In honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share my infinite wisdom on sharing a roof with someone who is as passionate about design as you are.
Sharing is Caring
We have one printer, one DSLR, one tripod, and one Wacom tablet. All romance is out of the door when you need to print something at the same time. It’s also pretty rough when you’re trying to get your #openheartyogachallenge on Instagram and someone is obsessed with creating good stock photography. Or it’s 2AM, you’ve shot your new products and you have to sit through Lightroom fishing through 1,000 photos because one of the memory cards hasn’t been emptied since you bought it.
Lessons learned: Be happy that you have someone who understands why you’re trying to stand on your head in twenty seconds. Give kudos when one of you creates an amazing DIY light box. Also, take all of that extra cash you’re saving and spend it on fonts!
Type Talk
I’m a bit of a type snob, sorry. One day, I can imagine having an argument with a bratty teenage child of my own in which I just hear “Well, I don’t like YOUR font choices either!” I’m very understanding of your love of Verb, but one day, I’ll get you to use Benton Sans. You might get crazy, and get into Brandon Text. The possibilities are endless! Five years ago, you were browsing Dafonts, so there’s always room for improvement.
Lessons learned: Don’t buy me flowers, buy me font families. Good kerning is an expression of love.
Friendly Competition
I tweeted that same article and somehow got fewer retweets. Oh, I see the recruiters are filling up your inbox with opportunities for positions in Seattle and San Francisco. Why yes, yes Joy Cho did pin my image. She now has a line in Target so that means I’m totally semi-famous (not really). Don’t shove your extensive knowledge of Git in my face. I can make pretty words with my hands!
Lessons learned:Â Our competitive natures have really made us strive to always be better. It’s like having one classmate who scored one point better on yesterday’s pop quiz, except they live with you. You will always study harder and practice longer just to make each other proud.
We Always Have Each Other
When our friends show you something they’ve created for a presentation or in Photoshop, it always starts with the phrase “Don’t judge me.” Maybe we were a little harsh on that restaurant with the backwards D’s in the logos. Maybe we shouldn’t comment on the Comic Sans on this wedding announcement. Â Keep your conversations about the new (not new) Twitter UI to a minimum.
Lessons learned:Â Even if they hate it, our friends can now pick out good design without our help. If they can’t, at least there’s always one person that I can poster design hunt with.
All jokes aside, it’s been pretty awesome being in business and a relationship with someone who does the same things you do. While we have the same titles, our skill sets are completely different. We have plenty of variety and the overlaps just make us better!
If you’re in a relationship with a creative, get in touch with me as I need Creative Couples to feature. Happy Valentine’s Day friends!
This was so cute! I totally know the one Wacom at home struggle. LOVE the “don’t buy me flowers, buy me font families.” Hilarious. You two are too cute. Hope you enjoy your Valentine’s Day. 😉
Ha! A lot of this sounds like me and Quentin. One Wacom tablet!!!! He keeps telling me to go buy my own -__-
Lovely little story. Thanks for sharing!
Love this! + btw… I didn’t forget about your Now+Then tag… I just got caught up in trying to make it pretty like yours. I may just suck-it-up and post it using plain text… or else it will never get out. Wishing I was married to a creative now. 🙂
This is so cute! I’m also dating a fellow designer, and I can honestly say all these ring true for me, too! Especially the font choices one….designing cards for friends can turn into all-out font war! 😉 How do you mange one tablet though!? I use mine 100% of the time and would be lost if I had to wait my turn!
haha I usually win the font wars 😛 I generally don’t use it unless I’m doing some lettering or an illustration. I can get away without because I didn’t have one for years but when I need it, it’s just time for us to trade off lol
I had to do a bit of design work for a family friend and it wasn’t easy, they didn’t know what they wanted but the knew they didn’t want what i was given them. in the end I just had to let them to trust me. few years on and they’ve changed the way they think a bit thanks to our help (i think anyway!)
Buckets & Spades
This is cute! I like the buy me fonts not flowers 🙂 You guys are like a creative super team, with your individual special creative powers!
Aww! You guys are the sweetest!! My bf is a photographer/videographer so I’m always using his tools, and excited to do a collab with him in the near future! It’s nice to have someone who understands your creative crazy, right?!! Happy Valentine’s day to both of you and have such a wonderful weekend!!
I think being in a relationship with a photographer would be fantastic! We both understand photography basics and can get away with decent shots but it’s definitely “our thing” so it’d be great to collaborate with someone who can see beauty in the every day. Have fun with your collaboration!
I love this post, Angel! “Don’t buy me flowers, buy me font families.” Amen, sister. You two have a good thing going 🙂
Hahaha this is great and I felt myself nodding in agreement to everything. His + Her creative teams are awesome. We are special breed 😉
I’m loving the rise of the his+her creative teams. I get told all of the time that it must be hectic but it’s actually pretty simple. 🙂
LMAO @ Don’t buy me flowers, buy me font families!!!! Great post!
You two are so adorable.
Priorities 😉 Flowers don’t pay the bills.
This was so cute! “Don’t buy me flowers, buy me font families. Good kerning is an expression of love.” — I love it! Happy Valentine’s Day!
So adorable! You guys sounds just fabulous — definitely would love to be a fly on the wall for the “Well, I don’t like your font choice” debates! Hope you guys have a wonderful valentine’s day! 🙂
They usually end with me going in and changing everything or just giving up on what’s going on in his PSDs lol.
You two still make my mouth hurt with all your cute and sweetness. I’m dating a gamer who just asked me yesterday how to install a font and gets angry because Photoshop is too hard. I’m the tech savvy one here but as long as he gives me time to blog and think of posts, it’s all that matters!
Happy Valentine’s Day, you two!
You guys have an awesome balance for being first time parents. It’s good to figure out what works best!
Enjoyed this post so much, Angel! “Don’t buy me flowers, buy me font families” hahah nailed it! But for me it would really just be a whole of camera accessories (though I don’t mind flowers).
I could relate to so much that you’ve listed here but in the sense that it’s a constant battle of creative vs. practical here. Though at the end of the day, it’s a great balancing point. 🙂 Hope you have a lovely weekend!
I don’t mind flowers either but a MyFonts gift card goes a long way 😉
Love this post Angel! I always thought it would be fun to share lives with a person with same work path! My fiance has nothing to do with design but plays some music so he is a creative and artistic type too. I talk about design, he talks about compositions and somehow we completely understand each other!
I think I could survive if the person has a bit of a creativity so you guys definitely have a great thing going. 🙂
Wait? But I like comic sans. :/
You guys are so adorable together! sharing your passion and interest with the closest person the such a happy thing. I can’t wait to see you this week 🙂
This was the funniest post ever. I love everything about it! And that first photo is priceless. Actually, the post is priceless. Thanks for the lovely post and lots of laughs!
I have an odd collection of outtakes from our shoots lol at least they’re getting used.
Moments after reading this, I’m still smiling. You guys are the cutest!
That’s so sweet Temmy! I sort of think we’re a mess most of the time lol.
Love this! I chuckled a few times 🙂
-KT
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