Christian Solorzano [00:02]

Hello, you are listening to Underscore, a podcast by the Chicago Graphic Design Club. I am your host, Christian Solorzano. In today's episode, we dive deep into storytelling and craft. Our guest is Brian Shutters, and he shares his insight into the power of being a generalist. He shares with us how this approach not only leads him to what he refers to as creative side quests, but also enables him to experiment and create across diverse mediums and industries.

He walks us behind the scenes of some of his projects, explaining to us how he combines narrative and craft to create work that connects and resonates. He sheds light on the journey of discovering one's creative voice while providing practical advice on how to activate and sustain it, and walks us through the process of infusing this creative spirit into both client and personal work. What I find the most fascinating and most easy to relate to is his dedication to simply creating, his dedication to craft.

And we both share this idea that the best work does not come by waiting for it, but rather by going after it. And we also speak a little bit about the importance of drawing inspiration not just from design, but from everywhere. So as always, I hope that you enjoy this conversation and we'll talk soon. Welcome, Brian, to Underscore. Underscore, thank you so much for being a guest today. How's it going?

Brian Shutters [01:54]

Thank you for having me. It's going great. Excited to excited to chat.

Christian Solorzano [01:58]

What are your favorite things to do in the fall in Chicago?

Brian Shutters [02:00]

Well, today, the day we're recording it, is the false fall. We've got, we've got an 80-degree day in Chicago, so that's a, that's a different energy for sure. But best things to do, I mean, it's some of the same best stuff to do there that there is in the summer. Taking a walk by the lake with just very different changing leaves and. I'm excited to, I've been a Midwest guy my whole life. So seeing the transition, I'm definitely a summer guy. I'm a warm weather guy.

I've been in, I was in California for work last week. So I'm settling into a trend into the fall transition still. I'm figuring that out.

Christian Solorzano [02:35]

So I understand that storytelling plays a, plays a big role in your approach to design. So I'm curious about what kind of stories were you drawn to as a kid?

Brian Shutters [02:45]

Well, that's a great question. I, even as a little kid, I was very musical. Like music class was a big thing. We loved watching like Golden Age musicals that were airing on TV or our, 2-piece VHSs that you had to have to watch all of Fiddler on the Roof, whatever. And I think that one of the reasons that kind of storytelling was really interesting to me then, and particularly then, but also now, is Finding stories that need to be elevated in a certain way.

So there is a quote from the director Rob Marshall that I'm gonna wildly paraphrase, but essentially is that in something like a musical, you— when you can't speak anymore, when the emotion is so great that you can't speak anymore, you sing. And when the emotion is so great that you can't sing anymore, you dance. And there's ways that, stories have to be elevated to be able to communicate something. Even if it's a simple human emotion, it has to be elevated in a way to be understood.

And I think that was something that I had no words for when I was a kid, but that I understood that there was something weirdly accessible about really big stories, about really big storytelling, about something that was really over the top, but it hooked you in, reached something very human inside you that was simple, even through this like very big sweeping visuals, whatever.

Christian Solorzano [04:14]

What are your favorite type of stories to tell?

Brian Shutters [04:17]

Oh wow. I mean, I think my favorite is not necessarily a type of story, but it's when I can write my own story on top of another. So like if I'm— I work with musicians a lot and trying to figure out visuals to go with their music, and whether it's album artwork or a music video, etc., being able to be like, okay, you're— you as an artist are already clear telling a story with this song.

But if we're gonna spin that out and have it be— create visuals for your audio, we have the opportunity to tell a story on top of that story, to Either take the metaphor and make it literal, or the other way around that you're telling this like you're telling just a love song, but we can like take a very specific piece of that and expand on a way that you didn't originally.

I think that all forms of design, all forms, really all forms of creativity are just telling a story through a different lens. So even though it's not a specific kind of story, my favorite part of it all is figuring out how to spin something into something new.

Christian Solorzano [05:32]

What's your approach when you're given, let's say, a project brief or a problem statement and they tell you, all right, here's the ask? Do you have a process that you follow or is it sort of different every single time?

Brian Shutters [05:47]

I mean, there's certainly difference every single time when I'm working because I work in a lot of different medias. I work in traditional graphic design. I am a video director. I use the term creative director because it is as purposefully vague as it is because I like to be a generalist in my trade. And so if I'm doing a video, I often will have the client say, oh, can I get a rate card?

And I'm like, well, I purposely don't have one of those because I want everything to be different. The ask is gonna be different depending on what story we're telling. But I think really the 2, the 2 pretty different sides to the process, if I'm getting a brief, is if I'm working on something that is just narrative-based or just like a music video, I will go take a long walk with either the song in my ears or just like figuring out what the story beat is.

And it normally comes pretty quickly, but just kind of try to feel the energy that we're trying to create, and the story beats will come to me. So that is more like organic and vibey of like, what is this gonna be? And then there's the complete other side of the coin where I'm like, okay, we have a problem we have to solve. And I will go to the libraries of just like inspiration that I've saved of things that I like.

And often things that I like that I would also like aspire to do, or that I would enjoy like taking a piece of. I've got Pinterest boards on Pinterest boards saved of just oh, I saw this magazine ad and I loved it. So I'm gonna take a picture of it. I'm gonna save it so that down the line I'm trying to solve some problem and I will come across and be like, that's what it is. That's the solution to this, even if it's not.

Most of the time it's not one-to-one. It's not like I'm designing a magazine ad. So here's a magazine ad that I'm drawing from. It's, here's an old, I don't know, Shania Twain music video. I liked that visual and that's gonna go into this business card. Probably not that, but, like take, taking inspiration from different media. So really the 2 sides of the coin are either like starting with the big energy, what does this gotta be?

Or on a more granular level, starting in the other direction of find things that I have been drawn to that are already finalized and figure out how to extract the energy of the current project.

Christian Solorzano [08:28]

Yeah, I think so much of being a designer is about being like, one, being a collector of just design and inspiration, but also being a kind of curator. And I think about the producer Rick Rubin, who which— and there's a meme going on like on the internet about him where they're asking him a question about like what does he bring to the table as a producer. And they're like, do you play any instruments? Do you know how to use a soundboard? What do you bring?

And he says how he just has really good taste and like he knows what's good. And it sounds—

Brian Shutters [09:07]

He has no technical ability. He plays no instruments.

Christian Solorzano [09:10]

And it sounds a little bit, it sounds a little bit silly, but I feel like a lot of it is just knowing what, like being able to decipher and understand what works and what doesn't and being that filter for creativity.

Brian Shutters [09:24]

Oh, absolutely. I think that one of my strongest skills that's sometimes really annoying to me is that visually I can really tell when something doesn't work. And I don't even necessarily always have the, I know what needs to change for it to work, but I'll just be sitting looking at my screen and I'm like, this isn't it yet. But when it clicks, I go, cool, this is it.

But it— part of the process is just being able to go, okay, I have the strong enough gut to know that this isn't it yet. Or when something actually works, even if it's not for logistical reasons, if it's not for objective reasons, if it's just for subjective reasons, I am a Taurus in a lot of ways. I'm a May baby, a Taurus in a lot of ways, but I— and not in some others.

But I think one meme— we're referencing memes a lot, this is fun— a meme that I saw that I really resonated with was like, Tauruses think that they are the arbiter of taste. And I would just I don't— it's not that I'm trying to put anyone else down for anything, but I do very much feel I'm like, when I'm looking through, when I'm making these Pinterest boards full of stuff, I'm like, oh, I know what I like and I think it's real good.

Christian Solorzano [10:41]

And for you, so I'm interested to understand what checks off the boxes of brilliance for Brian. When you see something, what are you looking for? Is it, is it color? Is it, is it typography? Is there any, even if it's subjectively, but what kind of, let's say, graphic design are you drawn to? Are there any specific designers or styles or movements?

Brian Shutters [11:08]

That's a great question. I feel like what I'm drawn to most, painting with a broad brush, is composition because I'm such a generalist, because I'm working in video and design, and often I'm doing things digitally, but also like doing paintings as part of things. Like I'm working on a project right now that is a video. But there has to be like a prop that is a giant painting, and it's something like, okay, how are we gonna have that physically made specifically for this project?

The way that composition is important in that, in all forms of storytelling that I'm involved with, is kind of my through line. How big an element— if you're just doing a flyer that has to be pinned up on a post on the side of the road, how big your different elements are and where it directs the eye is going to be maybe the most important part of that.

Sure, you can have a brightly colored piece of paper that's gonna get somebody looking at it first, but how it delivers information and how it— how the elements are composed is gonna be the most important piece there.

If I am directing a narrative piece and I have an actor on set, if I have— if I'm showing their whole body and their relationship to the space, that's gonna be so different than if I'm showing only their hand, or if I'm showing just their eyes, the audience is gonna take even subconsciously just what they're supposed to glean from the information that they're given.

I often— part of my process is doing way too many storyboards or animatics or something because I want to know exactly what a piece is when I'm going into it. I've gotten wildly better. My business partner will agree to this, I hope. I'm wildly better at not being quite as specific and I know what this is, we have to do this exact thing if I'm directing a piece. But I want to go in with a playbook of I know exactly what this is.

And then when on set, I can be like, okay, cool, I know what this could be. If it needs to shift on set, that's great. But being able to look at a bunch of compositions in front of me that I know work as a story, I've already cut it together, or I've already seen the way that all the elements flow. Helps me, it helps me get into it.

Christian Solorzano [13:21]

And how do you handle because for a lot of designers, we sometimes run into those dreadful creative blocks where you just don't, you just, you're just stuck. You're hitting a wall. So for you, how do you, how do you, how do you deal with when those things happen to you? Let's say, I mean, for me, sometimes it's like a week long.

I've had like month long just creative blocks and it's, and I, and I, and I, and I always appreciate designers talking and opening up about this because I almost sometimes feel like it's almost like a taboo to talk about the fact that a creative sometimes feels uncreative.

Brian Shutters [14:02]

Oh yeah, because we're, we only share this stuff, like we go to Instagram and we share the stuff we're proud of, or we should, we should, we don't share like the, here's the thing that was bad that didn't work and I'm not done with it yet. But that's like most of the time things are in that space. The honest answer is like everyone else, you get down on yourself for a second and go, oh God, I'm not, I'm not any good at this.

And then you look back at it and you're like, oh, you're like, it's even worse. Or you look at a project that's done, you're like, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was in the moment, but wow, I really thought it was bad. But I think the thing that gets me through those feelings is that I am trying to surround myself with people that are better than me.

In a digital world, that's really easy to do because like I'm taking an online course with a graphic designer that does specifically graphic design for TV and film. I read her book and saw that she was offering a course and I was like, this is such an interesting way into graphic design and something specifically that I do as well because I do so much work in recorded media that looking to somebody that has a different set of eyes and different wisdom is really important.

So like I said, that's easy to do in a digital world because you have so many, so much reach to people, other creatives. But I'm also lucky to have surrounded myself with a really great group of creatives in my own life. My older brother is a graphic designer. He specifically is a type designer, owns a company called Titanic Fonts. While I'm here to talk about my own design, he is like the best designer that I know.

And I'm biased because I'm related to him, but Goddamn, he is like everything that he does. And I'm like, I'm a very physical guy. I like— I talked about painting earlier, but if I'm sketching out an idea, it's a rough sketch and it is not good. And maybe there's a stick person on it, but he— I see him just sketch something and I'm like, that is— you need to frame that thing that you just did on a napkin at the bar. What the heck?

And the way that he draws from his passions. He has multiple typefaces that are designed on the New York City subway, but like very specific tiled ones that he fell in love with when he lived in New York. And seeing the way that he is— the things he's excited about influence his breadth of work and extreme talent is really cool. My director of photography, business partner is immensely talented as well, but we have such different languages that we speak.

We're the— I say that we're the perfect Venn diagram because me as creative director is able to figure out these story beats and the emotion behind things, and he has a great technical knowledge and a background in the lighting and camera of it all. And then we have the little middle section where we can speak each other's languages to an extent. To be like, this is what I need from you, but then I don't know any more than that. So now I gave it to you.

But when I'm stuck in a creative rut there, I can go to him with it, with a different set of eyes that he has. And he might show me a different way into the story or a different uncover something that I hadn't realized. So having this, all these people around me has been a godsend.

Christian Solorzano [17:22]

Yeah. So walk us through your journey as a creative. What was the first thing that you ever designed? And just walk us through everything up until what you're doing today.

Brian Shutters [17:30]

I feel like that is hefty because what my gut answer was like, okay, when I was literally like a baby, I was like, okay, am I gonna walk him through my entire life? What I, what I call my foundational narrative, like the story that kind of makes my life make sense, is that when I was really young, I would take really anything I could get my hands on. I'd get an egg carton, a tube, like a toilet paper tube, whatever.

And I would just kind of start hoarding little things. And my parents would ask what I'm gonna do with it. And I always, I had a catchphrase. I said, I'm gonna make something out of it. And I would not necessarily like inventions, but I'd be designing little new toys or really whatever I could imagine. And that sense of, I have something in front of me, let me make something else out of it, has been the through line of my life and my career.

I, when I was younger, I did a lot of work in theater because that was like a great creative outlet that you, that people could get early on. They do the school plays, etc. And that was a very specific kind of storytelling that I fell in love with early. But then I realized Oh, okay. For this, there's also people that are like building these sets, and there's somebody designing the way this show looks, and there's a director that is at the helm of this whole ship.

And that's interesting. Okay, so you can essentially film a play. That's just what a movie is, but you get to make other creative choices on it as well about framing and composition that we're talking about earlier. And my brother was a designer. He's older than I, so I got to see his early life as a designer, and that was very inspirational.

I went to school for marketing and for theater, kind of just to try to continue to be a generalist as I am and want to be. And when I graduated school, I started working for an agency because everything in school is kind of telling you that agency life is what everyone wants and what life is, and you should be really excited about working for a big agency.

And it took me longer than it should have to realize that wasn't for me. Not that I'm not trying to pay my dues or whatever, but I am such an ideas guy first that if I'm tasked with only execution, I'm not gonna like— the fire won't be lit in me in the same way. So I started taking design clients on the side while I was still working for an agency, whether that was kosher or not, we will leave that to history.

One of those clients, which was an organic pretzel brand that needed creative direction, Poached me essentially to just full-time creative direct their brand, which was super exciting. And I hadn't done a lot of consumer packaged goods before, so everything felt new and everything was a learning curve. But like most startups, that business didn't last forever. And so I had to keep diversifying what I was doing. One of their founders used to work in music. He was John Mayer's first manager, which was a fun fact.

And so he was introducing me to a bunch of people in the music space. And so with some experience I'd done just doing fun short films, I was like, oh, I could do some video work for these people. So started doing stuff in the music space. And it's been— my career has really just been finding new little opportunities to be like, oh, I would like to learn more about that. So let me learn that.

Let me take a little side quest and learn that and add it to the tool bag.

Christian Solorzano [21:06]

That's, in my opinion, that's always the best approach. Because I've noticed that sometimes if you wait for permission to be given to you, like sometimes it just never comes. So a lot of it is just about, is about going out there and creating those opportunities for yourself. So I'm glad that you, that you were exploring other opportunities while you were working at an agency because—

Brian Shutters [21:27]

Well, now I, I'm the creative director of my company, Shuttershot Productions, and I don't, now I don't need anyone's permission. Now I'm like, this is my work. I just, I have this interest that I'm going to go do this thing. A few weeks ago, the same client that did the Wonderful World music video that we referenced earlier posted a video on Instagram that was just like a little shower thought song. I think it was like 19 seconds long.

The entire lyrics are, do you guys think there are dinosaurs left? Like maybe just one in the ocean. That's the whole song. And I had the idea of how much sadder this would be if it wasn't like a person just thinking about this, but if it was a dinosaur thinking that, being like, do you think there's another one of me? And then one in the ocean is that he's filling the ocean with his tears, like his hopeful tears.

And all that being said, I have— I love stop-motion animation, like going to see movies by Laika or Aardman Studios, whatever. But I haven't done a lot of work in them. So I was like, this is my opportunity to go on a side quest and learn stop-motion animation.

So I did, without telling the artist, I was like, I'm gonna do a recreation of his home office where he recorded his little 19-second song, but replace him with a stop-motion, like dinosaur skeleton singing the song. And wow, was it a learning curve. I was like, this is gonna be an easy thing. It's just 19 seconds, whatever.

And it was like, I was like, maybe I'll turn this around in a week and I'll just text it to him and he'll be like, wow, how'd you do that so quick? Cut to, I think, 3 months later, I'm like in my home office just shooting frame by frame. And I'm like, this is a 5-day shoot for my 19th. But I'm still so proud of it, even though it's not revolutionary. It's another thing added to the tool bag of like, okay, cool.

I know how much more of an event this is and what it takes. And just a new visual story to tell.

Christian Solorzano [23:29]

And I love that you're using the term side quests because I just—

Brian Shutters [23:34]

I haven't ever before this conversation, but now I think I'm going to far more often.

Christian Solorzano [23:38]

I'm gonna start doing that too. So what are some other side, untapped side quests that you're that you're looking out for? Is there still like a, what are some dream projects for you? What's something that you haven't had a chance to get your hands in?

Brian Shutters [23:52]

I have some background in dance because I did theater and stuff. And I do feel like a side quest that needs to happen is to do some kind of big dance piece. I don't know. I need to, I need, I'm trying to not be too specific about it so that I can let it come to me. But I do feel like some big Singing in the Rain, big dance piece would be very cool.

I also just love like anything where I can do a throwback style of things like the Wonderful World music video we talked about. I was like, okay, this is— it has puppets. It feels like there's a nostalgic '80s vibe to it. And I decided pretty early on that I wanted all the titles to be completely hand done.

So I worked with my brother who is like I said, the most talented graphic designer to work together to design the titles, and then I painted them all on glass so that I could photograph them and overlay them into it. There's like such a nice hand-done quality to any, even like a bunch of different eras, but any, anything that isn't today that doesn't feel digital. So doing some kind of big throwback dance piece would be very fun. Yeah.

But also I'll say that the side quests often aren't like, oh, I've been waiting for this thing to come. It's like something hooks me and I'm like, oh, this is it now. This— it, it's me likely sitting on the train and seeing that 19-second song and being like, oh no, I've just discovered what my near future is going to look like, even if I didn't know it was going to be months and months then. It's like, well, I know that I'm digging into this right now.

Christian Solorzano [25:30]

Oh man, that's great. So I'm very interested based on all of your, all of these side quests that you're going on going on, walk us through what is a day in the life of Brian Shutters? I know your days probably vary. Other times you might be in LA, Chicago, all over the place, but walk us through what's a typical day for you. What time do you wake up? Are you a coffee person? Tea?

Brian Shutters [25:54]

The full details, right? Well, I live up in Andersonville. With my partner Bailey, we wake up maybe around 8, 8:30. I'll go in we got an espresso machine in December which is— we were like, maybe we'll use this sometimes, that sounds nice. We use it every day. So I'll go and I'll make either espresso or make some lattes. We'll get our day started maybe around 9. I'm sitting at my desk where I'm sitting now.

And I normally try to start the day, at least for the first half of the espresso beverage, to be some project that I'm excited about, even if it's not like the most productive start, like most logistically productive start to the day before I get into like emails and some of the craziness, be like, okay, well, I'm working on this project.

Even if it's not a paid thing, like something that's gonna get the fire going a little bit, something that I've been maybe thinking about, maybe something that the night before while I was going to bed, I was like, oh, I should, I should play around with that to let, I mean, I guess maybe that like childlike energy start the day to be like, let's just experiment a little bit here.

By mid-morning, I've got clients Emailing me probably too much, so I'm putting out fires and addressing folks. Probably making a second espresso beverage. Then I mean, like any designer or creative, so much of the time is spent setting up the next project and not actually the execution of it. So I think all of yesterday, like I said before, we. Started recording. I was in LA last week working on a project and I got in at 5 AM Monday morning, Sunday night, whatever.

So it was a— it's been a rough start to the week just in terms of tiredness. But I think all of yesterday was like, okay, wake up, recover, like recover a little bit, wipe the sleep out of my eyes, make an espresso. And then I think I spent the whole day just working on a pitch deck. That like isn't even done, isn't even probably halfway done.

Sometimes that's frustrating, but that so much of it is setting up the next, like setting up the thing rather than doing the thing. But in this way that like this conversation is helping me reflect on my own life in a way that I normally don't, I guess that's actually kind of beautiful because setting up the next project is also so much of the process of figuring out what it's gonna be.

So by the time you get a green light to do the design or to start filming, whatever, you already know what the story beat has to be. You know what the intentions are. You've laid the foundation so that the execution can start. So I guess I'm just taking a moment to be like, okay, actually, don't be, don't be frustrated with the process. Let the process be what it is because it's gonna, it helps you in the long run.

Christian Solorzano [29:08]

I, sometimes I notice that I spend, I spend more time doing more talking about the work than actually getting the work done. I just want to be heads down designing as opposed to all the logistics.

Brian Shutters [29:22]

I'm with you, but I think that if I, if we both try to reframe it in the way that I just purposely was trying, I'm like, okay, if this, if talking about the work, one is a necessary evil because it helps us, it gets us in line to do the work. But if talking about the work sets our intentions of what the work needs to be, we're gonna be putting out stronger stuff anyway. So let's— we're gonna count our blessings a little bit. Yeah, I know.

Christian Solorzano [29:46]

I'm with you. And I'm sure, I'm sure for you, it's probably different given that you're running your own, your own studio as opposed to having to deal with, the politics of a huge company and whatnot, which—

Brian Shutters [30:00]

That's true. But I'm still working with, I'm still executing for other folks. It's not While I'm doing these side quests that I'm interested in so much of it is still telling stories for other people. And even in the most streamlined collaborative process, you're still communicating with a lot of voices and getting a lot of dotting a lot of T's, dotting a lot of I's and crossing a lot of T's.

So there's a lot of, there's a lot of work other than the work for all of us, for sure. That's one of the great things that I, that I like about this podcast is that we're talking to a bunch of different people that are in the same headspace. And when you hear the way that somebody's frustrated with something and that resonates with you, you're like, okay, cool, I'm not alone. And that kind of makes the frustration less frustrating.

Okay, cool, we all have to do this, or we all feel this way. It's not something that I alone am burdened with.

Christian Solorzano [30:59]

Yeah. And a lot of the, a lot of the listeners that we have, there's a there's a good amount of listeners that are perhaps younger in their careers or possibly even still students. But I wanna ask you, what piece of advice would you give to someone that perhaps is just starting out and, at some point wishes to either start their own studio, do a lot of side quests? How do you, how do you get started?

How, what would be your advice for activating all of those things for get— for getting started?

Brian Shutters [31:32]

I think I'm gonna a little bit steal that answer from somebody else when I asked a similar question last week. I was lucky enough to have lunch with a production designer that I very much value their work, and we were kind of just chatting about our careers because he has a much longer resume than I do at the moment, chatting about our careers and how we got to where we are and where we want to go next, etc.

And I was kind of asking about how you get into different rooms, how you get bigger projects or telling new stories for people. And he was really— his real answer was to make sure to find your specific voice. And I think that's beautifully vague enough to apply to really all industries, but really all creative industries. Yeah. But I think early in my career, I still, I still love being a generalist.

But I think early in my career, I wanted to be a generalist because I was like, I want to be able to do anything for anyone. I'm going to get a lot of work because I'm going to be able to execute anyone's vision, or I'm going to be able to, I'm gonna be able to do it all. But if you're trying to do it all, you are not being authentic to yourself because you can't be everything to everyone.

I like being a generalist because I'm able to talk to a lot of people and know just a little bit of everything so that I can leverage those people that are better than me to do their thing. But honing your own voice and what makes you unique is going to help you even if you're a gra— even if you're doing graphic design for Heinz Ketchup. They're still looking for you to bring what you have to that project that no one else has.

So my own voice is, I mean, often related to trying to do something as practically as possible. In my video work, I love being able to find the emotion in physical objects like in a world of AI and CG and everything, being able to have a custom element, like a custom prop that is for that video and that video only, and you are recording it and somebody— I made it with their own hands. It hits on a different guttural level.

So even like we've— I did a commercial for the Mix radio station here in Chicago this spring. And everything in it was done practically. But I was working to design all these elements like, okay, we need a custom newspaper, like version of the Trib. But the headline is referencing the artist that we're talking about in the spot. Okay, I have one of the artists' names spelled out of egg whites being cooked in a pan. That's gonna be cool.

But I can't just figure that out on set. I'm gonna actually have to design what it looks like out of eggs. And then translate that onto literally this kind of tangible thing that I guess still kind of comes from when I was taking egg cartons and toilet paper tubes as a little kid. This tangible energy has— is like one of the strongest pieces of my own voice.

So whatever that is for the new creative, for the, for the young person, find that voice and really chase down how it applies to what you're working on. Because that, if you got, if you have a good gut and you can follow your gut, you will be so much happier in what you're doing.

Christian Solorzano [35:20]

And, but even more so, I think the follow-up question to that is how do you find your own voice? For me, it was always raising my hand as much as possible and sort of either Taking those side quests of like, hey, someone needs something. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna do it anyways. And I'm gonna fail a bunch of times and get little— get a little bit better here and there. But that was my experience.

But what would be like a general— some general words of wisdom for just first of all, what is your voice? And more so, how do you find it? And how do you how do you make sure that it even is your voice? It's so easy to adopt other people's voices because we know what voices work well. We know what trends work well. We have the data around what's popular.

And you see in social media and graphic design, like a lot of the same work just getting reproduced, like just stylistically, trends, colors, all that type of stuff. So how do you, how do you sort of stand out in the midst of all of that noise? Sure.

Brian Shutters [36:32]

Well, I won't have any, definitely won't have any magic. I think particularly because even though I feel like I'm in a good place, like I'm very happy with the work that I do and I'm very excited by it. And I think that everyone is constantly finding their voice. It's not like, oh, I did, I know what this is now. And I think you said it best, that the way to find your voice is to continue to do different things and to fail at it.

The production designer I was talking about— talking to last week has worked on a few different of the Wolverine movies. He worked on the Wolverine with James Mangold and then worked on Logan. And those are, even though it's the same character, very different movies. And he was saying, because I was waxing poetical about why I like Logan and why I feel like it's not a superhero movie.

And he was like, we all worked on the Wolverine, and when it came out, we were not particularly happy with different elements of it. Didn't feel like it worked quite as well because they were like, oh, we have to do all these superhero tropes. We have to do the thing that we're seeing. We have to do the thing that's popular. We have to sell the specific thing. Yeah.

And when they weren't happy with the decisions that led to that, they went into the next one they're working on together, Logan, being like, let's just do the thing that we want to do because we're going to bring ourselves to it in a better way. It's gonna feel different because it's gonna be our own. It's not going to be playing off the tropes that we felt like we had to adhere to.

And while I'm— it's not that everyone thinks it's gonna be the best movie, the two of us sitting at that table were like, that is a better movie. That is a more compelling story. That is a more visually interesting piece. I mean, learn— definitely learn from the things that are popular and surround yourself with things that you like. But you're— I think you kind of figure out your voice and your gut from the things that you like.

And by interpreting it through your lens, you're going to do something different.

Christian Solorzano [38:38]

I found that being able to speak to things makes a big difference. And also writing, for me, Makes a big difference as well, because if I could, if I could somehow construct my thoughts through writing in a way that makes sense, I, that sort of encourages me and forces me to really think through my ideas as opposed to just having this vague thing jumping around in my brain.

So writing, I always, so I teach as well, and I always tell my students that presenting and being comfortable speaking in front of people makes a big difference because you pick up on like the little nuances and like the way that you articulate things and like your preference for certain words or styles and all that type of stuff.

Brian Shutters [39:19]

So, because I'm a big visual guy, like we all are, we're all designers. I, when I go to the movies, I have 2 things that I bring with me. I have a note— well, I guess I have 3 things. I have a notebook and a pen because I'll just have it open on my lap. And like when I see a shot that I'm like, oh, this is, this feels different or this feels compelling.

I try to write down something about it and then like maybe why I felt it was compelling. Because then even if it's just the feeling, I can translate that into my own work, be like, okay, cool, I have to design this poster. But I remember when I saw that movie that had like that gunshot that like went through the shirt in a really interesting way. What if I was able to borrow that in a, in a, for this different thing?

And then I also bring with me what I refer to as my movie glasses. They are exactly the glasses that I wear every day, except they're only worn to the movies, so they don't have a single smudge or scratch on them. They are perfect, and they're only for movies.

Christian Solorzano [40:19]

Do they look the same? Are they identical?

Brian Shutters [40:22]

They're the exact— they're literally the exact same. I went on a second date with my now partner to go see Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Great. Great movie.

Christian Solorzano [40:33]

Did you see it at the Music Box when it was playing last, or what?

Brian Shutters [40:37]

I did indeed. I actually was able to see it when it was in the little theater there. And then again, when they put it in the big theater there.

Christian Solorzano [40:44]

Okay, when was this? Because I went to go see it as well. So maybe we were, we were there at the same time.

Brian Shutters [40:49]

I think this was like last spring. This was like 2022.

Christian Solorzano [40:53]

All right, I was there. So maybe ships passing in the night. I did, because I did notice like some movie glasses, some guy with—

Brian Shutters [41:02]

That guy changed out his glasses, the exact same glass. But it was definitely a vulnerable moment to be like, hey, this is a second date, it's going well. I need to share with you that I'm about to change my glasses to exactly the same pair of glasses. Hey, we're— it's still going well. I'm still very much in love with her. It's— she accepts me, movie glasses and all.

Christian Solorzano [41:26]

All right, so you got— so you got your notebook, your pen, and your glasses. That's— yeah, okay. Yeah, perfect.

Brian Shutters [41:33]

Okay, the moviegoing experience.

Christian Solorzano [41:36]

So I feel like the one of our last guests that we had, we were talking a little bit about the, this idea of the blog and how blogs have always served as this method of archiving and documenting inspiration, thoughts, etc. So based on our conversation here today, I feel I almost want you to create a blog. Have you— do you have a blog? I don't think I was able to find one, but it'd be interesting to sort of see this feed of things that you're collecting.

Brian Shutters [42:08]

I don't, I don't have one now, but I, with the social media, that feels like a game of it all. Yeah. When I feel like, okay, I should make sure I'm posting stuff for the, on our company page, whatever. At first I, it really felt like I should only be like, here are, here are our projects. Here are like the things that are done and sent off to a client or whatever.

And I'm still not great at it, but I feel like making sure to show process there as well, being like, here's a behind-the-scenes photo, or like, here's the post that's just about the specific color story that we were trying to tell in this is I was gonna say modern day blogs are still modern day, but like the way that people use social media as a like documentation tool is very interesting in that way. I do. I might take that as encouragement from you.

I've been thinking about trying to build out our website to be like just case studies, to be like not just like here's the reel and here's the highlights, but to be like here's why we did these choices and to make it more of a blog about All the details and all of the work that goes into literally everything, because you know as well as I do that the thou— there are thousands of choices that go into any design, and the greatest designers are the ones that do everything hyper-intentionally.

I used this specific kind of serif because it was referencing this vintage piece or whatever, and to be able to explain some of that in a way might be worth doing.

Christian Solorzano [43:55]

Yeah, I would, I would love— I'm always very— well, I mean, selfishly, one of the reasons why this podcast got started is because I like the— I like the idea of just humanizing designers.

And I feel like sometimes, some of the people that I've spoken with, they've always seemed so untouchable and like there are these great designers that are like on this pedestal, but then you speak with them and you learn about the fact that like everyone, they fail and they do work that isn't always so great, but they, it's all a journey. It's all a process. So I'm always really curious on like, what are the things that lead up to that final piece?

And then also, what are the things that just didn't make it at all?

Brian Shutters [44:38]

And yeah, exactly. So if you're able to look at a designer that you respect and you see something that they've done and you're like, oh, I That's not good. And they recognize that it's not good. You're like, cool, I can do it too, because I also suck sometimes, actually a lot of the time.

Christian Solorzano [44:52]

And in Chicago specifically, or just in general, do you have any— I mean, you've talked about your brother. Do you have any other designers that you really like, or any just design aesthetics, movements, periods in history?

Brian Shutters [45:07]

I think generally I'm really drawn to Editorial. Regardless of what my project is, I think that like looking through magazine editorials is so interesting, maybe because of how that is something that is very creative and also very rigid because they have to be always the same.

Not necessarily same layout, but like same page count and same page layout, whatever, the rigid and the creative like have to butt up against each other. I feel like editorial photography, graphic design always plays in a way that's like scratches a certain itch, and never feels old to me, even if, I mean, it isn't old. It's always evolving. But— And maybe something about how much I love physical items, that leafing through magazines too is something very tangible that lights a fire.

Christian Solorzano [46:12]

Yeah. Are you a collector of anything? Do you collect magazines or what would— anything in general?

Brian Shutters [46:19]

I mean, I feel like the listeners can't see this because but I feel like I'm a collector of tools because I am— so much of my work is physical that either for videos or like I did an installation for an event recently where we were trying to do everything to look like old grocery store posters. So a big part of that was me. I was like, okay, doing it digitally isn't really working for me.

I'm gonna have to take this physical and doing the learning the painting technique or the marker technique myself. So surrounding me in my office right now is Either old projects that I'm like displaying on a shelf, in-process things, or just a litany of tools that maybe I've used once for one specific thing. But I'm like, yeah, I'll use it again for something, I guess.

Christian Solorzano [47:15]

Yeah, I think the, for me, the advantage of the pandemic is like, I mostly work from home. So my home has now become like my working space. So over the last 3 years or so, I've been really emphasizing sort of just surrounding myself with inspiration, whether it's books, musical instruments.

And it's, and it's kind of made me like a collector of some sort because now it's— I feel like I'm more intentional about what I'm surrounded by, whereas before I just felt like home is where I live. And work is where I work. But now, right, but now those boundaries have just completely disappeared, which is—

Brian Shutters [48:01]

And I mean, you, yeah, it's a good thing. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But if you are lucky enough to be in a position where at least some of the times you really like what you do, being able to surround yourself with inspiration like that is a beautiful thing. And it's an ongoing curation, like anyone is curating the way that their home looks. Yeah, their Changing out plants, they're putting up seasonal decorations, whatever.

Being able to shift your objects around you as forms of inspiration as you change a project or as you change your workflow is, can also be really inspiring.

Christian Solorzano [48:41]

So talk to us a little bit about your agency and some of the work that you guys are doing. And maybe if you want to share some upcoming projects or just something that we could be out on the lookout for. What's on your plate right now? What do you have going on? And yeah, just curious to hear a little bit about that.

Brian Shutters [49:01]

Great. So my company, we're called Shuttershot Productions. It works as a title, one, because my last name is Shutters and people are like, that's convenient that you work in photography and videography. And I'm like, it's been my last name for my whole life. And so Shuttershot already feels like a good company name. But my business partner is named Stuart Hotwagner. So you take the H-O-T off the front of his name and Shutters. It's a combination of our names as well.

That one's, that one's a little harder to explain than it's like, my last name is Shutters, done. But it is, the company is really a collaboration between the two of us and that Venn diagram of our skills. But because so much of what I'm trying to build my career is these side quests. We do a lot of different things. We just spent a few days in Southern California working on a project for a new bottled cocktail brand.

They're called Sunshine Punch and it's like a creamsicle rum cocktail. And they're pretty new to the market. So they're still trying to figure out what their voice is. And I ended up being in the right place at the right time talking to one of their founders.

The first thing that I wasn't seeing in some of their media that they had was they're called Sunshine Punch and everything that they had was like very like the product was on like a little stage and it was like well curated, but like the sun wasn't present even if it had to be a false sun. Like it didn't feel like friends on the beach, the sun setting energy that they were trying to capture as a brand.

So we went out as a company to Southern California and just did 3 or 4 days, kind of like we went in with a plan of some of the stuff that we wanted, but kind of just taking inspiration from the area around us to build out different scenes that felt like the discussions we had with the brand. So now I'm deep in the edit and looking through, like we shot all of the video at 120 frames per second.

So I've got like one thing that happened, but the clip is 7 minutes long. So I'm just weeding through to find the usable stuff, looking through the, I think, maybe 7,000 photos we took. And kind of in the same way that we're— so much of our work is talking about our work. I'm like, all right, a lot of the work is also just like finding the stuff that does not work.

Christian Solorzano [51:26]

And are there any particular like industries or sectors that you feel like you thrive the most in?

Brian Shutters [51:34]

I think that one of the reasons that we do a lot of work in music is because I think that musicality is such— in terms of motion work, in terms of video work, musicality is so important to hook people in. You don't see a commercial that doesn't have a song in the background.

You don't see— so even when I'm doing something that isn't a music video, I cut it like it's a music video to be able to find the most compelling music, whether it's custom for the piece or if it's something that we pulled Yep. Being able to cut the emotional story beats to the music like it's a music video is often my workflow. I love music videos as well because of the way that I was speaking earlier about putting a story on a story.

Christian Solorzano [52:17]

So what are your favorites? Do you have any favorite music videos? What music videos do you like?

Brian Shutters [52:23]

Oh, that's a great question. So there is— I wish I— my brain was just Be more hipster and find something that maybe people don't know about. But the one that comes to mind that is one of my favorite music videos is a Harry Styles music video.

And it is the song Adore you. There is an 8-minute version of the video that is like— the video itself is like, okay, so he has this pet fish that keeps growing and he has to like essentially surrender it back to the ocean at the end of it. And it's like, rather than a love story to a romantic partner, it's like his love story with this fish. It's very odd.

But there is an 8-minute version that is just essentially a short film of Harry Styles living on this like fake English island where nobody smiles, but he's the only one that smiles, and he has this pet fish. And I'm like, some— like, I don't, I don't think it was him. I think somebody like around him was I've got this weird idea. Hear me out. What if— but it's not gonna work just for the song. I'm gonna need to build this out into an 8-minute piece.

To anyone who hasn't seen this, which I'm guessing is most people, go find this 8-minute version. It's on YouTube. It is very fun.

Christian Solorzano [53:39]

What is it called? Adore? Adore?

Brian Shutters [53:41]

Adore you.

Christian Solorzano [53:41]

Adore you. Okay.

Brian Shutters [53:43]

No one's turning it off, even if they're like, okay, it's the pop— okay, great. I'll listen to the rest of this.

Christian Solorzano [53:47]

That's one side quest that I've yet to take is directing a music video. So Hopefully one day that I mean, when I think of side quests, I just think of like some mysterious man on the street that like says like, hey, come over here.

Brian Shutters [53:59]

I mean, I don't recommend people go to that guy, but it would be an interesting side quest regardless if someone says, hey, come over here.

Christian Solorzano [54:06]

Well, we're almost out of time, but this has been a great conversation. So thank you so much for your time. Is there anything else that you that you're either working on or that you want to share with us? Definitely interested in just keeping up to date with all that you're doing, because I like your energy and I love your— I love, I love this conversation. So.

Brian Shutters [54:28]

Well, thank you for having me. We're always up to new stuff. You can— anyone listening can check us out on Instagram. We're @shuttershot. S-H-U-T-T-E-R-S-H-O-T. We're always putting out the weird side quest projects and the main projects and trying to share more in process. And maybe I'll take this as inspiration to show some of the failures as well.

Christian Solorzano [54:49]

I feel like you need to, after this conversation, there needs to be a section on your website that just says side quests. And it's just honestly, and it's just it could be a scan of like your sketchbook. It could be a sentence. It could be a voice memo. I feel like there's a whole, a whole thing there that just called side quests.

Brian Shutters [55:12]

I feel like if I look through the notes on my phone, I'll already have a lot of inspiration for the side quests tab. So I can get that started. Immediately.

Christian Solorzano [55:22]

Or you could even give side quests to other people if there's if you're just too busy, you could be a side quest provider or something.

Brian Shutters [55:30]

Oh, okay. The curator of the side quests. I'll be like, hey, I, this seems interesting. I don't have time for this now. Who wants it? And please show it to me when you're done.

Christian Solorzano [55:41]

Well like I said, thank you so much. And we'll put all your contact info in the, in the notes for this episode. But with that said, any parting words?

Brian Shutters [55:50]

Well, thank you to everyone that is listening. I take great inspiration from this whole design community. The Chicago Graphic Design Club does excellent work and brings so many people together to keep inspiring each other to do more and to grow as artists and as individuals. So I am thankful for everyone and glad to be part of the community.

Christian Solorzano [56:14]

And I look forward to doing some sort of collaboration in the future because that's what we'd like to Absolutely, me too. So that was our 40th episode, which is crazy to think about because we launched this podcast last May and already 40 episodes. And I couldn't be more happy to have Brian as a guest and have him be our 40th episode. So thank you so much for all of your support. Over the last 40 episodes. I really appreciate it.

And if you want to support this show, you can do so by visiting our website, www.chicagographicdesign.club, and hitting that shop link in our menu. That goes directly towards the club and it helps make programs like this possible. So thank you.