In this week’s episode we look at baaring your soul and putting your true authentic self into your design work. This is of course much easier said than done, but when you start being truly unfiltered in your creative work it can lead to some pretty amazing stuff happening.
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Show Notes for This Episode:
[1:00] This week we are getting personal and we talk about baring your soul
[1:40] Your creative work will better resonate with people when it’s truly authentic
[2:30] Dustin has always been very honest, but with his new illustrations work he’s also shown a vulnerable side and found this very positive
[3:30] He’s even thinking of the possibility of turning his illustrations into a blog
[4:15] The hosts admire how consistent Dustin’s been with his illustrations. You can see his work on Instagram over @heydustinlee
[5:45] Show your experiences, good or bad, and most important be true to yourself
[6:40] Through her work, Lisa has been interacting with people at a more personal level, but she still finds it a bit scary
[7:30] She doesn’t hold anything back with the work she’s been putting out, but hasn’t featured much of her fine art as she didn’t think anyone would be interested
[8:20] She fears that as she is very outspoken and she has strong opinions about things, she might end up irritating someone
[9:10] Tom thinks Lisa could channel her opinions and feelings into her illustrations
[10:10] He believes people will love Lisa’s work even more as the characters will be an extension of herself
[11:00] Ian suggests going deeper rather than expanding your services
[11:45] He follows lots of photographers and enjoys seeing the personality that comes across on their channels
[12:40] Most people are not their honest selves because they fear what people might think of them
[13:10] Tom thinks people are socially conditioned to hold back
[14:30] There are a lot of similar illustrations out there, so if you want to stand out you need to inject your personality into your work
[15:15] Tom reiterates the benefits of showing your true self: it differentiates you from other, it attracts followers and clients
[15:45] Being authentic from the start will also help you develop your style
[16:30] Tom mentions Steven Bartlett’s podcast and how honest he is
[17:20] He started seeing a pattern of top people being more authentic on social media
[18:20] Dustin mentions one of Marcus Aurelius’ quotes
[19:15] Ian talks about the trend with fitness people and showing photos of their real selves instead of photoshoped images
[20:30] People will follow other people who share a story
[21:20] Tom is seeing authenticity becoming a trend across many industries
[21:50] Quick fire of actionable tips of showing your true self in your work
[22:00] Tom: ‘do a piece that scares you and share this with the world’
[22:20] Dustin: ‘share your weaknesses and flaws’ – as he recently did with the illustration of a hand
[23:20] Lisa: ‘draw something that scares you’
[24:00] Ian: ‘find something that really hurt you, and share that pain into your work’
[25:00] The people that have been the most hurt produce some of the most beautiful work
[26:00] By applying this exercise to your personal projects, will also benefit your client’s work as they will see you are able to communicate deeper meanings
[26:40] it’s hard to be vulnerable, so if you’re able to do that you’ve got a strategic advantage over your competition
[27:30] Authenticity will become part of your brand and this will attract people to your work
[28:00] Don’t be afraid to inject your personality in your portfolio as well
[28:30] Your work will be more original when you learn to channel your emotions and feelings into your client work
[29:00] Every time you do a piece, ask yourself: ‘how would this look if I was being vulnerable?’
[29:30] Lisa used nature themes in previous corporate projects and the clients were really happy with the result
[31:20] Tom talks about Aaron Draplin and how he makes clients gravitate towards him
[32:00] Aaron has a whole page on his website dedicated to sharing pictures of his father
[32:30] Dustin felt a connection to Aaron as he also lost his father a couple of years ago
[33:00] Tom remembers the post that Dustin did about his father and how emotional he felt
[33:45] This helps you build relationships around your passion and your creativity
[34:30] The hosts are reminded of people liking your work and asking to check out their profiles
[36:30] Tom is working on launching a personal website, which will be a hub for the podcast and his personal social media profiles
[38:00] Tom struggles with deciding how the website should look like and he reveals that he wants it to be most creative expression of his authentic self
[38:00] For his profile picture he would like to a do a time lapse of photos from when he was a baby until now
[39:30] The collection of stuff you put on the web will be the documentation of your life when you are gone
[41:30] Jump on this early, before everyone else finds out about it and starts applying this to their work
[42:00] Thanks so much for listening to this week’s episode
“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!” – AG_GD
I only recently found this podcast and have been binging it while working (I’m actually happy that I found it so late because there’s so much to listen to. I’m dreading the day I catch up and will have to wait a week for every episode, thanks so much for doing this week in and week out. But I digress).
I’ve always been very honest in my work, but the captions have definitely been edited versions of that. I just finished the 36 days of type challenge (while serendipitously listening to this episode) and decided that I would get real on the last post about the ups and downs and the lessons learned after completing an Insta challenge for the first time. Wouldn’t you know it, literally 10 minutes after posting it, I was approached to turn that post into an article. My first ever! I don’t know if it will open doors to writing or if I even want to do that, but it’s exciting either way.
Thanks again for such an honest and relevant show.
PS Shout out to fellow South African Lisa Glanz, who definitely helps me relate more to the topics.
Hey Alicia, thanks so much for getting in touch. It’s so great to hear that you’ve found the Honest Designers podcast and you enjoy listening to it and hopefully you’re getting a lot of value from it too. Ha ha I know exactly what you mean – it’s like binge watching your favourite TV show and running out of episodes ?
So happy that you’ve been doing a 36 days challenged, and it’s so amazing that your honest and authentic story has brought so much interest from your audience. It’s always good to put yourself out there and you never what opportunities will come your way.
I will let Lisa know and she will be so happy to hear that a fellow South African is enjoying the show. Best wishes from all of us ?
Hey Lisa, sorry about the confusion and thanks so much for letting us know. We will update the podcast page to reflect the correct meaning ?
Nit-pick, not not. Didn’t check first.
I know this is not-picking, but it drives me crazy (or crazier) when professionals do it. I really think you mean “baring” your soul. Bare means to reveal and bear means carry, like a burden. So unless you’re meaning your designer soul is heavy and you are putting that load into play into your work, you’ve used the wrong word.