By Cinara Marquis
Across a multitude of diverse industries, artist Casey Callahan has experienced her fair share of imposter syndrome. As a graphic designer, art director and occasional illustrator, Callahan finds herself constantly facing change in attempt to follow, predict and create unique trends.
“Sometimes I’m a risk-taker, which often leads to me being a big mistake-maker,” Callahan said in her lecture with the Visual Artist Series.
Organized by SUNY Plattsburgh faculty and students and funded by the Student Association, the Visual Artist Series aims to bring seven to nine artists from a wide variety of mediums to campus each year. It offers public lectures, workshops and demonstrations.
Callahan spoke in Yokum 205, Nov. 19 about her history, education, work and experiences with imposter syndrome.
FINDING THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Callahan said she is a big believer that individuals are the products of their environment.
Moving from Oklahoma to Seattle and later to Vermont, Callahan emphasized how each place had significantly shaped her in different ways.
“What I did in school versus what I did in Seattle versus what I do now in Vermont are all wildly different,” Callahan said. “If you had asked school-me what I’d be doing now, I probably would have never believed you.”
Callahan’s professional journey began when she graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s of fine arts in digital communication. She began working with WongDoody, a marketing agency with clients such as Adobe, Amazon, United Airlines, T-Mobile and Starbucks.
The work was characterized by a stern atmosphere that expected late nights and intense concentration, and with such large-scale clients it was intimidating.
While she did gain a lot of experience, Callahan felt disconnected from her work.
“I didn’t feel a lot of connection to the clients, and there was a lot of middleman between me and seeing how consumers interacted with my design work,” she said.
Callahan got attention from her illustration and typography posts on Instagram and got a job with Brit + Co, a women’s editorial magazine. This role allowed her to focus on illustration for social media platforms including Snapchat and Instagram, a refreshing change from her previous work at WongDoody.
She was encouraged to express even more creativity from her next job with Reuben’s Brews, a brewery in Seattle.
“This is where I really feel like I gained a ton of confidence in what I was doing because I got to see the consumer really interact with what I was creating,” Callahan said.
At Reuben’s Brews, Callahan worked on packaging design, which she found immensely satisfying. The job’s liberating environment enabled her to find and embody her personal style.
Eventually though, Callahan landed at her current job — Burton, a snowboard and outerwear company based in Vermont. At first she started creating campaign designs for Burton’s events; eventually, though, she moved onto designing snowboards and being the companies art director of snowboards.
IMPOSTER SYNDROME
As Callahan navigated her role at Burton, she encountered imposter syndrome, especially given her unfamiliarity with Vermont and snowboarding. Imposter syndrome is a condition that causes people to doubt their skills and feel like a fraud.
“I didn’t want anybody to know (I had never touched a snowboard). I was like, I’ll just go to the mountain a bunch and I’ll learn, and then I’ll eventually be good,” she said.
However, despite her inexperience with the sport, once she let down her anxiety about being knowledgeable enough, she learned from others and built confidence.
To combat her imposter syndrome, Callahan identified five key strategies: Get out of your head, curiosity, the freedom of letting go, letting down guardrails and playing.
To get out of your head, Callahan recommended artists to take a break and do anything besides being creative.
“No two people are seeing the world at the same time in the same lens,” she said, so be curious about what others have to say.
Adaptability is important to working as a graphic designer. Callahan explained that letting go of something that just doesn’t work always brings new opportunities. This idea follows into letting down your guardrails as well; sometimes you just need to acknowledge you tried and move on.
“Sometimes it’s okay to pick a route and try it, and if that doesn’t work, move on to another route,” Callahan said.
Play is also incredibly important to Callahan. Every good design comes from experimentation.
“Allow yourself to have some fun and not take yourself too seriously,” she said.
ADAPTING
Callahan advised new graduates to explore various roles. To her, building a solid foundation is important before landing one’s dream job.
“It’s like a bad relationship. It taught you what you don’t want, but you needed it to know that,” she said. “I think just trying a lot of different things at first is, in my opinion, the best thing you could do for yourself.”
At Burton, Callahan tries to find balance between her and her artists’ creative voices and the wants of buyers and stakeholders. Unlike the beer industry, where clients and stakeholders are more relaxed, Burton includes an approval process involving merchandising, creative directors and professional riders.
Dealing with rejections is hard, but Callahan has learned to accept feedback with humility and confidence.
“Once you hear somebody out and they have good reasoning for (their idea), you realize you were married to an idea that wasn’t working for the environment we were in,” she explained.
In a specialized industry such as snowboarding Callahan has learned though to let go of the pressure to please everyone. She said, “It’s all about finding the balance and remembering why you started creating in the first place.”
For more information on Callahan’s work and creative journey, follow her on Instagram @caseyskylar
