my blog

I don't want underlings. I want people who eventually don't need me. On mentorship, high standards, and what it means to help another creative become better than they thought they could be.

What happens when one creative person becomes the entire creative department for two businesses? A look back at the scope, systems, burnout, and lessons behind a role that turned out to be much bigger than its title.

Before I had a design degree. Before I had a portfolio. Before I even knew "environmental design" was a real discipline with a real name — I was laminating menu panels on my own wide-format printer and taping them to a plexiglass window above a deli counter. This was around 2007. The client was a small neighborhood corner store called 8 Brothers Grocery. The brief, such as it was, came from me — I looked at what they had taped up and said something like: "I cannot allow you g