For many artists and designers, finding their passion for graphic design was a no-brainer. For some, it was a journey filled with trial and error and plenty of experimentation.
But for Sam L., it was something else entirely!
What started out as a typical high school kid’s quest to avoid homework unexpectedly turned into the discovery of a hidden talent and a lifelong passion for design!
And now Sam is bringing his passion and talents (and pineapples) to each and every project he works on! So, if you’re ready to learn how Sam’s path went from EMT trainee to rising Designity star, then we’re ready to show you!
Pull up a chair because it’s time to meet Sam!
How did you get into graphic design? What’s your origin story?
This story is a bit interesting, and I always teeter on if I should talk about it or not, but I think it's important.
My first experience with anything “design” was in high school; I heard there was a class that had no homework. It was a design class because we weren't required to have the program on our home computers.
And so, I took that class for the sole reason that I heard it had no homework. And then I ended up spending all of my free time doing the work for that class because I really loved it, and I decided to stop working towards going as an EMT and I switched to design. I had done a whole year’s worth of work to prep for that path, but the switch was worth it.
So, it's a bit like I started as a lazy person trying to get out of work and then ended up really working as hard as I possibly could.
Where did you go to school?
I went locally up here in Washington, but I ended up doing a really intense program at Seattle Central Creative Academy.
And that was quite the grind.
What was your first creative-related job?
My first gig was actually surprisingly large.
It was for the American Radio Relay League, which is the group of people that run ham radios. So, if an emergency happens — if the entire power was wiped out — they're the only ones with access to calling other people.
I worked for the Woodinville Emergency Communications Team with the American Radio Relay League, making their logo. It was very cool.
I was living on the road at the time. So, I was road-tripping down to Texas and doing that project.
How did your career take you to Designity?
I had been freelancing for a while.
I ended up in the medical space for quite a bit as well as the property management space. I did a lot of work for apartment complexes and hospitals. I did some stuff for hospital wheels; very strange stuff.
But after several years, I wanted something a little more steady, a little more full-time.
I came across Designy on LinkedIn, and it seemed like it was the best of both worlds; I get the different types of clients that I want to play with, but also get consistent money coming in. And so that's how I found you guys, and, thankfully, you guys said yes.
How has Designity been different from your other design jobs?
It's been very different.
I'm loving the variety we get. With a lot of other, at least full-time work, you stick with a single brand, and you know that brand inside and out.
But here, you got to learn a new brand. You got to work with a bunch of different types of projects. It's super fun. Sometimes, I'm doing motion, sometimes I'm doing advertising. I love it.
What is your favorite kind of project to take on?
Branding of any sort.
It's my specialty. Although I love advertising and packaging as well. I'll jump into any of those kinds of projects. I really just like doing the work. I spend all my free time doing personal projects too.
Do you have a favorite type of art style you like to bring into your designs?
I think definitely I like to be on the computer, but I do tend to mix physical media with the computer a lot.
I'm a very physical person; I have a deck of cards everywhere I go. And so, I like to have that physical element. If you can bring something physical into a design, I think it sticks in people's brains better.
So, I always end up kind of trying to add some sort of physical thing. I have a project in my portfolio that's all about merging digital and physical media and it's something I spent a lot of time doing.
Do you have a type of project that really challenges you?
I think the most challenging type of project that comes my way is probably motion graphics.
I've been learning motion for four years now and it's tough work. But I always take on a little bit, what things I know I can do just to continue learning ‘cause I need to, and I like it.
It's really satisfying work. I love doing it but it’s tough work.
How do you keep yourself up to date with design trends?
I try to keep learning about everything I can.
The way I first learned my first few design programs like Photoshop and Illustrator was via the manual because it turns out my class wasn't that good (the very first one I took in high school). We were just given “the manual,” which was thick.
I spent a bunch of time reading the manual and learning by hand like that. And I don't know, I think that just stuck with me. So, I'm always looking around trying to learn new techniques, trying to play with things; if I want to try something new, I'm making some sort of design to play with a new style or a new thing.
I just like playing with things.
Something I hear a lot of is that I make way too many iterations of stuff. But it helps me get all that crazy energy out.
Are there any specific trends that you notice?
Something I've noticed specifically; a kind of new tool and kind of new trend is the AI talking heads.
Talking heads is like two people having a conversation or, in advertising, it's an interview style with just the heads [of the speakers] in frame. And a lot of people have been generating AI versions of talking heads, where they're talking about products or talking about podcasts, but it's all AI and it looks good.
They’re fake people, but it’s real voices. It's super strange, but it works really well, and then you don't need to hire a person to do that. It's wild. But I see it going around a lot.
I notice a lot of pineapples in your art. What’s with the pineapples?
The pineapple has been my muse since I was a kid. If I wanted to scribble, it would be a pineapple. I don't know why. It just is a thing.
I'm a very "pineapply" person.
I have way too much pineapple stuff. If you look at my portfolio, it's pineapples as well.
What are you going to do? It's what I draw.
I ran a shirt shop when I was starting graphic design, and that was a place where I put all my weird new ideas, whatever I was trying, new styles. And they were all pineapples, just pineapples in all different styles.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
You'll usually find me on my mountain bike. I live up here in Washington, so we've got a lot of biking trails.
I'm always out somewhere in the woods. I'm either riding my bike or I'm working on playing cards, like magic tricks.
I’m actually developing my own deck of cards (pictured above!) all about “scopophobia,” which is the fear of being watched. I'm looking to put it up on Kickstarter sometime soon. It's a deck for left-handed people. Left-handed people have this whole issue with where you spread the cards out and, if you're left-handed, it's all blank on the sides. I wanted to figure out if I could fix the problem in a better way than current left-handed cards do. And this was my solution, it works much better.
So, that’s what I do in my free time. I make little playing cards.
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-2"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/63695243d096983691046ac3_Potential-Creative.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right cc-dark"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold"><strong>Like to work as a freelancer with consistent income?</strong></div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Designity's collaborative model is designed to give you all of the perks of being a freelancer without the income instability.<br></div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="http://designity.com/creatives" target="_blank" class="c-button w-button"><strong>Join Our Creative Community</strong></a></div></div></div>
Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring creatives?
I would say, keep learning always.
Continual learning is super important in our field. But don't let it stop you from pushing forward.
