Many thanks to Donovan Beery for having me:
Justin Kemerling stops by The Reflex Blue Show to talk about his new book, In the Middle of Everything. Written 10 years after opening Justin Kemerling Design Co., the book does a great job of capturing a design career in, well, the middle. We also talk design for politics and activism, making your night job into your day job, and more. Thanks goes out to Adam Behm for co-hosting.
The video store. In my town it was the only place to collide with the ideas of a broader culture. This was well before the Internet. No YouTube, Facebook, blogs, or email. Nope, just enough options of action, comedy, horror, and Nintendo to keep us endlessly occupied. Even though supply was finite, it did the job. What a kid could find in a video store in the late 80s and early 90s was magical.
New essay to promote the book In the Middle of Everything:
The teams that have been formed during the pandemic have been some of the most exciting teams I’ve ever been a part of. And we sure as hell do some goddamn good work. For that, I know I am fortunate.
The hum of the computer, the clicks of the mouse, and the clicking of the keys drowned out by the loud music of the day. Turn that up to eleven because the office is empty except for me and the dog.
Whatever that came before was the river, and this my friends, is the sea.
One of my favorite books of the last few years is this one.
It’s a really great book. Heartfelt, funny, random, childish, insightful, great. Just like the B Boys.
I picked up a copy when I was making In the Middle of Everything. As I’m sure was by design, I fell in love with them all over again. And maybe, if I’m being honest, for the first time. If I knew it was gonna to be that kind of party, well, you know how it goes…
New essay published on Medium from my book In the Middle of Everything:
I love finding myself in the middle of a design project. The point after I’ve pushed through initial procrastination and past early phases of missteps and failures onward into the glorious middle. Before you can see the finish line. Before you’re coasting. Before it’s all about bringing it home. And if you’ve done your work in that glorious middle, what you’re bringing home is worth telling your friends (and enemies) about.
If I could pick a spot in the creative process to live in forever, it would be the middle.
This is a book about doing good through design, the importance of principles, making projects happen, work/life balance, doing it yourself, and keeping it weird. This is a book about how you can make a design career look like whatever you want it to look like. And how you can use design to engage with life on every level — in your community, with the arts, technology, business, civics, politics, education, and so on. This is a book...
240 Pages
49,529 Words
8×10 Inches
1 Decade
