One of the jobs in the works here at the studio has a component that requires us to create 15 or so small (nickel-sized) icons that will be used in a clients’ conference/training materials. Each icon will represent a particular step or activity in the training, and will allow participants to easily locate and differentiate the steps on a sheet of paper. Christopher had a brief phone call with the client today to get a better understanding of what each stage entails, which will help inform what each icon ultimately becomes. He jotted down a few preliminary ideas for specific icons, and then passed the notes my way for further idea generation. At this point we’re not sketching, instead making a big list of possible options for each icon. Once we give the list to the client, they can select their favorites, and we then get to spend our time working from a smaller, pre-selected subset.

Initially I went down the list, jotting any ideas down as they came to mind. With some of the steps, the ideas just flowed out onto paper; with others, not so much. After a first pass of the whole list, I then fired up the good ol’ thesaurus to see if a new set of similar words sparked new ideas. I also entered the words into search engines to see if any of the results would trigger new ideas. It was a fun process. Christopher will make some additions to the list, remove any that he doesn’t think would work, and then get the list back to the client for selection. We will probably starting drawing icons in the next few days or so; I’m looking forward to it.

01.  While in Seattle last week, I stopped by and visited with friend of the studio Robynne Raye of Modern Dog in their studio. She was very kind for taking a few minutes out of a busy day to show me around. It was also awesome that only half of our conversation was about design—the other half was about, get this, dogs! (I like dogs, so this was win-win.)

02. “This is going to be my legacy to you.” While working in InDesign with Christopher next to me directing me on a particular edit for a client, I began to replace an element on the page with another, forgetting a shortcut technique that he had shown me several weeks before. This was his friendly comment to me before reminding me of the shortcut.

03. We were silently working the other day when Christopher suddenly told us of a thought he had that morning while getting ready for the day. It was about the saying, “the past helps us understand the present.” He offered up the reasoning that it might be, in fact, the opposite that is true; that the present helps us to understand and make sense of the past. I eventually concluded that there is no such thing as the present; that instead we exist in a rapid sequence of “pasts.”

Such are the conversations that randomly occur every now and then here at MINE™.

Today I spent the bulk of my time working on some logos/artwork for House of Air. A little something extra that might grace the surfaces of t-shirts and head protection gear. I got to do a little research on the bone structure of penguins to inform the creation of the work—sweet. We’ll find out in the next few days what the HOA folks think, but it’s all looking pretty nice. Also in the works is a classy red carpet gala/grand opening invitation for another client.

Overall there was a lot of activity today. Christopher is in the process of writing a book, and a lot of his focus the last few days has been directed toward that endeavor—on top of all the day to day details of running a studio. I’m realizing that one of the big challenges in the “real world” (post-school) is in fact balancing all of the daily tasks, client interactions, emails to answer, etc with the creative work—whether it be designing or writing or whatever; the process of making time to think/create amidst the hubbub of the everyday.We also had a potential new client come in for a first meeting. It’s an awesome project from a pretty inspirational guy, so I’m excited to see what happens moving forward.

I just got back into town after spending a few days up in the Pacific Northwest visiting with family and friends. It was a good trip; it’s always nice visiting cities other than the one you live or work in. I try to make a point of getting out of the state at least once a year.

It’s also good to be back at the studio.

There is plenty of activity this week, which is nice. I spent most of the day today working on a few projects for House of Air—helping out with some letterhead design in the morning, and moving on to some logo work in the late afternoon. When I get in tomorrow I will continue with the logo project. Definitely looking forward to it.

I am also in the process of reorganizing/reconfiguring our sample archive storage in the garage. The system currently in place works for the most part, but isn’t the most efficient. Currently the samples are stored on steel shelves in a variety of mix and match boxes that, at times, can feel like playing a game of Jenga when trying to find something. Our new system will improve on the old and be a lot more pleasant to search for work. Before I left on my trip we ordered a bunch of ULINE boxes, so in the upcoming days I will be sorting, consolidating, packing and stacking! When it’s all done I will post the before and after.

This week we are waiting to hear back from a client with feedback on a design direction for an exhibition catalog. We spent part of the day today communicating with a few printers about the job; getting proposals, making adjustments to paper stocks, quantities, etc. It was nice having Christopher walk me through the steps he normally goes through when reviewing/comparing proposals from printers. I love being involved in details like that, as in school it’s just not the sort of thing one is typically exposed to.

A smattering of thoughts from the week. Have a great weekend!

I never remember that monkey claw, said Christopher, referring to the hand contortions required to execute a particular InDesign super-keyboard-combo-shortcut.

#1: Don’t do it.  #2: Do the minimum.  #3: F* it and go all out. Your three options when deciding whether or not to take on a project with no/low budget.

Impress your employer with a new diploma of Harvard. was the subject line of an email from “Will Smith.”

Own goals are bad. Or good. (Depends on which side you’re on.)

For school projects, it’s easy to push the envelope and create an entire scenario that would be difficult or very pricey and just not possible to pull off in the real world. Here in the real world, though, we can’t just print on “such and such material” for this section, then “this paper” for this direction, and a “this translucent band printed with thermal ink”, etc if the budget doesn’t exist for it. Those are real dollar signs sitting next to the client’s name! One of the things that Christopher explained though, is that by pushing the concept early on, you can then pull back a bit and possibly find a way to communicate the same idea in a more economical manner—maybe even smarter. I feel like that is where we are headed with this exhibition project. I am really looking forward to seeing this through to the end.

Well, so as not to leave out any Bay Area neighbors (and to mourn the poor job of the new Warriors rebrand) yesterday I wore an Oakland variation of the throwback design. It features a Port of Oakland container crane and the words “The Town.” I bought this shirt a few years ago from the folks at Like Minded People specifically because it mimicked the old school Warriors design. Even though I have worn this shirt several times over the years, it seemed to get people’s attention yesterday for some reason. Here at the studio Christopher noticed it because we had recently talked about the Warriors rebrand. The thing that was unexpected, though, is that when I headed to my class after work, three other people—two who have seen me wearing it before—commented on how they really liked the shirt. One woman even asked where she could buy one.

A bit of a side note here, but legend has it that the Oakland container cranes depicted in this shirt were the inspiration for George Lucas and his AT-AT snow walkers from The Empire Strikes Back. I had also heard this for a few years, and while kind of a fun possibility, the truth is that Syd Mead’s Walking Cargo Vehicles were actually the vehicles depicted in the Star Wars film.