Admissions of Foolishness

After many decades on this earth you would think I would know my own desires. With thoughts of meaning and worth bubbling through my electrified nerve highways I missed the point. I created "nice" or "splendid". A simple miscalculation yet when applied to fragile new growth, devastating.












I have yet to bring in the couch of sympathy off the porch of my ego. More foolishness embedded in previous foolishness. What matters is the clock is ticking and I am spending time the way I prefer.
Buried deep beneath everyone's exotic plumage are hidden desires that wield a particularly deliberate force. "To send light into the darkness of men's hearts..." Schumann.












This is a divine manifestation.
Like a mandatory lunch under the bodhi tree.

Transformation by Fire

A couple of months ago there was a fire in the foothills near my home. It scorched one of my favorite walking trails. Two weeks ago I finally managed to get out there and explore. What I saw wasn't my familiar trail, but a changed landscape. The area was so rocky. The fire had burned the tall softly flowing grasses that hid the rocks. Those unusual stumps and decaying logs were left as piles of ashes. I could now see how the trail wound up and around the mountain slopes. With the grass and some of the trees burnt to cinders I had a clear view into the distance.

I thought to lament the loss of my favorite trail and the feelings I associated with traveling it. But then I realized I was fortunate to be given a perspective that was unique. A view into the underbelly of this area. This rawness, realness, not dressed up and served on silver was this piece of earth I thought I new but had only bothered to glimpse it at the surface. Things were different one level deeper but I hadn't seen it.













I experienced the process of the transformation of an artist to be like this fire. Things are painful. They are stripped away. You're left raw and vulnerable but there is something real, new and elemental about what's left. It the essence of who you are.
This wasn't something to grieve or bemoan, but a place to begin anew, refreshed. Once I learned to re contextualize my experience, I could see the path in front of me more clearly. I could begin to grow again.

A Visit to the Denver MCA

Practices of Design had their final meeting at the Denver MCA
(Mu of Contemp Art).
I brought my camera and couldn't contain myself at all the opportunities of reflections and planes.

I went snap happy.

David Adjaye, the architect created a delightful play of light, shadow, and shape not diminished in the least for its lack of acute angles.

The museum reminds me of ones in Europe, understated hiding among the urban landscape.

Revealing their secrets only when you stumble upon them.
It messes with your perceptions of what you think you know about this urban landscape.

MCA is a Leeds Certified building which adds to its aura.

Sustainability, renewable resources and a conscious business approach are championed by this building.

Its their poster child in a community that is saying to the rest of the world: "Yes we know and we are acting on it."

Oh, the art inside, on the walls is great. Easy to look at, to contemplate with room to breathe.

As much as I'm not a great fan of Damian Hirst...
I must admit his piece Saint Sebastian was most memorable and striking.

The Aftermath

For all my cynicism about certain prescribed holidays and the commercialism surrounding them I really did enjoy mine. Thanks giving that is.





















My favorite art piece was the brilliant yellow orange, stand-in for potato mash, butternut squash. A colorful alternate to tradition.













A visual delight, food as art, where I imagine the origin of color resides. In times past to be an artist required an intimate relationship with the offerings of nature and the secret of her colors.
Can butternut squash be the new purple of today?
Ernest the rooster might know.

Motion Graphics

Here some cool motion effects from vail

Recycle Conundrum

Remember the saying most of grew up with that was tossed at us at the dinner table by our parents? A warning like a dull knife of awareness raising: "Eat your food, there are children starving in Africa, China, Uzbekistan...", or some version of. To the mind of the 7 year old concepts that broad were incomprehensible.
This incomprehensibility can be used to describe the recycling conundrum of today.

On a recent trip to Moab, Utah, I chanced to visit the recycling center attracted by the large hill of crushed glass, which no one wanted, has no commercial value, took 2 years to accumulate.

The story of this recycle center is just one of many seeping like toxic waste from small communities around the West.

Moabians have taken a little time getting used to recycling. The idea has a difficult time gelling with the myth of the indomitable West of unending resources, unregulated freedom, and independent spirit. So the efforts of all citizens are to be celebrated. Drop into this mix the difficult reality of recycling, its inability to etch a place in the capitalist market which values production over reproduction and sustainability and what you get is a small hill of crushed glass thats growing faster than our economy at this point in time.

This is really a dicussion about value, intrinsic, verses capitalist.
Enough.
Moab's recycling center is looking for great ideas for reusing glass.

Thanks to the folks at Moab recycling center for taking the time to fill me in.

A visit to Anabliss and Ironton

Its always a pleasure to be invited into someone else's art space. I want to thank Matt Coffman of Anabliss and Jill Hadley Hooper of Ironton Studios for welcoming us, (Brian Liester's Practices of Design class at UCD) into their art space and sharing with some of their history with us.

Anabliss:
Matt, the founder of Anabliss, walked and talked us through his space. His staff was friendly and willing to share their experiences. Each had a unique story that led them to the doorstep of Anabliss. Thanks for sharing.
I learned there is a distinct difference between practicing graphic design and branding identity. "Its not just a website [per se], its a complete branding initiative" says Matt. It comes down to controlling collateral. Consistency flows through all aspects of business collateral.













He mentioned Joe Duffy's book, Brand Apart, as a great reference of brand strategies.
Anabliss does a lot of Pro bono work. A current project in the works is the Warren Village Project. Matt talked about how the design process gets started. Words of wisdom: design around copy. Having a good copy writer can be essential to good design work. It helps focus a project in the right direction.











Know what your value is.
Overall Matt was quiet and humble about his work. His passion for design was evident by the way he talked about his work and his design process. I enjoyed seeing the diversity of work completed since he started his business. What a great insight into the business of design.

Jill Hadley Hooper:











There was a distinct difference between the sleek quiet interior of Anabliss humming with the sound of Macs and the, in the trenches, rusting metal facade, smelling of turpentine, feel of Ironton Studios. Jill walks the line between digital design and illustration. Right next to her studio space was a voluminous expanse of white walls used for display. A gallery.











It's something to contemplate. As a mostly digital designer I rarely face the blank wall of judgment, yet there is something elemental about nailing up a piece of your work and giving it the space to be, to settle, to grow. Much of digital design is about meeting deadlines and pleasing clients with hardly time for a breath in between. Jill manages to walk in both worlds successfully.
"Cuter, pinker, rounder, neuterer," says Jill of the pressures of the commercial illustration world.
After hearing some of the stories behind her work I began to see the appeal of having a white wall available for use. The ying and yang of art. That which feeds us can destroy us. Thus the white wall, which on reflection I secretly named Moby Dick. Then I jumped into my vehicle I affectionately call Pequod, and drove away.















"... truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more." — Moby-Dick, Ch. 11

Final Card Design

This is the final look I came up with today...
"Anisozygoptera"
So the question came up, "Why the dragonfly?"
well...
"In many cultures, the dragonfly is regarded as a symbol of light, adaptability, grace and transformation." This seems an appropriate symbol for conscious design.

Here's a dragonfly story that explains it all...

"Oyenstikker", "Trollslanda":
The Europeans thought dragonflies were sinister, but the Asians and Native Americans thought of them as symbols of courage, strength, and happiness. This connotation has spread worldwide in modern times.












In ancient mythology Japan was referred to as "Akitsushima, Land of the dragonflies."

Dead Trees

The Daily Green:

The variety of paper out there in the world is amazing.

The people at xpedex, a great paper resource, are familiar with each and every kind.

Kind of like the tea plantation owners in India.  

They know all the variety and then some.

TMI

Recycled  paper intrigued me.

PWC  post consumer waste %

You can choose.  

There is even 100% PWC paper out there.  

As a designer it is becoming more cost effective to use recycled paper and non-toxic inks.

Design proofs

I played around with my logo design.
The results...in the form of business cards:

Design examples everywhere

I looked around and found some cards that caught my eye.
I complied the ideas I liked and then uniqued them into my card.














Some thoughts that came to mind as I did.
a. What is it that I do? Is it apparent in the design?
b. What colors do I think speak best to that?
c. What font?
d. Does my design emote ?

I found a few great resources:
a. "A Brand Apart" by Joe Duffy.
b. www.justcreativedesign.com
c. Are you a bad designer? (yikes!)

Identifying Markets and Branding

Investigating how other design firms market and brand themselves.
Well I work in design now and have pondered these questions...where is my niche.
Small business, artist, women...
Someone asked me "where is the money in that, most artists can't afford websites or anything?"

I found there are lots of plug in design firms and web developers, but the most common response from my clients were they tried that and it worked for a while but now they want more personal design that represents them and their business.
My competition:
They have templates for artists...
other peoples pixels.com

I found some interesting sites:









www.3indesign.com









www.pascalarquitectos.com







www.contempomodels.com







www.leoburnett.com

From 500 to 499 to...

500 one day, 499 the next and then "poof" suddenly trillions have disappeared in a day.
Add this to the approximate 39,000 per breathing American that has been seeping out like a leaky faucet everyday since the war began.
I'd say this has been a decade of numbers.
Perfect fodder for an art project.
Reductionism.
What matters is the NUMBERS, the Wall Street mantra as seen in this CNN top story:
"The New York Federal Reserve Bank Thursday also pumped $55 billion into the nation's financial system. That comes on top of $70 billion that it pumped into the system Tuesday."

"The Bank of Japan, Bank of England and Bank of Canada set up new swap programs with the Fed, with Japan getting $60 billion, England getting $50 billion and Canada getting $10 billion."

And so on...

But even the power of numbers is collapsing as we speak.
We are on the event horizon of...
Some were afraid of Cern's Large Hadron Collider creating a black hole that would end the world.
Seems like there has been an invisible black hole operating within our midst for years.
Its all in the matrix of numbers flashing in the news every day.

Have you seen the latest poll numbers? The percentages are...
And so on...

Backlash Against Design and Innovation

Following the links on Renee's site plaid and polyester>Design21>
A r t i c l e:
>A lack of Design knowledge:
"We actually live in a world full of bad products and bad design." says >>David Carlson
"Quote"
//"Bruce Nussbaum from BusinessWeek puts it like this:

'The truth is that the backlash is against the fad of innovation, not the fact of it. The backlash is against CEOs who get up and shroud their companies and their reputations in the rhetoric of innovation while continuing to sell out-of-date, poorly designed products and services. Consumers know this is fake and realize that the talk about innovation is not authentic.'" read more://

>Look at: as art, play, information...
>Dunne and Raby

Robin Strelow, a local Colorado designer, worked as a volunteer for CASA, a non-profit organization that trains volunteers to act as child advocates in court custody cases involving abuse and neglect.
Defining the problem:
During her volunteer work she came across CASA’s brochure and noticed it was out of date. It had several different font types and featured only pictures of Caucasian children. Since the county's demographic had shifted in the last decade the overall image of the brochure had to as well. It didn’t meet the organization’s needs for recruitment and funding. The brochure is handed out during a yearly gala to attract new volunteers and gather donations, both corporate and individual. CASA was running out of the old brochures, which created the opportunity for a reassessment.
Aware a new look was needed, Robin was approached to do the redesign. There were no funds available for this project.
Design Strategy:
Robin worked with a marketing business volunteer who help develop new contemporary copy. The aesthetic had changed in the decades since the last brochure was update, from information overload to information distinction based on your organization’s target audience. This was the first time the brochure would be “designed.”
Goals of the brochure:
1. Attract more volunteers
2. Attract more funding
3. Inform public about the work of CASA
4. Create a value statement.
Approach:
1. Integrate diversity into the images.
2. Tighten the body copy to purge unnecessary text.
a. This required a reassessment of the organizations mission and goals.
3. Utilize existing assets such as the website to provide essential information.
4. Inspire confidence in the advocacy process by updating the imagery.
5. Set up a meeting between copywriter, executive, and designer to build a cohesive vision.
Innovating:
Inspiration
Working as a volunteer helped Robin to understand the goals and needs of CASA as well as the value it had within the community. There were many sad stories entering the court system daily. Much of the design came intuitively and as a result of defining the current needs of CASA.
Tough Choices:
With no budget for artwork or photography the Internet was a great resource for free imagery. The new brochure had a sense of competency and seriousness to it. It used white space and new imagery to lighten the message and give the reader room to breathe while conveying a sense of grace to CASA’s mission.
Funny enough there was an issue with one of the photos on the final brochure. It was a picture of a young girl twirling, her arms spread wide. The director felt the girl looked “scary” like she was being crucified. The photo was replaced. There was also some push and pull with the amount of text. This was resolved by using the organization’s assets such as the website, for more detailed information allowing the brochure to gain more white space.
Generating Value:
The design didn’t require a sell because it was a collaborative process integrated throughout the design process. Value was established by the choice of photos and words and their treatment. The new design provided room for the audience to digest and contemplate the issues presented. The professional look established legitimacy as it adopted the current aesthetic common to modern corporations and businesses. In order to be considered, CASA needed to speak the same culturally appropriate visual language as their audience. The new brochure invited comment not because of its lack of adherence to modern design principles but because it seamlessly fits into the modern aesthetic as well as created an indescribable ahh-ness best described by the Japanese expression, “mono no aware.”








Note:
I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing Robin. She gave me an extensive indepth picture of what the design world has been like for her. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to talk to her. The work she has done has been varied and interesting reflecting the passion she has for design.
"Passion in life feels itself"
Thank You.
Sincerely,
Claudia