WEEK 1 - Inside the mind of a freelance designer
Hey there, welcome to Week 1 of HOMwork 2021!
First of all: It’s a huge privilege to be showing up in your inbox for a new year, so THANK YOU for joining me for year four of these creative prompts known as HOMwork.
Let’s dive right in: the first HOMwork of 2021 is about giving people a piece of your mind (in a good way).
We all have favored identities we perform or embody for different kinds of situations. For example, I do things differently when I’m trying to pitch a client versus when I’m chatting with Kristle in the studio. That’s because my setting and goals are different, so my brain cares about different stuff.
Our brains shift around all the time based on context, focusing on the things that are gonna be most useful in a given situation, or for a specific audience, or for seeing through a particular lens.
A handy word for this kind of mental and performative adjustment is persona. And this week’s assignment is about capturing the brain space of one of your many personas!
Here’s an example of my creative-freelancer-entrepreneur persona:
Though I have many other identities (crafter, vegetarian, home cook, art supply hoarder, etc), I chose to focus on just one for clarity. Otherwise, the illustration might’ve turned into a jumble of random things (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just objectively harder for a viewer to grasp the concept quickly).
Your assignment: choose one of your personas and illustrate the thoughts/topics in that brain space.
Strategic bonus: People on the internet share content that expresses something about who they are. If possible, focus on a persona that overlaps with a potential customer's identity to get the most shares / viewership from people who might buy from you or hire you.
Examples:
I sell online courses for creatives who want to freelance, so I chose to illustrate my freelancer brain space.
If you sell stationery: "Inner thoughts of a stationery addict"
If you’re a designer who wants to attract clients in the food industry, consider using one of your food-related identities.
Important note / free history lesson you didn’t ask for: When I was brainstorming for this assignment I went down an information rabbit-hole: from the aesthetic of a “brain chart” to learning about phrenology (the technical term for these charts) and its dark past.
Phrenology was the study of head shape and the idea that it somehow indicated a person’s character, interests and skills….kind of like palm reading but for skulls? It’s actually where we got the terms “high brow” and “low brow” from 🤯
The origins of phrenology were seemingly benign from what I read: just people trying to make sense of the world with the information they had at the time. However, once bigots caught wind of it, phrenology was used to justify a bunch of gross shit (like slavery and racist beliefs) in the name of “science.”
Links to read more if you feel so inclined: The History of Phrenology / Django Unchained and the racist science of phrenology / Phrenology and “Scientific Racism” in the 19th Century
Why am I sharing this?
Well, I think it's a good reminder to look into the history/context of the visual inspiration we pull for projects, especially anything vintage or historical. It can help us make more informed design choices (ie. avoiding anything insensitive, stronger conceptual thinking, etc). And hey, at the very least we'll learn something new!
Don’t forget to tag me @homsweethom and use the hashtags #HOMwork and #HOMwork2021 when you share your work on Instagram. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites in my IG Story all week.
Looking forward to getting a peek inside your head!
