As I begin my 29th year in design and innovation, I started to think about what I want to achieve over the next year. This had me reflecting on where I had come from, to what I do now and where the hell has the past 28 years gone!
For me, packaging design started when I was around 10 years old, I went to a careers evening with my parents for my older brother and there was a stand for St Regis Packaging. They had a carry pack for beer cans and it featured sesame tape from HB Fuller with a reinforced handle. Sometime after returning home, I started drawing my own structures for a can carry pack and thus unknown to me at the time, my future career was sealed, although it only took 7 years later and I would be starting at David S Smith Launceston, which took over the St Regis site.
This got me thinking, what have I learned along this road and what advice would I give a 17 year old me entering into the world of packaging design.
Here are some of my key learnings from my career so far in the packaging and the design industry:
1). Managers and Leaders
I have had a number of managers throughout the past 29 years and seen many changes and leadership styles. Leaders inspire you to grow, they challenge you, they will certainly take you out of your comfort zone. They will trust you, as they hired you for your skills. They will see things in you, that you did not even know was there. Surround yourself with people that inspire you to be the person you want and remove the ones that are critical, or not supportive.
Managers will do everything that is required, but some can be very focused on the reports, micro managing. To me, being a creative, the worst type of manager to work for, is a micro manager. It was a horrible experience, made to feel little, taking away your creativity, taking credit for your innovations and creativity. You need to work around these people, sometimes it is not easy or quick, plan your strategy, but do not make quick and rash decisions.
2). Get out of the office
If you work in a manufacturing environment, then get time on the factory floor, understand the equipment you are designing for, not just the specification guidelines. Visit customers, suppliers, get as much knowledge as you can, it will transform you from a good designer to a great designer. You will not only solve the customer brief, but also be a valuable asset to the business, because you will design to make the machines run faster, the production more profitable.
3). Take yourself out of your comfort zone
Most of my greatest learnings have been outside of my comfort zone, only last year, I went on a 7 month secondment, to work in a completely alien environment of FMCG. It was great and really made me up my game. Not only has my temporary manager become a good friend, but also the design lead. I am quite an introvert and one thing that takes me completely out of my comfort zone, is public speaking, it is literally one of the hardest things for me to do, but I am determined to overcome this. Generally, I agree to do something and then there is no chance to back out. 5 minutes after I say yes, I am thinking, why did I just do that. When I started back at DS Smith 8 years ago, I found presenting to the local team difficult in a meeting room, yet last month I spoke to over 200 people at a summit and then only two weeks ago, I spoke on BBC Radio 4. I think my heart has never beat so fast, but I feel great for doing it. I know the more I push myself to speak publicly, the easier it will become. I know this method is not for everyone, but it works for me.
4). Inspiration or going alone
When I first started, I always looked to other more experienced peoples design for inspiration, as I did not have my own history. Now, as I get older, I am much more confident to push the boundaries of design and innovation, to be challenging. Not afraid to go it alone.
5). Design and innovation theft
This to me is one of the difficult parts about a career in design and innovation, at some point, you will have something stolen or copied. Throughout my career, I have had a number of designs and innovations stolen and not just by individuals, but also companies, ones that are industry leaders and in respected positions. Unfortunately as an individual or small business, NDA’s only go so far and patents can be very expensive for small businesses. Designs and innovations are something very personal to a creative, it can feel like a part of you has been taken and the person doing so, has no feelings for this and is usually driven by money and greed. I remember back in 2015, I created an e-commerce design in 20 minutes, it was one of those moments, where it all just fell into place and the site where I worked, decided to enter it into the UK Packaging Awards, but not to patent it. It did win, which was a bonus, but the heart wrenching part, was seeing around 6 months later, that a competitor had my design on their cutting table in one of the packaging magazines, highlighting their new innovation suite. My design had the words ‘innovation, design, creativity’ printed in the artwork. They were using my solution to promote their creativity. It will hurt when this happens, but as I grow older, it makes me realise I need to look at it a different way. Firstly, my design was good, I can do better, as I know why the design was create, I know the formula, the theory behind it. This is the past for me, why waste time or energy on being angry or upset on this. You have the knowledge, skills and expertise to do better. However, learn from this lesson, protect your designs, do not disclose or share with someone from the industry, just because they are well known, or have been in the industry for a long time, or even signed an NDA with you. On one of the occasions, when I had something stolen, the company that took it, not only stole an old solution and missed out on working with me in the future, but I had disregarded this and was already working on the next one, but they couldn’t even market it right, as they had literally just stolen the design and did not understand the whole theory behind it.
6). Personal Growth
Whilst growing your career is a great thing, growing yourself personally is also something that I discovered. Public presenting, coaching have been real eye openers for me. When you grow personally, it can also support your career growth.
Invest in yourself
7). You can learn from anyone and at any time in your career
Throughout my career, there have been many people that have inspired me and I have learned a great deal from. Everyone has their own knowledge, skills, expertise and views. It doesn’t matter at what level they are within the business, or even their age. Unfortunately, you will come across people that are just flat out critical and not constructive. It was more recently in my career, where I have grown in this area. Social media has many keyboard warriors, where they forget to connect their brain and bashing out a response. In business, I do not see any reason why you feel you say something there, that you would never say in life face to face, so do not take it to heart. This can even come from very experienced and seasoned people within the industry, who should really know better, trolling posts and providing no constructive comments. For this reason, now when I hold an innovation workshop or design sprint, I think about the amount of effort this person put in. I work with some people that English is not there first language and they only speak a small amount. But for an outstanding designer, is the one that comes to every meeting and reads from Google translate, so that they do not just send in their material and do not present. It us about being open minded and understanding how much that person put into the design. Are they new, so do not judge their solution the same as an experienced designer, but that does not mean that they will not have the ability to bring something creative and innovative. Working in a multi cultural environment has also made me think much more about how I communicate, learning from all these different cultures.
8). Side steping in your career path
Sometimes you maybe with a manager that will not promote, or support your growth, you can feel left behind, no matter what you try. I have found side stepping sometimes to be a better solution. Find another team within your company, leaving is not always the answer, but sometimes it is. What is most important is recognising when you are not making progress. Life is short and spending time working in a role where you cannot progress is harmful, especially if you are creative. You may also experience where a manager takes credit for your work and uses it to promote themselves, this can be very demotivational and in conjunction with no opportunities, it can have severe affects on your mental health
9). Speak out
I am an introvert by nature, I enjoy my space and have never been one to stand up at the front of the crowd, however, if you want to progress, you will have to get yourself out of your comfort zone. Unless you work with a leadership styled manager, who will put you forward, then you will have to speak up for yourself. This could mean in public, online etc. People will never know about you, or what you are capable of, when there are so many other voices out there.
10). It’s OK
Many people don’t know at an early age do not know what they want to be and for me, it changed over the years, when I first started out, I wanted to be a design manager. I got this role
You will never be criticised by someone who is doing more than you.
You will always be criticised by someone doing less.
Take risks: If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.
Believe in yourself, hard work,
