Famously, Anthony’s piece Work Hard and Be Nice to People was based on an open brief the designer set for himself to make his own manifesto (another one to consider for yourself, perhaps?), but in terms of favourites, he thinks of his work with Dutch creative Eric Kessels for Hans Brinker Budget Hotel decades earlier. “He’d seen some work that I’d done that he liked, and he didn’t even write a brief, really,” he recalls.
A brief chat and some suggested lines of copy later, Anthony had designed a set of 20 posters for the hotel. From there, his career took off – and with it, his confidence skyrocketed.
“Looking back, it was a real affirmation of my approach to making work,” he says. “So I learned to trust myself, and stick with what I wanted to do. It gave me more self belief and more confidence.”
If you’re a young creative making your way in the industry, Anthony recommends finding open briefs – and creatives – that align with your personal values.
“If you find an art director or a creative director or even somebody who wants to commission you, who can help you with that confidence, and feel like, ‘yeah, you can actually do this and you can make something interesting’ – those first steps set the tone for the rest of the work you want to do.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles-based animator and illustrator Ramin Nazer finds that open briefs can go against natural instincts when it comes to the creative process. “Creatives like to be free. They don’t want to be told what to do,” he explains. “But with open briefs, you have less clarity. It’s counter-intuitive, but limitation is actually very helpful in creativity.”
One of Ramin’s favourite briefs involved creating a mind map. “No restrictions – just to put the overall theme in the middle and then branch out several nodes. Then branch those out further,” he explains.
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