Now · Current
A snapshot of current work, current thinking, and current availability. Updated every few months.
This is a /now page. If you were catching me up over coffee, this is roughly what I’d say.
I just relaunched shanesscott.com after six years of the old site. That process forced me to answer, in public, what I actually do now, which is a different question than what I did in 2020. The rebuild leans hard into analytics, AI strategy, and consulting work, alongside the design and web practice I’ve been running for two decades.
Alongside that, I’m helping a small handful of small businesses and independent artists rebuild their brands. New identity systems, refreshed sites, and the marketing infrastructure to make it all work in an environment that has changed a lot since most of them last thought about it.
The AI flyer epidemic. If you scroll any social feed or open any event listing right now, half the graphics look like they were generated in the same five minutes by the same tool. Same layout templates. Same generic imagery. Same drop-shadow-on-serif headline treatment. AI made design production nearly free, and the market responded by producing everything.
That means real branding is worth more, not less. When anyone can produce a flyer in five minutes, the businesses and artists who invest in a considered identity stand out immediately. In a market flooded with signal, custom branding is the signal. This is a good moment for actual designers, and I want to be in it.
The reframe I keep coming back to with clients: AI is not the competition. Generic is the competition, and AI is now generic’s biggest supplier. The way to compete is with specificity. Fonts that mean something. Color choices that come from your audience, not from a template. A voice that sounds like a human wrote it, because one did.
I’ve gone full obsession mode on Brazilian samba. Heading to Brazil in August, my second trip this year. This one is for work.
Preparing for a couple of things later this year and rebuilding some technique I let slip during the Caribbean tour where I was fighting an illness. Can’t wait to join Sean on stage again in the Caribbean. Something new in the French repertoire this time. I’ll say more when it’s set.
What I know for sure: back in the Vaughan Williams and Fauré corners of the repertoire.
New consulting engagements, workshops, and creative projects. Reach out if you’re building something. First consultation is free.