Profound Things I’ve Overheard

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Salt Lake Chapter AIGA event with guest speaker Terry Marks from tmarks desgin. It was a great presentation and his sense of humor added to the great evening. He started of talking about his company name, tmarks design, saying “Since we are designers we don’t use punctuation”. He also added that he has “nothing new to tell us”. His presentation was entitled “Profound Things I’ve Overhead” and stated that he is going to talk about things that have helped him but but there is nothing new and we probably know this stuff already.
This is one aspect of his presentation that I enjoyed over others, he didn’t just show off his work, he talked about the things that have helped him and achieve success.
According to Terry’s presentation he became a designer to “Make cook stuff”. He realized he could make money doing it and started freelancing to pay the bills. That progressed to starting his own business full time.

Terry presented 11 items that have helped him in his design career.

1. Take the chances
Do it if you think you are going to regret it later.
This lead him to create a book entitled “Mr. Crumbly Dreamed a Tiger”, which was about fear and desire.

2. Commitment
If we are not committed, you are doing nothing.

3. The best things in life blindside you.

4. These are the good old days.

5. It’s not the final word when things aren’t great.
Keep moving forward.

6. What we find as failures forges who we are.

7. Truth vs. Comfort
These are the two main choices in life. If you choose comfort, it never works out. You need to realize and act on the Truth.

8. Vision
Have it

9. Legacy
Terry stated that he wasn’t to concerned about a legacy but talked about and showed a film he created about photos that we’re taken of him for stock image sites and how that could shape his identity.
He also stated that the important things in life have to do with other.

10. The world is small

11. You get by giving away
Terry and his firm are involved in a lot of chapter work and is a strong believer in giving.

About Terry Marks

Terry Marks is principal of tmarks design, a multi-disciplinary design firm in Seattle, Washington.

The work of tmarks spans clients from DC Comics to Weyerhaeuser Angel Fire Resort. His work has been recognized by Print, Communication Arts, Critique, HOW, Neenah, Potlatch and a few others including his fourth grade 4-H. Mr.Crumbly Dreams A Tiger, which he wrote and illustrated in collaboration with Rule 29 was one of the ten “Perfect 10” projects in a national competition sponsored by HOW. His latest collaboration will see a layman’s introduction to wine, recalling a series of chef-prepared, winemaker-supplied, four-course meals in Napa, St. Helena and Healdsburg, California. His first book, Color Harmony: Layout, was released by Rockport last year.

He is an Advisory Board member for AIGA, Seattle having served for seven years as a Board Member, the last four as a Vice-President. Terry serves on the Link Executive Board, having helped found the Link art outreach program in Seattle. He co-chaired the Oodles of Doodles For Your Noodle project: an award-winning activity book for hospitalized and seriously ill children for the non-profit foundation Art with Heart. tmarks professionally supports the work of the Autism Spectrum Treatment and Research Center.