Armin Vit (@ArminVit) is a design entrepreneur and blogger. He and his wife Bryony Gomez-Palacio founded their company, UnderConsideration, in 2002. The duo have since left their jobs at prestigious New York-based design firms, relocated to Austin, Texas, and have made a name in the design business as authors, conference organizers, writers, speakers, and designers (of course).

Our conversation highlights what it’s like to run a company out of his home, how he and his wife share office and household duties, and how he manages to cope with all that email. There’s also an odd jab at rookie designers and even some tips on how to track your marathon training, if that’s your thing.

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Show Notes & Links

“We go out of our way to over-design it.”

—Armin Vit, on BNConf identities

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“They always say: 'All young designers know is how to use the software.' That's not even true anymore.”

—Armin Vit

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Tools

Techniques

  • Time management. Getting ahead of the pressure, and not falling behind.
  • Use that calendar, even for small things like “go for a run”
  • Make “sexy” Excel sheets. Colour-coding. Sheets. Etc.
  • When you design logos, you have to sketch. Unless you suck as sketching. If that’s the case, use Illustrator.
  • Armin’s folder structure: Exploratory 1, 2, etc. Then 1a, 1b, etc. Then Development, then For Use.
  • Watch your email application for that little “reply” icon.
  • T.R.A.P. your email — Throw away, Reply, create Action item, Pass to someone else.

Habits

  • Wake up at 5:00am. Get to work immediately (after some coffee).
  • Get done by 6:30am, or else the day is ruined (by children).
  • Save less mentally-demanding tasks for evening. Email & link-blogs such as Quipsologies.
  • Never name anything “final”
  • Maintain a clean desktop and inbox zero

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About the author: Prescott Perez-Fox

Prescott Perez-Fox is a graphic designer, brand developer, and educator with 18+ years experience in branding, packaging, graphic design, and web design. He runs The Busy Creator.

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