Adam J. Kurtz’s Instagram bio reads: “I literally do not know what I’m doing.” But with almost 300k followers, he kinda does. The designer, author, illustrator, and creative director makes varied content that many people can relate to, adding a bit of optimism and a tad of irony to your otherwise bland feed. His short punchlines are both honest and accessible, and god knows our feed craves some honesty.
“Knowing that life is difficult and that you can’t control things, allows you to make informed, but also really open-ended, choices,” he shared with The Great Discontent. “The phrase ‘things are what you make of them,’ comes up in my work all of the time, because it’s literally my guiding voice; both in my personal and professional life. It’s helped keep me going, but I think it’s also helped keep me safe.”
“People are always saying how vulnerable I am, and I think, Am I? The truth is, a lot of us are really vulnerable. In real-life conversations, or in a 2am tweet. I don’t think I’m any more honest or vulnerable than anyone else,” he adds.
Aside from his day to day work, Kurtz also runs an art and stationery brand, focused on gifts that are fun, weird, sentimental, and often literal. Those are sold in places like Urban Outfitters to MoMA Design Store, proving that the hype is real!
