#5: I’m still alive…

…and I swear I’m working…

Lately, I’ve been somewhat struggling in thinking about what I want for this project. I want(ed) this to be something fun to do, primarily out of passion in just creating something and making things (and maybe making some money on the side). However, I’m quickly realizing that there starts to become a fine line when a passion project is, or tries to become a business.

This kind of makes me think of the whole working millennial thing. Should you aspire to do something you’re passionate about? or good at? or simply something you can put up with, so you have the financial means for something more compelling on the side? If you make your passion or your hobby a job, is it still a hobby…?

I digress, and I don’t have any plans to leave my day job, so maybe I really don’t need to think so hard. However, these kinds of thoughts bleed into the considerations for what I want to make. Honestly though, it’s actually just a lot of (micro) design decisions…

For example, should I make the backing card of my (eventual) enamel pins, a bright colour, because I know that’s more attractive to consumers? Or do I go with black/white because that’s the theme I want to go for? Should I make products that I know would sell, but I don’t feel strongly for? Or do I only design things I really want to design and that speak to me and my experiences?

I feel like it’s bad business sense to simply do what I want. And I guess even if I end up executing on a lot of my own preferences, I feel like I’ll still have to sell my soul to market the shit out of my stuff.

Maybe in the end it still depends on how I choose to define success. Is it a dollar amount? Is it a positive response from people? Is it the fact that I will have did something? That I made something? I’m going to have to find a way to integrate these conflicting ideas together. If I want to do something for pure expression, I guess it probably shouldn’t be anything that involves making money.