Certainty Kills Curiosity with Paul Nylander
Paul makes pivoting look easy. He has pursued business opportunities and pursued his passions. I am excited to interview my good friend Paul Nylander this week.
Paul loves collage, photography, design, and helping people tell their story in the best way possible. He is amazing at custom book designs. And I mean custom. If you want someone who will push themselves to represent your story in an innovative and best way possible, Paul is the one for the job.
I can’t wait for him to talk about and show some of the projects he has taken on that I might shy away from. Paul welcomes a challenge, I think because he is endlessly curious.
Or listen here
I hope you’ll join us this Wednesday, May 4 at 7:30pm BST / 2:30pm EDT / 11:30am PDT / 8:30am in Hawaii. Sign up to get the link at https://creativesignite.com/signup
Episode 412 Season 6.1
You can always join us for the live taping experience and be part of the community. Come a little early and introduce yourself in the chat, tell us where you are located in the world and say hey!
The Questions
- Paul, can you give everybody a little background about your start in design and where your love for book design started?
- You have pivoted a few times. It amazes me that you’ve been able to take on a big decision like this without much fear. How do you look at these pivots now? Did you look at them different when you were in the middle of them?
- What attracted you to design? What attracted you to book design? Why does it scratch that itch for you?
- Working with authors and publishers is different from doing book arts. What do you like about creating for others? What do you like about creating bespoke books as art pieces?
- Where does collage fit in? Have book covers always had a photomontage style and then collage is a natural path? Want to show them the photo print that you were “playing” with that I fell in love with? What was it about creating to explore that was more comfortable?
- You have also been at camp each year and this year camp is focusing on overcoming creative burnout, mindset, and systems and processes we use in our business that have helped us grow or move through a tough spot or to the next level.
- In the last 10 years what have processes or systems have you put in place that have helped you grow as an designer? As an entrepreneur?
- We have been friends for at least three years, over that time what kinds of things have you worked on that has made the most significant impact in your life and or business?
- In the last 30 days have you been learning anything or working on any new habits related to your mindset as an artist, designer, illustrator, etc?
- You are always exploring, some of the things you have dove into are: printmaking, photography, collage, printing techniques, paper, new tech, etc. How do you make time in your schedule for learning?
- Recently we talked about the difference between good and great and how as an entrepreneur we have to make choices. What helps you decide when good is good enough?
- How does pushing and not accepting good enough lead to burnout?
- How do you regularly evaluate your growth and your ability to refine your specialization, your style, your processes?
- You and I have talked about how much we enjoyed the pandemic because we got to meet with more people than normal. I love that about you and am thankful I am not alone.
- What is next?
Follow Paul
Website: https://illustrada.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulnylander