Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Dave Clayton of Swindon, UK

We recently had the chance to connect with Dave Clayton and have shared our conversation below.

Dave, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Right now, my children. My youngest daughter is excelling at design and photography, my eldest daughter is playing football at a high level and doing so well, my two sons are passing professional exams and doing great in their jobs and life. That’s what I work hard for, to give them those chances in life!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’ve been a graphic designer, in or around design and marketing, for about 30 years. My brand is really me, I’ve never focused heavily on creating a strong brand for myself, I’ve mostly relied on my networking, community and producing good work for people in a respectful manner. If I had a brand it’s me being me! I use social media to let others see who I am and what interests me. I’ve done okay so far!

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
This might seem contentious but I’ve really noticed a huge drive in “social performing” in that the industry seems so reliant on having to broadcast your life on social media to be considered to have some kind of value. And for the most part, a lot of it is performative, creating a character of yourself but trying to look authentic. I decided that it’s not a method of working I want to adopt. I’m old school, I prefer in-person socialising, going to events, chatting to new people, creating relationships with people I want to work with. It’s the world I want to exist in, even if it means miss out on some opportunities by being off camera. Being on camera daily is not a commitment I can engage in or perform to, aside from being on camera for tutorials, not being on social media video in that respect means I get to analyse how others use it and I extract good content from it for myself. For me, it’s a tool to extract data and not feel the need to join in.
It works for many, it’s just not for me.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Not so much a fear as more of a confidence issue. About 20 years ago I had a football accident that means my left eye flickers and closes of its own free will. I’ve always been very self conscious of it and it’s probably one of the factors I don’t engage in the video side of social media performance. I think I’d be in a different space if I was more confident in front of camera but I am who I am now and it is what it is. I began my career off camera and it seems to be a way of my working life which remains. Public speaking had its challenges but now I am more confident about it and address it so that I can relax a bit more and feel less self conscious about it.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That social influence is the currency to success. It’s frustrating to see social influence overtake experience when it comes to being hired for work, either as a designer or an educator. Creating a minute of social content is not the same as preparing content and standing on stage for an hour and educating others. A creator might have a high social engagement but what they’re mostly good at is working an algorithm. I fear that our industry will become driven by social influence and not good old fashioned, authentic personality, hard work and hands on experience.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you retired tomorrow, what would your customers miss most?
I turned 60 this year, a real milestone. I’ve been working in design and marketing for half my life. I’ve had career changing technology for at least a third of my life. I certainly don’t feel my age and retirement isn’t something I’m even considering yet. But when that day comes I’d like to think my customers and peers would miss my natural desire to help, my friendship and my joy of being in a community and passing on my knowledge. I don’t think I could ever be away from design but I’d certainly miss being in person with my design community and friends and I hope they’d miss my presence.

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Dave Clayton

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