yeah, that should be, should that be number one? 

 01:00:46
In my opinion, the most important thing, do we read this list backwards because of who I am. I can explain the rest of the world do appreciate that. It's. 

 01:00:56
A great bonus. 

 01:00:59
South American and the Mediterranean countries can feel what I'm feeling right now. Okay. Everything has led with. 

 01:01:07
There'll be like, yeah. That's number one. So. 

 01:01:11
To recap. Okay. Traits of not just good graphic designers, not even great graphic designers, but f*****g awesome, super fantastic graphic designers that can do this for life and be like, wow, I didn't work a day in my life. All right. Number one, improve that communication skill. Okay. Not just talking to people about, what your thoughts are and everything else, but also listening, which is more important. I think listening, not to just, reply, but listening to understand number one, number two, observation, it's all around us. Be curious. Every single thing look around from everything, from nature to like when you're at the mall to experiences, people are having, when you're shopping, right. Just, observation everywhere, number three, problem solving love to solve problems. Whether they're, I don't know design problems or whether they're, like actual functional problems within your. 

 01:02:11
House, right? Like things that happen that's designed, 

 01:02:14
It's designed is making the end user's life. 

 01:02:17
Better. That corner shelf. 

 01:02:18
That you have put up, dude, that's design brilliant. Right there. I can put a corner shelf. Now I can put some shoes. You feel the sense of awesomeness, right? Yeah. Problem solving love to problem solve in the, before reliability f*****g great graphic designers are reliable to a T. They are always, you're able to count on them to deliver. You can deliver. In all fairness it's because you take ownership of that time management. Yep. Right? Yep. Number five. Oh my God. You need to be able to adapt. Right. Don't own don't, don't, don't be stubborn and try to like be your own designer and try to, make your mark like, David Carson and droplet and all these other, these few minor niche, awesome designers. You need to be able to adapt to what customers need and provide the style. That's what's best for the project at hand. 

 01:03:11
Yeah. Right. Chameleon number six, evolution. You need to be able to evolve your skills. You need to be evolved yourself and keep learning. You can keep up with everything else that's in the industry. Right. Because again, otherwise you're going to be left out in the cold, you're going to be a, has been, and you don't want to be that has-been you don't want to be that eighties dude sitting beside his Camaro thinking he's still cool. Okay. Yeah. That's right. Number seven. You need to, okay. Criticism number seven on a whole criticism. Right. You need to be able to accept criticism and you need to be able to give criticism, okay. Be a champion except that like a champ. Yep. Give it like a champion. Yes. Okay. Number eight, self awareness. Okay. Know what you are capable of and, be able to accept the fact that you need to, you're not perfect and you don't have all the answers. 

 01:04:06
You may need to be more, humble and reach out when you need to. Yeah. You need to be, openness, you need to be able to accept s**t. You know how it's happening. Of course you need to be selfless because you need to be able to just kind of, it's not for you. What you're creating is not yours. It's the cost. It's the customers, right? Yes. But that's a good thing. That's great thing. That is awesome. That's why they're paying you. That's just like an artist. You're buying art. Cause you like that artist they're coming to you because they like your style, your ability. And you're delivering just the same pass. Right? Number nine, you've got to be motivated guys. You can't just like clock out at five, go home. I'm not saying that you got to be working all night and working on weekends, this is being on. 

 01:04:52
This is being aware, become, this is who you are, right. That's what makes us who we are. Right. You need to be motivated and accept the fact that you are your industry. You are a designer, a graphic designer, right? You're the representative 10 brutally honest. Don't just sugarcoat the truth, but be honest and let them know the truth. Let them know the reality of what it is that they're proposing. Right? You're not doing yourself any favors and you're not doing them any favors by like trying to like sugarcoat things and making them less intentional, less truthful, trying to not hurt their feelings, 

 01:05:30
Hurt their feelings, which is terrible. 

 01:05:32
Exactly. 

 01:05:34
Right. They're there they're com they've come to you for a reason, Zack. Right? Something's wrong. You might as well just tell him, bring it up. Absolutely. Rip off that. Band-aid. 

 01:05:46
Last but not least the bonus one bonus. You need to have passion, dude. If you need to do this, you want to do this for a lifetime. You want to be a great designer and go the distance and do the and the ran 50, 60 year stretch. Dude, you got to be passionate. You got to love. 

 01:06:03
These s**t. You got to think those guys hated s**t. Oh my. 

 01:06:06
God. I don't think you would last that long if you're exactly right. Yeah, dude, I'm going to do this longer than that. I'm going to be a designer 70 year designer. Right? I'm loving this right now. I started young enough that I'm going to be a 70 year designers. I'm going to f*****g make sure that happens. 

 01:06:31
Yeah. I know you will. So what's the question. 

 01:06:36
Yeah. I hit my chest shot. 

 01:06:41
We are bench pressing 300 pounds right now. 

 01:06:45
No bench pressing 70 years. 70, 70. 

 01:06:47
Here, bench press. 

 01:06:50
Oh s**t. 

 01:06:53
I mean, 

 01:06:53
It's crazy. There's a lot there, but it's legit. It's. 

 01:06:57
Really, really good. 

 01:06:58
I think so. I think we covered a lot today. I think it's like almost too much. 

 01:07:04
And you know, there's more there will. 

 01:07:06
Be more again, we have another 20 plus other reasons. Exactly. These are the ones that made our top list. These are everybody that we interviewed and we talked about and we, we got them to sort and again, please let us know what you think. Let us know what you think is the more importantly than any of these, let us know what you feel is something that we may have missed out. You don't drop us a line on a website, drop us a line on our Instagram. Instagram's pretty current. We're constantly reaching out and talking to people by all means, leave us a message and give us a review. Yes. John, anything else, buddy? 

 01:07:39
I am so inspired right now. This was really kind of, I am, it's funny. I, I, I'm listening to this podcast right now and I'm f*****g inspired by that. I'm open to everybody else that hears this whenever it released or it airs April P and spike kind of right. This is totally, yeah. It's this is so good. This is, this is why, what we do is the best f*****g job. I wouldn't even say job lifestyle. We chose. 

 01:08:12
I think. 

 01:08:12
That's legit, right? Yeah. This. 

 01:08:14
The better, this happiness lifestyle was kinda cool money. We made his money. You maybe. Right. But otherwise we're second to that. That's right. That's right. Right. Not driving our Maseratis or anything like that, do it. Okay. Amazing. I love it. All right, everybody. We love you so much. No matter what corner of the earth you are listening to us and please share us with all your friends and all your colleagues, guys. My name is Masimo. My name is Sean. Stay creative.