
Baby Got Backstory BGBS 041: Jay Ferracane | Angry Bovine | Design Is Not About the Designer
Sep 30, 2020
01:08:22
BGBS 041: Jay Ferracane | Angry Bovine | Design Is Not About the Designer
Jay Ferracane is a former skateboard punk, current gentleman rancher, and most importantly, a gifted graphic designer. Jay launched the design consultancy, Angry Bovine, with an honor for placing brand authenticity at the forefront of design and decision making. As you may be able to tell so far, Jay is a multi-talented man. He taught design for over 8 years at the University of Colorado’s grad program formerly known as BDW and founded the creative speaking series, “Caffeinated Mornings”, which ran for almost 7 years.
Here you’ll hear Jay’s beginnings with design, from watching his mother paint in fascination for hours to piecing together DIY coordinated BMX outfits with the neighborhood kids. Jay emphasizes how diving into a variety of industries and always being aware of the processes around him have influenced his style and creativity. He opens our eyes to the beauty of designing based on what is unique to you rather than what the norm “allows”, inspiring us to ask ourselves, how can we all be more fearlessly authentic?
In this episode, you'll learn...
- Growing up as a military kid living in Hawaii and Japan, Jay learned that the world was much bigger than he thought
- Jay discovered the name for Angry Bovine while watching the Mad Cow disease in a breakroom of a small ad shop
- Design is rarely about the person who designed it, whereas art is mostly about the person who made that art
- As a teenager, Jay would cut out every table of contents of Transworld Skateboard Magazine and wallpaper his room with them. This experience was one of his earliest design influences
- During art school, Jay kept adding typography to his paintings, which led him to stray from traditional art towards design
- Jay was fortunate enough to start his career designing annual reports for Yahoo and Motorola by applying to a job that no one else would
- Design is simply making communication in a creative form
- A company that makes manufacturing software is no less sexy than Nike because of their value and the connection they have with a group of people
- Jay currently lives on a ranch with his family for his wife’s nonprofit to save horses (and they even have cows now. Full circle, right?)
- Although design is meant to be objective, at some point creatively your work can become subjective because of the attachment to your ideas
- When designing for a brand, it is important to ask what is unique to you rather than following the mold of what is “compulsory” in the industry
- Jay thinks that the coolest thing about being a designer is seeing the lasting impact in what you do
