We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel Wiggins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.

Daniel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

I’m a graphic designer by profession and I’ve worked my way up from entry level to eventually becoming a senior creative to finally opening my own business. Prior to going out on my own, I worked for brands and agencies. One agency I worked for did a lot of branding for real estate companies. The longer I worked there, the more I enjoyed learning about clients and the industry, so I started following blogs and websites that followed key players in the field. When I went out on my own, with a portfolio full of real estate branding, I targeted them with a direct mail piece showcasing my work and what I could offer them. It cost me a bit of time and money, but it was all paid back when I got my first project from that mailer. Felt great to be hustling in the field and making things happen for myself vs. taking what projects were given to me at a job.

Daniel, 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?

My name is Daniel Wiggins, I’m a NYC-based Creative Director and Graphic Designer. I’ve been working for a little over 12 years in both agency and in-house roles for hospitality, real estate and retails brands. I’m most proud that just before Covid I went out on my own and started my own freelance design consulting business. There was so much to learn: taxes, setting up an LLC, accounting software, paying contractors .. and then doing all the design work. BUT, it was super rewarding to be in charge of my own destiny. While I loved doing that for a few years, I went back to freelancing full time for brands, so now I’m focusing more on life outside of work, which can be just as exciting.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice).

I might be on my own with this viewpoint, but I think NFTs, the metaverse, VR, online everything, endless scrolling, etc is robbing us of experiencing art in person, WITH people, in real environments. While technology has opened so many doors for creatives to share art and make money, I think it’s also isolating more and more. The iphone was created 15 years ago … are we any happier as a society 15 years later? Sure we have instagram, NFTs, fashion boutiques in the metaverse, digital avatars but is this really making us happier, or more creative? And let’s not forget all these technologies are already monetized and will just be another thing we pay for or the tech companies use to sell ads.

Any advice for managing a team?

As a creative manager and teacher (I taught for a few quarters at Savannah College of Art & Design), the best way to keep creatives engaged and happy is to let them free, give them room to explore and work beyond their capacity. Basically get out of their way and let them do what they do best. Also you have to listen. I enjoy getting to know the creatives that work under me, learn about what excites them, what they like to create outside of the office, what inspires them, what do they do really well, and then try to find ways to bring that into their own work.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dcwdesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dcwdesigndotcom/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielcwiggins/

Image Credits
Designs created by me (Daniel Wiggins). All logos are property of their owners.