Meet Grant Emerson | Web Designer & Developer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Grant Emerson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grant, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk taking is an opportunity to challenge myself and grow my skillset and knowledge through taking on work that is adjacent to my current skillset. Whether its agreeing on a Tuesday to play a 4hr cover set on a Friday (I’m a musician as well as designer/developer) or rebranding a business in a sector I have yet to work in, there is always something to learn from each opportunity. Sometimes the take away for me is obvious, I learn new skills, deepen my knowledge about a certain design aesthetic or less obvious and I improve my work systems and learn new technical skills that may not have an immediate application in my work at the moment but I know will come around in the future sometime.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Where my company exists in the market place currently is rebranding/refreshing companies websites beyond their initial build out from when their company was being launched. My client has proof that their business is viable and now want to reapproach their web presence to be more aligned with where the company is now and where the company is going in the future. This means leveling up the overall design as well as expanding features their sites has to offer, all while trying to effectively and efficiently deliver the company brand/message to get the user to take action and sign up for the newsletter, or file out an order form for a service.

This approach isn’t necessarily easy. It’s immersive and I ask the client a lot of questions to get to the core of the business and find a path to visualize the company/brand effectively. I read books they love, watch movies, or even visit places that they love to get a sense of who they are and what it is that they love about life and what they do for work. This approach albeit quite involved helps me more confidently deliver an on target design.

I arrived at this approach in all likelihood from my first passion, music. I toured in a band for 15 years around the United States as well as abroad. I would visit museums, and run around neighborhoods while trying to exercise amidst the chaos of traveling in a band. I basically lived the art and that has been my approach…trying to immerse myself in the place I found myself at the moment.

I’d like for people to take away that I am dedicated to my craft and developing long-term partnerships with my clients. I want to be as close to intuition when it comes to updates and designs for the client as possible. I want the client and their business to feel known and cared for by me as much as they care about it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Currently I live in Nashville TN, however I am writing this message from Lisbon, Portugal. I love to travel and see all the different places that are here on Earth. I make this point to say be curious and open to the possibilities of something or someone blowing your expectations away.

In Nashville, I live on the East side and would recommend getting up early and taking a run/walk through Shelby park. It’s quiet and along the Cumberland River. You’ll likely see deer and a few boats going through the river. Then breakfast…..coffee is one of my favorite things about daytime. There are so many coffee shops in Nashville, Elegy is one play I would recommend for a breakfast outing. Elegy very much gives me Brooklyn vibes, so I trust whatever they have on the menu.

Lunch is a no brainer, Fat Belly Pretzel offers some of the best deli sandwiches in town. I’m not willing to debate this. My opinion might as well be law on this topic.

Depending on the night of the week, there are so many different places to see music. Want an arena show, want a songwriter show, want an indie punk show, or death metal? All of those are available within about 5 miles.

The Frist is also a great place to spend a few hours and see some beautiful artwork.

I love cocktails and The Fox is one of the best speakeasy’s I have ever been too. Make sure to have a reservation because it’s a small place and fills up.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Through lots of trail and error I have listened to tons of podcasts, watched so many youtube videos and bought so many Udemy courses (when they were on sale of course).

Here is my list of people who I have uses time and again as a source of inspiration whether its from coding, design, development, or work-life balance:

Syntax.fm (this is a great podcast)
Traversy Media
The CSS Podcast
Jonas Schmedtmann (His JS course on Udemy is EPICCCCC)
Webflow (the whole platform is a pleasure to work on, their branded tutorials are a great balance of work/play)

Website: humangoodkinddesigns.com

Instagram: @humangoodkinddesigns

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humangoodkind-designs/