U Got The Look

How does a graphic designer/artist dress?

When I was a kid, my first impressions of an artist included a beret, black turtleneck, and probably glasses. I think that idea came from cartoons and '70s TV-- remember the beatniks on Happy Days when Ritchie was going to run away with the poet girl? Those guys were 'artists', I thought.

While I got to high school I started to realize that I could maybe get a job as an artist and probably make some sort of living. My thinking was that I could get into graphics and I would NOT have to wear a tie everyday. I didn't like them, so that was one of my main influences in getting into design- not having to wear a tie. Lawyers, doctors, office workers wore ties, NOT graphic artists!?!?! I wasn't a big turtleneck fan (they were itchy), but I figured I could manage.


Hairdresser On Fire

In college when I began to immerse myself into alternative music and the designer lifestyle, I wore a messed-up mix of eighties outsider fashion and my Tonawanda (bad '80s sweaters) roots on my sleeve. Dragging myself across the Psych Center grounds (now know as the HH Richardson Complex) to Buff State, I had my ever present Sony Walkman cassette player, black sweatpants (or patched jeans), Converse high tops or unlaced work boots, a Salvation Army dress shirt and a Goodwill old man's rain coat (flasher style). I am sure I looked like a freak smoking cigarettes with my mushroom head haircut. I am sure I thought I was cooler than I actually was.

As I got my first graphics job as the in-house designer for a chain of appliance parts store, I found I had to dress as a somewhat professional guy. My office was between the warehouse and the office-offices, so I could straddle the line between work attire and I wore jeans most of the time. I spent my free time drinking, painting and writing-- I was living like an artist-- and my dress included a lot of groovy thrift store shirts, love beads and hand painted and often ripped jeans. I started freelancing some and the jobs that followed-- working for a few pre-press companies in town-- never required me to get really gussied up.


Here Comes a Regular

Next I moved on to the assistant designer position for Steve James Design, a small marketing and design firm downtown where we did a lot of Tops packaging (hand mechanicals with ruby lith, baby!). There were two of us in the office and Steve has us both wear a tie everyday. He wanted us to have a professional appearance, in case clients came in (we were early nineties Mad Men). That was the first and last time I ever had to wear a tie full time.

After that, it was all web-design companies and at the turn of this century, no one dressed up at all for work. It was always super casual. Programmers and designers wore shorts, sneakers and t-shirts to work. Though my friend Paul always wore a white dress shirt, often short sleeved- he was the exception. It was a cool rock, uber-geek thing, I think-- he was in a band called The Disappointments and they were suits on stage.

Moving on to owning my own company for the last 9 years- which has seen me working from home in the front bedroom to moving out to our current offices in the renovated barn behind the house-- leaves the dress style completely up to me. I have settled on, what I call, a 'funky chic, business casual', mostly gear from Banana Republic. This includes a lot of sweaters over dress shirts, slacks and dark shoes. First time meetings with new clients warrants a tie usually, and often I am the most dressed up person in the room. Our clients include large corporations and small mom and pop operations, and rarely do I see anyone wearing a tie. Though some of my old school clients do wear ties, jackets, even suites everyday, but they are far and few between.


Jane Says

I know a lot of the way I have dressed has changed as I grew older. I still wear a lot of t-shirts (as evident by my weekly t-shirt features) but I tend to dress up often. And I think having that artist gene deep within has always kept me a bit on the outside. My hair often stands on end like a wily Paul Westerberg or David Lynch.

I know a lot of younger designers sport their tattoos and piercings with pride as the 'badge of the outsider', but as those become more common, they are not so different anymore. Since I deal with a lot of business type people, I think a big barbell through my nose might turn them off. I had a vendor describe to a client, his first impressions of me-- of working with a real artist-- he was going on and on about my purple tie and blue hair. Now, I have never had blue colored hair, it is currently salt and pepper gray (more towards the salt), but that's as colored as it has ever been. But to him, the color of my tie made me seem different, an artist type. I guess a little goes a long way. And then again maybe it is the attitude, the first impression that shines through, and not necessarily the clothes. I have always thought the graphics guy was the rock star of the art world. You always have to still look somewhat cool. That always seemed important to me. And as I grow old gracefully, at 42 I still always want to look cool. Damn what the kids think, eh?

Upon seeing a movie like Helvetica, and seeing a lot of famous designers being interviewed, you realize that there doesn't seem to be a graphic's guy (or girl) style that stands out anymore. Everyone seems to wear what they want to wear- it may be a tie or polo shirt, but often it is button down with jeans, tee with high tops. So gone is the Mad Men 1950's advertising look, gone is the body art and the 12 earrings, and as long as I can still hold onto to my Chuck Taylors, I think I'll be alright. Even if I have to wear a tie every now and then, at least it will be purple.

Photo credits (top to bottom): 7 yr. old mark in my parents basement, 80s Mark at the first Earth Day and a headless, modern Mark-2009.