Triangle of Radness.
How do I choose the jobs that choose me?
Hello again!
First things first, I’d like to apologise for the title. I couldn’t resist.
I know what you’re thinking, how do I decide what jobs to do? Well, probably not, but like the answer to most questions, it does of course, depend.
When I started out, the answer was, ‘everything!' and at times when work is pretty quiet, that is unfortunately still the answer. But when things are ticking along, and an unknown job inquiry comes in, how do I decide if it's worth doing?
Firstly, for the sake of this chat, I'm discounting the ethical choices that turn up. This is probably a subject for a separate newsletter, but in this instance, let’s assume it’s a job I can take on with a relatively clear conscious. It's just worth mentioning that morality does come into the decision making too.
Fundamentally it comes down to how one defines ‘worth'. In my setup, I basically break it down into three categories, which in my head I refer to as, ‘The Triangle'. Those categories are; money, fun and interest. I know that some version of this already exists, but I think the specific values and the categories themselves are massively different for different people, so I'll try to explain why it is the way it is the way it is for me.
Money.
This is the simplest one to explain. Does the job pay enough? Of course the definition of ‘enough' is again particular to everyone. I am not financially supported by my partner, family etc. and I live in London, so unfortunately, yes, I do have to make some money to survive.
Again, as we're talking about art and money, some people believe that the two can't mix, so they have another job to pay them and then create their art separately. This is fine, but it’s not the way for me, I have chosen to make art in different shades, for various amounts of money, as I'd always rather be creating something.
That's it really. As simple as, ‘how much are they paying?’ and we shall see how that comes into conflict/union with the other two elements of the triangle. The next of which is…
Fun.
This is pretty simple as well, to be honest. Would the job be a nice time? This might be because the drawing work is fun, like something that’s easy or nice for me to draw, but it could equally be that the people involved in the project are nice people to work with.
I have to say that as I get older, this goes an incredibly long way. Sure, the work might not be great shakes, but working with kind and friendly clients really effects how enjoyable my working day is. Obviously with new clients, this is hard to know, but you get better at the early tells…
Interest.
This is slightly more nebulous, and it probably isn't the right name for it, but it basically refers to an unknown interesting element. Does the project involve something I've never done before? Or a type of drawing I haven't even considered? Would I learn something? Perhaps the work is in an entirely unknown sector that I'm curious about. Maybe if I took it on it would lead to other similarly exciting work, or equip me with a new skill to use elsewhere. It's hard to define exactly, and sometimes it's hard to spot, but it's kind of (as the name suggests) the most interesting of the three. It's the one that makes me grow or change direction.
To return to my early days as an illustrator, all jobs seemed fun because of the novelty, most were new/interesting, and I always needed money, so, like I say, the decision making was a lot easier. Now that it’s become my somewhat established career, I kind of have to reflect on what I want from it, and indeed, from life, and this is all very personal. As I mentioned, I am not independently wealthy, so I can't completely relax, but, for example, I’ve also chosen a life that doesn’t have children in it, and my partner is self-sufficient too, so I have the ability to be more flexible on that point than some others.
But that’s kind of irrelevant, as everyone’s situation is a unique combination of pros and cons. We all have different bills to pay.
The older I get, the more I value the ‘new’, as without getting too morbid, who knows how long we have left? And it would be nice to get the opportunity to try as many different things as possible. And again, I value having a nice time on a job much more than I used to. I don't want it to be a slog anymore, it's not a badge of honour it might have been for a younger me.
The Triangle.
When a job comes in, I often know straightaway whether I want to do it. The old ‘gut feeling', or perhaps because the positives in one category or another are so self evident. But the ones I'm unsure of, or I can't work out why I'm being hesitant about, are always worth applying to The Triangle to see how they score.
It's not an exact science, but basically if a job gets a tick in two of the categories (yellow areas), then it's probably worth doing.
Reasonable money and a fun time, but nothing new? - Sure, I’ll happily do that.
Fun time, exciting new frontier, but low budget? - Yeah, that's worth the hit.
Decent budget, new sector I'm interested in, but might be a bit full on? - Again, I'd probably dice roll that too.
And there are many more shades and permutations in between.
Sometimes a job will only land a tick in one of the categories (white areas), and these are generally to be avoided, but there are plenty of exceptions to that too. The job might only have ‘fun' going for it, but if it's really fun, then it still might be worth doing, especially if you’ve just come off the back of a job that only got a tick in the ‘money’ category and you can afford to take a break.
Once every now an then, you get the dream ticket. The job that hits all three categories. Well paid, exciting/new, and a lot of fun. The example of this I always think about for this is the work I did on the game Flat Eye (I actually did a newsletter about it a while back), because I remember realising I’d hit all three points of the triangle (orange) while I was actually doing it. The fee was decent, I got to work in concept design (that I'd never really done before), and I had so much creative freedom from the lovely dev team, which made the work such fun.
It shouldn’t be a revelation at all really, but if you pay people well, they’re having fun, and they’re engaged, they tend to do their best work. And I remember loving every second of this job and always happy to go the extra mile to make it even better.
The triangle is a rule of thumb. It’s never lab conditions when choosing a job, but if I'm ever stuck, or can't make up my mind, it generally helps me make the right call. More of a cross reference of myself, a metric of ‘why?’.
As a final point, I’ve taken on a few jobs in my life that I wish I hadn’t for one reason or another, but I genuinely can’t think of a job I regret turning down. And I very much hope that continues to be the case.
Favourite Diagram.
Who’d have thought we’d get to diagrams at the KIOSK? But while we’re here, what’s your favourite diagram? Alright, I’ll go first, I’m a big fan of Cedric Price’s explanation of historic urbanisation. Using eggs.
I was going to explain it, but the beauty of a good diagram is that it doesn’t really need an explanation. Although, your mileage will depend on how much you like urbanism, history, and eggs. But like I say, it’s my favourite diagram.
Right, that’ll do for now. I’m off to wander the city and maybe have some eggs.
See you next time!
Owen D. Pomery
