Lee Selsick: Building Trust Through Value
Director of Strategy and Design of Next Brand
by Elizabeth Lavis
|16 May 2024
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Lee “Mr. Move it One-Tenth of a Pixel to the Left” Selsick is the Director of Strategy and Design at Next Brand, and the secret to his client success lies in his powerful value proposition. “We never sell; we always discuss,” he says. If we have something of value to offer, it soon makes its way into the discussion, and if we offer something that adds value, the trust automatically builds from there.”
He also encourages aspiring designers to put down their screens and step outside. “It’s too easy to derive your influences from the internet,” Selsick says. “Get off Pinterest, Behance, and Instagram for a while and go see the world.”
One of Selsick’s primary design influences comes from his South African heritage, but his time as an early designer in New York City was transformational. “The outpouring of culture and creativity upon the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 was very instrumental in galvanizing my career and the creative industry as a whole,” he says. “However, it was my time living in New York in the late 1980s that was most important in inspiring my work.”
Today, Selsick’s design approach hinges upon strategy. “There is no balance between strategy and design,” he says. “Strategy always leads to design.” Although the foundation of solid strategy is consistent across all of his teams' projects, there are variations depending on what the design calls for. “Sometimes the solution is so self-evident from the strategy that we simply execute,” Selsick says. “Sometimes we spread the net wide and explore before narrowing down options and making key decisions.”
"Media 360", Next Brand
A tailored and individualistic approach for every client means that there’s no average design campaign length. “Our projects can last from three weeks to 18 months or more. The impact is felt for years,” he says. Client involvement also varies. “Most clients don’t get involved at all on a day-to-day basis, but with some, their involvement is both tactically convenient and very useful,” he says.
Selsick also sees designers as a ‘marvelous bunch’ capable of spinning on a dime to address different needs, which can sometimes foster burnout. “We work on food packaging one day, then pivot to a corporate brand identity the next. Our skills range from literature to web design and much more.” When the inevitable burnout strikes, Selsick’s advice is simple. “Get away from the project altogether. Look for unrelated influences. Give yourself some time. Ask someone else to work on it.”
When asked about the future of design, Selsick quoted Alex Gifford. “It’s just a little bit of history repeating,” he says. “The level of craft is rapidly increasing, and AI will drive the craft to an extraordinary level, but the need to be distinctive means that we will see a revolving series of approaches that will continually repeat every few years. While the delivery may change, great ideas will always rule.”
Selsick’s three goals are pretty simple and impactful. “I want to continually improve, nurture the next generation, and get some sleep,” he says.
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