The Freedom of Design

It is different from art, and while there are boundaries or restrictions or parameters needed to define/contain the design, there is still the fact that the best design happens when there is freedom to make it happen. Yes, I work poorly when micro managed and nitpicked to death in the name of feedback from a whole host of opinions. When that happens, I’m too cautious, I design for approval, and I really just want the project to be over.

But when I’m working in a client/designer relationship where they do what they do and I do what I do, the benefits of such a relationship reap a multitude of benefits, both trackable and untrackable. I generate more ideas, I use my time better, and I deliver what I would consider to be a higher quality of work. There is also the extra time spent day dreaming about the project, noodling over here and over there, and looking for opportunities to take things to unexpected levels. I’m not just looking to complete the project, I’m looking for the best outcome possible.

You might say I should do that all the time, regardless of the relationship. To which I would say, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that just ain’t how things shake out.

On TV

When I used to say “we don’t have TV” it meant something. Because we didn’t. My mid-20s were absent many things. TV series, cable news, sports, commercials. None of it. What I did to make sense of the world was read. The internet, books, magazines, newspapers.

Having grown up in a “TV household,” going through my days without a television was liberating. We still don’t pay for cable but we have all the other stuff; Netflix, HBO Now, Amazon, etc. So we get our fix of the latest in this golden age of television. And we find a way to watch some sports, which I seem to be embracing in my late 30s. Thus, we get some commercials. But what is still absent? Cable news.

Outside of a doctor’s office, I rarely ever see cable news. And the occasional clip of nonsense I find on Twitter. Maybe you should try it, hey? No CNN or MSNBC? (Fox News is shit so I assume you don’t watch it.) If you watch cable news, just stop. No more. Read instead. Or watch PBS.

There, all better?

Budget Breaks

Are you a client who works in the traditional space of expected marketing/design/advertising back-and-forth hoop jumping? Or don’t you?

It’s a fair question. Because I think big budgets are necessary if that’s the game being played. And that can be determined at the outset.

If you don’t operate that way, and it’s more of a team of talents, doing what they do, then there’s a break in the budget for that. If that’s how you roll, hands-off and no-nonsense, then awesome. Because let’s be honest, if this is going to be a grinding project like many, many things in design, marketing, and adverting then the budget needs to reflect that. But if we're going more outside of that and we’re operating like people with a common focus, the budget adjusts accordingly.

That’s how we’re able to work with a lot of nonprofits. They let us do what we do, and we can be more affordable. That’s what we like to call a win-win.

The Importance of Content Population

The reason someone would design and develop a website is for the content he/she wants to share with the world wide web. Hence, the content is pretty important. The most important one might say. 

There has been lots written about content-first web design. It’s a neat concept and one that produces excellent end results. But it’s most of the time a luxury. When we do projects, sometimes we just don’t have it. We have enough to design and develop, but it’s hardly ever been a complete picture.

In our age of web design and development, much has been made about the need for designers to also know how to code. 

Should designers also code? is a question that doesn’t interest me at all. I don’t, and I’m over it. However, should designers also write? is a resounding yes and makes all the difference. Design and writing are more intertwined in my mind than design and coding.

Don’t rate it, bro

Found the new Atmosphere the other day, Mi Vida Local. Streamed it a bunch. It was speaking to me; with the groove, to my soul, causing me to do all sorts of thinking. It was completely sounding good when it first hit me.

But just how good is it? Answer: it doesn’t fucking matter.

I found myself searching Pitchfork for the review. Was it good enough for “Best New Music?” (Hard to say!) It wasn’t reviewed yet. That a bad sign? Is it going to be reviewed? His other albums, not the best reviews. Okay, but not great. Except When Life Gives You Lemons, that was a 7.0.

Again, it doesn’t matter.

I’m at a internet impasse. Yes, it is insanely valuable given my business; the connection, the sharing, the access. But it is has some serious draw backs. Most notably, the rating of EVERYTHING. I am really tired of it all. Rotten Tomatoes, Pitchfork, Skip the Dishes, Booking.com, You Tube, Dribbble, Facebook, and the like. Regardless of all the numbers and stars being thrown at me, there are movies, albums, food, videos, and designs I like that have terrible ratings.

Maybe that’s one of the many reasons I love Spotify. It simply presents me with things. For example, the new album by Atmosphere, I search, click, listen. And there isn’t a rating in sight. I’m able to enjoy without being infected by some amalgamation of bullshit clicks by bullshiters who I probably wouldn’t like if I met in real life anyway. That’s how I’ve started thinking about the people behind ratings. Just a collection of jerks and assholes who feel like their taste matters in some profound way. To all those jerks, it doesn’t. Move on from the rating. Enjoy the feeling. Next!

Extreme Media

By utilizing mass media, America has created a most impressive engine of economic growth by way of an army of consumers ready to buy their way to happiness. Sales, bargains, and upgrades for all!

Advertising is a powerful tool in the arsenal of any message maker. So it should come as no surprise the use of mass media by extreme voices in the far right would lead to a radicalized portion of the American citizenry who are constantly exposed to such messages. Whether it’s cable television (FOX News), social media (Facebook), or dark places of the Internet (Breitbart), when the reinforcing message heard everyday is to be afraid, that has dire consequences. It not only leads to terrible debate full of conspiracy theories and outright lies, it can also lead to violence.

Media is powerful. Media shapes us. We need to look at media as engaged citizens with critical thought and due diligence. That’s a must. Otherwise, there’s no telling what we’ll be convinced of. That we need a new LED flat screen, or a caravan of criminals and terrorists is frantically scaling our walls. That a fragrance is the key to sexual fulfillment, or our only recourse to save the republic is to turn to violence.

Open your eyes America, before it’s too late.

Putting the sweet corn in the trunk was a bad idea

My Grandpa Joe was a farmer through and through. My uncle, Joe Jr., worked the farm with him. Every August was time for sweet corn. They would drop off buckets of deliciousness to all the homes of family members. My grandpa would also drive around our small town selling it to people on the street. Everyone looked forward to his delivery operation.

While I was in college, Uncle Joe and I decided to expand the enterprise a bit. Our target was the city of Lincoln. He’d bring me corn from the farm, we’d fill the back of my Dad’s pickup, and I’d setup shop in a parking lot somewhere and just see what happens.

The first time we did this we sold quite a bit of sweet corn. It was a Sunday and I setup in an bank’s lot at a busy intersection. From their cars, people would see my sign and the corn in the back of a pickup truck. They flocked. We sold a few hundred dollars worth. Not bad for an afternoon of sitting around and handing people bags of corn.

The second time was different. It was during the week and I wasn’t able to use my Dad’s pickup. Instead, we thought it would be fine to put the corn in the trunk of my beige Ninety-Eight Oldsmobile. This proved fatal.

I had a hard time finding a place to setup. A grocery store kicked me out of their parking lot and a gas station wanted a hefty location fee for its use. The nail salon I ultimately convinced to let me use was an okay spot. It was on the corner of a busy intersection but with my new setup, selling corn out of the back of my trunk just didn’t add up for folks. I mean, if you want a legit, from-the-farm product, who in their right mind would trust corn out of the back of a car that looked like it was made for selling Mary Kay® beauty products? No one, that’s who.

The purveyors of the nail salon even felt sorry for my sad looking state of affairs. I had given them $20 for use of their lot but when they came out to see what I was doing they gave the $20 back. And then they bought a couple bags of corn out of pity.

This entire episode taught me something important in a very real-world way: when it comes to selling sweet corn, it has to be on brand.

That corn remained in the back of my trunk for a week. Almost all of the corn my uncle had brought me was returned to him. On the day I handed over the unsold corn, we both just sort of shrugged. Deep down, I think we knew we tried to cheat capitalism in brand America. And we both knew we would never do it again.