From the category archives:

inspiration

Leaves In My Gutter

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It’s an odd place to find beauty. Gutters are usually the conduits of unwanted odds and ends. They can become pretty nasty. But once in awhile a treasure is found there. In this case the treasure consists of colors and textures expressed through leaves, asphalt, concrete and mildew.

Paul Rand and Coldplay

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Coldplay’s web site created this year, bears a remarkable resemblance to a book cover design by Paul Rand a few decades ago. The comparison cannot be missed. Compare the Coldplay web page screen capture: to Paul Rand’s assertive design: Comparing is to focus on what is similar. Contrasting is to focus on what is not. [...]

Sketchy Memories

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“Sequoia, In Part” – a pencil sketch of my dog, found in a sketchbook. I am currently in the concept stages of a logo development project. I always begin in my sketchbook, doodling forms and symbols, playing with shapes, sizes and letter forms until things start to connect. I go a long way with my [...]

Put In A Different Context, Something Becomes Extraordinary

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rZqw5bXb4] I first saw this clip by EepyBird in a post over on The Digital Sanctuary followed it to its source. I enjoyed it enough to want to share it here.  And I wanted to add the thought that everything we consider ordinary, such as a pad of sticky notes, had a unique origin. Whether [...]

Making the Invisible Visible

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There is a phrase:ex nihilo nihil fit. It roughly translates from the Latin as “from nothing, nothing comes”. Generally, this is a true statement; you can’t create something from nothing. Unless you happen to be a designer.       We designers are in the business of creating something from nothing. A client has the need [...]

Being Successful

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Over on Zale Tabakman’s blog, Success Through Balance, my response to one of his questions asked on LinkedIn is featured. The question and responses describe how an intangible element – faith – figures in to one’s success in business and life.  Read his post here. Thank you, Zale!

Being Remarkable

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My friend, Mary, was recently in a community theatre production of The Mikado. She was asked to write a bio for the printed program. This being her first role ever, she had little to say about herself that related. So in the 250-word blurb, she “humorized” on the concept of a bio, sidestepping the usual [...]

Lighting the Way

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An insightful article on Edward Hopper, whose work is currently on exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Through January 21, 2008, is found over at The Weekly Standard. Being an illustrator at heart and by training, I have always had a happy response to Hopper’s work. I understand and am inspired [...]

10 Tips for Design Students (Especially Mine)

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Having mentored so many students over the past 20 years (wow, has it been that long?), I’ve learned that their success as students and ultimately as designers depends as much on them as it does on me. Here are some tips gleaned from both observation and experience for making the grade: The teacher is there [...]