So, what do you do?

That’s pretty much the question that defines the average working American professional. The required answer should be brief and easy to grasp: “I’m a designer for BigBoxCompany.” “I’m a developer for ABC Corps.” Short, simple, easy to grasp. To the majority of people you interact with, you are your job title. After grad school, for a very long time it was “I’m a designer” while I created any number of things in a sundry of visual and interactive media projects at various companies. Still: a designer. Simple, easy. People like designers. If they are especially interested, they can even go above and beyond the call of polite society and ask what kind of designer you are.

But, as life often does, it got complicated. Now I’m a researcher-designer-writer all wrapped up in several managing roles. Read more →