The Side Project Project
KEZIE TODD ON PRODUCING 12 MONTHLY SIDE PROJECTS.
TELL US WHAT THE SIDE PROJECT PROJECT IS.
The Side Project Project is a year-long commitment to ‘just do it’. One side project a month for 12 months, it is the opportunity to go wild while gaining new skills. The episodic format means I’m not locked in. Each month is an iteration for the overarching project and I can pivot based on what works and what doesn’t. The only rules are that there’s just one month per project and I have to share it all – even if it fails spectacularly.
WHY DID YOU CREATE IT?
Mostly as an outlet for pent-up ideas, to challenge myself and as a learning experiment. On my hard drive is a long list of projects that once upon a time produced a day’s worth of excitement but never any work. Either it wasn’t the right idea or was for ‘when I have time’. I wanted to act upon ideas instead of just dreaming about them. To get to that I needed to develop a balance between work, life and passion projects but also prove to myself that a side project doesn’t have to be a viable startup to be valuable.
WHAT WERE YOU HOPING TO ACHIEVE?
On the small scale my goal was to explore a completely new challenge each month but the Side Project Project is something more than that. The overarching project is ultimately about synthesising learnings from experiments across the diverse landscape of design. Each month, I record and share things I learned on the side project and applied at work that month and vice versa. It’s fascinating to consciously draw out this cross pollination and see how seemingly disparate pieces of work can inform and improve each other.
WHAT TECHNOLOGIES WERE USED IN BUILDING IT?
In the first four months I’ve experimented with front-end development, Cinema 4D, laser cutting, 3D printing, Unity, vinyl prints and am currently playing with no-softwareallowed animation. That is part of the appeal of the project for me. Been meaning to learn that new tool or skill? Take a month and do it! There’s nothing to lose.
HOW HAS IT BEEN RECEIVED?
So far the reaction has been nothing but positive. Sometimes I feel we can be afraid to ‘waste’ time on projects perceived as noncommercial or impractical. All I can say is that more opportunities have sprung up as a result of my last four months of crazy side projects than the past year.
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL DO NEXT WITH IT?
My plan is to create a website collecting the 12 projects in one place as a reflection on a year of experiments, failures, learnings and fun. This could become a springboard to launch a #12in12 challenge, hopefully inspiring others to start acting upon their ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem.