I’ve found that pigeon holing is all in the mind. When I started my own studio this year after 20 years in the business people immediately asked me what I was going to specialize in. My reply is great design for clients who get it across every industry. I got a lot of funny looks in response, but just two months into my studio I’ve got 6 clients:
- luxury luggage brand
- realestate developer (concepting interior/exterior for a piece of architecture)
- automotive tier one supplier
- e-bike company
- European cycling brand
- Vehicles for a Hollywood movie
That is a pretty diverse list and I’m just out of the gates. I’ve found that the key is proving you can do the work. When I went from my first consulting job to Nike, I presented 100 concept shoe sketches on a giant poster in the interview. When I went from the Nike brand to Jordan I did a concept project for Jordan at night for the head of design at Jordan and presented it to Mark Parker. After working at Nike for 8 years going to interview at frog I presented 2 complete conceptual smartphone projects jawing the ID and storyboards for the use cases… What I’m getting at is if you have the desire and ability to work for it, you can make it happen. Takes elbow grease, a good attitude, and the ability to not let others define you. First thing somebody said when I interviewed at frog was “ugh, a shoe guy”… my response was I was a design director for one of the most globally recognized brands working with high performance edge cases to develop industry leading product… just happened to be shoes. If frog wasn’t interested in that experience set then I was clearly in the wrong place… I got an offer that day.
Focus on doing the best work you can and create a long term vision and definition of yourself. some people won’t get it, don’t waste time with them. Focus on the people who do get it and want to help you do the best work you can, be they clients, employees, teachers, engineers, marketers, other designers. And by that I don’t mean people who will just prop you up, I mean people who will challenge you and push you, but get it.