Everett Katigbak: Indie Streak

Everett Katigbak (0:00)

Your side hustle is like your true form. I work a day job, but I make ceramics at night. Like, there's something in that compulsion to like do something kind of different, and you should somehow honor that and explore it.

Soleio (0:13)

First of Kind is a new series about design and tech told by its pioneers, sponsored by Framer, Cursor, Vercel and Profound. Everett Katigbak played a key creative role at some of the most iconic brands in tech, Facebook, Stripe and Anthropic. He now sets out on a new adventure, Going Independent. Everett, thank you so much for letting me crash your home.

Everett Katigbak (0:37)

Of course, my home is your home.

Soleio (0:39)

I appreciate that, brother. When we got started with this project, First of Kind, I was thinking about what are the kinds of people that I've gotten to work with that embody what I think is the shape of this archetype that have a unique angle on the field of design? Because to me, the field has just evolved so rapidly and continues to kind of emerge as the technology shift and as the work itself evolves alongside it. And someone who's kind of ridden at the crest of it in his own particular way is you. You've been able to navigate these very distinctive roles at some of the preeminent companies in software. And I want to just chat with you a little bit about what I call the golden thread, which is basically like your back story that flows through all those projects. And that gives you at least like some grounding on like, well, how did I end up here? Where am I going with this?

Everett Katigbak (1:41)

Well, you say that in a very logical way. Like I had a map because being able to navigate means that you have some kind of pathway. But a lot of it was yellowing and just kind of trusting my gut in terms of like where to move next. And it's not a very linear path. But for me, that was part of what was most intriguing was like, what is calling to me? What are the sirens and what are the beacons and all that stuff? And they're not always the things that most people get drawn to. So for me, I think that in terms of navigating, it was less about me kind of moving in a direction versus me being pulled in a direction. But in terms of what I do, it is like, if I were to be able to like pick dream clients or dream projects, it is like being able to tap into this very interesting and possibly overlooked thread or seed or something and like really turn that into something meaningful for these companies.

And human for me is like one of the bigger things. So whether it is a story, whether it is like the brand positioning, all the things that make a company what it is, how do I like really find something more interesting and unique versus like, what are the thing that checks all the boxes from like a marketing and brand perspective?

Soleio (3:00)

I think the most vivid example of this that I remember from, so you and I, we first met at Facebook. And one of the most vivid examples of this for me, was some of your earliest marketing design work at Facebook. And then when you and Peter Jordan started producing these videos of the impact that communications technologies had in places as far and remote as one could imagine. And sort of developing this theory, this thesis around like, well, what does communications technology mean to people in like this larger sense? And to me, it was transcendent because if, I don't know, from your perspective, you felt this way, it was like black and white. There was sort of like the like marketing design, like the stuff that we kind of have to do to check the boxes, to maybe sell ads or to help the marketing team accomplish their quarterly goals. And then there was this new kind of storytelling that felt even bigger than this very big company, right? Sort of put the company in its place along the trajectory of human evolution. And I feel like that will always sort of be, to me, like an example of how you kind of transform your own role and found an Everett-shaped way to apply yourself in a technology firm. And so when people talk about making things more human, that means one thing when it's just an arbitrary person on the internet. But for somebody who's worked in technology in the capacity you have, what does making something more human mean to you? How do you kind of manifest that?