I can be a fairly no-nonsense member of a creative team. I tend to fall back on a Fight Club style of collaborating. Very much a “you decide your own level of involvement” sort of thing. How much do you want it? Do you have to be asked? Are you willing to keep going? Will you stay on top of it? Can you really deliver? These questions constantly go through my head on a project. They’ve become a good set of guide posts to make sure my involvement level is high and the work being designed is up to the challenge. No shirking, no short-cuts, no phoning it in.
The city of Seattle
Last week, my wife and I spent a few days in Seattle, WA. My first real visit to the city; part business, part vacation. We were able to see the final project of Joe Sparano (now a Master of Design) at the U-Dub. I reconnected with a TEDActive friend to talk design, foundations, and film. We hit up the EMP (Nirvana exhibition!), went to the top of the Space Needle, strolled through Pike Place, wandered around the Central Public Library, and ferried to Bainbridge Island. And, of course, we toured the new KEXP.
Seattle is quite a city. It was unusually sunny and 70+ the whole time, which was lovely. And the pulse was undeniable. We walked all over downtown, jumped on the light rail, and took Uber when needed. We enjoyed some truly amazing restaurants and had plenty of fine drink. We got a sense of the challenges; a city in flux, large crane development seemingly everywhere we looked, the slow rumble of heavy traffic, and a sizable homeless population. Mostly, we felt the creativity, the vibrancy, and the possibility.
There’s a rattle and hum that bigger cities have. It makes them great and it makes them vulnerable, at the same time. All sorts of people colliding into each other trying to make their way, to make their mark, in whatever way they know. The musician, the construction worker, the waitress, the tour guide, the fisherman, the student. All doing what they do. Rattle and hum, struggle and dream, create and evolve. We can’t stay put, and so we don’t, on a large scale, under clouds on top of concrete. What comes next is anybody’s guess.
The Work Archive
The ever-evolving presentation of my core online web presence—the JKDC portfolio site—has just pushed a small update of note. The Work section of this site, which showcases the primary function of my day-to-day (client work), has been given an archive.
Since I launched this site, “Work” has always included everything, for the most part. A timeline of my career of cause-focused design. From 2005 until now. But as with anything that involves a decade, things pile up. So starting with some stuff from 2012 and going backwards, I’ve made a little Archive. For the oldies and the goodies. Still there, because I still see those projects as being very important to the formation of my design practice, but less emphasized so what’s on the homepage is more current. And a little more representative of the types of projects I’m really wanting to do more of.
The Work Archive, full of unbridled youth, bright-eyed optimism, and a healthy disregard for the “right” way to do things. Enjoy!
Sometimes the only thing left to do is to get obsessed
To go deep. To get crazy. To stay in the zone and cut off your ties to the outside world. It can be complicated. It can be exhausting. But it also can lead to great things. Get obsessed. Get absorbed. And really get after it. You can watch TV when you retire and you can sleep when you’re dead. Although, I do function poorly on lack of sleep and the thought of pulling an all-nighter is a non-starter for me. So yeah, know your limits and then get obsessed.
Get good at being able to edit
By far the best skill I’ve been able to hone.
Where’s your element?
That place where you’re at your best. Your wheelhouse. The zone. Where you really feel it. And it all comes together for you. When I was a kid, I’d travel with my dad in the semi as he drove truck across America. I noticed something different about him when he was behind the wheel. I now understand that he was in his element out there living the dream of the open road, working hard for a living, in command of his destiny. I’ve seen this with many creatives in different situations—selling it in a client presentation, humming along behind the computer, commanding the elements on a photoshoot, or standing over a sketch pad ordering ideas into existence. It’s really a magical thing to behold.
Every creative has a place where they’re in their element. It’s impossible to be there all the time, but it’s key to know where that special place is so you can call on it when it needs to be called on and you can get there when you really need to deliver the goods.
Stellar party playlist
A list of tips about making amazing playlists via Tiperosity.
This isn’t a mixtape. This is a party playlist. The control freaks out there might try to orchestrate the vibe or steer the ship. In my opinion, that would be wrong. I pack my playlists full of goodness and then I leave it to chance. Read: push Shuffle.
