A New chapter

I've very very excited to announce that I'll be joining on with CTHDRL as a Creative Director as of today. (This means that my freelance work will be shuttered for the foreseeable future, but I'm always keen to keep in touch/connect.) I've worked with CTHDRL in varying capacities over the years, and couldn't be more excited be back in the fold full-time. There's been so much great work from them to this point, and I'm honored to carry the creative torch for whatever comes next. Lots of rad branding projects already in the works, and cant wait to bring those to life and share in due time.

A Freelance Post Mortem

For what it's worth, I thought others on the freelance journey might find a blurb on my experience over the last 6 years... interesting? It's more of a data point for others along a similar path than it is to tout any accomplishments:
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Freelance was never going to be the be-all end-all. There's really no exit strategy, and there's certainly a glass ceiling of what can be achieved as an individual in a service industry with only so many hours in a day. I can't sell a freelance business as it's only valuable to myself, and scaling a service-based business has never seemed appealing, or the best use of my time.. especially for a creative who's sacrificed opportunity to stay in the work as long as I have.

A main reason I set out to freelance, besides escaping a shit situation, was the ability to pursue my creative interests wherever they may lead. While I did do this a lot over the last 6 years in my time between client work, I had high hopes for creative collaborations as the primary vehicle to grow. I went so far as to initially position myself as a 'Creator and Collaborator' to defy traditional siloing of a 'Design Director', and to posture to other creatives that I was looking to work together. A few of these collaborations did happen and there were some highlights, but ultimately it was not what I had hoped for. The idea of collaboration remains very exciting, but the reality so far has been a sobering and has tampered expectations. I can wax poetic about this... but I will say that after doing several hundred hours of free work for others on others' projects, I got nothing in return but fractured friendships/connections. It's sad, and I don't pretend to be free of blame to some degree, but it's certainly not the end result I was hoping for. On top of that, the second you deviate from known titles (such as DD/CD), you become an enigma to most recruiters who check boxes. (And shout out to the real one's I've connected with over the years, there's some very very good ones in the mix who opened several doors for me). I didn't know it at the time, but my little re-positioning move cost me a lot of opportunity. Some times you just gotta play the game and fall inline.

Over the last few years, on the bright-ish side, I've very much stayed in the work. The types of work has run the gamut... fully corporate bureaucracies to skeleton crews. Highly conceptual to heavy production. Big picture to the infinitely narrow. Regardless of the dynamic, I've been appreciative of everyone bringing me on– I've worked with some truly amazing people over the years. And while the big swinging skeleton crews always felt like the sweet spot for me, that was far more the exception than the rule. I'd often have to take work that didn't excite me, nor brought any joy... and such is freelancing for 99% of people. Over time, my desire to spend more time in that sweet spot kept building.

To try and stick the landing, I had been searching the last few years rather candidly for what's next. I've interviewed and even trialed with a few companies– all feeling like a major compromise in some way... either monetarily or creatively, and more often the latter. Along that journey I've been rejected from something like 30 out of the 30 places I've applied to, and while discouraging, it was the canary in the coal mine. It showed that I might need to take a different path given I haven't followed the traditional one to this point. The overlap of my seniority, recent history in freelance, and diverse interests made me an enigma to those doing the hiring. It certainly doesn't help that 'design managers' are increasingly distant from the craft or concept that I place the most significance on in my work. While some understood me, most didn't and largely thought I was under-qualified in a specialized role, didn't have the extensive managing experience for someone with my seniority, and unrelatable with some of my more 'out there' creative interests. Basically, I look risky to a bureaucrat just tryna rest n vest... prolly right tbh.

Enter CTHDRL though– a small team who I've done freelance work for in the past, and had instantly gelled with. These are my people. They understand the way I think/work and we have tons of overlap in our approach, priorities and taste in creative. Some of my favorite projects have been done with them– Sound.xyz, Scab Shop, and Ledger, and some of what we're already cooking will likely surpass those.

So yea, being patient was the right move for me. It sucked, and even being denied a first interview for roles I was comically over-qualified for stung a bit (I don't recommend that even if it's done satirically as I did).. but worth it. It's also important to be honest about who you are/aren't (no, you're not a creative director 2 years in), and what makes you happy. Several times I got carried away with what I thought I wanted, and not what I really wanted. I still can't say I have total confidence in answering either of those question, but seeing things as they are and being honest with yourself will likely steer you in the right direction even if you don't know where you want to go yet. At least that's my thought based on my experience.. take it for what it's worth.

+ Something new soon

I've been alluding this for some time, and it probably sounds like another mirage announcement from me at this point, but I promise it's coming soon-ish. It's a brand 3 years in the making, and the branding, concept, and high-level mechanics are done... there's just a some additional foundation work that remains. I'm expecting to start rolling out over the next few months with some guidance from the CTHDRL boys who have great experience in the area I want to play in. Hang tight.. I think it could be really cool, I just want to do it properly.

That's it. Thank you again for everyone who's worked with me over the last 6 years of freelancing, I know there's  clearly some sour grapes in the story above, but I had a great time with some great people. There's a lot of case study work coming soon too.. the case studies are done and locked, just waiting for approval.