[DesignIsMyThing™ ] Where are you from and what do you do?
[Anna] I grew up in Boston (Jamaica Plain), Massachusetts, and lived in adjacent Cambridge until 2007. In January 2008 I moved to Los Angeles, where I’ve been since. I am currently a writer and editorial producer (documentary film and photography), graphic designer, and photographer. And aspiring botanist.
[DIMT] So you’re a painter, writer, photographer, producer (video) and a graphic designer! How have you managed to acquire so many skills?
[AM] It really hasn’t been intentional. I’ve always pursued visual “storytelling” in various media, and the acquisition of new ways to …do that has evolved to suit whatever type of story I want to tell at the time. When I graduated college with a degree in American History + Literature, I decided to augment my academic experience with a visual compliment. Graphic design was an intuitive choice: while I absolutely subscribe to “art for art’s sake”, I’ve always known that a purely fine art field wouldn’t sustain my problem-solving rigor. And I already considered photography, letterforms, and illustration to be my more or less native purviews.
My first design job was in Rome, where I managed and designed a fabulously large-format glossy monthly magazine. I quickly realized I needed to formally learn some basic principles, so I returned to the states and went to Massachusetts College of Art for graphic design. Since then, I’ve variously also focused on writing, video, photography, and documentary production. I still consider myself a designer, and everything I’ve learned to that end has hugely informed all of my other pursuits.
[DIMT] And where do you find that you are most productive; considering a) time vs financial reward and b) personal fulfillment?
[AM] I am most productive when I collaborate on multi-media projects. Stories that are most compelling to me are those that combine image, audio, …and written text. I love contributing to whichever component of the synthesis is best aligned with my talents. Sometimes I am a writer. In editorial contexts, the salient challenge is finding the right way to draw informed and accurate conclusions between my various sources of research, and other people’s testimonials. Also delicate is the balance between suggested, and overt, presentations of the story. This is the area I most enjoy navigating — and nailing — and it is a space that exists within all of the media I love. Graphic design provided a conceptual foundation that taught me how to conceive of subtlety: as a compelling and effective way to perceive, organize, and convey information.
[DIMT] Your work has carried you across the world, share with us how you’ve managed to identify and seize opportunity?
[AM] Simply put, I suppose I watch for an opening, then nominate myself as the best person to fill that role. This is of course after I assess whether my i…nclusion would serve both my best interests, and — this is important — the project’s. With logical caveats (primarily an accurate gauge of abilities), one can follow a natural trajectory into unfamiliar waters with some assurance of success (or, at the very least, security against absolute disaster). But it is critical that your defined contribution would also help the process, and final goal, which can sometimes be independent of your own. To this end, though, a helpful axiom I still call on is “sometimes all you have to do is ask”. (Also, of course “when appropriate, design with your handwriting as the type” and “is true black really the best color for this project?”.)
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