We were lucky to catch up with JUST ZERO recently and have shared our conversation below.

JUST ZERO, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

As long as I can remember, creating is what I wanted to do. Not so much in a professional sense, but more so that creating has always been my #1 choice for spending my time. There was never a question about whether or not I would follow the creative path, but instead ive spent my life figuring out how to stay on the creative path and find success doing so.

As a kid, all I would do was create and somewhere along the way I learned to hustle. Taking skills and offering them as services. Creating products to sell. During my teen years, I was introduced to design and production. Then I set off on my own.

In the beginning it was just art. Make art, make prints and sell them. This grew into apparel which followed the same formula. During this time, I was looking for work as a designer. I was fairly inexperienced in the grand scheme of things so as you can imagine, I did not find much work there.

Every time I got stuck, I kept learning and pushing forward. Learn, practice, and apply. Design turned to web design, then coding and marketing. Around this time I began to see that by focusing on myself I could continue to build the skills to serve others.

Similarly, as an artist I was struggling to find places to show my work. I had some success with showing in a few small places, but I got the sense that there was more supply than demand for my work. So I did what I could and got involved with individuals, musicians, community organizations, and city departments. This led to events and other interesting ways to get my work out there. Then, it all came together for me when I first picked up a spray paint can and began making murals. Who needs a gallery when the city is your canvas?

Its never been smooth sailing, but I was finally working professionally in a way that I could put my whole self into it. Feeling that kind of freedom, there was no turning back. This is when I knew with certainty that there was no other way to live and for the last 15 years ive done exactly that.

The creative path is not an easy one, but for me – there is no other path to take.

JUST ZERO, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I see myself as hybrid of Art and Science, and im completely obsessed with creating.

In my creative work, I go by the name JUST ZERO. Those who know me as a designer, may not have ever heard that name. While together, these make up the sum of who I am. Separately, they each allow me to follow two different, but very connected paths.

In the early days I studied and practiced art in all my free time. Both at school and at home, all I wanted to do was create. As a teen, I worked for a small family Embroidery Production business learning to hustle and running machines. It was here that I got started in design and I began to customize my own clothes through what was available at the shop.

In 2012 I started my own creative production company – Justified Ink. With this company I was able to begin my own journey of development and growth. I began with using design to perpetuate my art. This grew into creating artistic designs for apparel which I sold at festivals and events.

Along side this creative design work, I had taken my art to the extreme as I began working with spray paint. This work grew exponentially when I connected with several local organizations in support of bringing more art to the communities I was a part of, and beyond. I created dozens of public art around the city during this time. Eventually I served in public office on the Salt Lake City (UT) Art Design Board as the Chair. In this group we would discuss and make decisions for public art selection and production on a city level.

As an artist I continued to create and teamed with a crew of talented individuals where we mastered the art of live painting as entertainment at music events and festivals. We setup and painted walls and other massive installations at dozens of amazing events.

In the background, I’ve always continued to develop my skillset and reputation as a full service designer. Ive worked in print production, web development, brand creation, and so much more. While ive done each these things individually, I pride myself on providing cross-disciplinary expert services for my clients. This has also grown into serving in leadership and technical advisor roles in the recent years.

Through intense dedication to this dualistic craft, ive reached what feels like astronomical levels – yet I’m only getting started. To date, Ive spray painted over 30,000 sq ft in murals, and have created over 5,000 websites. While pushing the extremes of artistic and design creation, I have also worked on virtually everything in between.

Above all, I work hard to support my family. I have a lovely wife, 2 kids, and a dog named Money. There is an ebb and flow to which elements of my work have put food on the table. On occasion it was art, but most of the time it has been design that keeps the lights on. I often joke to my wife about being a mild-mannered designer by day, and a super villain artist by night. In reality, this is the absolute truth.

Of course, I still dream about being a full time artist, but I keep it real and do the work that works for me. To some, this might put a strain, on their art. For me, its liberating not needing the art to perform well financially for it to be successful. At this point, I am completely free to create anything I want – which I think is the definition of success.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Growth is by far the most rewarding part for me as an artist and design creative. Learning new skills, filling in the blanks of old skills, expanding on areas that were once weaknesses and turning them to strengths.

I feel like theres an endless world of possibilities. While I respect those who specialize in one thing, that cannot be further from what I want out of this.

Each skill I learn compounds with the others and becomes something greater than each would be alone. Spray painting has made me a better designer in how I think about layers. Web development helps me to think in terms of steps and processes, which in turn made me a better painter. Print production helped me to create bolder art. The list goes on.

At this point, I think im just in love with the struggle. Theres no thrill like being terrible at something and building up to a nice point between proficiency and mastery. Every time though, shelf it and move onto something new. I know that starting over doesnt really mean starting over because I bring all my skills with me.

From this, I believe I can think in ways that traditional specialists may not consider. I do hope one day to be recognized as a specialist but until then I repeat this cycle – and I could not be happier because growth is what fulfills me in this practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://justifiedinkdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justifiedinkproduction
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-johnson-b2026139/
• Other: Shop: https://shop.justifiedink.com/ Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Just-Zero/author/B0CXP3WHVJ