sent to me by a good friend.
please watch it. if you’re a freelancer, you’ve been given a blank page.
make it a masterpiece…
Originally uploaded by Alki1
Stumbled upon this gal’s photostream. From what I can gather, she’s a retired graphics and photography teacher somewhere in the Northwest US. Very cool stuff to see – a lot of “antique” design stuff. Amazing how good design stands up over time.
Check it out!
I’ve got a problem.
I am constantly inspired.
I’m inspired from a great number of sources. Truth be told, my sources for inspiration are so diverse, and my pool of inspirations is so large, I could blog about nothing BUT inspiration and never run out of topics.
Nature, my kids, movies, paintings, books, magazines, conversations, dreams, depression, punk music, phone calls, pop culture, yadda yadda yadda…
While that inspiration is great (and crucial,) that inspiration can be fruitless, because I have a problem with motivation. Well – that, and there’s just not enough hours in the day to fully flesh out my ideas and inspiration.
Motivation is crucial in any field, but especially in the Freelance World (capitalized for effect.)
Without motivation, you get nothing done. All the best designs in the world, all the best thoughts and ideas are worthless without the desire to get them “on paper.” Without motivation, you can starve, go homeless, upset clients, make a bad name for yourself, etc…
So what do you do to get motivated?
Good question – and one that’s largely impossible to answer. Motivation, like inspiration, is so individual that it is hard to paint solutions with a large brush.
What do I do …
I love magazines. I’ve used them for years for a variety of purposes.
I’m not a big reader (for the most part) and the brief stories and blurbs keep my A.D.D. on full stoke.
I like pictures, and I use magazines to make collage drawings (on canvas, for all you analog types like me.) Cut-and-paste, the old fashioned way.
And, I find the typography and the different layouts fun and inspiring.
The big problem is that my wife does not like my stacks of magazines all over the place, and the subscriptions can get to be a little costly. So – I’m down to just a few real subscriptions. You’ll take my Mad Magazines away when you pry them out of my cold, dead fingers. Nowadays, I do the “green” thing, the “digital age” thing and get a lot of my magazines in PDF format from PDFMags.com.
Now – some of the magazines are clinkers, but there are some really, really beautiful magazines out there by individuals, design houses and mainstream sources, and this place seems to have them all – and from all over the world, too…
You can read and look …
(hint, hint)
I colleague of mine (check her out here) clued me in to this the other day – custom engraved moleskin sketchbooks at engraveyourbook.com.
I’ve mentioned before that I use sketchbooks and paper and pencil and pens extensively, and I think it’s a good idea for everyone out there. Wether it’s just for notes or for actual sketching and illustrating, it’s a great idea to always keep all your great ideas, bad ideas, magazine clippings, random thoughts and general doodling in a place that you can go back and use it as reference, idea starters or just for chuckles.
You are an artist, after all.
Now, you can keep all your ugly thoughts in one beautiful, custom place.
It’s been a horribly busy week for me, with a business partner flying in from Seattle and pulling all-nighters to complete a few projects. Many Red Bulls and pots of coffee later, and my kidneys are screaming at me and my head is swimming with tiredness. But, we have a great product nearly ready to roll out. Very exciting. Stay tuned for details.
Ah – the life of a freelance graphic artist. Fun with no end!
But, this week has reminded me that it’s important to dream, it’s important to reach and stretch and try new things.
For so long, I would say “I’m happy if I have electricity, a roof over my head and coffee in my thermos.” Then, it dawned on me that my thinking and words were keeping me from other, bigger things.
If I was going to be satisfied with so little, that’s precisely what I would have. So, I decided I wanted bigger things.
I’m not talking about greed. Greed only breeds greed, but a mind that desires more and is willing to attack the situation and take the steps to reach that goal is one that will be rewarded.
Set your sights high – and then don’t be afraid to …
I am, by admission, a little hard-hearted. Generally, I don’t see much outside my world and my client list. But, I was doing some research on Wolfgang Weingart, and I ran across this site – and it got me to thinking…
Check out “Design for the Other 90%.” Food for thought.
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises
The vast majority of what I do is done for the high-brows of the world – and that’s kind of sad. Why should the rich be the only ones who live with objects and products with thought and soul? Why must the poor be saddled with the purely utilitarian?
I don’t know. I’m not sure where I was going with this – but I know that we all deserve a little design in our lives. Something nice to look at. It doesn’t help all that much, but every little bit helps, right?
There are a lot of great logo designers out there, and putting your work up for public scrutiny (especially for other designers to see,) can be a little scary. But – it’s also a great way to judge where you are in the grand scheme of things.
LogoPond.com lets you post your logo and get comments from fellow designers. They discuss everything from color to layout to feel to effectiveness. Comments can be quite candid and at times, kind of rough. But, it’s designers from around the world and from all walks of life – freelance and otherwise.
If you’re like me, you have a tendency to get caught up in the work and it’s difficult to step back and look at what you’re doing without coloring it with your own opinions and feelings about the project. This site lets you get a totally fresh take on your work from people completely detached from the project.
Plus, there are a lot of great pieces to check out and get inspiration from. Don’t knock anything off, of course – but as Picasso said, “All art is theft.”
Enjoy!
