Jonathan Jackson Will Not Be Constrained to a Singular Expertise

Explicit content warning

04/06/20 • 70 min

Overshare: Honest Conversations with Creatives

It’s funny how there are some things you don’t know about your friends until you interview them for a podcast. Overshare host Justin Gignac has known Jonathan Jackson since 2006 after they both won the ADC Young Guns, but Justin learned a lot about his friend during this conversation that he never knew. Hopefully you listeners will learn a lot from this interview as well, and then go get to know Jonathan’s work.

Jonathan Jackson is the co-founder and partner at Bushwick design studio WeShouldDoItAll, which he started with his wife Sarah Nelson Jackson. The name is born out of a simple intention, that designers should not be confined to a singular expertise. In the words of Robert A. Heinlein, “specialization is for insects.”

WSDIA has dabbled in everything, including branding, spatial, environmental, interactive, and print projects. They’ve collaborated with Nike, The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Spotify, Samsung, and ESPN. "I think it's human nature that people want to put a title on you or put you in a box in a certain way. We are constantly trying to fight that. Constantly trying to hold a mirror to ourselves and see how the world sees us and try to combat that."

In this episode, you will learn the power of not having a self-limiting mindset, and how important it is to have diverse voices in the room when creating design and culture.

Follow @OvershareTalks on Instagram.

SHOW NOTES:
Jonathan Jackson Instagram
WeShouldDoItAll ( website / Instagram )
Usher's "U Don’t Have to Call" music video
Sol Lewitt “Structures”
Michael Sorkin ( Wiki / Sorkin Studio )
Archea
Frank Lloyd Wright
Le Corbusier
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Adrien Menard WSDIA's first hire
Former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder
Kendrick’s Control verse
Men of Change, The Smithsonian traveling exhibition
The National Museum of African American History & Culture
Scope of Work ( website / Instagram )
Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Studio Lin
PLAYLAB, INC.
OK-RM London
OMA
Herzog & De Meuron
Peterson Rich Office
So-iL

In this episode, you will learn the power of not having a self-limiting mindset, and how important it is to have diverse voices in the room when creating design and culture.

Follow @OvershareTalks on Instagram.

Previous Episode

Sophia Chang on Hoarding Skills and Staying Busy

Sophia Chang hails from the borough of Queens, New York and in less than a decade managed to champion a name for herself in the art, design, and streetwear community worldwide. With her BFA from Parsons School of Design coupled with a natural acumen for business, she has collaborated with A-list names across multiple fields such as Samsung, Nike, Refinery29, Adidas, Apple, Footlocker, HBO, and the NBA.

During this conversation with host Justin Gignac, Sophia describes herself as a skill hoarder. As she explains, “Teach a man how to fish and they’ll eat for the rest of their lives.” It's an approach that has prepared Sophia for evolving in an ever-shifting creative industry, and she is already considering how to draw from that well in the current climate. There’s something really refreshing about how forthright Sophia is in her creative mindset. Not only does that help her frame her own practice; that decisiveness translates easily for potential business partners and clients.

In this episode, you will learn to assess and repurpose your skills in new ways for people who may need them. And you’ll learn ways to be proactive when work starts getting slow.

Follow @OvershareTalks on Instagram.

SHOW NOTES:

Sophia Chang (Instagram / website)
Sophia’s Skillshare classes
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (There's free versions you can find online)
The 5 Love Languages
Gallup StrengthsFinder
UNDO-Ordinary
UNDO Lab
Common Ace
Jim Kwik (website / podcast)

Next Episode

Lauren Hom Will Teach You Everything She Knows

Lauren Hom is a designer and letterer based in Detroit, schooled in New York, and raised in Los Angeles. Known for her bright color palettes, playful letterforms, and quirky copywriting, Lauren has worked with clients like Starbucks, Google, AT&T, YouTube and TIME Magazine. Her work has been recognized by Communication Arts, the Type Directors Club, and the Webby Awards.

Lauren saw herself solely as an illustrator and letterer, but added “teacher” to her list of titles after connecting with a career coach in Vietnam. And who wouldn’t want to have her as a teacher? Lauren wants to put things out there that she wishes she had known when she was getting started. She's a hustler, she’s transparent, she’s humble, and her illustration and lettering business is on track to make half a million dollars this year. Host Justin Gignac was gobsmacked when she admitted this on her IG Stories. For those of you not in illustration and lettering...that’s a lot.

In this episode, you will learn the importance of destigmatizing money in the creative industry, and how necessary it is to be around people who help you dream bigger and encourage you to think about yourself in a different way.

Follow @OvershareTalks on Instagram.

SHOW NOTES:
Lauren Hom ( WNW / website / Instagram )
Daily Dishonesty ( website / book )
Lauren's "Passion to Paid" class
Lauren's new class "Mural Painting for Designers"
The Striving Artist podcast with Lauren and Stefan Kunz
#HOMwork Lauren's weekly IG lettering challenge
Lauren's pervy lettering and food orgy "Peen Cuisine"
"Passport Photos" project by Max Siedentopf
Andy J. Pizza’s skillshare "Make Creativity Your Career"
Ice Cream University