Productive in a Pandemic

UPDATE: It needs to be said, you’re not working from home. You’re keeping it together, in the midst of a global emergency, scared and uncertain, and you’re trying to get some work done to hold onto the normalcy of a past life while hoping the boulder you’re pushing up the hill gets to the other side soonish.

How in the hell are you supposed to do it? Get productive. Be productive. Stay productive. Your livelihood still depends on you being able to get shit done. No let up, no quit. You are insanely grateful you’re in an industry where you still can work. As long as the internet connection holds and the battery stays charged, you’re good to go. The hardware, the setup, and the arrangements have all been taken care of. Those haven’t changed. You just need to do the job. The people you’re working with are still there. They’re ready to go. And you are so goddamn glad they are. This is no time to be idle. The time is now to make, make, make. For you may not get many more chances. I know, I know, a bit dramatic. But this is a pandemic remember. We’re in it. There’s no going back now.

Hold the Line

Why all the fuss? Why can’t we go out? Why do we have to stay home? It’s not all that serious, this coronavirus. Almost all people recover so what’s the big deal?

Well, person who is not taking social distancing very seriously, we stay home because if we don’t we break our healthcare system. Which then means, more people will die. If it is indeed 1.2% of people who die from the virus, you remove the healthcare system’s capacity to treat people who need to breath, that number gets closer to 5% real fast.

We’re not only staying home for our own health, though that’s certainly part of it. We’re staying home to slow the spread because we have no idea whose infected since our own government completely botched coronavirus testing. So in order to not overwhelm the health system with so many patients there needs to be rationing and decisions made on who lives and who dies, we stay home.

For the good of the community, individuals need to step up. Those of us who aren’t essential workers and who do not work in healthcare must hold the line. For all the nurses and doctors out there who are on the frontlines, who are making a tremendous sacrifice for all of us. Some of whom will die and some will be scarred for life. The least we can do is stay home. There will be time to address our past healthcare system failures. But for now, we hold the line, we buy us time, and we #StayHome.

Viral Art Project

If not an essential worker, hard to know what to do in the face of such a dangerous foe as COVID–19. Aside from staying the fuck home, as a designer, in my down time, I suppose I can make a poster that stresses the importance of doing our part by staying home, for the good of our healthcare system. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do:

The Viral Art Project is a call to action for graphic designers, artists, and other creative people to bring their talents to the Coronavirus emergency facing our world. We are inviting designers to submit poster art that will raise awareness of the challenges facing all of us, and promote messages about what we have to do and how we can get through this time together.

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Submit Artwork »

Omaha COVID-19 Fund

A collaborative, community response to deploy resources to local nonprofit organizations

Together with several local foundations, the Omaha Community Foundation has launched the COVID-19 Response Fund to provide flexible resources to organizations in the metro area working with communities who are disproportionately impacted by coronavirus and the economic consequences of this outbreak.

Happy Omaha

Made with love for Omaha by Grain & Mortar the Happy Omaha website showcases favorite local spots in need of our support now more than ever. If you’re a small independently owned business, consider submitting your info to the project. Tell your friends, support the businesses who make our city great.

Dog and ponied, low-balled, New York Citied, and too honest.

All things I’ve experienced in my quest for new and exciting work. Where I wanted the work but ultimately didn’t get it. For one reason or another.

In addition to losing out to the more qualified, better-for-the-job studio, I’ve had outcomes that have stung because I didn’t agree with the end result. Where I thought the team I was putting forth was a far better partner for the task at hand.

Even though I’ve lost out because of the above reasons, I haven’t tried to change anything about them. I hate dog and pony shows because I think they ultimately set things off on the wrong course. The estimates I put together are based on market rates so why would I go lower? I don’t want to live in NYC. And I really see no need to not tell a potential client what I really think.

So if I continue to lose out on work because the other firm is good at putting on a show, under cuts me because they’re shameless, lives in a more design-centric location, or chooses to tell the potential client what he or she wants to hear, well then I’ll just continue to lose work for those reasons.

Onto the next.

Leaving it all on the field

Something burned into my mind. You put in all your effort then and there, come what may. Win or lose. You leave it all on the field.