Design like you give a damn: An Evening with James Victore

“What type of advice would you give a 12-year old aspiring artist/designer?”

James Victore, designer, art director and host of weekly YouTube video blog Burning Questions, recently received this question from a fan and jokingly thought, “How can I explain this in a PG manner?” In preparation of responding to the young fan, Victore decided to give the full house at Penn State Harrisburg an extended (and not-so-PG) version of his response. Although Victore is a leading advocate in the “No rules” realm of design he had some guidelines to share with the starry-eyed designers in the audience, including the White Good Studio Team.

• In the particular lies the universal. Put your heart and love into your work and it will resonate with others.


• Just start! Stop waiting!


• Embrace the things that made you weird. Don’t let anyone “teach” you out of something.


• Trust yourself. Believe in your dumb ideas and stop dwelling on the work of others.


• Do the f&%$ing work and practice all the time. You have to put in the time.


• Enjoy the process. Enjoy your work. “You’re not entitled to the fruits of your labor, you’re only entitled to the labor itself”.


• Feck perfuction. Perfection is boring. Start a project and finish it without “noodling”.


• F&%$ Safety. Be notorious. Having guts is sexy. Kill your “Ego Dragon” and go be sexy.


• First: Learn everything… Then: Forget it… Then: Design!


• Creativity is dangerous. Think along the lines of Artist Ai WeiWei and his infamous middle finger.


• Make yourself happy first. Don’t ask for others’ opinions. Trust yourself.


• We are magicians. As designers we can add 1+1 together and get something other than 2.


• Play nice. Seriously, just be nice.


• Remember your audience. The public is worthy and smarter than you think. Don’t design solely for other designers.


• Make work that matters. Art and design are feeble without a purpose.


• This is not a job.


• Don’t sell yourself short.


• Your work is a gift.


• Relax.

Hear more from James Victore and get a dose of inspiration by listening to his Burning Questions segments.