Garret Beard is a great friend and an even better designer. Currently hailing from Florida by way of Virginia with stops in New York and New Jersey, he has been designing since Facebook launched Farmville and has contributed to product designs, digital media content, films, commercials, and even the layout of the living room we once shared as roommates.

Currently Garret is the senior digital designer for the marketing department at Corkcicle, an innovative drink-ware company that claims their product chills wine to the perfect drinking temperature without the use of a messy ice bucket. As the senior digital designer he oversees their social media posts, creates digital content, works on production shoots, and helps construct the overall image of what they want their brand to look like (no pressure there). We sat down and had a chat about what it means to be a designer for a niche company, what separates good design from bad design, and what design is.

“Design should be clear, simple, and direct. If it is not anything more than it needs to be, I think it’s a good design.”

V - What exactly does a digital designer at Corkcicle do?

GB - I oversee almost all of the digital content for Corkcicle. When I say all, there's definitely some digital content that I don't touch. We have a lot of assets that move around, things I don't touch another designer might pick up and vice versa. When I say digital that includes social media content, digital ads, dedicated Instagram posts, emails, videos for our sales team, and pretty much anything Corkcicle related you might see on the internet.

When it comes to social media a lot of our content is photography based. We're a physical product, which is different from a software product company per say, so we'll shoot a lot and there will be times that I'll have my hand in the shoots. That includes anything from from setting it up to doing the actually shooting.

V - What made you want to get involved at Corkcicle?

GB - I was excited about a company that was design focused, it's rare for companies to truly care about design. A lot of companies will say they're design focused and then you find out that they cut corners when they think the sales might be effected if certain things are done differently. I felt like this company really cared about their image. Yes, they are primarily a water bottle company and yes, that is a trend right now, but that didn't really worry me.

It may have also helped that I knew they were trying to expand out of the water bottle or a canteen niche. When I was starting they were already starting to sell other things, now we’re doing lunch boxes and cooler bags, there’s a lot we are trying to expand into. I really appreciated their initial attention to detail in design and I knew that Dylan (Corkcicle’s Creative Director) wasn't going to settle for something that might look lame. He has a great eye and if he feels something is lame he'll say we're not doing it. I felt good about that.

V - In 2019 where so much content is being made, what do you do to make your designs stand out, not only from other drink-ware companies/competitors, but from other companies in general?

GB - When you're on a marketing team you're always looking at competitors. It's easy to compare our market with our direct competitors because I would like to say we put more emphasize on design than most of them, but when it comes to other brands there are companies that we aspire to and look at. Nike for example does amazing work, all their marketing is spot on. They really know who their audience is. At Corkcicle we keep pushing what we're doing and at the end of the day if we're making something that we think is great, then hopefully other people think it's great as well. I also think having a good team helps with that, there’s always a feeling of confidence around if you can say, “That person is amazing at what they do." If you have that team and that confidence about your team, you know that no one is going to settle for something sub par.

V - Do you have any personal hard rules when it comes to design?

GB - I started in motion graphics and for the longest time my design was terrible. It took a while for me to realize that there is a vast difference between design and motion. Over the past few years it's been a personal goal to learn more about the rules and subcategories of design. Part of me is trying to learn all of those rules and implement them, the other part of me is trying to make sure that it's not hindering. You can get caught up in the rules.

90% of the time I start with the grid, but by the end I'm turning the grid off and just looking at it. I'm going to look at it and see if it feels right. If something feels off, I'm going to move it. That plays in to color, size, space, and so many other rules, but I'm just using the grid as an example.

“I'm going to look at it and see if it feels right. If something feels off, I'm going to move it.”

V - What separates good design from bad design?

GB - Does it solve a problem? Whatever it is, whether it's a logo or a poster, is it addressing the problem and accomplishing something? If it looks great but doesn't translate, or if it doesn't answer all of the questions that are originally asked, then I would say it's not a good design. Design should be clear, simple, and direct. If it is not anything more than it needs to be, I think it’s a good design.

V - Do you feel that there’s a success rate when it comes to your work? Example: 3/10 designs are great, 5 are okay, and 2 are bad. How do you gauge yourself?

GB - I would love for my process to be that dialed in but that's not the way I work. I'm probably going to make a ton of things, ideas, layouts, etc. I will try 50 different types in 50 different colors. People always say if you're a designer you're never satisfied with the end product. That can be true, but I also think through trial and error and various iterations you'll eventually come to something that you're satisfied with. If I’m trying to make something great, I’m going to work on it a lot, then I’m going to pause on it… and then I'm going to pick it back up two days later. I'm going to look at it again, hate it, change a few things… then I'm going to stop again. That might turn into a cycle. Bottom line, it can take a lot time to make a great design.

V - Do you have to shift your mindset when designing something for a company like Corkcicle versus something for your personal portfolio or a different company?

GB - When you're working for a company you have tighter deadlines and expectations from other people. Corkcicle does want to make great work and we are design focused, but at the end of the day we have deadlines to hit, just like every other company. If I’m creating personal work I can say, "Well, I would like to be done with this at this time.” But I can also pause, look it over in a few weeks and see if I still like it or change things. The process is definitely different.

V - What’s one of your favorite pieces of design or animation that you wished you worked on?

GB - There's plenty of stuff all over the internet that I wish was a part of on a regular basis. Nine out of ten things on Motionographer I see and say, “Wow, would have loved to work on that." Recently I've been in love with the idea of showcasing my work in the real world and not on the computer. Whenever I see someone's work whether it’s a mural or a poster I think, "Man, I wish I would have done that."

It would be pretty cool to host a gallery with a few designers. That ties back to me still trying to figure out design, along with dipping my toes into the art world and striving to learn more. I have a lot more to learn.

Check out Garret Beard at garretbeard.com and Corkcicle at corkcicle.com