I met Ash Huang on the very day she had left her job to start her own agency which focuses on branding, identity and interaction design, mostly for independent businesses. We sat together on the Caltrain, and she told me about how she'd struck out on her own. So of course, because she's creative, geeky, and living the indie business dream, I had to interview her!
You can visit her portfolio at http://www.ashsmash.com/ and follow her on Twitter at @ashsmash
How did you get into the area of art and design? How did you get trained – or train yourself?
I got into the creative field the way most people probably do: as method of expressing my emo teen angst. Up to that point, I was mostly doing digital painting and drawing. I didn’t really consider it seriously as a profession until I got an email from Carnegie Mellon’s precollege design program. What I’d previously dismissed as a pipe dream quickly became a possibility when I realized people made visual things for a living. Design appealed to me because it had a noble cause, clarifying ideas and helping to fulfill human intent.
I apparently couldn’t get enough design school abuse and returned a year later to complete Carnegie Mellon’s design program. It was an intense experience to say the least. If you are at all interested in becoming a designer, I would really encourage you to go to school. The immersive environment of a good program makes a huge difference, not only in terms of curriculum and honing skills, but also in camaraderie with peers and forming intelligent ideas. Carnegie Mellon was a university, which meant we could take poetry, anthropology, philosophy, psychology classes—pretty much anything you would want to learn. You might lose a year or two of your lifespan to sleep deprivation and unintentional glue huffing, but I promise it’s worth it.
What kind of career did you have up to the point you decided to leave?
It’s easy in school to idealize design as a force that will save the world. I think everyone has the revelation that the reality of commercial design is that you work for people. There is a lot they do not teach you in school about the politics of having clients, or even answering to an art director. If you disagree with a professor, the worst they can do is flunk you. In the real world, the stakes are higher and you have to please multiple parties. The structure of agencies seems to exacerbate this phenomenon. Art directors, clients, developers, project managers—they all have to be artfully satisfied. It’s all put in place to prevent disasters and it often does, but the medicine can be worse than the cure.
I was working at a growing interactive agency that did a mix of sites, applications and advertising. The itch to leave started when I asked myself where I wanted to be in five years. I compared that to where people in my company or other agencies were after five years, and while it’s not at all a bad place, it’s a different place from where I wanted to be.
What kind of changes did you see over your career in the areas of art, design, and technology? Were any expected or unexpected – and how did they impact you?
In the short year and a half I’ve been out of school, I can see already that design and technology are becoming more cohesive and relevant to the general population. I thought there would be a lot more cajoling involved in getting clients to understand that great design is vital to a great product. People tend to perceive on the whole, though, that good technology is lost on human beings without a communicative and evocative touch. People really want technology, and won’t settle for interfaces that are difficult to use. It still freaks me out a bit to see peoples’ fathers and grandmothers on Facebook and Twitter, but it’s really a testament to design and technology fostering real human connection.
How do you feel art and design careers have changed over the years – and what would you do differently?
I think design has really gained prestige as a profession. It’s digestible because it skirts the line of technology, logic and academia. Yet, it maintains an air of expression and mystery, drawing on a rich history of art and image making. The growing interest is great for designers on the whole, as it means more business and more respect. However, there are some instances where people see design as easy or worse, an easy topical fix to a broken product. I’m not sure I would change anything, as I do think business’ interest in design is surfacing more opportunity. It remains a profession I’m proud to be in.
So why did you decide to go off and start your own business?
Quite simply, I wanted total control over what projects I was working on and more importantly, who with. It’s very important you work with good clients. Your job as a designer is to communicate and guide humans, and guiding them to inferior services is of questionable morality, really. Designers aren’t stylists, they are megaphones. We’re here to amplify message and intent, so it all starts with a good core.
It also didn’t help that I do not like working in advertising. Remember that knowing what you don’t like is as important as knowing what you do.
How has having your own business gone?
It’s been great so far! I have a few awesome clients that I work closely with and also spend a fair amount of time on my own projects. I love working in the quiet of my own office and cranking out stuff when I want to crank (while sticking to the schedule, of course ;) ). Sometimes it’s 9 am, and sometimes it’s 3 am.
How did you get your own business up and running? Were there any surprises to striking out on your own?
Lucky for me, interactive design has a pretty low barrier to entry. Many of the things I need (software, hardware etc) I already had for my personal projects or for school. It’s pretty easy to get a business license and as long as you are a relatively good book keeper, finances aren’t so terrible to deal with as a sole proprietor. The straightforward nature of literally getting a business started has been a huge surprise. I expected to be buried in paperwork. Well. Maybe I speak too soon, we’ll see come tax time!
The other huge surprise for me was hustling for business. I find my jobs come through referrals and friends. It seems pretty obvious in retrospect; I don’t think any client likes the idea of working with a total stranger.
Any tips for ambitious creative people?
Don’t let anyone tell you what you want, and keep your eyes on the prize. Your prize.
Keep going. As thinking beings, we can be our own worst enemies by letting the immediacy of our situations form sticky doubts. You will hit rough patches. This is a fact of life.
Act like an athlete. Stay loose and work hard. Being creative is a muscle. Stress, unrealistic internal expectations and periods of drought usually lead to stiffness.
Most of all, be a good and interesting person. It’s the root for all success.
Thanks Ash!