*Note: I'm not currently accepting freelance gigs--building Purpose Portfolio has me pretty much at capacity :) Thanks for your interest, and feel free to drop me a line if I can help find the right designer for your project. `sj
All in Design
I firmly believe in the power of one's "design environment"--not your desk, your life. The places you eat and shop, the clothes you wear, what's on your walls... and what's in your cupboards.
Last post, I listed a few legends of "traditional" design. In an [obviously failed] effort to resonate with the web design bunch, I included Cameron Moll. I was instantly, and perhaps rightly, put in my place for even mentioning them in the same sentence.
I recently posted a comment (which might very appropriately be termed my most recent rant) on Clifton Labrum's newly-and-beautifully-redesigned site, the premise of which has been irking me ever since. The conversation went something like this:
It seems one of the inadvertent consequences of the communication revolution of the past decade has been a sort of cross-industry amalgamation (read bastardization, if you prefer) of language.
I don't hate much in this world, but I hate WalMart. It's not even all the political junk; sweatshops, predatory business practices and what-have-you. Don't get me wrong, I can rant about those things too. But, the real reason I hate WalMart is simple: IT'S UGLY!
She maintains style has nothing to do with money and everything to do with confidence, and encourages aspiring designers to “live unabashedly for beauty and believe in the power of design."
I’ve spend the last 4 days traipsing/trudging around the High Plains of Wyoming (sortof) pulling a 300 pound handcart, (sortof) dressed like a nineteenth-century Mormon Pioneer.
From where I sit, veiled—or even cleverly disguised—self-promotion is not only pointless, it’s annoying. The best work I’ve seen in this vein simply shouts “Hey! Over here! I’m amazing! Go ahead, beg me to work for you."
Aside from the fact that all exceptional work leaves me one part inspired, one part debased, and one part crazed with jealousy, really amazing concepts coupled with flawless executions (like this one) also leave me at a sort of loss for words.
I had bilateral knee surgery Tuesday afternoon and have since been enjoying a whole new view of life—namely the patch of blue sky above the dumpster outside the bay window, through the frame of my bandaged feet propped on the arm of the couch.
Someday, I am going to have a library. And I mean a library—floor-to-ceiling set-in shelves with a rolling ladder. The collection may not be first editions, they may not be leather bound. Heck, by then, they may not even be printed (what a shame that would be.) But they will be good.
I am a print designer. My eyes glaze over at the mention of CSS. I can count the lines of code I’ve ever written on two hands (to count the lines of clean code, I don’t even need hands). I can never remember what HTML stands for and if there’s a “web standards" segment somewhere in this site, it’s a safe bet I haven’t read it—and certainly didn’t write it. Honestly, I don’t program because I don’t like it.
