JPBurcksOffersHisPerspectiveDuringVitals,aDesignEventHostedbyTheWebbyAwards●
Our Senior Designer JP Burcks shared the skills and traits that are vital to creating award-winning work.
Our Senior Designer JP Burcks was invited by our partners at The Webby Awards to share some of his thoughts on the craft of design at Vitals, a virtual event series. With an instinct for ambitious creative and tasteful art direction, he was the perfect choice to represent BASIC® alongside some of the industry’s most revered thought leaders.
Joining Resh Sidhu, Executive Creative Director of Barbarian, and Kyle Turman, Senior Staff Product Designer at Slack, JP was asked to offer up some insights as to what he considers vital to the craft of design—today, forever, and never.
Here are his key takeaways:
Disruption (Today): The best brands of today are those that don’t belong. The ones that turn convention on its head. Whether it’s Nike rethinking the trappings of traditional soccer uniforms on the part of the Nigerian national team or Mount Sunny turning wellness into lifestyle, JP finds the most compelling stories in brands that “shouldn’t be there.”
A Why (Forever): When it comes to designing experiences and systems, intention should come before tools and tactics. Solving a cultural problem involves understanding why that problem exists in the first place. A solution that lacks a reason for being also lacks substance—it’s a beautiful shell with a hollow core. Consumers are humans and humans are consumers. And all humans are driven by one thing: purpose.
Assholes (Never): There’s a difference between egos and assholes. Egos are necessary to instill creative confidence in an idea. Assholes, on the other hand, should not be tolerated in our industry—not now, not ever. It costs nothing to be a decent person, and as a designer, you must show up as authentically and earnestly as the humans you claim to connect with. Period.
(The Webby Awards)
Deemed the “Internet’s highest honor," The Webby Awards promote the world’s most illustrious and innovative digital experiences. They receive over 13,000 entries per year from the U.S. and 70 other countries. They are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). Sponsors and partners of The Webby Awards include Grey Goose, Vitamin T, Shocase, Engine Yard, Funny or Die, Advertising Age, Percolate, Mashable, Business Insider, Internet Week New York, and Guardian News and Media.
(BASIC®)
BASIC® is an experience design company that thrives at the crossroads of culture and technology. Combining human intuition with systematic thinking, its work in strategy, design, and digital transformation is recognized for challenging business convention alongside the world’s most forward-thinking brands.
