I thought working a 9-5 would hinder my creativity – turns out, it actually helps

Meet Jessie Cohen – Urban’s in-house graphic designer for the past two and a half years, and a freelance artist and designer for over 13. From shaping the look of our website and app to crafting aesthetic emails and scroll-stopping social content, Jessie leaves her mark in every corner of the brand.

Living between two creative worlds – one rooted in the structure of brand design, the other in the freedom of her own art practice, Chromakane – we caught up with Jessie to find out where her creativity really thrives. Is it in the free-flowing nature of freelance work, or the steady rhythm of a 9-5?

How do you balance your time between your role at Urban and your independent art practice, Chromakane? 

My role at Urban is part-time, so that has given me a lot of flexibility to pursue my other artistic and freelance projects which I’m very grateful for! I would definitely say this dynamic is what helps me most with finding the right balance for me, and avoiding frequent burnout.

I’ve tried juggling a full-time role with other projects in the past, and found that was a very unsustainable and unproductive way of working. Burnout and creative blocks were almost a weekly frustration!

Is there anything about working in a structured environment that helps your creativity?

Definitely! While some will say they need complete freedom and flexibility to feel their most creative, I’ve found that a structured environment, setting parameters and processes for yourself,  can truly help you find motivation and growth. With a certain amount of structure in place, such as set routines and patterns for ideation, you can also learn about self-discipline as well as creating with intentionality.

A structured environment also means carving out a schedule for upskilling (learning new software and methodologies) and collaborating with your team (learning from others’ perspectives), which will only hone your own creativity. A structured environment, whether in my role at Urban or side hobbies, has allowed me to find my creative cadence and a rhythm to fall into.

Working with one brand for a long time can lead to visual fatigue – how do you stay inspired and keep things fresh?

Visual fatigue can be a real concern, especially for in-house designers. I’ve spent most of my career so far in in-house roles, and so I’ve learned that it’s important to find a brand whose values genuinely align with your own. But also, to find a team who are comfortable with pushing boundaries and experimenting with a brand’s visual identity.

Personally, I’m passionate about the idea that design and creative thinking can improve wellbeing (whether physically, mentally or emotionally) and this belief keeps me engaged within my role. This has taken a lot of pressure off feeling the need to always create something visually fresh and new, because my focus is instead placed on creating meaningful brand experiences which put Urban’s community of therapists and users first.

Needless to say, continuously finding new ways to collaborate with your team and improve the systems in place for creative thinking will go a very long way in keeping things fresh, as these will have a knock-on effect on the evolution of a brand’s visual identity and tone of voice.

What’s one thing you love about your 9-5 that you miss when working solo?

While I do enjoy working independently (mostly so that I can put on my favourite playlist or tune into an interesting podcast while I design!) I would mostly miss the collaborative aspect of 9-5 life. It’s within a structured 9-5 role that you start to feel that sense of belonging as part of a team of like-minded creatives, which you don’t often feel working in isolation.

Creative blocks happen to the best of us – whether you’re freelancing or working a 9-5. What helps you reset and find your flow again?

Try something new! Whether it’s a different approach to solving the problem, or simply coming back to it later after taking a break and clearing your head. I’ve found that a little self-care goes a long way, and in the same vein inspiration might hit in unexpected ways: catching up with a friend, trying out a new activity, going for a walk in nature…

But if your creative rut is really persistent, you might find that your weekly schedule or working environment are the actual blocker: injecting flexibility and versatility into both will be key to getting back into the flow.

What’s your proudest design achievement at Urban and why?

I’d say my proudest achievement so far has been finding a way to balance consistency, stability, innovation and evolution for Urban’s visual identity – which had only recently rebranded when I first joined!

I think every designer wants their contribution to a project to feel worthwhile. So when a brand has only just gone through a big design-led evolution before you’ve even started with it, you’ll need to think outside the box and bring something new and exciting to the brand’s many facets and touchpoints, even those which aren’t necessarily user-facing.

What’s your secret to producing quality work, fast?

Having templates in place for different types of assets – emails, social media tiles and ads for instance – is always extremely useful for maintaining visual consistency and being able to churn out designs much faster. This is especially true when we’re prioritising efficient and collaborative teamwork.

But templates shouldn’t make a designer feel limited in their creativity either: there should always be room to revisit and evolve them, in order to keep things feeling fresh and exciting.

What's one piece of advice you would give to other creatives thinking about stepping into a more structured 9-5?

Embrace the structure, but don’t lose the mindset which made you creative to begin with!