It’s official. Brian Scheyer, our digital creative director/resident fashion designer, is famous. HOW magazine recently interviewed him for a story on creatives who live double lives. We’re pretty sure Brian has at least twenty-seven different lives, three of which are superheroes on other planets. But this is a nice way of making him feel like part of our society.
We’ve excerpted the segment on Brian below. To read about three more hybrid creatives, you can buy the May issue of HOW magazine here.
By Stephanie Orma
THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER/FASHION DESIGNER
By day, Brian Scheyer is creative director at the San Francisco-based ad agency Mortar, where he develops print and interactive campaigns, directs commercials, and leads a creative staff. By night, he’s fashion designer of the award-winning label gr.dano, a womenswear line with a distinct architectural style. Launched in 2006 with his wife Jill Giordano, the duo designs everything together, from sketching ideas and selecting fabrics to draping silhouettes.
But while Scheyer has a 20-year graphic design career working with brands like Dockers, Google, Yahoo!, and Kohler, his fashion training has been mostly DIY. “Essentially, I learned the process of fashion design through osmosis,” Scheyer says. While he was dating Giordano, she enrolled in the fashion design program at the Academy of Art University San Francisco. “I was part of her education the whole way through. We would work on projects together; I would ask questions and learn the process,” Scheyer says. “But when I started to apply my graphic design eye to fashion design–that’s when it clicked.”
TOP TAKEAWAYS
FIND THE CREATIVE THREADS AND MAKE MAGIC. It’s Scheyer’s ability to see the parallels in his endeavors that’s played a crucial role in his seamless second career jump. “All the things that make a great graphic designer–like visually understanding the problem, solving it in the most simplistic way, and having a cohesive voice throughout all the campaign touchpoints–are the same when you’re developing a fashion collection.” He advises, “Take the knowledge and creative voice you’ve already honed in your first career, and refocus it into your next venture. That’s what’ll make you stand out.”
Scheyer is all about process, rather than outcome. Many times, he’ll find himself working through a graphic design challenge and realize later that the same thinking can be applied to his fashion line. “You don’t immediately come up with the answer,” he says. “It’s that journey that gets you there. So you have to allow yourself to dig in, find those nuances and slowly develop it into something tangible. That’s where the magic is.”
FUSE CREATIVITY INTO YOUR EVERYDAY. Scheyer treats every endeavor–not just his careers–as a creative exercise. “When I haven’t been food shopping in two weeks because I’ve been busy and only have a couple things in my fridge, I could easily order-in; or I could try to make something interesting,” he says. By constantly sharpening your chops, you’re readying yourself to take on that next venture.
PURSUE WITH A PASSION. How does Scheyer actually balance two 40-hour-a-week jobs? With a crazy amount of hard work, energy and passion he finds every opportunity–when he’s not at his full-time creative director day job, of course–to work on the gr.dano label. That means evenings, weekends, and even vacations. “Fashion design is a tough business,” Scheyer says. “It takes a lot of work and dedication, but at the same time it doesn’t feel like work because I’m with my wife, the person I enjoy the most.”
He also finds keeping lists and prioritizing insanely crucial, as well as taking power naps and snagging a little time for himself. “Working on something you’re passionate about takes energy. It helps to go for a walk, zone out with your favorite song on loop and give your brain a rest,” Scheyer says. “Absorb all you can, practice your craft as much as possible. …And find that perfect blend of coffee and alcohol during the day.”
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