Poster: Trump/Fool

An urgent, hasty, sketchy mess of a design. Scribbled over and over. Repetition you can feel. A whirlwind of speed to let you know I think this is just enough. This is all that needs to be shown. 

The point can stop here. With the mess of hair, the piercing eye slots, that cavernous mouth. Spewing forth chewed up words of lies and nonsense. Spitting on you. Spitting on me. With a simple 1-word association: FOOL. Trump as the fool, the court jester, that laughing stock that wasn’t taken  all that seriously until now he is. He fooled you, he fooled me, he fooled us all. Now with his Tweets of distraction intended to continue to fool us. To keep us from watching what’s really going on. He wants to fool us away from truth and away from each other. Divide. Confuse. Numb. He the greatest fool of our generation. Created to fool. With his fury unleashed at the top of the heap. We need to stay vigilant and we can no longer remain on the fooled end of a fool’s errand to the insulting of the highest office in the land.

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50 States: Nebraska

I was recently interviewed by The Creative Chair for the 50 States project. Talkin’ design, activism, collaboration, and reincarnation.

Work Hard. Make This Place Better.

The great state of Nebraska is in the middle of flyover country America. Not a place known for high-quality design, booming creative industries, or interesting cultural forces. Which is what makes trying to build a very focused design practice so interesting.

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I like rules, I love exceptions

Hence, I like/love design. Sometimes both at once. It’s all about emphasis and timing. Put together a masterful set of rules, guidelines, frameworks, and boundaries. But always be on the lookout for when breaking those makes the most sense. When you find just the right time to strike, then go ahead and break those rules, guidelines, frameworks, and boundaries. When it comes to design, the work will be better for it.

Sometimes, I’m at a loss for words

I’ll just let 1997 Hot Water Music have the floor:

To shed skin and begin
An intake that will make a difference in clear thinking
For conquering any fear that is thrown in direction
When at a weak point or time of suffering
The edge won’t quit if there is no giving in to what drags on
To be negative or seem wrong to live
To carry back home
With full intent and better sense
To recognize what is false and part with it
Knowing doubtless by instinct which triggers
Thought on how to grow
In soul without gold or praised lies
Which keep the sheep all right
With anything that seems safe and convenient

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. 

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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 »