Issue 9: Gay as in Happy (The Pride Finale Eleganza Extravaganza ✨)
On joy, celebration and where we go next.
🌈 Eyes on the prize
Welcome to the last issue of our Pride series! We’ve been through so many facets of queer identity and design this month, so for our final issue in this series, I want to zoom out to why we do this in the first place. As we talked about last week, Pride exists because of an ongoing and immediate need for justice, which must come first in any related work we do as clients, designers, and people. But when we focus only on the tragedies and injustices queer people face (as so often happens in media, design, and beyond) we readily lose sight of what we’re really fighting for—the right to freely experience the joy inherent not only to the queer experience but to all existence. This does not stand in opposition to acknowledgment of the very real hardships queer people face in the world right now, but inseparably alongside it. Indeed, neither can succeed without the other.
As a designer, and as a person, I find very few things as challenging as keeping my eye on the prize. Day to day, the path to any final result is so focused on setbacks, bad ideas, good ideas, theory, the specifics of execution and so much more, that so often I’ll land on a concept that feels like the perfect solution only to check it against the ultimate goal, realize I’ve missed the point entirely, and wind up back at square one. An idea can be beautiful in every other way, but if it doesn’t fulfill your final goals, it’s all wrong. And the fastest route to an unsuccessful concept is to lose sight of where you’re going and why.
That’s why this week we’re looking at design through the lens of queer joy. Major change, in anything, does not come without a commitment to uncountable tiny steps. But we can only guarantee success and sustainability when stay grounded not only in what we are working toward but in the light that cannot and will not be contained, even now, regardless of the long journey ahead. Join me as we get inspired by images of rainbow bliss, jam out to our happiest soundtrack yet, and learn how to stay grounded in our goals in any project.
As a final note, before we head back to our regularly scheduled programming, I want to thank you all for joining me through this series! It has meant so much to me to share this with all of you, and I am so grateful to each of you who reads this every week.
✨ Moodboard of the week
The Gay as in Happy moodboard is whimsical, vibrant, colorful, and silly as hell. We have rainbows everywhere. We have queer people joyfully existing on a pink lawn. We have trans David blowing a bubble. We have sprinkles in the streets. We have Blåhaj eating a lovely breakfast. Why? Literally why not. Click the board or the button below to view the original images, and more, on Pinterest!
🔍 Question of the week
“What do you do when a client has a vision you really don’t think is aligned with their company or branding?”
While this doesn't happen often, this is one of the biggest challenges I can come across in my design work! Obviously, a client’s happiness with the final product is my first and only priority. But there are times when someone comes to me with a very specific vision that I know will undermine their goals. I feel strongly about being honest with my clients, and I know that I’m an expert in what kind of design can give them the best chance for success. I will never let my clients be blindsided by a problem I could have seen coming. But clients also know their brands and goals best. It can be hard to balance these two truths, but that doesn’t make the need to find that balance less important.
It would be lovely if there were some sort of maxim I could throw out here, like, “Designers are the experts so we know best!” or “The client is always right!” but really, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Even though I do the literal design work on any given project, I believe design is all about teamwork. Both the designer and the client have an important role to play, both in laying the groundwork for success and in figuring out the right direction at any given stage. Visions won’t always align, but that’s a normal part of the process. Here are some ways both designers and clients can work together to come up with a final product everyone is both proud of and excited about:
Everyone: get aligned upfront
The best way to navigate these situations is to prevent them in the first place. This means getting aligned on a project’s goals and values upfront. This means working together to come up with a vision for the project that is completely separate from aesthetics—pinning down the metrics for success, what message you want viewers to get out of it, and how you want them to feel when they engage with it.
At this stage, it’s important for everyone to have an open mind about what, aesthetically, might achieve those goals. That said, if anyone does have a specific vision, this is a good time to pin down why that’s the vision. Even an idea that seems right (or looks great) may not be the best solution for the challenge at hand so knowing the reasons behind it will help everyone know what the options are, or how to direct any specific execution.
Designers: be honest, but also trust
Laying strong groundwork and encouraging an open mind will generally preempt any major misalignments, but sometimes your client really will just want something you don’t feel is right. In those cases, my first move is to give options. I always do one version that is exactly what the client asked for, as many concepts as necessary that feel correct to me, and a few in-between ideas that bridge the gap.
I believe designers should always be honest if they believe a concept will undermine a project’s aesthetics or goals, since we are trained to see things from a perspective that our clients don’t have. And as in Stage One, I think the most important thing we can do here is kindly say why we feel that way. “Your idea looks bad,” is not nice or compelling. “Customers are expecting a clean and sophisticated aesthetic that this maroon and highlighter-yellow zebra print does not provide,” may help someone understand why a different direction would benefit the final result.
That said, it’s important for designers to remember that our clients know their brands and goals better than we do. We are supposed to share our opinions and expertise but at the end of the day, the only goal is to see out a client’s vision and goals and if they’re not excited about the final product, it doesn’t matter how much we love it. We need to trust that they know their brand best and not let our egos get in the way of a result they can get behind.
Clients: trust, but also be honest
Just as designers need to trust that clients know their brands the best, it’s important for clients to trust the design process and know that the perfect final product may be different from what they expect. This is actually something designers need to do too – sometimes we think we know exactly what the final product should look like upfront and need to let go of that vision because it’s limiting us. Designers are trained not only to know what viewers are looking for but also to develop creative solutions, and to research the field they’re designing for to see what will help a brand both position itself and stand out. It can be really hard to picture what a final product will look like, which means it is so important to let go of specific preconceived ideas and simply let our goals guide us toward the right solution.
That said, you should always be honest about how you feel. I have found that (very considerately) people are sometimes afraid to tell me they don’t like a design because they think it will hurt my feelings. But all I care about is producing a final product that works for my client and I ALWAYS want to know if my creations don’t match their expectations. You should always feel free to say that an idea doesn’t work for you and, as always, explain why. If you feel very strongly about a specific vision, it’s ok to tell your designer that you want exactly that, at any stage, and it’s their job to make it for you. You are the expert on your brand’s identity, and at the end of the day, if you know what will best express that identity, it’s not up to anybody else to tell you you’re wrong.
Submit your burning design questions by sending me a message below. Questions can relate to design itself, entrepreneurship, workflow, or anything you think I may be able to answer. There are no limits.
🎧 Soundtrack of the week
This week’s themed playlist is a collection of songs by queer artists (or, in a couple of cases, songs strongly associated with the LGBTQ+ community) that never fail to elevate my mood. Virtually all of these songs get heavy rotation through my weekly playlists (the last track included/especially) and together they comprise a perfect soundtrack for June, summer, and the rest of the year. Click to listen or check out the playlist on Spotify!
🎨 My Favorite Things
Tim Singleton is a designer and illustrator who posts stunningly designed queer statements and illustrations on Instagram year-round. I appreciate that his messages are not designed to make viewers comfortable but they’re always infused with hope, both in direct messaging and in his choice of bright colors and bold typography. To me, his designs perfectly sum up the inseparability of the fight for queer justice and the need to elevate queer joy. Here are a few recent favorites but I highly recommend checking out his Instagram for much more where these came from!
Images sourced from @timpsingleton on Instagram. Give him a follow!
🌱 Touching Grass
📖 What I’m reading: I’m wrapping up The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson and it’s just as good as everyone said (I highly recommend the audiobook of both this and, her other epic book, Caste, which is a top-ten all-time favorite book).
🍱 What I’m eating: The best Japanese restaurant in New Haven (Hachiroku) opened up a grocery store and bento spot downtown over the weekend so you better believe I’ll be down there in an hour or two.
📺 What I’m watching: Through some DND-related subscription (I assume) my sister has obtained access to Hank Green’s comedy special, Pissing Out Cancer and I literally cannot wait to watch it this week.
🎧 What I’m listening to: I saw Ani DiFranco in Hadestown on Broadway over the weekend and everything about it was unbelievable. Some people would be listening to the soundtrack today; I, for one, have been listening to myself sing a poor imitation ever since I got home.
📍Where I’ll be: I’ll be at the New York Pride Parade on Sunday, flags, hair tinsel, and all!