This month’s designer to take “Center Stage” is the mega-talented, ultra-modern, freelance design superstar, Yossi Belkin.
Tell us about yourself: your background, your design style … who you are and how you came to be.
This is going to be a little longer than it should, but I feel like my back story is a very important message to young, aspiring designers from all over the world, that with practice and a lot of hard work, you can truly be the designer you always wanted to be.
I grew up as a member of a Jewish Hassidic community in a suburb of Chicago. I was raised in a very religious home and went to a Jewish private school where they taught Judaic studies most of the day. I was always a creative kid and did not necessarily fit the exact mold of what a stereotypical Hassidic child was supposed to behave like. My parents both returned to their faith and took up a religious lifestyle in the 60’s while on their path to find their “truth.” My parents were both very creative and always let our creativity and imaginations shine regardless of our religiously rigid upbringing. Even with his long beard and black hat, my dad worked as a senior IT manager in the 90’s at a large corporation in downtown Chicago and dabbled with his passion of Photography on the side. He always made sure that we had all the latest tech at home and got me a Dell Latitude and installed a bunch of programs for my 13th birthday. It was then that I discovered photoshop and a new avenue for my ever-expanding creativity opened. After middle school, at 14, I went off to a Rabbinical boarding school in upstate NY where I studied only Judaic studies. That was the end of my formal secular education. I always had my laptop with me and every waking moment that I was not praying or learning, I was hunched over that bad boy designing for my dear life. I’m talking hours every day for years. My parents specifically only enrolled me in schools that allowed me to bring a computer and gave me access to internet. That was honestly unheard of for a young Hassidic Yeshiva student.
I ended up dropping out of Rabbinical school at the age of 18 with the dream of becoming a designer. I moved to Brooklyn with a couple friends and took a part time job as a designer at a nonprofit organization. Over the course of two years, I built a reputation in the community and got the chance to work on various design projects varying from logo work, websites, book covers and business cards. One of the people I met living a few blocks away from me at the time, was Matisyahu, the Grammy nominated Hassidic reggae star. We became friendly and I ended up designing a number of his album covers which gave a real boost to my confidence as a young designer. I moved back to Chicago and opened a small studio in the suburbs where I started working with clients from all around the country. Behance, Dribbble and word of mouth brought my portfolio to the desks of some great creative directors at different agencies, and the next thing I knew, I was designing for Subway, AT&T, Kodak, Oscar Meyer and a slew of businesses, big and small from around the world. Currently, I am married with two children and live in Boca Raton, FL where I work as a freelance designer focusing on branding, packaging and creative direction.
My design style has changed drastically over the last few years. About six years ago I started putting a very heavy focus on identity work. I can’t say I enjoy anything more than creating a visually striking, minimalistic mark for a fresh brand or breathing life into an old one.
How would you set yourself apart from other designers? What about your work, makes it a “Yossi Belkin design?”
This is a tough one to answer while trying to stay humble. I like to think I have the unique ability to cross over into different design styles very easily. I do try and keep everything simple, clean, minimalistic and the goal is to accomplish a project without over complicating it. Many of my clients come to me specifically because they feel like my work can hit different notes as opposed to people coming to me for my specific style. That is a draw for clients that either have something in mind or for agencies that are trying to push numerous ideas and approaches. That being said, most of my friends and designers I know can tell my work from a mile away, so I could totally be wrong about that.
When did you know a profession in design was right for you?
I wanted to do something creative with my life from a very young age. I was one of those kids who was always creative and dabbled in every new program I could get my hands on. I was building websites with Trellix for fun and messing with drop shadows in Photoshop. I actually started “selling“ my work as early as 15 years old. As I mentioned, I was part of a very close-knit Hassidic community with outreach centers around the world. They actually have 4,000+ of these centers. It’s called Chabad, you can google it. Each one needed its own logo, brochures, flyers, cards etc. So, there was a lot of work to go around among the few young designers in the community and I could not believe that I was getting paid to do something I loved so damn much.
What logo or logos inspire you the most?
This is always a hard one. So many brands inspire me. Obviously, a lot of the big brands like; Nike, Apple, Samsung, Chobani etc. But for the work that inspires me daily and forces me to think about branding in a different way, is pretty much everything over at: https://bpando.org/logo-gallery/.
Explain your design process. How do you get out of “designer’s block?”
My design process is pretty simple. Get a brief, talk out the project with the client, work on some mood boards to direct the style of the brand and then jump into things. Depending on the project, sometimes I will sketch it out but usually I go straight to my computer. When hitting designers block, which in my experience is really just stress, pressure and exhaustion disguising itself, I try and step away for a bit. Do something else entirely. Go outdoors, play some video games, take the kids on a walk or even just design something that is not an actual project. I find that works best. Gets the creativity flowing again being able to do something outside of the constrictions of the current open project and then when you come back to it, you feel invigorated.
When you’re not designing, what are you doing?
As a freelancer, you have to hustle. That means a lot of late nights and a lot of early mornings. Having a two-year-old and a three-year-old, they keep me on my toes and every moment I’m not working, I try and soak up life with them and my wife. Oh, and Netflix. I like to soak up a shitload of Netflix.
Who are your designer heroes and why?
I always come back to a few designers that just constantly pump out work that blows my mind with its level of details and pure original content. In my opinion, these guys build the trends that other designers, myself included, aspire to achieve.
Jay Fletcher, Steve Wolf, Chad Michael, Josh Emrich, Simon Walker …
Studios and Agencies: Young Jerks, Character SF, Red Antler, Stitch Design Co. Studio Mast, Studio MPLS, Mash Creative, Perky Bros, Socio Design, Anagrama. So many moreĀ
What/who would be a dream project/client for you?
I think developing branding for a new product line at Target would be pretty exciting. The creative team there is just so incredible and would be a lot of fun to see my work in the wild on an almost weekly basis. That and working with pretty much any of the designers or agencies listed above.
Where do you see yourself in five years? What are your hopes and dreams for the future?
Currently reading “Freelance and Business and Stuff” by the insanely talented Amy and Jennifer Hood of Hoodzpah and feeling really optimistic about my future. Love the freelance game even with the struggles of it all but always imagine myself running an independent small studio pumping out work that other designers list in their interview articles one day.
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in all your years as a designer?
One would definitely be patience. Patience in getting the next good project. Patience on dealing with a hard client. Patience when no work comes in for a little too long. Patience that one day, you will become the designer you always dreamed to be. Hand in hand with that is practice. The guarantee I tell any aspiring designer, if you’re talented and feel you have the creativity for this game, all you need is time to get your work to the level you want it to be at. This may take years. Not two years or three years. I’m talking 10+ years until you can sit back and be like, damn, I made that. Even then, I still find myself in awe of the designers around me and know that my work has the potential to be so much better.
To see the works Yossi has uploaded to the Lounge, simply click here to view his profile. You can also see his work, by visiting his website here. Stay tuned next month, as we bring more of your favorite designer superstars “Center Stage.”