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Hi! What am I doing here?

When I started working, I used to believe that graphic design was just art that you could make money with. At least, that's why chose it as a major in college. But I fell in love with the systemic nature of how design exists in our world. Design is all of the nuance and expression (or lack thereof) within how we communicate. It takes references from culture, history, language, nature, you name it, and distills it into forms that make sense to us. By that rationale, there is a tremendous responsibility on designers to be hyper-conscious of the references we take, and those we exclude. Those choices ladder down to which norms are perpetuated in society and which stay on the margins, rarely breaking from obscurity into mainstream culture. For me, the most important work I can do will challenge people to critically rethink what their expectations are.

Design advocates of the world, rejoice! There is no perfect solution to your design problem.

In the pursuit of solutions, the first step is to ask why. Why are we are making something in the first place? Developing creative work for a world that moves so quickly often skips this question, and the solutions end up relying on all-too-familiar tactics to get a job done. The truth is that even if a design choice worked for years (looking at you, Aunt Jemima), a cultural movement or a technological advancement could render it obsolete, offensive, hacky, basic, or ineffective. Design is a constant work-in-progress that follows the progress or regression of society. My goal is to remain cognizant of that changing context in which my work exists.

Am I the designer you want to work with?

Obviously yes of course! Caveat that with a need for meaningful growth around helping people, improving their lives and experiences, and thinking critically about how to do so without needing a throughline back to ROI. Want to learn more? I love meeting new people and being a sounding board for ideas and projects.

ben@osheyack.com


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