BSDS
The Bay State Design Shop is a pretension-free place for New England-area designers—of all disciplines and skill levels— to talk shop, chew the fat, hone their craft, lend a helping hand, and build a creative community.
Why should the design fun end? Or, when a dumb idea turns real.
I first met my buddy Erik Weikert at a Dribbble Meetup in Boston sometime back in 2015—we kept in touch, and crossed paths again at another meetup I was spearheading at the Monotype HQ in 2017.
Wanting to know if there was a place for designers to talk shop in between real-life events, I fired off an email to Erik, and the rest snowballed…the Bay State Design Shop was born.
The BSDS’s goal? A design space free of ego, pretension, and any of the ivory tower nonsense that’s deleterious not only to the design industry as a whole, but to the human relationships that constitute it. The BSDS is an all-invited potluck supper where we’re building a longer table, not a taller fence.
Now, with nearly 1,000 members, BSDS is about all facets of design—talking shop, making friends, getting feedback, lending an ear. Members have taken it upon themselves to host design challenges, portfolio reviews, and community film nights. Heck, numerous folks have even landed jobs through the group. These totally unexpected (and, indeed, delightful) consequences are ones that we’re eminently grateful our dumb idea could help facilitate.
Recruitment materials.
The community has grown! How to spread the word further, though? Well, we whipped up silly, faux-recruitment graphics, which supplied us with much more gravitas than our dumb clubhouse had any right to claim. But our fledgling group could only be as real as we made it seem, right? That’s the power of branding, I suppose.
I cobbled together a logo, using one of my favorite typefaces—ITC Serif Gothic. We threw that on stickers, shirts, patches, even purposefully crappy, hand-stamped laminated membership cards.
The BSDS evolved its own terminology, too; our official aphorism—FORTUNE FAVORS THE KIND—is meant to be the bedrock of our pretension-free community ethos.
Field trips & gatherings as the community grows.
The BSDS continued to grow by word of mouth, and at each minor membership threshold we’d celebrate—because our dumb idea started resonating with people, and we didn’t expect that. To see 50, 100, 200 people wind up on the roster was so satisfying. That we’re nearly at 1,000 now just warms the cockles of our designer hearts.
In time, the BSDS branched out into real-life gatherings—dinners and group outings to local institutions like as Massachusetts’ own (and incredible) Museum of Printing. Stranger still, folks starting hitting up Erik and I, asking us to tell BSDS’ story—which we excitedly did on Dribbble and at local design-venues like Practice Makes, & MassArt.
BSDS vs. DDC
Well, you might as well go big.
The BSDS wanted to throw a public design event. With nothing more than our wits, we threw down, bringing our buddy—and design kindred spirit—Aaron Draplin into Boston.
Why are we grinning, you ask? Not only did we get to work with our hero, but our small band of BSDS dreamers managed to sell-out four workshop sessions, and a nearly 300-person sold-out lecture held at District Hall in the city’s Seaport District. Pretty darn cool.
In BSDS’s truly scrappy spirit, we handled all the logistics, wrangled sponsors, managed promotions, and fully branded the event. Heck, we even hand screen-printed event posters up in Erik’s attic. That’s the power of elbow grease, friends!
The largest of thanks to Aaron, our generous sponsors—Hover, Mohawk Paper, Moo, Sketch, Cambridge Printing Company—and the troop of selfless BSDS volunteers.
Courtesy Nik Weikert
A New England Brew.
We’re lucky to be designers—we’re lucky to have a community to lean on. The BSDS believes that if you can lend a hand, you should lend a hand. Spearheaded by our tireless community advocate Cody Johnston, the BSDS brought A New England Brew to life—a charity poster show hosted at Backlash Beer Co.’s beautiful taproom in Boston. Over two-dozen regional designers and illustrators donated their talents designing incredible posters inspired by New England.
Through the generous support of our community, sponsors, and participating designers, we had the privilege of donating proceeds from the event to Artists for Humanity, a local non-profit empowering underserved Boston-area teens in developing their creativity. Check out all the great work they’re doing!
The morning message.
So, I’ve developed a bit of reputation within the BSDS—in a good way…I think. One of the perks of being the group’s co-founder is that folks graciously deal with my near stark-raving vociferousness in our Slack channels. I can’t help it—I’m just excited!
In this spirit, one of BSDS traditions that has evolved is a morning message that I deliver. These asinine dispatches are purposely feisty —even sometimes a bit salty—but mostly just over the top. Silly. Disarming. Loud. LOTS OF CAPS USED, FRIENDS.
Their purpose is to try and inspire folks to believe in themselves, their talents, and their goodness. Let’s be clear—we’re not pushing any snake oil salesman-esque, unscrupulous motivational speaker-type of blown smoke. Rather, BSDS morning messages are meant to encourage folks to take a moment and give themselves permission to believe in themselves. Their dignity. Their inherent worth. And, yes, their design skills!
You’ll have to join the BSDS for yourself if you want to experience the inanity of my morning missives…but you better hold onto your hats, folks. You had BEST BELIEVE™ that the Bay State Design Shop is ready to welcome you to its ranks. So, what do you say? If you’re a New England-area designer, come pull up a chair and sit a spell. The conversation is good, the people are genuine, and the snacks are free.
