We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abigail Whited a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Abigail, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

First of all, I think it’s strange and possibly a bit reductive to separate “artists and creatives” from “regular” jobs/professions. If you’re happy doing what you’re doing, and you are able to support your life/family, that’s all that matters.

That said, of course I wonder what would have happened if I had selected a different profession. When I was in high school I was torn between wanting to be an animator and wanting to be a genetic engineer. At the end of the day, my art teacher was extremely supportive of myself, my talent, and my future goals. If my science teacher had been even half as supportive my whole life could have ended up differently. I think about that all the time. It’s human nature to wonder “what if?”

Abigail, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Oh wow. That’s a loooong story. Buckle up, buttercup!

As I previously mentioned, I had an incredibly supportive art teacher in high school that facilitated my interest in the arts, brought in college representatives for portfolio reviews, helped me submit my work for a few contests, and overall encouraged and supported me.

I ended up at the Maryland College of Art for a pre-college program which was really the first time I had to be self-reliant and on my own. I absolutely loved it. After that I started doing some college campus tours. The Kansas City Art Institute was the only other school that I had any real interest in, and ended up attending there due to financial reasons. I honestly didn’t want to go there at all. I wanted MICA, damnit! In the end KCAI was the best place for me. I recognize, and am insanely grateful, for that.

The KCAI program was really intense, and it demanded a level of professionalism that made me the designer I am today. I had an unpaid internship as part of school, and ended up with a paid position there. It wasn’t a great environment, so my tenure there was short-lived.

From there I ended up moving back to St. Louis where I’m originally from and got a job at a company that produced and sold camera bags for “extreme” photographers. That job was great in a lot of ways. I was exposed to huge names in the photography industry, and got to use their work to showcase the camera bags and products. I didn’t realize until later how rare it would be to work with such amazing and professional photos on a daily basis!

I’ve jumped around a lot since then, but for the last decade or so I’ve worked as a graphic designer for various political marketing firms. I still work for one to this day.

I love being a designer. Every day is a visual problem to solve. I feel like a surgeon with a pixilated scalpel. I love every single moment I get to use my skillset to help someone. I especially love when my sense of humor comes through in my work. It’s exhilarating!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Value the work you commission and request. As designers/creatives, our hardest job is to justify to ourselves the price we ask for our work. A horrible mentality of “good enough” seems to have snaked its way into the minds of most non-creatives. What they don’t understand is that we as creatives are never going to throw our hands up and say “good enough.” We work very, very hard to make sure each product we deliver is worthy of you, the client, and worthy of ourselves, the creative. The “good enough” mentality is disrespectful, hurtful, reductive, and dismissive to all the time and energy we’ve put into the work we’ve created for you.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There is so much that goes into being a designer. It’s not just about finding the right image/text to portray a message quickly and effectively. We really do have the power to shape an audience, change social thought structures, bring down walls, fight oppression… It’s kind of scary.

I was working on a mailer for a politician a few years ago, and I was tasked with “cleaning up” the photo provided by the campaign of the candidate. Usually that involves spot correction (i.e. removing dust from suit coats, maybe a pimple removal, a wrinkle being digitally ironed, etc.). In this particular case, I was asked to A) remove his arm/knuckle hair, and; B) well… we’ll get to that.

Let’s start with the hair removal. I digitally shaved that mans arms/fingers, laughing as I did it due to the absurdity of the request. He was a hairy dude, don’t get me wrong, but it was the first time I’d been tasked with something like this. After I finished the piece was sent to the campaign for review, and they asked me to ADD SOME HAIR BACK IN! They didn’t want him baby-smooth. They just wanted SOME of the hair removed so he wasn’t quite AS hairy! I jokingly went to social media to ask my peers “how much hair is too much?” I wasn’t really expecting a real answer, but a former professor of mine really rocked my world with his response. I don’t remember the exact quote, but the lesson will never leave me. He reminded me that every single edit I make effects how that client is viewed. That by straightening teeth, removing crows-eyes, and removing/lessening the hair on someones arm all feeds into the general and public opinion of that person. I was feeding into the public perception of beauty and unrealistic perfection that’s seemingly expected of most of us in order to be accepted into society. It really hit me between the eyes.

Moving on, the “B” example I mentioned above stands for “bulge.” That’s right–I was asked to adjust this man’s bulge for the photo he was going to be mailing out to the public. All jokes aside, there’s something to be said about someone that can take 30 minutes of their day zoomed waaay too close for comfort to smooth someone’s crotch. It was the first time I’ve been asked to do that, but it was not the last.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.behance.net/blondesrsnart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigail-whited-75101023/