Say you make this thing. It lands, big time. It establishes you. Because of it, you’re able to make your mark. And with it as a marker, you can work it to lead to more things. You’re somewhat known for it. Respected, sought after, appreciated. But after, then what? Is that all you’ve got? Maybe so. And that just might be the way of it. Or you can try to elevate to that best thing you’ve done and make that your standard. If doing the original thing is hard, that consistency is even harder. And it’s what separates the people who just put in time from the people who want more out of all of this. The former can be fine, the latter exhausting, and the decision between the two the most important you’ll ever make.
My Presidential Short List
Top 5 Candidates
Here are my favorites to be the next president:
Kamala Harris
Elizabeth Warren
Cory Booker
Pete Buttigieg
Beto O’Rourke
Poster: I Dissent!
While true, Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a woman of small size, her impact on the country and her stature in the minds of the people who love her is massive. 3 letters is all you need; direct, big, bold, in your face. A small sign-off of “I Dissent!” as a response to this political insanity we are living through. The small crown icon as a shoutout to the cultural references to Biggie where she’s shown with one atop her head. Designed pro bono for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
30 Hours
Can you change the world by working just 30 hours a week? I think yes. If you work hard enough, and are very intentional.
How’s your confidence level?
Is it high? Low? Somewhere in between? In the middle? I like that one. I prefer things in the middle; cities, careers, processes, books.
If you have low confidence, it’s really hard to be in the design profession. You have to make big decisions based on what you think will happen in the future and you have to convince others to go to that place you think you’re heading, together. You need some level of confidence for that.
However, high confidence, I have a problem with. In working relationships, if you’re confidence is always high I really don’t want to work with you. Period. Why? Because as everyone knows, when you’re creating something new not everything goes right. And I think that should be made known along the way in the process. Just glossing over things with over-confidence? I think that does a disservice to the work, to the client, and to the creatives involved. When confidence is high, that’s too close to a dishonest approach to problem-solving for me.
For my work and the teams I’m on, I want people who work hard and are reliable. But I also want honesty, not a constantly rosy sales pitch where everything is the best always and forever. That’s too close to conman for my liking.
The state of things
Was asked recently how I’m feeling about things. State of the world stuff. And if I’m being honest, I’m not feeling too good. Why? Because what the fuck is happening out there?
The very idea of democracy, the thing that has driven America since its founding, is under full-on assault. Leading to this point, it of course hasn’t been utilized to its fullest, but it seemed like we, especially over the last few decades, were generally on its team. We were rooting for it to win, and collectively thought when it won the day it would be a universally celebrated good thing. But now, I don’t think that’s true. Not at all.
We have a large anti-democratic force in America. It doesn’t care about you, it doesn’t care about me. It only cares about its own blood thirsty power. It doesn’t want truth, it doesn’t want voting rights, it doesn’t want checks and balances. This is an ugly force. It’s mean and it’s nasty. If it could, it would sell you for a pittance just to see you weep for your sorry state.
Yes, it is the force of Trump. And the dark force that surrounds him. It hates our democratic institutions, a free press, common decency, and the shared norms we all used to think worthy of practicing. None of that matters for this dark, ugly, anti-democratic force currently in power in America. It only wants to manipulate, steal, lie, and use its power for its own ill-gotten gains. And not enough of us citizens care.
We are living in absurd times, marked by the loss of a common understanding of where we all live, and because of that, when we speak to each, we mumble no more than nonsense, ending in a ever spinning cycle of failing to understand, and failing to understand, and failing to understand, and failing to understand…
The brand promise of Trump America is a lie
Setting out with hundreds of millions of his father’s money along with the help of tabloid journalism and primetime television, it was easy for Trump to be whatever he wanted to be. It would be easy for anyone to be whatever he or she wanted with that much on their side. Smoking makes you a man and Donald Trump is out for the little guy. Both have been believed in the core being of millions of people. Both are not true.
