Less Creative, More Director
- Joey Bene
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Being a creative director means you don't really get to create.
You direct. You manage. You present. You revise based on feedback from people who don't know what kerning is. You fight for the right font and lose half the time. You make things that serve a strategy, a client, a deadline, a legal requirement.
Here in Canada, if you're designing food packaging, your layout has to accommodate a Nutrition Facts Table in a legally mandated format. Then a Front of Pack nutrition symbol if your sodium is too high. Then bilingual copy. By the time compliance is done, your beautiful design has a mortgage on it. (But that's our specialty at BEND Creative ;)
That's the job. I'm not complaining. I love the job.
But it's not the same as making something.
In 2021, before AI could do it for me, I built a drawing prompt generator in Excel. Three columns: animals, objects, emotions, and a formula to randomize them. I built it because I couldn't find one that matched how my brain works — I like drawing animals in absurd situations.
A snake with a tie feeling vengeful. That kind of thing.
This week, I used Claude to vibe code it into an actual app on my website in about ten minutes. Nobody asked for it. Nobody paid me to build it. It generates zero revenue and I intend to keep it that way.
Drawing is the one thing in my creative life where nobody gets a vote. No client. No brief. No compliance requirement. I make it, I like it, I move on.
I don't post the process. I don't make Reels about it. I don't think about how to monetize it. The second I do, it becomes work.
If you're in a creative role and you've stopped making things with your hands, I'd pay attention to that.
The "creative" in creative director isn't a title. It's a promise you have to keep making to yourself.
Check out all my silly drawings on Instagram but more importantly 👇
BEND Creative is a Toronto-based branding agency specializing in CPG, grocery, and retail marketing in Canada. We've built social campaigns, 360 campaigns, and retail creative for Canada's largest grocery banners.
