Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with guests across many creative fields, helping you hone your craft, unlock your creativity, and learn the art of collaboration.
Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”
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Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with guests across many creative fields, helping you hone your craft, unlock your creativity, and learn the art of collaboration.
Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”
The Brief: Stop specializing—live a multidisciplinary creative life
Design Better
13 minutes
1 month ago
The Brief: Stop specializing—live a multidisciplinary creative life
by Eli Woolery
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the multitude of people we’ve interviewed for Design Better, it’s that the most innovative creators of our time share an unlikely trait: they refuse to stay in their lane. While conventional wisdom pushes specialization, these polymaths build careers by following curiosity across fields—from nuclear engineering to footwear design, from video games to graphic novels.
In my own career, it took me many years to realize this, and in some ways my journey began the day after my son was born.
I remember that day as unseasonably hot. September 2015 on the Monterey Peninsula—the kind of clear, warm day that follows long stretches of coastal fog. After leaving the hospital where my wife Courtney was recovering with our newborn, I grabbed a quick (wife-sanctioned) surf. The clear horizon promised a month of record warmth ahead.
At home, I checked email before setting up my auto-responder for two weeks of paternity leave. Near the top of my inbox: a message from our startup's CEO. Not what I expected.
The gist: "We're sorry, but our co-founders had a fight, the company is splitting up, and we have to lay you off."
Panic. Losing my job right after our second child wasn't the plan, especially since we'd just moved to the Monterey Peninsula in an era before remote work was widespread.
I delivered the news to Courtney at the hospital along with her Starbucks coffee, and couldn’t find anything comforting to say. She ended up reassuring me—we were going to be OK.
And we were. It became a rare chance for me to spend real time with our newborn son, young daughter, and Courtney. Time to reflect on what came next. And I had a secret weapon—something I hadn't always considered a strength.
Continue reading this issue of The Brief on Substack at DesignBetter.com
Design Better
Design Better co-hosts Eli Woolery and Aarron Walter explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process through conversations with guests across many creative fields, helping you hone your craft, unlock your creativity, and learn the art of collaboration.
Whether you’re design curious or a design pro, Design Better is guaranteed to inspire and inform. Vanity Fair calls Design Better, “sharp, to the point, and full of incredibly valuable information for anyone looking to better understand how to build a more innovative world.”
