In this episode, we chat with Earl Carlson.

I met our guest, Earl, in New Orleans almost a decade ago when we worked out of Civic Center together. Today, Earl is a Senior Product Design Manager at Docker.

From then till now, there's just been magnetic creative energy about Earl. He's both laid-back and highly intentional in his creative work, so it is no surprise that Earl brings some hard-won lessons and perspectives with him.

At the heart of everything Earl does, as an artist, designer, and team leader, are two fundamentals that propel the creative work forward.

Play and Exploration.

Earl knows that before you can play and explore, you must build trust within your team while staying open and curious.

While it's not always easy to be creative, Earl encourages us all to stay optimistic, always be on the lookout for something cool that will resonate, and remember to have fun with creativity.

Key Topics

👉 Curiosity and multidisciplinary design

👉 Learning to Lead and Mentors

👉 Creating a Supportive Network

👉 Creating Space for Play and Exploration

👉 Building Trust and Setting Expectations

👉 Empowering Teams and Delivering Results

👉 Breaking Out of the Norm and Pushing the Design Language

👉 Bringing Personal Experiences to Work

👉 Creating Space for Others and Being Present

👉 Learning to Set Boundaries

👉 Breaking Out of the Flattening of Design

👉 Intentional Engagement and Breaking the Doom Scroll

👉 Cultivating Community

👉 Embracing Change

In our first episode of the Stay Creative podcast, Genny Davila shares her journey from being a punk rock musician to a designer.

We talk about how the DIY Punk Rock culture early-on in her life influenced and shaped her creative approach. Another big influence we discussed on how she stays creative is finding peace and joy outside of design, whether it be picking up a camera or guitar, or just connecting with nature.

The word “peace” shows up alot in the way Genny approaches her creative work. She emphasizes the importance of intentional pursuit of tranquility and managing stress in her creative work—by creating space for creative work it can lead to better results. But there’s a cautionary tale here, Genny emphasizes the need to protect oneself and find a balance between chaos and exploration. She shares her strategies for creating that intentional space for herself and her team and when, where and how you can push back on timelines and deadlines when necessary.

Her creative journey doesn’t happen alone. She highlights the importance of bringing stakeholders along on the creative journey and speaking their language to gain buy-in.

She also shares the challenges of staying current in a rapidly changing industry and her own journey transition from being an individual contributor to a leader.

Takeaways

👉 Bring a DIY Ethos to Design - Not waiting on permission to try new things, explore new ideas and the not so radical concept of leaping before looking

👉 Finding Space for Creativity - Carving out the time and defending it so you can play, finding new perspectives along the way.

👉 The Importance of Learning New Tools - Tools don’t maketh the designer, but they do help you come up with new and interesting solutions

👉 Value of Clarity and Peace in Creative Pursuits - Chaos isn’t the fuel for creativity, calm is.

👉 Creating Intentional Space for the Team - As a leader it’s about carving out the area for your team, one that they feel free to play in

👉 Bringing Stakeholders Along on the Creative Journey - No one owns the patent on creativity, so inviting more people under the “tent” can lead to better work, if managed properly.

👉 Busting The Myth of the 'Cool Kids' in Design - Designers are just like anyone else, it’s not a special club.

👉 Tapping into the Culture and Staying Current - The world keeps spinning, so spin with it not only to stay ahead but stay inspired.

👉 Embracing Imperfection and Allowing for Mistakes - Perfect is the enemy of good, be happy at those happy accidents that happen along the way.