Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jerod Barker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jerod, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Though I’ve had some really good turns come out of patience and diligence, some of my most rewarding experiences have come from taking risks. My best creative surges have come out of rebounding from rejection or a sudden switch-up in my career path. Quitting a steady job to pursue full-time freelance work was a massively reckless thing to do, but I listened to my instincts, and it was the catalyst to a much-needed period of reflection and artistic exploration, followed by a more fulfilling full-time work balance.

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 background and context?

I’m an illustrator, screen printer, painter, graphic designer and electronic musician. From a young age I had thing for organizing things by color and always had drawings in the margins of my homework. I pursued my illustration degree at the University of Kansas after realizing journalism was going nowhere and I wouldn’t be able to commit to a career outside of art. After school I taught myself screen printing at the Lawrence Arts Center, because the Lawrence music scene had exposed me to the art form of gig posters. My greatest inspiration has always been music.

Since then I’ve cycled through various corporate design jobs while maintaining steady freelance work in art direction, posters/merchandise, branding/logos and murals. My illustration work ranges from drawing and digital painting to hand-cut collage and vector graphics. I have a similar variety in my overall skillset and client work history. I’ve been surprised to find the logo clients to be some of my favorites, especially the ones who aren’t sure what they want, giving me the opportunity to explore and refine a range of symbols as a solution to their rebrand problems.

My proudest moment so far is a 2020 mural I did for a family in Boulder who’d had to build a privacy fence around their park-facing backyard after encountering racism. The father, a musician, wanted the fence painted with something upbeat and music-related that also referenced the continuous fight against racism in the U.S. I proposed a quote on freedom from late musician and activist Nina Simone, along with sheet music from a Nina Simone song of the family’s choosing and various other visual elements including tablature, audio waveforms, fire and birds. They loved it.

Whether it’s a branding, merch or mural project, my ability to start with a very slim prompt and provide a wealth of relevant options for my clients to consider — and then bring their preference to the finish line — has repeatedly saved my clients time & money while garnering them better satisfaction than they’d achieved with larger design firms in the past.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn my dependency on permission. Growing up, my time was rigidly regimented with athletics and other extracurriculars. I became very “coachable” (barf) and got locked into the mindset that someone always knew more than me and that I always needed to check with an authority first. Pushing myself past my boundaries and learning from mistakes was way less scary once I finally started doing it. The worst loss is the time lost to hesitation while you’re waiting for a guide. I remember a guest speaker in college saying “the gatekeepers are gone”. It was in reference to taking initiative in learning new skills and starting your own business, but it applies everywhere. It sticks out as one of many early signals for me to stop asking permission and move.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My long-term goal is to achieve financial independence so that I can permanently exit the working world, shed the money-chasing mindset over time, and then finally decide what I want to do in life. Ideally I’m hoping to build a big enough reputation with record labels and publishers to live on remote merchandise and editorial work while I build my lakeside cabin somewhere in the mountains.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.jerodbarker.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerodbarker_
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerodbarker92/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbmofeKLiPI6utbt0CLMmyA