About
I have 20 years of progressive team leadership and creative direction, using words…
Activity
739 followers
-
Carl Unger posted thisIf you think bringing an iced coffee to a job interview is bad, wait til I show up with an entire rotisserie chicken.
-
Carl Unger posted thisExactly two weeks have passed since I was laid off. I have spent most of those two weeks driving my teenager to school and various sports activities. Here’s what I’ve learned so far. 1. COBRA is wicked expensive. This is not news but WOW. How does this actually help anyone??? 2. People are amazing. I’ve received more messages and offers of help than I can handle. Thank you to everyone who took a moment to reach out, it means more than you know. 3. Relatedly, it’s so easy to become blind to the impact you’re having on a daily basis, but people really are paying attention. They remember the effort and care you put into your work and, most importantly, they take note of how you treat them. 4. More companies should offer sabbaticals. The opportunity to pause and refocus is invaluable, and I bet it would help retention and long-term productivity more than any other corporate benefit. I will therefore refer to this period of my life as My Sabbatical* with the asterisk doing a lot of heavy lifting.
-
Carl Unger shared thisI was digging through my photos today and found this screenshot. Livia Halltari thank goodness I had the presence of mind to capture this gem. Folks, this is the kind of high-quality creative ideation you get when you work with me. You've been warned.
-
Carl Unger shared thisHi! I got laid off last week along with several of my wonderful colleagues. I had a great ten-year run at Monotype and leave with no hard feelings, only a few small regrets, and lots of great work that I'm proud of. I didn't have much opportunity to say goodbye, so I want to say a personal and public thank you to Graham Sturt, Charles Nix, Terrance Weinzierl, and "Mr. Curly Quotes" himself, Thomas Rickner, for your mentorship over the years; Evan Kent and Alice Palmer for your leadership; Phil Garnham, Sara Soskolne, Tom Foley, Marie Boulanger, Ibrahim Gharib, Philip Carey-Bergren, Dan Rhatigan, and Rebecca Price for your collaboration on so many killer projects; and Kadley Gosselin, Emily Fritz, Jake Murtaugh, Livia Halltari, Lucinda Langlands-Perry, Dominique Eguren (not on LinkedIn) and Manoj Lodhi for being the best damn Content team I could ask for. I believe a job is only as good as the people you work with, and you were all the best. Working in the creative industry was a dream come true and I hope to continue my career in that space going forward. I am fortunate to have some extended downtime ahead of me and intend to spend a lot of it making weird messes in my studio (follow me at : https://lnkd.in/eY3FZ44C). That said, I am 100% open to project and contract work while I figure out what the next full-time gig will be. If you have a narrative/brand/creative challenge keeping you up at night, I'm your guy - especially if it combines writing, design, visuals, video, and so forth. Hit me up! I'll leave you with one of my favorite Creative Characters episodes from the ~115 we published. Stay to the very end for a COMPLETELY TRUE story about a ferret named Budweiser: https://lnkd.in/g89cbSyV
-
Carl Unger posted thisWhat if Claude is just the spirit of Clippy reborn in a new and more intimidating form like the Eye of Sauron, has anyone made this joke yet?
-
Carl Unger posted thisI've just returned from vacation, and I have some thoughts about taking PTO. #5 will shock you! 1. Take your PTO. 2. Take your PTO. 3. Take your PTO. 4. Aliens live among us, disguised as ordinary people who take their PTO. 5. Take your PTO.
-
Carl Unger shared thisI was interviewed by People of Print Ltd a few months ago and, for some reason, never shared it here. I usually cringe at the sound of my voice, whether it's in podcast or just in my head, but I actually think this came out fairly well and I don't sound /too/ obnoxious? Now that I've sufficiently lowered your expectations, check it out here: https://lnkd.in/epFxUV6PCity Series #002: Amesbury, Massachusetts with Carl Unger of Harsh Realm and MonotypeCity Series #002: Amesbury, Massachusetts with Carl Unger of Harsh Realm and Monotype
-
Carl Unger reposted thisCarl Unger reposted thisToday marks the next evolution in Gotham’s rich legacy: a variable font complete with new weights, widths, and fresh Vietnamese stacked accents. Gotham Variable is built for how design moves today, giving designers direct control over every typographic moment and allowing design systems to scale with precision and consistency. Inspired by the vernacular signage of New York City, Gotham was designed by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones and published by Hoefler & Co. Gotham premiered 25 years ago on the January 2001 cover of GQ. While its roots remain undeniably metropolitan, Gotham has become globally recognizable. From political campaigns to film, worldwide brands to industry disruptors, Gotham’s hardworking, effortless appeal has shaped the typographic landscape the world knows today. Now, with Gotham Variable, designers have more flexibility and control than ever before. One Gotham. Infinite expression. Explore Gotham Variable here: https://mntype.co/4wk5OI9
-
Carl Unger shared thisThis may not look like much - wait, scratch that, my therapist told me not to do the "lower your expectations" thing. Let me start over. I AM SUPER PROUD OF MYSELF *winces* for coding a bespoke hero block for my Big Cartel website to promote Harsh Realm's new Brick City zine. Not only does it look clean and function properly, but I, an AI skeptic, used Claude Code to build it. I ... really liked Claude Code? The conversational structure allowed me to build exactly what I wanted and learn about basic coding so I can do it on my own. I also love that Big Cartel makes it easy to inject custom code into their already very usable templates. Anyway, I guess you can teach a middle-aged dog new tricks or something. https://lnkd.in/eYjVSvtM
Carl Unger commented on a post
10h
😏😏😏
-
Carl Unger reacted on thisCarl Unger reacted on thisReferred candidates get hired at roughly 10x the rate of cold applicants. But you're not asking for one because you're worried it'll get weird. I've also been on the receiving end of that message for 20 years. I remember about none of the senders. It's only weird when you skip the steps before the ask: ✅ Build the relationship first. 2 genuine interactions before you ask for anything. A comment. A message. A shared connection who introduced you. Be a person first. ✅ Ask for a conversation, not a referral. "I'd love to hear about your experience at X. Would you be open to a 15-minute call?" That's it. The referral comes after trust is built. Not before. ✅ Make it easy to say yes. "If you felt our conversation went well, I'd be grateful for a referral. I'll send my resume and a 2-sentence note. Just forward it if it makes sense." You're doing the work for them. ✅ Give them an out. "No pressure at all if the timing isn't right." That line removes the pressure that makes people say no. ✅ Close the loop no matter what. Got the role or didn't - let them know. They put their name on the line for you. That deserves a message. Which step do you skip? Be honest. (I already know it's the first one.)
-
Carl Unger reacted on thisCarl Unger reacted on thisEvery once in a while you get to work on a brief that fills you with immense joy from beginning to end. This is one of those projects. Ahead of their anniversary festivities, Studio DRAMA was approached by TypoCircle to craft an identity celebrating 50 years as an important fixture of the London design scene which has hosted so many of our industry’s best talents, whilst anticipating the next 50. Our response is an identity extending TypoCircle’s 2016 rebrand (crafted by Studio Sutherland and Dalton Maag) into a versatile graphic toolkit - transforming the black circle into a playground with near-infinite possibilities and a suite of fun motion idents. Many thanks to Louise Sloper and George Stockley-Gray at TypoCircle and Studio DRAMA for entrusting me to lead this project - as well as bringing so much creative energy to the process. It has been an absolute honour to get to work on this. Looking forward to raising a glass to TypoCircle’s Golden Anniversary next Thursday at their event at the Ministry.
Experience & Education
Recommendations received
4 people have recommended Carl
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
Explore more posts
-
Michaela Cavallaro
Revisions are the true test of a B2B writer, and you can't convince me otherwise. Some writers are irritated with client requests, overly attached to "their" copy and bad at understanding what a slew of comments actually add up to. We tend not to work with those folks for long. Instead, we work with writers who might groan when they see a big revision request -- but then get down to work. They'll often have questions about how to proceed, or want assistance figuring out what the client *really* wants. They see the revision as a puzzle to be solved, rather than an affront to their dignity or a task that's beneath them. They're curious and solution-oriented. The writers who fit that description? We hang on to them as long as possible.
7 Comments
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top contentOthers named Carl Unger in United States
28 others named Carl Unger in United States are on LinkedIn
See others named Carl Unger