TD 1
DESIGN LOOKING AHEAD As we enter a new year and d
ecade, we asked four creatives how they limber up to get those juices flowing again. Sharing their insights are Creative Director, Jamie Brennan; illustrator, Steve Simpson; photographer, Joshua Mulholland and Head of Content, Sarah Coffey. words Richard Seabrooke – Every year brings with with new opportunities and new challenges and challenges. How do position for the adventure ahead? JB: The new year is a great time to start strong with innovation, experimentation and new ideas. It gives you the opportunity to compete against yourself and last year’s work and try to better it. For that experimentation to work really well though, you need a foundation of discipline and organisation, so at Vibrant we’re using the next few weeks to prep for a smooth start to 2020. We’re tying up some new hires and moving to a bigger space. JM: I personally don’t look at the turning of a year as a point to start, but instead the present moment I’m in. Why wait for the new year to start working on your goals? Life itself is an adventure so you might as well make the most of it, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. So just go for it, whatever it is, now! Don’t hold back! SC: Let’s be real for one hot minute - you can drastically change your life any day or month or hour if you so wish. But it can help a lot to make a lifestyle change if you’ve got friends in arms in the same mindset as you are. In good times, I have learned the unimaginable value of taking far flung holidays and the incredible reset effect that has for the year to come. It’s this end of year confronting and sharing of the self that has ended up in the most radical and rewarding changes of my life. And every single time, always for the best. – Do you give yourself goals or write out ambitions, or are you more fluid and laid back about everything? Do you have a plan? JB: My natural position is definitely laid back, so, over the years, I’ve taught myself to set targets and goals which will guide what I hope to achieve for the year. Things rarely happen as planned though, so these goals and targets are constantly evolving. Even still, putting this structure in place is really important, and informs every decision made during the year. SS: I’ll often make decisions to try to do more of one thing, less of another based on what’s gone well for me but still keeping an eye out for unexpected opportunities that are impossible to plan for. I like to try new avenues, sometimes they’re cul-de-sacs, other times they open up a new stream of work - either way I learn something from doing it - without experimentation we stagnate. SC: It’s definitely useful to have goals or even thoughts (if you’re more flexible) to help guide you towards getting what you want for yourself. Mine tend to order themselves into some semblance of structure, from the mundane (less milk in coffee), to the vain (attain TV-newsanchor-perfect teeth) to the ambitious (write the screenplay) to the sublime (trek to see mountain gorillas). The thing about plans and goals is, you write them. The only person they answer to is you. They can be as freaky, final or as fanciful as you want. Life can be boring, so make up for it with grand plans that make you excited / nervous / sketchy / all of the above. They might not come to pass but if they do, it’ll be an absolute trip. JM: Goals are very important, I think you need to have a vision and a direction to move towards in order to attract work that you enjoy producing. I’ve written out goals in the past in hopes they manifest and not many people know this but I actually carry a list of names in my wallet of people I want to photograph and publications I one day hope to collaborate with and be published by. – January marks the start of not only a new year but a new decade. Some say it’s a real watershed moment, others see it as just another notch in time. In what ways are your career changing from when you started? How is technology, media and more impact16