We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Blake Jensen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Blake , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us a story about a time you failed?
I was laid off mid 2023 this year from my dream job as a graphic designer in a fast-passed agency working with my favorite brands. I thought I would be there for 3, 5, even 10 years down the road I still pictured myself there. I was just starting to run at that job, just started to feel comfortable, just started getting into the flow. Then out of nowhere I was laid off. In the beginning I was extremely defeated, I had career doubts and a lot of self doubt, and worst of all your bills don’t go away when you job does. But, after staying consistent and looking, I landed a freelance job. I’m using this time to really focus more on my personal brand and creating a bigger social media presence.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I think when people see successful/long time creatives they assume they got lucky, or just “picked up drawing” along the way. Although you can enhance your own God given creativity through classes, mentors, and practice. There is no denying people are born with creative abilities. You actually have the power to see the world differently as a creative. You have the power to make connections to the most mundane things that can trigger your next state of flow, or your next best selling piece. If you don’t get excited and feel butterflies when you think of that certain idea or make a connection to solve a design solution, you’re missing the best part of being a creative/designer.
Before I was a Junior in high school I knew I had to peruse the arts. It wasn’t until I was halfway through college that I discovered Graphic Design. With my background in fine arts and drawing, the discovery of graphic design allowed me to take my existing design skills into the digital world.
I went fully into the graphic design world. Eventually finding my passion for Brand Identity design in the for action sports, tech, fashion, and the music industry. My services extend past just brand identity and dip into motion graphics animations for logo reveals and kinetic typography.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
What drives my journey is the possibility to make a positive difference for people and young designers that want to get into the industry. My main goal is a be a teacher of design, I’ve had some of the best teachers and mentors helping me and it’s made me want to do the same.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn the ‘solo cone’ work flow. After college (and the last year being fully remote from Covid) I definitely got used to designing by myself, I thought the less input the better, I know what looks best, they can’t see my vision, truth is that was nonsense. Especially if you end up in an agency you’ll quickly see the less communication there is, the more little hiccups and discrepancies appear. I really encourage all designers to just step %40 out of their comfort zone at first. Ask more questions for clarity, ask for opinions on your designs – you never know what new idea an opinion can spark! When you feel better, jump to %80-90 and create conversations that aren’t only about design, because we’re not robots! You’d be surprised how quickly your network will grow, and when the unexpected happens your network is usually the first place you’ll turn to.
Contact Info:
- Website: jnsndesigns.com
- Instagram: jnsndesigns
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-jensen-66a684186?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app