1. The Basics:
Name: Anthony Furia RGD
Company Name: Furia, a Toronto-based design firm
Job Title: As many as I can handle

2. When does your typical work day start and end?
Usually starts anywhere between 10 and 11 am, and I generally call it a day around 1 am-ish.

3. What’s the first thing you do when you get to work?
Start working.

4. List the 5 things you spend the most time on during a typical work day, and allot them a percentage amount (adding up to 100%).
70% - Working on client projects - designing/coding/writing/thinking
10% - Client meetings
10% - Me stuff (see question 7)
10% - Emails and admin

5. Of all of the tasks you complete during the day, what is your favourite? What is your least favourite?

My days aren’t generally very task-orientated, but in terms of running a design practice, my favourite part is exploring new project ideas with clients and my least favourite part is the businessy/admin stuff, like bookkeeping, invoicing, writing proposals, etc.

6. Do you have any strategies to keep up your productivity/inspiration over the course of the day?

I find that my focus and energy declines after 3 hours on any singular thing, so I try to structure my day into three blocks of 3 hours with long breaks in between where I can refresh and recharge with something like a walk, a book, guitar, naps, playing with my dog, etc.

7. Are there any tasks that you like to do at the end of the day? That you feel you must do before you leave?

The last hour of my day (usually between midnight and 1 am) I dedicate to doing something that isn’t client project-related. So it could be drawing or exploring an area of design software I don’t use much or messing around with a new typeface or just learning something new. For most of this year, I have been diving into a generative design programming language called Processing, which is blowing my whiskers off.

8. How has your job changed over the last year, 5 years, if at all?

Five years ago I was working as a Creative Director at an agency. Four years ago I left that to take a year off to figure out what I wanted to do next. Three years ago I started my own studio… and somehow, I’m still doing this.

9. As a graphic designer, I can’t go a day without …  seeing something that could have been designed a lot better.

10. One thing I wish I knew when I started my career is that … reading is like going to the gym for your brain.

11. Can you also provide an image of a project (or something else) you are currently working on? I’m spending most of today creating some visual brand elements for a new client in the healthcare space (see below).