Poster: Dissent Is Patriotic

For love of country, for love of our communities and the people who live in them, we stand up and speak out. We talk back to nonsense. We hold the line against hate. We thoughtfully, and with reason, refute lies and other falsehoods by people who hold personal distain for truth. 

After 9/11, as the country entered a dumb war, leftists and peace activists were labeled as cowards and unpatriotic. We weren’t then, we aren’t now. Dissent is a pillar of how America has progressed. Despite the American flaws so evident now under the current president, we can, of course, still correct. 

Take a knee to protest racial inequality and systemic oppression. Take the streets to demand rights for all. We aren’t taking back anything, we’re taking the time to push forward. Dissent for the needs of others, dissent to defend truth, and dissent for the love of country. 

Download Poster »

What are you passionate about?

I was recently interviewed for The Passion Project, a self-motivated project by three curious design students (Sahm, Dana, and Sam) looking to discover what it means to “pursue your passions.” It was wonderful to meet them and participate in their really amazing project. They’ve interviewed folks in Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, and now, Omaha. Then Denver, Boulder, and back home to Seattle. Check out their journey here. Following are a few questions I answered. Full video should be online later this year. 

What does pursuing your passions look like today?

Making high-quality design available to the do-gooder community. And doing so with a trusted group of highly-talented collaborators who are friends before co-workers.

Have you ever been skeptical of or hesitant about your path?

Of course. Maybe I should get more structure. Maybe I should join a bigger shop. Maybe I should get the hell out of this conservative state. There have been moments in my career trajectory of seriously looking into Chicago, SF, Kansas City, NYC. But small (and medium) suits me, at least for now. I’m not all that interested in super competitive markets. At the end of the day, competing is fleeting. Collaborative and cooperative is the only way we’re all going to get through this gigantic mess we’ve made. Also, if I’m going to work 80 hours a week (which I don’t) I’d rather do it for myself. Our industry has a big problem with overwork and I’m in a very good position currently to constructively do something about trimming the hours down to get closer to 40 per week.

How would you define the relationship between designers and greater society?

In its infancy. Designers need to try to be more involved. No one is going to say, “hey, you should add your costs to this project.” But design/intention has such an important skill set that can be universally applied to a lot of things. Many people smarter than me have said this before. The design community as a whole should continue to advocate for an elevated role in society and individuallycontinue to be ethical, nuanced, and think critically. 

What are you passionate about?

Aside from design/intention and putting things together: loud music, progressive politics, meaningful experiences, quality relationships, amazing food, craft beer. And building a life with my wife Katie.

Passion Project » 

More Protective of Time

That’s the thing, isn’t it? Time. The most important thing we have. Certainly more important than money or success. And just what are we going to choose to do with it? Do we even have a choice? I’d like to think so. So the question remains, what do we choose to do with it?

Poster: Climate of Denial

The current state of American climate policy is one of denial in the face of indisputable scientific fact.

It should’t come as a surprise. In the era of “alternative facts” and “fake news,” why would Americans rally around science? Why would we care about truth? Why would we listen to evidence or experts? The current trend lines are playing out as to be expected. Of course, we deny climate change. Of course, we believe what we want because it’s easier. Of course, we will not think hard because thinking is for snobs. Anything that contradicts our economic or religious outlooks, best to hunker down, ignore, and pretend. It’s our hyper individualism after all. We do what we want, to hell with the consequences.

Download Poster »

Internet Fatigue

It is, in fact, insanely easy to do things on the Internet. And this Xennial knows what life was like before its speed and connectivity. When you had to always call people on the phone or show up in person. We tried to schedule a small tour in our punk band back in college, before the Internet was effortlessly used for such things. And it sucked. Mail, phone, mail, call. Hated it. 

But, since it’s so easy to do things on the Internet, you just pile on more things. And now, with the pile so high, I just have an immense amount of Internet fatigue. Gotta book the car, find the hotels, schedule the windows consultation, pay the bills, add design work, buy the tickets, check the schedule, accept the invite, read the news, read the latest news, read the latest latest news, and, of course, Tweet and Tweet and Tweet and... Everything rolled into one...

Internet fatigue is very real. Boy is it real.

On Change

There is one core reason I’ve come to love a career in design. From month to month, week to week, day to day, the one constant in looking back on 15 years as a designer is this: change. Doing the same thing day in, day out, in the same way, within the same framework just doesn’t work for me. The uncertainty within an outlook that embraces change can, at times, be high in stress. But overall, that is overshadowed by newness, excitement, and looking into the unknown of what could be next.

What is next? Hard to say. Earlier this week, my wife took me out to dinner for my birthday. Wonderful time spent with great food, drink, and conversation. She’s very good at direct questions and follow-up. We went deep on what I’m looking for in the next few years from a creative business standpoint. The thing that I emphasized was change.

Now, I love being a designer. I feel very fortunate I’m able to do what I do, where I do it, and for whom I do it for. But I’m at a point where I feel something needs to change. There needs to be some sort of big shake up. New risks, new emphasis, new goals. I can feel that in the center of my being. I’m ready to embrace some sort of change, some sort of shift. I didn’t get into this business to accept the same old same old and I certainly have no intention of doing so now.