29 QUESTIONS WITH FRANK BACH
Open to see the spartan workspace prolific designer, musician, and philosopher for the digital age ☁️
Frank Bach is prolific artist and designer based in Los Angeles. He recently joined the Instagram Product Design team to focus on The Creator Squad, and runs Sushine Shop.
FRANK’S DIVERGENT CREATIVE STRATEGIES
Staying organized, clear, and focused is certainly important for the creative process (scroll for Frank’s spartan desk setup). But, you can’t be too rigid. Leave some wiggle room to let creative projects breathe and really come to life.
Look to other creatives and their output for inspiration. Surround yourself with people making things in the world — Frank does this by curating his artist store, Sunshine Shop. As Frank says, “Great artists steal, I guess”
Don’t be afraid of a day job. Frank was formerly the Principal Product Designer at Headspace, led design on the global launch of Red Bull TV, and is now at Instagram. By giving his creativity new environments and challenges — and, let’s be real, deadlines — he’s fostered new tactics for approaching creative projects personally and professionally.
PROCESS (8)
What are your creative rituals?
The basics — waking up early in a tidy home, put on a solid playlist, pour myself a nice cup of coffee and quiet time. “Begin anywhere” comes to mind.
Often I get creatively stuck or don’t know where to start, so I’ll just do whatever feels most natural, whether that’s sketching, ideating, or jumping straight into actually making something.
Physical space or mental space?
Little bit of both. But if I had to pick one, mental space. Our inner world influences our outer world so much, most of us could benefit from spending a more time there.
[Editor’s Note: Frank recently finished up a long tenure at Headspace — can you tell?]
How do you actually get started?
Depends on what I’m making, but in a pinch it looks like: Showered, get dressed, open up my laptop, have an existential crisis and then start jamming on a blank canvas.
What are your three favorite creativity tools? Please give us specifics, we want to add to cart.
I like to bring in the human touch to things I make, so I’m often using printers, photocopiers, and other elements to make things feel less ‘digital’. The Canon laser printer gets a lot of use to give my design a little grit.
What’s on your desk right now? Send us a pic.
Airpods, Geoff Rickly’s latest book, and a parking ticket I need to pay.
What do you do when you’re feeling deeply, existentially, sand-bags-tied-around-your-ankles stuck?
Are you in my brain right now? I usually take a nap or go for a walk.
That tends to give my mind enough time to process the situation and think up some possible solutions or paths forward.
Do you have a system? Are you Wes Anderson-style organized or are you the live action embodiment of the Tasmanian Devil?
It usually starts with writing or sketching. I’m a pretty organized person, with everything sorted in folders in Dropbox and usually keep a damn near inbox-zero.
You gotta give projects some wiggle room though. For me, that’s when the magic happens. Can’t be too militaristic about it.
Tell us about your process. When? How? Are you strict about it?
While I’m big on side projects, my day job is working as a product designer where we use a hypothesis-driven innovation process to generate and validate ideas. I’d say that this approach affects how I make art, music, ecommerce, build software, etc.
With that said I’m not super strict. I think it’s okay to adapt the approach to best solve the problem at hand and get very impatient when it feels like we’re taking unnecessary steps.
[My process] usually starts with writing or sketching. I’m a pretty organized person, with everything sorted in folders in Dropbox and usually keep a damn near inbox-zero.
You gotta give projects some wiggle room though. For me, that’s when the magic happens. Can’t be too militaristic about it.
MINDSET (6)
What grinds your gears creatively? What gives you the ick?
When people design things in a ‘grunge’ type font when it’s super easy to manipulate typography and make something totally custom. When people are rude or condescending.
Name one thing you’ve created that makes you beam with pride.
The latest Monk record. I produced, wrote, performed, and designed it.
You can pick it up at the Dine Alone Records store if hardcore punk is your thing!
Can I name two? Sunshine Shop in its entirety. I’ve learned that I not only like making art myself, but I also get immense joy out of working with other creators, helping them monetize their passions.
Tell us about your creative nemesis.
Perfectionism is a beast I battle with everyday, but it’s getting better.
Any notes for your haters? What about your lovers?
I don’t think about the haters. I can’t control what other people think.
For the fans, I love you all. Thank you for supporting me, whether it be buying something at Sunshine, coming out to a Monk show, or simply liking a tweet.
Andy Warhol used to change his perfume every three months because we wanted to have scent memories associated with that time period in his life. What scent will you associate with this time in your life?
I’m really digging lavender lately. My wife and I keep a pretty scent-free house, so it’s few and far between. But I really love it! Vicks VapoRub comes in a close second — so comforting.
What’s your current hyperfixation?
I took a picture of a graphic on a fridge inside a cafe in Toronto a couple of months ago. Something about this little sun character really stuck with me. I’ve been trying to come up with my own rendition of it. Great artists steal, I guess?
INSPIRATION (7)
Favorite meme (present-tense or ancient)?
Where do you seek inspiration most?
I have a decent book and record collection that I like to sift through from time to time, even if just to pull imagery or notes from.
For anything interface related, I usually browse Mobbin or SiteInspire.
Last piece of media that really stuck with you, and why?
The Lex Fridman podcast with Mark Zuckerberg showing off the new and improved metaverse. It’s really wild. This plus announcing their partnership with Ray-Ban to make smart sunglasses, I think there’s a world of possibilities we can’t even imagine yet!
Who did you look up to as a burgeoning creative person?
Andrew McCracken of Doublenaut was a huge inspiration of mine for all things design.
Pieter Levels is a builder who makes a ton of cool software. I love his approach to business.
Jessica Hische is an illustrator who’s online presence I’ve modeled after a lot.
What’s a reliable perfect portal place for you? (a place/experience that you know will transport you to a new way of interacting with the world)
A quiet space in nature, like a creek or waterfall. That usually hits the ‘reset button’ pretty good.
What’s a piece of advice someone else gave you that lives in your head rent-free?
“Mean what you say and say what you mean.”
What was a canon event for you that you wouldn’t go back and interfere with even if you could?
Getting arrested for spray painting graffiti when I was a teenager. It disappointed my parents, and took a lot of time to recover from, but it lead me to the artful and technological career path I’m on today!
That approach to building, confidence to go out and make something public, and challenge of rules and authority are all things that make me “me”!
PERSONAL STYLE (8)
Night owl, early bird, or a secret third thing?
I used to be a night owl, but since having a kid I can’t stay up past 11pm. Mornings are when things happen around here. I feel fresh and productive at that time.
If you had to get a tattoo in the next 30 minutes… whatcha getting and where?
Minnie Mouse on my leg for my daughter. Maybe riding a skateboard or something.
What’s currently gracing your beverage rotation?
In the morning, Go Get Em Tiger dark roast.
Evenings — Athletic Brewing’s Run Wild nonalcoholic IPAs. I’m trying to drink less these days and the NA options are awesome now.
Give us an example of a design, movie, book, experience from growing up that has shaped the way you work and create now?
Watching the 411VM skate videos. It made me realize that there was a whole world outside of my small town, where the culture I enjoyed thrived, and that you could make a living doing things that are fun.
They would do a “Day in the Life” of a pro skater in every episode and I remember being impressed that Tony Hawk checked his email every day for 30 minutes. I kinda wanted that for me. Sounds so funny to say now.
I remember being impressed that Tony Hawk checked his email every day for 30 minutes. I kinda wanted that for me. Sounds so funny to say now.
What’s your relationship to the moon?
I’m more of a sun guy if you haven’t noticed ;) I try to get 10 minutes outside per day minimum - feeling the sun on your skin, ground beneath your feet. The one thing I know we can always count on: the sun will always rise tomorrow. I wrote more about it here.
On the Freak to Fairy Scale, where do you fall?
I’m a freak who wants to be more fairy-like. I’m trying my best, but my freakish ways cannot be contained.
You have to change your name to an emoji, a la the artist formerly known as Prince — what do you choose?
Easy. 🌞
Congrats! You are a guest lecturer at Spacies University. You are teaching a bunch of wide-eyed freshmen about your technique and process. What would you call it? [Bonus: What would the final project be?]
“Make Something From Nothing”
Final project would be to design your personal tombstone.
Liked this? Want more visual eye candy and divergent strategies for creativity? Refer a friend to SPACIES and get our Creative Inspiration Compendium, a portal to uncloud your process and light your inner fire.