28: Why Design Influencers Get It Wrong

About this episode

Francisco Reyes Jr. aka Never Made has a problem with design influencers and it is that the shortcut skips the part where you build a point of view.He would know what the long way looks like as he's spent 11 years inside Shepard Fairey's Studio Number One, most of it he was pen-tooling references building a strong vector art library. Before that, four months of unpaid interning.In Part 1 of this conversation we get into the case for gatekeeping, why nobody digs for references anymore, and what being in the room with someone great teaches you that no tutorial can. Plus, the 1000 fan theory, and why he tells every major brand exactly where he stands before he signs anything.It ends with a stranger at demanding to know why his print said her anger was a gift. In this episodeThe case for gatekeeping, and why the shortcut hurt the people taking itHow Pinterest flattened everyone's references into the same board What four months of unpaid interning taughtPen-tooling elements from archives to build Shepard Fairey's libraryWhy he will not sell a client his own color palette, and how that turned into collaborationsThe fork between calling yourself a designer and calling yourself an artistBobby Hundreds' thousand-fan theoryWhat he told students afraid of losing clientsWhy he discloses his politics before signing, and what brands keep saying backNotable Quotes "A million followers does not equate sales." "Art's not supposed to tell you what to feel." "To protect your brand, I'm just letting you know that this is my brand. And they're just like, that's why we want you."GUEST INFO Francisco Reyes Jr. is a Los Angeles artist and designer working as Never Made. After eleven years at Shepard Fairey's Studio Number One he went independent, and now splits his time between Never Made and his design agency, Design Bedroom.Website - nevermade.com Peace & Unity Tee as seen on Joe https://nevermade.com/collections/shirts/products/peace-unity-tee-1instagram.com/nevermadeHost Joe Baron Website brandedbaron.com If your brand still looks like everyone else in your category, that is usually a sourcing problem before it is a design problem.Start with the free Brand Refresh Checklist: brandedbaron.com/rebrand-checklistEvery episode of Mark It 2 Me: markit2me.comPart two is next. Sign up for the newsletter to know when it drops.Chapters 00:00 Cold open 00:47 Intro 01:38 The beef with design influencers 03:41 Bring back gatekeeping 06:27 Flea markets, Playboys, and crate digging 07:10 What Pinterest and AI did to inspiration 10:42 Advice for the 22-year-old creative director 11:17 Why nobody wants to intern 15:20 The pen tool, and eleven years next to Shepard Fairey 20:05 Why the colors are not for sale 20:51 Artist or graphic designer 21:45 Making work nobody asked for 24:36 The thousand true fans theory 26:27 Where the protest work comes from 29:45 Some Designers are vanilla 31:42 Telling clients who you are before they hire you 33:17 Do institutions want creatives to fail 34:26 When to explain your work and when to shut up 37:13 Your anger is a gift