JAMES CLARK

Hey, thank you for clicking on the link to check out my book. For more than 20 years, I’ve been practicing the disciplines of graphic design. Early in my career, I used a lot of my experience from my fine arts learning and applied it to various media in graphic design. I’ve always loved things to feel like they were made by a human. Contrary to this, I also studied user experience much later in my career. At first, this was to make a career change from creative to someone who designed and prototyped products; however, I found that I was better off blending these and creating better experiences for consumers and being a better partner to UX, dev teams, marketing, and top-level leadership.

Much of my work was managed as a freelancer. This made me scrappy. If I couldn’t find a photographer or illustrator, I would do the work. Not that I was great at either, but I had skills that were ‘good enough.’ This experience carried through to my time at Backcountry. There, I built creative toolkits that designed full-funnel omni-channel campaigns, developed studio and location photoshoot concepts, directed productions, commissioned illustrators (or illustrated myself), mentored and managed a team of designers (who also returned the favor by teaching me a lot), designed for multiple event activations, vehicle wraps, and so much more.

I think I gained more experience there than anyone could at any job. My team and I pushed harder to create more dynamic imagery that felt like lived experiences, more informative and detailed storytelling, and really began to enhance a look and brand voice that was otherwise too safe and sterile for bike culture. While there’s a time and place for the “safe shot” and “clean” design, people still need something that’s relatable and feels real—like they’re a part of the brand experience. I try to carry this through nearly every campaign. Otherwise, we’re just spending money on content that is essentially bric-a-brac.

BBeyond my time behind a computer, I’ve been fortunate to have made ends meet in a lot of ways. This includes everything from grocery stores, gas stations, store merchandising for big fancy retail, merchandising for small boutique retail, sales, consulting, and even body piercing. Yes, body piercing. We can talk about that later, if you like. What this means is I carry nearly 30 years of retail experience. In a lot of my work, I apply much of this. This is probably what keeps me in e-comm and wanting to bring compelling stories to the people that put trust into your brand.

My philosophy there: we need to keep things fresh. Keep people surprised and delighted. Learn what they want to see and interact with. How could we make THEIR experience better, not just the way WE think it should be? Listen to the people. If reacting to the market isn’t working, stop reacting and start reflecting. What can we do to make us better? Much like being a good person, many years of customer service, design service, and working with both large and small businesses build empathy and compassion.

Currently, I am working as an art director and campaign designer with Dickies. Yes, THE iconic Dickies that makes the 874 pant, the Eisenhower Jacket, and the best overalls. During my nearly three years with them, I have seen them celebrate their heritage just as the customer does. What’s difficult for Dickies is marketing to so many people. That said, they shouldn’t need to market to anyone at all. Why? People of all walks of life choose Dickies not because we say they’re great, but because people do. They’re a workwear brand, but skate culture, punk, hip-hop, artists, and creators chose Dickies. I don’t think they chose to go after those people 100 years ago. However, I’ve seen a lot of mistakes happen that were beyond the control of our teams. While we were without a CD to safeguard the brand, leaders started seeing the power of AI and how it can push out content and save a few dollars. This takes the human out of the Made by Humans mantra. I think they began to see this and began to try to forego it. We hired a new CD and began to backpedal from these mistakes. I intend to write in my field notes about why mistakes and learnings are almost more important than the wins.

Making mistakes and witnessing mistakes build better experience in our craft as creatives. It’s a part of learning. If you’re not making mistakes and correcting them, you’re bound to fail. Worse yet, you might make others fail with you. I’ve never been big into awards or the glamor of the creative industry. We should certainly celebrate what we do, but we shouldn’t get too into ourselves. That fosters impostor syndrome for others and takes the labor of love out of what we do.

Graphic design, video production, illustration, copywriting, animation, and all that goes with the creative department is true labor. Just being a part of it on a daily basis is enough to celebrate for me.

If you’re reading this, you might be interested in hiring me for work. My time at Dickies is about up with the news of the acquisition. If my work and philosophy align with yours, please send me a note. I’d love to discuss how I can be an integral part of your brand’s identity or visual storytelling.