Portland Design Week / Chasing Rabbits
As part of Portland Design Week, Watson hosted a conversation designed to cut through the noise. Chasing Rabbits explored the tension between creative curiosity and creative discipline, a dynamic familiar to anyone working in design, culture, or storytelling.
In a world that rewards constant output and celebrates multitasking, we paused to ask a harder question: what happens when curiosity turns into distraction? When chasing ideas becomes chasing our own tails?
The evening brought together four voices with deep, varied perspectives:
- Howard York, creative director and educator with five decades of experience across New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles
- Muneera Spence, Yale-trained designer, systems thinker, and international design educator
Also joining the panel were Cynthia Fuhrman, Chief Operating Officer of Portland Center Stage, and Jacob Wilkinson, Design Director at Nike, each bringing insights shaped by leadership, performance, and large-scale brand storytelling.
Moderated by Matt Watson, the conversation was expansive, candid, and uncomfortably honest. We spoke about ambition, distraction, perfectionism, and impostor syndrome, and how the myth of the “creative genius” often disguises burnout as inspiration.
Why Chasing Rabbits?
The title was intentional. Anyone who has built a brand, shipped a campaign, or tried to make something meaningful knows the sensation. One idea leads to another, then another, until you are dozens of tabs deep and no longer sure where you began.
Some of that exploration is healthy. Most of it is noise.
The panel focused on how to tell the difference. In design and communication, the work does not begin with visuals. It begins with discernment, knowing which thread to follow and which rabbit hole to abandon.
As Matt noted during the discussion, the strongest creatives are rarely the ones chasing every shiny object. They are the ones who can pause, reframe, and return to the root problem with fresh eyes.
Key Themes from the Night
Several ideas surfaced repeatedly throughout the conversation:
- The myth of multitasking, and how fractured attention erodes depth, not just productivity
- Process versus obsession, and the fine line between instinct-led exploration and unproductive spirals
The discussion also moved beyond design into adjacent disciplines. Cynthia Fuhrman drew parallels between theater and design, where finite time, high stakes, and collaboration mirror the creative process. Muneera Spence challenged the room to consider how design education shapes thinking, asking whether we are teaching future creatives to think critically or simply operate tools. Howard York grounded the conversation in generational perspective, reminding us that trends fade, while substance requires patience.
A Full House, A Full Conversation
The studio was full. The conversation was real. And while the evening did not offer tidy answers, it offered something more valuable: shared recognition.
Chasing ideas can be exhilarating. But chasing clarity is what moves the work forward.
In a creative economy defined by speed, saturation, and constant stimulation, moments like this matter. They create space to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. They remind us that good design is not about pursuing every possibility, but about committing to the ones worth seeing through.
Not every rabbit is meant to be chased. The challenge is knowing which ones deserve the distance.
Want to revisit the talk? Check out the event video here: Chasing Rabbits on Vimeo
