It was 3:30 in the morning, maybe closer to 4, back when Taco Bell was still open 24 hours. We’d grabbed some burritos and driven back to the studio. It was completely dark in there. We were exhausted, so we each took a couch, because there was no point going home. I had class at 9 a.m. He had clients coming in.
I looked across the dark room and asked, “Fred, is it always going to be like this?” I meant graphic design: the late nights, the deadlines, all of it.
He said, “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”
He couldn’t see it, but I smiled really big, because that was exactly what I wanted.
The job nobody else would take
Fred Crawford was my number one mentor. He passed away several years ago, and I didn’t realize how much I still carry that loss until I started telling this story.
One day he called me. “Hey, I got this job, a mural painting downtown in a children’s hospital. You want to come help me?” It felt like everyone else had bailed on him, because the work had to happen at night.
Back then you didn’t print wallpaper graphics and stick them on the walls. You painted them by hand. So we painted clouds, skies, and sunrises across the walls and the ceilings, along with murals of animals. The goal was to make the hospital feel a little less like a hospital and a little more beautiful.
Never let them see you sweat
What stayed with me wasn’t the painting. It was Fred. His energy, his vibe, and how even-keeled he was at 9 p.m. and at 3 a.m. alike. Under stress, he never showed it, and that’s the lesson I took from him: never show that you’re sweating.
I still use what Fred and my other mentors taught me every day, and it comes out naturally now. File preparation. How to talk to clients. Staying up until 2 in the morning to get it right. Patience. Enjoying the moment. And knowing that you’re where you’re supposed to be.
What’s missing for designers today
I love AI, don’t get me wrong. I use it every day, sometimes twice a day. But I think we’ll feel a different loss over the next couple of years, and that loss is mentorship.
The industry is changing and people are getting laid off. The mentors who used to be in agencies and design studios aren’t there anymore. So now designers in their 20s are leading departments with no one above them, and they’re relearning mistakes that someone could have easily taught them.
Craft and leadership get passed down. You learn how to lead because you were led by someone.
If you’re a designer in your twenties
- Find someone who will answer your dumbest questions. That’s the whole job of a mentor, and you won’t often find it in the agency world.
- Find someone who holds you accountable. Not just to deadlines, but to doing things the right way.
- Learn the business, not just the software. That means files, clients, pricing, and pressure.
- Invest in yourself. No one is going to schedule your growth for you.
And if you’ve been at this a while
Someone in their 20s is out there trying to figure it out alone. You know the answer to their dumb question. Tell them.
It’s taken me 27 years to get where I am, and I still think back on all the little lessons Fred taught me.
That’s my post for today. Let me know what you think, and go out there and help somebody.
