Hi Steemians!
I guess the best way to introduce myself is to say I'm a creative who loves to design everything. I use the word design very loosely there. If I were at a networking event I'd probably say something like "I'm a creative director running my own boutique agency in NYC after about 6 years working at other companies including a digital agency, a branding agency and designing skyscrapers at an large architecture firm. We work on a range of projects that include branding, building websites, marketing strategy, producing architectural concepts, creative consulting, building 3d VR experiences, producing graphic materials, etc." The truth is I love my job and the variety of creative work we do, but I think the work-related description kind of dulls down what I like most about creating things. There probably isn't a title for my ideal profession, which would include designing buildings, creating digital products, making art, producing music and lots of other things that sound unrelated to a lot of people, but I see it as being completely interconnected. That last sentence probably lays out how I'd like to spend my time long term fairly accurately.
Seattle in the 90's
My interests and professional work may not make a lot of sense without a brief background. I grew up in Seattle in with very artistic parents and surrounded by an emerging and fascinating musical and creative scene that was relatively isolated from the rest of the world in terms of external influences, which allowed a very interesting and unique cultural identity to emerge. I was lucky enough to have many experiences that were saturated with creativity and people thinking about things in different ways. Microsoft and the tech startups in the area contributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of the creative community in a way that is completely intertwined in my DNA to this day.
Exploring Life and Art Through Music
With a little bit of luck and some hard work, I was accepted into a liberal arts middle school and high school in Capitol Hill with a reputation for putting out incredibly prepared college kids, but also big name musicians. The famous Jimi Hendrix sculpture was a few blocks away and the school had musical instruments sitting the halls, so go figure. One of the most important things that happened to me at this time aside from watching my dad work as an illustrator was getting accepted into the jazz band led by Floyd Standifer, a Seattle jazz legend and one of the most influential life teachers I've ever had. He used to play with Ray Charles and Quincy Jones and could play any song in any style on any instrument. The most important lesson I learned from playing under Floyd was the art of composition and improvisation as it can by applied beyond music. When Floyd got sick in old age and couldn't teach anymore I left the jazz band, but began recording and producing full songs instead. I discovered around this time that all of Floyd's musical principles and philosophies could be applied to art, essay writing or almost anything else you think of. There was an underlying framework for how to structure elements, intertwine ideas, explore concepts and improvise. These ideas were only confirmed and exponentially multiplied in architecture school at Cornell almost a decade later and they still guide me today.
My Intro to Steem
Okay, back to Steem. I was introduced to Steemit by two people who have been longtime great friends, roommates and collaborators who also live in New York City and whom I've spent countless late night hours with working on theoretical and real life creations in architecture school and beyond. Big props to Kirk ( @voronoi ) and Mike ( @hansikhouse ) for continuing their creative work and community work on Steem and elsewhere AND for bringing me in to this incredible new community and platform. At this point I've only experienced the blockchain and cryptocurrency world with clients that we've had in the past.
My Contribution
Overall, I'm excited to see what's out there in the Steemit community in terms of content and relationships. I'm going to be sharing with you what I consider to be the most special and personal aspects of the creative process. Not only are the things I'll share the most inspiring and fruitful to me personally, but I believe that they're the real driving force behind any kind of attributable success to the projects that we produce at my company or that I create for myself. Some of the projects that I'd like to show the strategic thinking and hidden process are our hybrid farm apartment design, my personal travel sketches, theories on the relationship between digital and physical, branding a blockchain financial settlement company, designing a masterplan concept for Rio de Janeiro and many more.
I've never really shared the intellectual side of these projects in any way shape or form anywhere, so this is new territory for me and it's a bit exciting. I'm very much looking forward to your thoughts, comments, critiques, and anything else that comes to mind! Ciao for now, Steemians.
- Weston (aka @design-guy)
