Thoughts & Deeds

The other night during a New Communicators event idea discussion group,  I had a conversation with Jerry Ketel and Tyesha Snow about the power of inspiration and the idea that all creative companies should subsidize – in some way — inspirational experiences for employees. Wouldn’t it be great if your employer gave you two paid weeks off specifically to seek out inspiration that you can bring back to your work and career? … more

Now that Ashton Kutcher has challenged CNN to see who could reach 1 million followers first and won, people are wondering all about Twitter. CNN’s Quick Poll today shows that only 6% of people are using Twitter (as of April 17), which begs the question “Who cares?” So Kutcher got a million followers, so he’ll donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to World Malaria Day, why does anyone want so many followers? … more

Tax day is a tough one for small business owners. It’s the day we’re reminded of all the tax breaks large corporations get, of the self-employment tax some of us pay for the privilege of entrepreneurship, and of the high cost of individual health insurance. … more

Remember in high school when you had to read Homer’s Odyssey? Your teacher probably bored you with discussions of archetypes, heroes, and a whole lot of crazy Greek gods, goddesses, and weird offspring and creatures like Charybdis. Maybe if you had a really cool teacher and you got to watch Star Wars as a treat, only to be tricked into discussing how it’s just like the Odyssey with all those archetypes and heroes and plot arcs and weird creatures like Jawas. … more

When I think of coal used for energy, I think of China, filthy air, dire situations, under-developed nations, the iron-grip of Communism. Coal is the fuel of Tolstoy and World War I and the Eastern Block, a phantom from the early 20th century, a black spot on our environmental history. Coal is up there with nuclear energy and reliance on oil; something shameful that we’re trying to give up. … more

Gas, as we know, is becoming ridiculously expensive. Add that to what we now know about global warming and we see many people clamoring to ditch their old cars to buy new hybids. I know I sure did it, trading my Mazda 3 hatchback in for a Prius last year when my Mazda lease ran out. Now that I’m used to getting 40-55 MPG, I know I’ll never buy another full-gasoline vehicle again. … more

These are trying times. The economy is in a downturn, the war in Iraq lingers on, gas costs over $4 a gallon, and large businesses in America are losing money. At times like this, I think back to WWII and the efforts of the government and businesses to bolster the economy, how they encouraged thrift, recycling, reusing old materials, growing Victory gardens, tightening the belt a little. (Of course, the flip side to this was a series of posters villianizing Germans and Japanese.) I think of the heroic posters that helped shape graphic design as a profession and of the designers who created these posters. … more

In 1999, Emigre reprinted Ken Garland’s 1964 First Things First Manifesto in issue 49. It was a call to arms for designers to stop whoring ourselves and start waking up to the social, environmental, and financial responsibilities we face in our work. Then came First Things First 2000 in issue 51, with a simultaneous printing in Adbusters. This was back when I was just getting started in my design career, and to see such a bold statement from vaunted designers and design educators was pretty amazing. I frankly didn’t know what to do with what I was reading. … more

Have you ever been asked to explain how your design skills are better than those of a high school kid with some HTML skills and Photoshop? Or maybe you had a client who wasn’t willing to pay you a fair market rate for your expertise because “anyone” can design a web site? How do you explain that design is more than software? How do you talk about the value of good design? … more

I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten in to an argument with fellow designers about “design” versus “art” and how they are/aren’t the same thing. My stance is pretty clear: Design is not art. Design can be visually appealing, attractive, interesting, exciting, controversial, but it is not art. The goal of design is to communicate. Art is personal expression. Design is communication, use, information — which can be wrapped in an attractive package. … more