These are the "rules" of the book — so far.
This is in a constant state of flux and evolution. As such, the rules are fluid and change when interesting.
01
I’ve been a professional graphic designer for over 25 years. I’ve designed everything from The Apocalypse in the bible to packaging for adult diapers. Having interesting content matters. You do the best with the constraints you are handed, but, often you deal with duds. Brainstorming a logo for “Bob’s Stuff” is a wee-bit less inspiring than a mindblowing futuristic tech startup with a name like “Flaming Monkeybytes”. Choosing content that is already full of personality by nature floods your mind with visual character and possibilities. I like that. Self servingly so.
02
When I taught graphic design students would complain about how fast projects were due. Once you are out of the classroom things move even faster. I’ve designed websites in a day and logos in an hour—not by choice. When you are playing Beat the Clock you fall back on what you know and are practiced at. It’s easy to look up after 6 months and realize that everything you’ve done is the same. You fall into a rut in order to survive. That’s hardly conducive to expanding what’s in your toolbox. To grow you need to try the proverbial new things. This is that platform for me.
03
This is visual communication—COMMUNICATION. You are saying things with your design. With words. With images. With colors. With layouts. With form. With, with, with… Say something interesting. Say something clever. Say something provocative. Say something that isn’t lame, or overused, or pandering, or immediately straight-on-the-nose. Yes, it’s harder. It takes time and mental elbow grease. There are times when you will make oodles of sketches to get to a single tasty design. But it’s so much better than looking at yet another banner-ribbon on a package design. Blecht.
04
I’ve experienced a few eras in my creative tenure where I’ve fallen out of love with design. As with any career things can sometimes be nothing but a grind. A put-a-butter-knife-in-my-eye-if-I-have-to-make-one-more-PowerPoint grind. The cure for that is to remember how damn fun it can be to make something cool. I actually look forward to making these things. I get excited to create when it’s not by committee. To put legos, type made from dog food, and light painting together. To dream up some wacky clever thing that a client thinks “they won’t get”. Let’s play!
05
I have this muse I’m chasing in my head. I want this to be like a coffee table book ( I know this is on a screen ) that you can’t predict from piece to piece. If I create 100 screens that are all the same color, the same fonts, the same ways of thinking. Sure, it will be a consistent set. But will that be interesting? Will that be enjoyable? Will that push my boundaries? Will that expand my toolbox? Or keep me inspired? Teach me new things? Or keep you looking? I think it’s more likely for you to yawn after 10 spreads and move on to something else. I know I’ll yawn making them.
06
The client wants this, the Peanut Gallery demands that, the code can’t do it, the device only works one way, that’s not UX “best practice”, the manager wants it their way. OY, you can often get painted into a corner trying to please everything and everyone. It’s freeing to rid yourself of that in the interest of your own pursuits. That may technically qualify as Fine Art instead of “design”, but I am still doing work LIKE design and illustration. I am my client. It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to. My own little Shangri-La.
07
This book is all about inventing a platform for me to experiment, play, and scratch creative itches I would otherwise not be able ( or allowed ) to address. But it did feel like it needed a red thread—a common unifying theme—to hold it together. Otherwise it’s just a flimsy collection of one-offs that are odd to show. HOWEVER, the very nature of exploration and “doing what you want” continually leads you into uncharted territory. Allowing for modifications and amendments to “the rules” allows for organic evolution and the occasional AH-HA moment.
08
These ideas come from all angles. Sometimes the process is very traditional and follows a standard design sequence–you start with specific content, you brainstorm against that content, you solve the problem. Other times you have an urge to play with watercolor, or do something “sci-fi”, or build something dimensional, or use letterforms, or mix photography with collage, or think like David Lynch. You may not have a project that fits that urge—yet. It’s OK. Back the urge into an idea. It’s a bit like designing in reverse. But that’s the fun and freedom of a project like this.
09
Time and time again I start a piece, and in the process of working through its particulars I make a sketch, or write a phrase, or notice a new juxtaposition that shoots my mind off into a different direction than originally intended. At the time of this writing I have been concepting a sculptural piece that has resulted in 7 or 8 completely unintended other spreads—other media, other formats, other philosophies. But still no sculpture. Maybe I have Design A.D.D., but I’ll take inspiration being overtaken by even-greater inspiration any day. I’ll make that sculpture eventually.
10
I think it was Tony Robbins that said: “If you aren’t growing you’re dying”. I am certainly a nerd when it comes to learning new things. Sure, you can do the same thing over and over in order to master ever more nuanced distinctions. But sometimes it’s the mixing together of things in the laboratory that have the biggest effect and open up new worlds of exploration. In an ideal world you could both. This is my ideal world.
11
It’s been a wild ride so far. Amassing a collection of these sometimes-crazy designs has turned into the beginnings of a body of work. It’s taken on a life of its own. When friends and colleagues ask “what have you designed lately, Jeff?” I find myself increasingly more apt to show this than my actual official corporate portfolio. I’m not sure that a future employer would understand how I could design their clients’ logo by looking at a voodoo teddy bear or Mr. Rogers in Kiss makeup, but hopefully it is a glimpse into a graphic designer’s actual mind.
12
I haven’t tired of this yet. There are absolutely other projects I work on as well–including all-day everyday client design. But the ideas keep coming. The inspiration keeps enticing. And the curiosity keeps growing. Periods of time have lapsed where life is too busy, or other things take precedence. But then something will catch my eye and I’m devising the next piece for this book. Afterall, it was designed to be that way.
