Design Feast Series: Designer’s Quest(ionnaire)

Justin Kemerling

Owner and Design Director of Justin Kemerling Design Co

Primary design concentration:

Visual communications

Most preferred tool for designing:

Imagination

1. How and why did you choose to become a designer?

I have a really hard time deciding what to do at any given moment. (I might be interested in too many things.) So when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, I began freelancing and using my art background, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Now, being a designer has allowed me to focus on being creative while getting involved with a wide variety of organizations, companies, products and mediums, which is the most appealing quality of the job.

2. Challenges you encounter as a designer and how do you deal with them?

Coming up with something new, something moving, something relevant. And in the mix of it all, there is the big question: is this authentic? In a world of faked, contrived, staged, hyperbolic, and outright lies, it’s something designers have to continually be asking. It’s not the most glamorous, and it’s hard to do completely, but without that check on yourself, there’s a good chance you’re just creating garbage for the media (and physical) wasteland of the trite and the useless.

3. Your definition of an “elegant solution,” that is, good design?

Design that is moving, that is compelling, but also moves beyond the initial visual aspects and performs at a far more profound level, not only solving problems, but providing opportunities in ways that improve people’s lives or provides deeper meaning.

4. From skills to values, what makes a designer successful?

Adaptable, daring, imaginative, dedicated, determined and good with your hands. From there, a designer has to connect the dots, see the larger picture, and put it all together in a simplified, compelling way that is honest and true.

5. How do you stay motivated and grow personally and professionally as a designer?

I stay motivated by the wonderful amount of brilliant, caring and loving things that are created every day. There is good all around us, we just have to look. Right now, I’m thinking Dave Eggers is one of the most important cultural figures of our generation. That motivates me not only in design, but at an extremely personal level.

6. For those aspiring to become a designer, whatever the discipline,what is your advice?

Always think. Always do. Self-doubt is good. Make friends. Don’t be a jerk. Lighten up. Do what you can to make this world better. It’s gonna be a strange ride but, dammit, it’ll be worth howling about.

7. What is your quest in design?

I want my professional practice, education, and personal evolution to be intertwined. That my design work is how I can be involved in our great adventure of learning to live in harmony with other people, on this planet. And that as things change, my design sensibility will help be a guide through the ups and the downs, and will be a tool for making things better.

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