The top advice that Kat McCord, Creative Director of Thackway McCord, has for aspiring designers is that sharing ideas is the way to go. “Give away your ideas,” she says. “Don’t hoard them. Idea generating uses a muscle, and working it out makes it stronger.”

McCord's life and career span a broad geographical area. She grew up in Vancouver, worked for over a decade in London, and currently lives and works in New York. “Working in three different cities and three different countries has given me a broader point of view,” she says. McCord describes her design style as “pretty rooted in modernism with a smattering of humor and big idea advertising,” and says that it varies in shades by what the client needs, or the campaign calls for.

Establishing trust and rapport with a client is a crucial part of the process. “I listen, ask smart questions, and show them that I care,” McCord says. “I go the extra mile when they’re in a pinch. I know it sounds corny, but I always say to love your client. If you don’t love them, they can tell. If you don’t love them, you shouldn’t be working together. It’s usually mutual.”

McCord has fired clients when their values didn’t align, but she also notes that there can be disagreements on the project direction, and that’s ok. “The client isn’t always right,” she says. “Also, I am not always right. When you listen to your client, believe in them and what they are aiming to achieve. Also, if you’ve proven yourself, it’s easier for a client to take your advice even if that advice is ‘no’. But then, I would say come up with a solution that answers the problem they were trying to solve.”