Field Trip is a homebase for the research and references that inform the work and life of designer Lauren Scarlett.
[RESEARCH ©FT]
I watched tick tick…BOOM! again. There isn’t another movie I can think of that so accurately depicts what it’s like to be a creative. The feeling of constantly running out of time. The narcissism of putting yourself and your work above everything else. The relentless, compulsive need to make things. The story of Jonathan Larson is beautiful and tragic and so incredibly relatable, regardless of the work you do. I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack and can’t recommend watching it enough.
There was a time where I wouldn’t allow myself to see myself in someone like Jonathan, an artist. I thought design had to be business and service and serious. I thought I was meant to act as a craftsman doing a 9-5 job. But I’ve come to realise I’m simply too emotionally driven and too emotionally invested in everything I do, to view it that way. I don’t stay up until 2am making things because I’ll get paid more to do so, or because I believe in the hustle. I do it because I love it. For that high I get when I feel like I’ve made something incredible. It’s addictive, and absolutely emotional.
The question of whether design is art, is one that has been written about a lot and I’ve flipped between thinking it is and isn’t for years. I know a lot of designers don’t feel worthy of calling themselves artists and others would hate to be called it. I personally place designers in the realm of musicians, photographers, writers etc, because they’re who I’ve always related to. I would be quick to call all of them artists but for some reason designers feel like the black sheep of the group. I don’t know if that’s down to how we think we’re perceived.
I’ve noticed an air of shame amongst designers who do corporate/commercial work. Or, let’s be honest, jobs that actually pay. I think doing that kind of work is way more common in all the creative industries than we think it is, and it doesn’t make you a sell out by any means. Money’s money, how you make it is irrelevant. What’s more important is the approach to the work, and the love you have for it.
Design can feel like a noble pursuit sometimes, of building other people’s worlds often at the expense of building your own. So much of us lives in brands and projects that aren’t ours. We hand them over and sometimes have nothing to do with them again. But I know exactly what album I was listening to on repeat when I designed it. When I see brands I’ve worked on, I know where I was, what was happening in my life and often what kind of headspace I was in at the time. No matter what type of job it was, they all have the ability to emotionally effect me in a way no one else who encounters the brands will experience, which is kind of wild to think about.
Anyways, if you haven’t watched tick tick…BOOM! please go do it.
Love how you've given words to a feeling I've often found hard to describe to people who aren't in the same space as the creative types mentioned in the article.
I haven't seen tick tick..BOOM but i'm going to go watch it now.
Love what you've written here. It's so honest!
Especially the groupings of designers with musicians, photographers, and the topic of whether design is art.