Carissa Justice
“I try to remind people if you're not having any fun in a branding project you're probably doing it wrong.”
Carissa Justice is the Founder of The Subtext and Founder, Creative Director at Nimble Creative. Before founding her own companies, she was the Verbal Lead at Character, a brand design agency (R.I.P.) and has switch hit with numerous design agencies including Collins, Manual, Ammunition, and Pearlfisher to name a few.
She spent her formative writing years working in-house for large consumer brands like Walmart and Shutterfly before shifting to smaller brands where she cut her teeth in the San Francisco start-up scene. She is also the founder of two children and adopter of rescue dogs. In her everyday life, she’s a vintage collector, museum wanderer, occasional runner and recovering horse girl. She revels in chaos (or at least that's what she tells herself).
What's your biggest superpower at work?
I think I'm good at disarming people and helping them have fun in the process. I used to think I'd have to be “professional” and tamper down my good-time qualities. I wanted to appear like I belonged in the room, like I was an adequate professional for the job.
But as I've gotten older, I realize it's just not as fun to take everything so seriously, and I try to remind people if you're not having any fun in a branding project you're probably doing it wrong.
What were your biggest challenges when you started The Subtext?
Time and self-doubt. It felt like I was putting myself out there a little bit more than I was ready for. I also already had a business that took a lot of my time, along with two kids. So I was like, “What am I doing starting another business?”
But I really wanted this to exist, and I talked to a lot of writers who wanted something exactly like this. I thought, “What’s the worst that could happen?” In some ways, that self-doubt made me nervous, but it didn't fully stop me. There are a million posts out there on how to craft an ownable voice, or similar topics you could read on any number of other blogs. I wanted something different.
It’s why we have a category of content on our site called Sound Off, because I wanted people to actually sound off and tell us how they really felt about certain things. To get deeper into the work, because this is the forum to get nerdy and thoughtful about the craft of brand building and copywriting, which is at the core of our mission and our audience.
AI is seen as a boogeyman for all kinds of disciplines. What’s something positive you see about AI’s impact on creative work?
It speeds up the research process. There's a lot of auditing we do when getting into a new category and a new business. It can feel laborious going to a bunch of websites trying to figure out different value props, and AI can map things out quickly.
It’s like any other big tool that came along and changed the way we worked. Think about Photoshop, right? It used to be a massively annoying process to edit photos, but then Photoshop came along and made it super easy and accessible.
It will, however, demand an evolution. If you’re a content person who writes blogs or SEO/SEM pages that are all just about search, and there isn’t much value other than trying to get ranking, you should be worried. But I also didn't like that version of the internet. SEO is probably dead within 2-3 years, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just creates a trash pile of content nobody needs.
You're not getting out of the human business when you employ AI. In the midst of all this change, creativity becomes all the more powerful. It’s hard for a machine to replicate and imitate. Creative people will have even more of an opportunity to stand out and be useful.
“When you ask them what they want, they say they want to be Apple in their heyday. It's hard to explain how that took decades of equity built into a voice, and an incredible product to boot, so you can’t just become Apple with one headline.”
What's your favorite way to waste time?
My dream day … when I don't have anything to do … which is rare, involves packing a water bottle and going thrifting. I go to thrift stores and vintage stores and I could get lost for hours. Hours! Some people are overwhelmed by it, but they are my dream spaces. I love a hunt.
The kids get into it too, and it's such a great hack. If you're a parent and you like thrifting, here’s a hot tip: tell the kids they can buy any toy they want. They will feel like they're getting a new present when in reality it's 50 cents or a dollar. It becomes a treasure hunt for everyone.
What's a current frustrating cliché you see in copywriting?
There are so, so many, but one that really grinds my gears is along the lines of “Elevate the everyday.” It's basically relabeling an everyday object you believe you’ve made slightly better. It doesn't mean anything, and it's lazy and pretentious at the same time.
Another one happens in conversations with certain brands looking for direction. When you ask them what they want, they say they want to be Apple in their heyday. It's hard to explain how that took decades of equity built into a voice, and an incredible product to boot, so you can’t just become Apple with one headline.
What does your workspace look like?
I share a studio now in Atlanta with another female founder named Whit Bolster from Ampersand. I've worked in co-working spaces, at my dining room table, in a backyard studio I designed … but there's something so magical about working around creatives.
I forgot how awesome it is to work in a studio with other people. We both have all-female teams, so my work life is now surrounded by other creative women in a beautiful space with a ton of light and great furniture. It feels like a place I want to be collaborative because there's an energy there.
What's a well-designed analog thing you own?
I am obsessed with old things. Probably too much, because I don't have a big house for all of it. I just find old things work better.
I've had this wonderful mid-century dining room table for years. I got it when I was broke in Berkeley, and the top just needed to be refinished, so they were selling it for half price. It's come with me to every house through every phase of my life. The lines are perfect. It's just a simple, beautiful table with great wood you can refinish over and over again and have it live with you. Great design is great materials done simply with craftsmanship. It's hard to find that now.