Wearing flip-flops on a regular basis. Getting way into tri-blend T-shirts. Being so bummed on True Detective but pretty stoked on Ballers. Listening to a lot of Modest Mouse, Atmosphere, and Purity Ring. Loving a wide selection of IPAs and sipping on some fine Tequila. Biking in most days to do some awesome coworking. Following Presidential ambitions from a safe distance. Prepping for a social justice poster exhibition. Prepping for an unconference presentation. Organizing a social justice poster show. Saying goodbye to Jon Stewart. Celebrating all sorts of stuff with my wife. Working on lots of brands. Lots of websites. Lots of campaigns. Kicking it with lots of fine folks over drinks. A little bit of swimming in a lake in Minnesota. Quite a few dog walks around the neighborhood. And just enjoying these long, humid days of summa-summa-summa- time.
2015 Silicon Prairie Awards
This person made a mark on a startup’s product by providing an amazing user experience or beautiful design:
- Amy Colgan, Lemonly
- Dan Rohr
- Levi Nelson, Travefy
- Stephanie Jarrett, Bulu Box
- Justin Kemerling, JKDC
BarCamp 2015
BarCamp. The un-conference without a speaker list. Without a fixed schedule. Without remorse. With plenty of blue. The branding this year was designed by Round and Round led by the mighty Jake Welchert. So stoked for a T. Opening party August 28th. Event August 29th. Get registered now. Almost finished assembling my talk. Mostly I think it’s about a song, maybe. See you there!
From the Gut Matters
It drives me nuts when I do things against my better judgement. When I follow a direction I’m not really feeling down the rabbit hole. It can be a tough call on when to push back and when to roll with an unsure direction. I’ll be the first to say I do NOT have all the answers, can be wrong on the best way to something unexpected, and love when something I wasn’t sure of becomes magical. Love that. But the fine line between following the unsure path and just nipping it in the bud, well it’s very fine. And when it comes back to bite me, I give a friendly slap in my own face because I know I should’ve known better. When in doubt, trust yourself. Now on to the next.
UNENDER
Creative generalist Jason Hardy, known on the Internet as Unender, and myself go way back. Before our design careers began, we wrote songs together during the college life of a punk rock band. After we officially became professional designers, we collaborated on an endless number of creative endeavors including a short film about running, T-shirts showcasing Nebraska being everywhere, and activist posters to stick it to the man, punk rock style. He has hands down taught me the most about seeing the world differently and passionately living a creative lifestyle. He was recently Designer of the Week for Print Magazine. The article features his stellar work for Tesla and Criterion as well as some gold nuggets of wisdom. Nice recognition for this hardworking, boundary-pushing design leader.
Who gets in our way the most?
A simple question. One that when properly answered opens up the flood gates of possibility. I’ve noticed with myself and other folks who work in creative fields, there’s a barrier that can exist when it comes to executing ideas. This barrier has been defined, in my experience, as the budget, the client, the timeline, or the brand standards. Even the general feeling of drabness that may come with a particular project. It may just not be all that fun, and therefore the resulting work created is, for lack of a better phrase, not all that fun.
This thinking, that some outside person, or some outside force, is getting in the way at some level is complete and utter bullshit. What’s really getting in the way is us. We get in our way the most. We make the excuses, we drop the ball, we determine the resulting lack of creativity in a project. Every single thing that is approached with an open mind, a stubborn attitude to not let something be inadequate, and a fierce understanding that whatever we are working on can be really, really great can indeed be really, really great.
Remember to get out of our own way and let’s make something beautiful together, always.
What sort of designer do you want to be?
A question I ponder from time to time. I was a graphic designer initially, hired to do print and branding at an agency. Then I expanded my skill set to include web design. Outside of my day job, I saw myself as an artistic or collaborative designer and eventually a community activist designer. I wanted to take those professional skills and use them to move people to action to make the world better. Now an independent designer still using all that expertise but perhaps more concerned with tone. Lately my goal is this: I want to design like Tom Waits sings wild. Or like The Clash plays rebellious. Public service announcements. With guitar. A lifelong goal to be sure, but one that feels worthy of striving for.
