Daily Routines

What makes for a good design? Beyond the general skills and knowledge of the designer, there are also hundreds of small, but crucial details that impact their personal life and work balance: timetables, material tools, playlists and productivity habits.

The ‘design myth’ of modernism—an empty room with white walls, dim lights, a huge Apple display, and flexible working schedule—is an object of constant criticism. Yet, in times of uncertainty, it’s also turned out to be a potential lighthouse. So does the timetable, something that a stereotypical creative brags about not having. Despite this common expectation, scheduling always emerges when interviewing professional creatives about work practices—be it a writer, an artist or a designer.

For this project, five Readymag users based worldwide described their daily routines, how they fight the fear of a blank page, playlists that keep them going, and offered advice on how to avoid burnout.

Here is what they told us.

Hi, I’m Becki. I’m 33 years old, and I’m an art director, designer, and illustrator from Brooklyn, New York. I currently live in New Jersey with my partner Daniel and our two cats, George and Olive. I started my design career in the production world designing for events and exhibitions, and later worked in publishing as a magazine designer. I currently work mainly in branding and online experiences. I’m also a classically trained illustrator and was once an accomplished cheesemonger. I co-founded and run a small woman-owned co-op and creative studio called The Bad Collective. I love swimming, single malt scotch, muscle cars, expensive face creams, collecting books and records, traveling, geology, restaurants, professional wrestling, and when dogs look like their owners.

(fighting the fear of a white page)

I’ve amassed a big library of books, art, movies, and music that I always turn to when I’m feeling stuck. I’m big on researching, so I tend to assemble a lot of reference materials when starting a project—which helps a lot. I also lean on my creative partners. When we’re working on something together, we try to have several brainstorming sessions where we look through materials and throw ideas around. I’m also a big sketcher and I find that physically putting pen to paper helps turn the gears in my brain. In desperate times, I will smoke weed and stare at the ceiling until I think of something.

Originally from Estonia, I’m a New York based interaction designer with a background in architecture. My career spans over 17 years in the industry building a variety of products, digital experiences, and brands, as well as simply having fun and engaging with things people love to use. For over 8 years, I served as a creative director at Fantasy Interactive, living in Stockholm, Sweden and New York City. For the past 6 years, I’ve been creating things at the Anton & Irene studio I co-founded in Brooklyn. I’ve spoken at over 50 conferences around the world. I also teach on a regular basis at Harbour Space university in Barcelona, Spain.