Re: Me
The years 2018–2023 are missing from this story, and like most people who get outside and do things, I’ve changed! But fret not, more is coming soon…
My portfolio speaks to where I’ve worked, but this page is about me — the living, breathing, and currently typing human who connects all that work together.
My thoughts on my work are always evolving, but right now I’d say I have spilt my attention and skill development between two tracks that I believe are equally important to prudcing great creative work. I specialize in cultivating vision/voice, and building the culture/process to execute it.
Let’s define our terms!
vision/voice
Vision = The clearly defined and collectively shared sense of what we want a creative project to be. It’s our north star, and whether directly or indirectly, it shapes everything we make.
Voice = How we’re articulating that vision to the world. It’s the language and identity of our project or brand. It’s our style, our script; the actual content we create.
culture/process
Culture = The people, values, and energies of the environment in which we create. It’s the personality of how we make stuff together. A good culture always aligns well with the vision.
Process = The way all creativity and business gets conducted. The calendars, the meetings, the deadlines. You know, the fun stuff!
Another way to think about me and my work is an equal balance of thought applied to what and how.
What we’re creating is always the most fun — that’s the jokes, the words, the pretty visuals, the mind-melting central takeaway that changes somebody’s entire worldview. See, pretty cool.
But it’s really hard and super painful to get a great what without a healthy how. In many respects, my whole career started in how. And the longer I’ve worked on it, the more I’ve realized that if we put some real thought and effort into structuring how we’ll make something — and it truly should be unique to every project — then it takes a ton of pressure off worrying about what’s getting made. Rather than obsess over little details, we can trust our how and continue moving through the process.
Lastly, you’ll notice none of this has mentioned a medium. Written words, moving pictures, interactive digi-bits… I’ve made them all, but never defined myself by these things. Because really, the process is largely the same. Many might argue, but I’d argue right back. When you boil it all down, the creative process is almost always the same. I’ve been lucky to develop certain specific skills more than others — writing, directing, a dash of design — but my work, and really my professional identity, is way more defined by the paragraphs above than the final form any one project might take.
So. That’s me. At least the professional me. But believe it or not, all that stuff takes a backseat (most of the time) to the stuff that matters most to me. My family. My friends. The Green Bay Packers. You know, the important stuff.