When I was a little kid, I would run into walls. Literally. My family teases me whenever there is a thump in the house because, when I was younger, that sound was always followed by a pert, “I’m ok!” before they would hear me pop back up and run away. I was always covered in bruises because, as it turned out, I couldn’t see the walls I was running into. After extensive efforts in vision therapy and (to my endless shame) many pairs of coke-bottle glasses later, I had a new lease (and lens!) on life and I was determined to seize everything I could see.

I fell in love with reading and writing and creating. An imaginative child, once I saw how to put my ideas to paper, I was set. If I didn’t have a pen in my hand, I had a marker or a paint brush or a glue stick. I can’t even count the number of times I had to cleverly remove paint from my bedroom carpet without my parents finding out. You’d be surprise what sunscreen, a bucket of water, scissors, and some dish soap can do.

Through my art and writing, I created stories and worlds all my own. In my second year of college, I learned how to truly see design as storytelling—as the typography queen Ellen Lupton would call it!—and storytelling as design. For years, I ran into walls trying to find my place at university. The year I entered the Communications program at BYU, the department of communications launched a new track called Visual Design Journalism. Finally, I found a place where my love of writing and creating merged into one. 

Ultimately, the walls don’t go away. When I was young, I just got better at seeing walls and figuring out how to maneuver them. Today, this is how I approach every problem, especially design problems. It’s a balance of recognizing the wall for what it is and figuring out what’s the best way over, around, under, or through. 

When I eventually run into a new wall I don’t see coming, I will do exactly what I did as a kid. Jump up, announce “I’m Ok!” and keep. on. going. That’s not only the type of designer I am but the type of storyteller I have always been.