No, it’s not a typo.
Then, what does a duck have to do with a designer’s website?
The duck is my branding! And for good reason. From a historical relationship to my attitude toward solving problems, the Rubber Duck is an excellent symbol.
History
Back in high school my quirky thing was collecting rubber ducks. Motivated by a gaming nickname of “Duckie” my friends would get me rubber ducks as gifts and I was quite fond of them! Amassing a collection of over 60 rubber ducks in various styles and extending into plush toys and various paraphenalia. In 2011 I learned of Charlotte Lee, who is the Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of over 5,631 unique rubber ducks. I’m not one to back down from a challenge but that was a little too ambitious for me! I ultimately decided to pair down my collection, reducing it to just the ones with meaning. The active collection of ducks may have died down but the duck has cemented itself as a core element of my personality.
Problem Solving
Are you familiar with the term Rubber Ducking? Not the Jeep version, but the coding one.
Rubber Duck Debugging is a process for problem solving your code. It starts with having a rubber duck and then explaining what you are trying to create and the problem you are trying to solve, step by step and line by line. The process of explaining leads you to the solution, either helping you identify the next step to take, or the flaw in your logic or your code. This technique apparently comes from the book The Pragmatic Programmer, although I have to admit: I’ve never read it.
Quick take a note — this is one of my secrets to success! I employ the Rubber Ducking technique in my process. Whether code, design or strategy. Sometimes the duck is a person, and sometimes I’m the duck. But it’s one of the best ways to work out an idea.
A Symbol
Branding yourself is hard! I contain multitudes and I am intimately aware of all the facets of myself. How do I condense that down into one simple idea?
Cheery and bright, quirky and fun, a solutions expert. The answer is always obvious in hindsight: the rubber duck.
So, if you’re looking to collaborate with someone a little silly, give me a squeak!
The Duck Addendum
These are not particularly relevant to my branding story but it feels amiss to not include them.
Attending a Ducky Derby is on my bucket list. The Chicago Duck Derby is one I have been eyeing but there are several across the USA and apparently one in Saskatchewan. A Duck Derby is a Rubber Duck race charity event, usually performed by dumping a truck load of ducks into a river. The first to cross the finish line wins!
Another bucket list item that was crossed off—twice—is seeing the World’s Largest Rubber Ducky. To celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, the duck was set up as an art installation at the Toronto Waterfront Festival. It returned in 2023, although this time it wasn’t in the water. Little can compare to the monstrous form of a giant rubber duck peering at you across the waterfront skyline.
It’s not all rubber: I also have an appreciation for call ducks. These are small domesticated ducks and are super adorable.
