hello, how are you?

Inspired, always.

It’s been a rough week, with the entire family down with some flu-like fun. I think we’re finally all on the mend, which means it’s time to FINALLY get back on track.

With a pile of portraits (yay!) waiting to be done, the first wedding suite design to list and another design to finish, I’ll leave you with a couple of people who I’ve found inspiring recently. When I had the energy to lift the phone up to read…

Jennifer Daniel is a designer with the NYT, who does amazing work on her own. Monica Garwood is my kind of illustrator. And, of course, Door Sixteen is always great for both graphic design and home design.

The creative industry and cobbler’s children syndrome

Yesterday, Swissmiss (aka Tina Roth Eisenberg) posted this excerpt from a paper What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial?  The mark-ups are by John Maeda. It’s an interesting read, though I always look at these theoretical papers as a gut-check, process-check, viewpoint-check. If you’re not already an entrepreneur, don’t expect theory to teach you how.

Anyway, John Maeda is one of the few people out there who are doing a great job of explaining why design is so important. Important to culture, yes, but more importantly, important to business. Admittedly, his area of focus is the impact on the tech sector, which does facilitate a clearer link between design thinking > execution > growth. And the flexibility of being able to design on the fly.

But the old guard – the design and advertising firms, and even the more entrenched digital firms – continue to play the “you must hire us because we’re the expert, let US take it behind the curtain and we’ll return it to you polished and ready to go” game. IDEO has done a great job of backing up the bus a bit to the beginning (and successfully branding “design thinking“), it still blows my mind that the rest of the creative industry clutches the same dying model.

Image via http://www.designboom.com

Ok, it may smack of 1999 when there was some other themed “public art” initiative in New York, and then every other city…so many I can’t even remember what the first theme was. Anyway, this time the eggs make a lotta sense – the search, the interactive quality of finding them and adding them to your basket, well, that’s a nice new twist.

It’s the Faberge Big Egg Hunt and it’s going on in NYC right now. If I were in the city, I think even my cynical ass would be participating in this one.

Timing, synchcronicity, and long overdue thank you’s

Lately, I’ve been trying to catch up on my thank-you’s. (Incorrectly placed apostrophes are one of my pet peeves, but I’m pretty sure, that is a correct use – and I want to know if not!)

I owe a lot of thank-you’s. And, as I’m working on launching a paper company,I figured it only makes sense that I actually use paper – and my own designs. Which I always struggle with, and want to be better. So while I’m waiting for my mailing labels to be delivered (can’t wait), I’ve started to dig in.

Coincidentally, there was a NY Times article about the “found” art of handwritten thank you notes. Definitely one of those Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon synchronicity of timing. A better pen (with a great ink color, thanks for the idea, NYT) is next on my list.

And not long ago, another NYT article discussed the “lost” art of writing an angry letter – but not posting it. While this may be the opposite of a heartfelt thank-you, it’s great advice now – the age of instantaneous means timing is everything.