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I Am Not A Creative Director

I think I was one of the only people in the history of high school to actually take up the guidance counselor on her offer to help me find the perfect career. I inquired, and she led me to an interactive workstation that allowed me to pursue the options before me.

Basically, she sat me down in front of Yahoo.com.

I liked the idea of advertising. It sounded cool, and by that time I had mastered MS Paint. Maybe something with art, I thought. Do people actually get jobs in that?

Graphic designers didn’t make enough money, I decided. I would need to become a creative director.

This was my junior year. Five years later, I was a certified and in-debt graphic designer. By then, I had accepted the realization that you have to start at the bottom. I was on my way.

A Creative Director

Now that I own my own company I get to be whatever I want. I get to be that creative director if I feel like it. This past week, I tried it on for size on the profile page of our website.

Garrett Moon, Creative Director

It didn’t feel right. What is a creative director anyhow? It sounds more like something from Fantasia than an actual job title. Plus, I always find it tacky when people give themselves fancy titles. Who cares if you are the creative director for a company of one?

Either way, it didn’t feel like me, especially since I have grown to dislike branding and advertising, ideas which that title feels very attached too.

Yahoo: not so great after all.

So what am I? Undefinable I guess.

I like the design. I am good at design. But, I am not your stereotypical creative. I am very practical.

A left-brained designer, perhaps? Who likes business, no less? This is an identity crisis.

If it didn’t sound so ridiculous I would call myself a ‘maker’ or something. I make stuff.

Starter? Entrepreneur?

Self-proclaimed visionary? A bit bold.

For now, I guess I am Garrett Moon, the most practical designer in the world.*

*possibly not true

This post was originally published on Medium.com, August of 2013.

Published by Garrett Moon

Garrett Moon is the author of the 10x Marketing Formula and CEO and co-founder of CoSchedule, the web's most popular marketing calendar and the fastest growing startup in North Dakota. You can follow Garrett on his blog, on LinkedIn, or on Twitter.