May 26th, 2011 Comments Off
I recently spoke with an extremely talented graphic designer who was struggling with a book cover design. She confided, “I’m starting to feel like I suck as a designer because I can’t figure out a solution to this problem.”
“Oh, thank god!” I exclaimed.
She was a bit baffled (and slightly ticked off) at my response until I explained that I literally thought I was the only graphic designer who felt this way. Hours after hours of trying this idea and that idea and still not coming up with a feasible solution feels…well – pretty darn crappy. But now that the, “yeah, I’m not alone!” party is over, the question remains: how exactly do we get rid of this negative self-talk? For help on this matter, I went to the top – the very top: Chip Kidd, Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, and Robynne Raye – to be precise.
Read my full article below or buy the awesome May 2011 HOW MAGAZINE.
April 10th, 2011 Comments Off
Downing tequlia shots, ogling over Mila Kunis, and wanting to be the next Mark Zukerberg – just a few of the things on the mind of a twenty-something guy. But the bygone days of the industrial revolution? Probably not on his top-ten list. Yet, for twenty-somethings Paul Wilkes and Scott Hill, the über talented founders of Oklahoma City-based design firm Foundry Collective, both their philosophy and design style are uniquely rooted in the memory of their forefathers – Midwest hardworking Americans who earned their keep toiling in oil fields, farms, and factories during the industrial revolution.
Read my full article on HOW MAGAZINE.
Image Courtesy FOUNDRY COLLECTIVE
Image Courtesy FOUNDRY COLLECTIVE
February 17th, 2011 Comments Off
Alfalfa Studio could not have been cast more perfectly as the design studio of choice for innovative Texas-based theatre company Amphibian Stage Productions. Bringing the awesome three-dimensional quality of live theatre to the flat, two-dimensional space of poster design is no easy feat. But when you combine the über creative design skills of the New York-based design firm with the equally risk-taking Forth Worth theatre company – the results are paper theatrics at its best.
Read my full article on PRINT MAGAZINE’s awesome design blog IMPRINT.
image courtesy Alfalfa Studio
February 4th, 2011 Comments Off
While some folks (like myself) daydream of double-chocolate thick shakes or double the amount of shoes in our closet, Australia-based Crystal Thomas has visions of double-decker buses dancing in her head. Specifically, one rusty, old, beat-up 1970′s clunker (sans transmission or motor). This ambitious DIYer plans to transform the vintage vehicle into a stylish little holiday home for friends and family. See what she’s up to Down Under in my article for READYMADE.
image courtesy Double Decker Days
January 13th, 2010 Comments Off
When running a one-man show as a self-employed creative (artist, graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, writer, etc.), how we prioritize our time is of the utmost importance to the success of our business. When the economy is good, our days are spent juggling “the creative side” with all the other tasks of keeping the company afloat. But when times are slow, like now, an imbalanced portion of our time is spent on promotion. This, of course, is an absolute necessity. But with a significant portion of time spent marketing via Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, blogs, online discussion groups, sending out direct mailers, emails, and the like, at what point do we take a break from all this promoting and start creating again?
Clever new card created for my greeting card company She's SO Creative. Photo Courtesy Stephanie Orma / She's SO Creative.
For my greeting card business, She’s SO Creative, I certainly find myself struggling to justify time spent on creating new cards when business is slow. Do I create new products when I still have a fair amount of unsold inventory or do I just hold off and wait for the storm to subside? Retailers need fresh inventory in their stores because customers will stop coming if they see the same old products day in and day out. And retailers won’t buy from manufacturers if they having nothing new to offer.
Along the same lines, how do we as commercial artists grow our talents in a sluggish economy, if we’re not gaining new clients? Taking on new projects challenges us, keeps our skills sharp, and feeds our creative souls. And those entities are the bread and butter of our business. Plus, creating new work adds another project to our portfolio; an extremely vital element as it’s the actual tangible item that sells our services.
Whether we create a new project in a graphic design or illustration class, take on a non-for-profit client, or write a magazine article on spec, this is our livelihood and we need to keep moving forward. I absolutely believe we should be spending a large portion of our time promoting our services and drumming up new business. But I think it’s equally important to dedicate a certain portion of our day, our week, our lives to creating. In fact, I’m cutting this article short to start working on some new greeting cards right now!
(originally appeared in SF Examiner 3/30/09)
