Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship In A Republic”
Delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

It's fine to want to better yourself and start anew but I don't want that feeling, that motivation to come only once a year. I want it to be there every day. Maybe then I won't feel as if the clock is ticking and there's an expiration date (January 31st) on this idea that you can do better. Maybe then I won't feel catapulted into the new year. Because lately I've felt as if I failed myself by not taking the time at the end of the year to reflect and decide what I need to do and change in the new year. The fact is, there is no expiration date on that. You can reflect, choose to do better, reset and/or reach for your goals, finally get to things left on the back burner, each and every day. That is not an activity reserved for January 1st.

Davines: A lesson in thoughtful business and branding

My hair dresser introduced me to Davines hair care products and I fell in love with not only the products but also their branding and most importantly their business and practices. Davines is a product and a brand that is family-owned and guided by the principle of sustainable beauty.

They've built their business with a conscious mission to sustainability and protect the environment. Their products contribute to the protection of biodiversity by using select ingredients from crops that are at risk of extinction and their packaging uses minimum amount of food grade plastic that is needed to protect the product but can also be reused. Their ingredients are sourced from local farms in Italy supporting local economies and artisanal traditions. Every product tells you about the family farm where the ingredients are sourced from. In addition to all of this they contribute to other sustainable efforts from organizations that value and take care of the earth.

Davines simple and clean packaging reflects their principles and practices. It is straight forward, no fuss informational labelling that is distinct and perfectly reflective of their business practices and principles. It's wonderful to see a conscious business who does so much but does not sacrifice in quality, design and execution. Check out their website for more info: www.davines.com

Photo by Martin Olszewski http://www.mandmphotography.ca/

The Light Phone

We are becoming scared of boredom, scared of solitude, scared of conversations with ourself.

The Light Phone was created by Co-Founders Joe Hillier and Kaiwei Tang. It is a device that helps you put away your smartphone and bring your attention back to the world around you. It is a supplement that is designed to give you access to your phone, as a phone, only when you absolutely need it but allows you to otherwise leave your phone at home. It is a tool to help us consciously decide to leave our smartphone and disconnect, allowing us to take back the time we lose by always being connected to a screen.

We just couldn't believe any of it anymore, these products didn't respect the user or their time. Being more connected couldn't actually be what we needed to become happier.

I love the principles behind this product. We're all guilty of not paying attention to anything or anyone else but our phones, and if you stop to think about it, it's a really disturbing reality. How can we encourage people to take a moment away, to disconnect and be in the world and be with themselves. If we're always distracting ourselves how are we ever to face ourselves and understand ourselves and those around us?

For most of 2015, I worked with talented pastry chef and owner of The Dessert Room, Marcia Fattouh, on a rebrand. This has been one of those projects that is a perfect fit. With even bigger plans for 2016, The Dessert Room is sure to grow and continue to create elegant and beautiful dessert creations.

The previous The Dessert Room logo helped to get the business started. In the last year, however, Marcia began to forge a clearer vision of where she wanted to take the business and the logo was no longer reflective of the product they produced. It was also limiting from a branding perspective as it posed some spacing and sizing issues when applied to different media.

So we began by going back to the drawing board with a branding questionnaire and discovery session. The questionnaire allowed Marcia to think about her brand holistically, starting with her products and the things she values in her work and business. It was through this process that she revealed her modern aesthetic combined with her focus on detail and classic techniques. Having trained as a French pastry chef, high quality ingredients and techniques are crucial to her work. This is what The Dessert Room is all about. Now to make sure that was communicated through the branding.

To start visualizing the brand, I distilled some the ideas that came out of our discovery sessions into a visual moodboard. This is a wonderful way to get the ideas and visuals flowing and helps clients begin to understand how their thoughts, ideas and values can be reflected visually. 

Next we approached the logo design allowing for the rest of the identity to flow from it. Often  during the sketching phase I uncover concepts and ideas that help to inform the rest of the brand identity. To start, numerous sketches were produced, and with Marcia being new to the branding and design process, we reviewed these raw sketches. This is not always something I do with clients. It can be easy to focus on the sketches or any particular sketch and then the project ends before it even begins. But this can be really valuable in helping a client get more involved and comfortable with the process. 

The sketches uncovered some ideas that we narrowed down to a few directions for the brand. One was a clear standout for it's classic simplicity and strong concept. Very little changed from the original concept to the final logo.

Reflecting the modern simplicity mixed with classically developed cakes and confections that The Dessert Room produces, the logo was designed with a simple modern typeface stacked and sandwiched between two curved lines that is an ode to the classic and traditional technique of piping.

From there, a color palette was chosen. We looked to color books and ideas on how to use color as it relates to food, ensuring it appealed both to the eyes and to our innate taste and smell sensors. A soft, sweet and warm color palette was chosen with blush and gold being primary colors, supported by white, soft grey and black. Logos need to work in black, but this particular inclusion adds a modern touch that is less traditionally romantic but is classic and timeless.

Within the wedding industry, much like fashion, tastes change and grow with time. So it's important to allow the brand to grow with it and color is an excellent way to do that. A blush and gold combination may work one season, in another black and gold or black and blush appeals to styles better. Using color in this way but ensuring their classic timelessness helps to create a brand that can grow and last.

Selecting typefaces for the brand was a natural extension of the logo and color palette. Using the same Futura typeface in the logo paired with Kepler, a contrasting serif, completed an identity that marries the modern with classic timelessness. 

The identity was carried through to the packaging, the website and social media feeds with the support of strong photography. Good product photography makes all the difference! I worked with Marcia to direct and plan the product shots we needed. We worked together with photographer Christine W to style the shoot, making sure all of the products can be beautifully displayed on the website and showcases the delicate and delectable products that comes out of The Dessert Room. 

It's easy to sit back and criticize a company, or more specifically a company's design team, for a design when you don't know the constraints in which they worked. Even in the best case scenarios where the design team is given creative freedom and all the resources they need to inform their work, their job is to design for the needs of the organization, which they know better as in-house designers than the public.

Design critique involves understanding the entirety of the problem first, and then questioning whether the solution solves that problem in the best possible way. I'm not saying there's no room for design critique on the Internet, I'm saying it needs to be more than a knee-jerk reaction and should involve more than 140 characters.

I see such imaginative, thought-provoking, jaw-dropping, inquisitive and refreshing designs from all areas of the field and it gets me excited. That level of design thinking, art, and innovation is what I strive for. 

The most thought-provoking work that I've seen has been in product design, graphic design, architecture, industrial design and experience design/installations. But I'm rarely stopped in my tracks by profound web design and when I am it's generally as a result of the graphic design, the content or the branding. The effects are extras and the interactions are functional. It simply delivers information and let's you interact with it in simple ways because the important thing is the content.

It made me think, can the web provide a deeper level of smart, thought-provoking design that adds another level to the graphic design or the content? The web's ability to serve up form and content and allow you to virtually interact with the page is the distinguishing factor that separates it from the other design disciplines. How can we use this virtual space, this interaction to serve up form and content in different ways? meaningful, innovative ways?

I'm not simply talking about the user experience or user experience design. I'm not referring to just usability, though that is important and part of what makes thoughtful, smart design on the web. I'm talking about going beyond the utility or functionality or intuition we build into these interfaces. I'm talking about delighting people in ways that they've never seen before. In ways that are thoughtful and profound and allow you to experience things beyond merely fulfilling a task. It's about using the capabilities of the web to craft experiences that are new and make you stop dead in your tracks.

I can't seem to quite describe it... You know when you see a poster or a book design or a building that makes your jaw-drop because it's so powerful, it serves it's purpose/function AND it catches your breath? It's smart, it's elegant, it's purposeful, it's meaningful, it's beautiful. That's what I'm looking for.

I have yet to really experience that on the web. Though I've been close...

• The New York Times is leveraging the web to deliver thoughtful and engaging content in ways you can only experience on the web with their interactive stories.
• This interactive experience, Echos of Tsunami, in remembrance of the 2004 Tsunami victims by ACF International is a combination of video, audio and visual content that delivers storytelling in such an emotionally immersive way.
• Interactive data visualization on the web

One thing is for sure, that level of web design cannot be achieved without thoughtful and smart content.

On a final note, I will admit that maybe I haven't been looking hard enough. So I'll be looking harder and strive to add more thoughtfulness to my work and to the web... 

“It’s a slow and ongoing process of sharpening your sensibility and also your own understanding of yourself and the world.”

Natasha Jen is a partner at Pentagram and an award-winning, intelligent designer. I found this quote in an interview with her about her outlook on her career and it struck me. This is the definition of growth, career or otherwise.

Check out this PRINT mag interview with Natasha Jen to learn more about this thoughtful designer.

Yesterday marked the end of my 100 days of making. As part of #The100DayProject, instigated by artist Elle Luna and The Great Discontent, I committed to a line drawing each day for 100 days from April 5th - July 14th. The result is a body of work, the seeds of ideas, a lovely daily practice and most importantly the realization of the importance of play in my work and in my life.

I will admit that I fell behind constantly and was rarely on track except for maybe the first 30 days. There were days when I knew what I wanted to draw, most days I didn't. There were days when I hated what I drew and other times when I loved it. Days when it was a chore and days when it was a respite. Days when I thought it was stupid and days when it was inspirational. But one thing was for sure, every time I was on track, every time I completed a drawing, good or bad, I felt productive, accomplished and liberated.

View the complete 100 days (and more) of line drawings

I had some very simple goals for the project:

1. To give myself permission to draw every day.
2. To draw whatever I felt like and not worry about concept or problems or anything of consequence - essentially, to play.
3. To complete a personal body of work without the expectation of polish.
4. To finish. Working primarily on the web, I crave the idea of finishing something and to have it remain in that state forever.

I accomplished all of them except maybe #2. I say maybe because I did draw whatever I felt like but I found that as the project continued I did worry about consequence. There were days when I worried about the superficiality of what I was drawing. Girls in fashionable clothing, animals in silhouette, a cupcake, an apple. What did it all mean? Where will it lead me? I had to remind myself that it meant nothing, that it doesn't have to mean anything. That the whole point of this project was to make. It was about the act of making, not the final image. It was about drawing for the sake of drawing, playing for the sake of playing.

I'm a designer. I solve problems. That's what I love about design. I approach a problem, I analyze it, I look at it in different ways and I critique every decision. Being analytical and critical is important to design. But I've realized that for me it can also overcomplicate things. It's easy to get lost in all the data, in all the market research, but the best designs are elegant in their simplicity. So the practice of making, of playing each day is essential for me to get out of my head. To be less serious, have fun and let the ideas flow even if they mean nothing. That's what this project allowed me to do. 

I hadn't realized when I started just how critical I can be with myself and how serious I can be. That has affected my work, my life and my conviction. Thoughtfulness is important to me. But great design is thoughtful and playful. And what's life without a little playfulness? So thanks to this project I am learning to play, to make, to create without consequence and to get out of my head.

There's a time and place for everything, so when it's time to play, play. Enjoy it and don't overanalyze. And when it's time for work, perhaps some of that play will sneak in and help you get out of your head. After all it takes some playfulness to turn a problem upside down, inside out and back together again.

Though the project has ended, I'm continuing on with my drawings. It is a valuable habit that I'd like to keep. This time I'm going to consciously allow myself to play when I want to and to be thoughtful when I want to, giving each the proper space. If you'd like to follow along, I'm @ivonnekn on Instagram.

More and more people are opting for the freelance career because they want to have control over how they work. The want the flexibility and the ability to choose the work they do.

The problem I find with the above definitions is that they imply that freelancers have no commitment to the people we work with. It's true that some of us–even the best of us–take on work sometimes more for the money than the work itself. But for me, being a freelancer means being able to work with the people I want to work with and to do the best work I can for them. That means committing to them for the period of time that they need me and helping them set off into the future of their business in a better way than when they first came to me. It may not be a long-term commitment but I am committed to their long term success. That is a big distinction.

The other problem is the implication that we have no commitment to the work that we do. I would again argue that the commitment to the work is one of the reasons we become freelancers. We have an idea of the type of work we want to do and are therefore committed to it. If I didn't care about the work I would work for any company. But I do, and that's why I am a freelancer, to have the ability to choose the work I want to do and the work that will make up my career.

In short, I care. Sure, maybe not all freelancers do, but this freelancer does.

The biggest benefit to freelancing outside of the work itself is the flexibility. That is more and more valuable in today's culture (and some companies provide flexible work arrangements). That being said, I would give that up to work with an agency or company who do the type of work I want and care to do and are committed to that work, their values and their clients because they also care.

If you're looking for a freelancer who cares or if you're simply looking for a designer who cares, reach out to me. If you don't know the difference between a caring and a non-caring designer–freelance or not–then reach out to me and I'll tell you.

As freelancers, one of the best tools at our disposal is the ability to track time. Tracking the time you spend on projects and on different parts of a project helps you understand how you work and how much to charge for your work. If you're billing hourly, it's obviously important. But it's more important if you're not billing hourly. You need to understand how you are spending your time, where you can be more productive and how much time you're actually spending (and most of us spend way more than what we estimate). This all helps you to better estimate project timelines and budgets which ultimately means you are compensated fairly for your time.

There are so many tools out there for time tracking and the thought of learning yet another tool for my day-to-day seemed absolutely exhausting to me, but my friend Christina Truong recommended Toggl and let me tell you, I love it! 

First, the learning curve was nothing. It's dead easy. You just type in what you're working on and hit start. Just like that the clock is running. If you want to get specific, you can add clients and projects so you can track specific tasks and file them for each project/client. At the end of the week, Toggl sends you a report of how you spent your time. You can also look at your day, week or month and view reports on how you spent your time.

Best of all, it's free!

Radiolab Audio Show

I absolutely love podcasts! I get bored listening to music most of the time and listening to a podcast helps me stay at my desk when I'm working at home and keeps me entertained and intellectually stimulated. That last part isn't always true but there's a few podcasts I come back to time and time again, one of my favorites being Design Matters by Debbie Millman. But recently I found another fantastic podcast, Radiolab. Radiolab is a "show about curiosity" or so they say on their website, but it's true. Their topics range from scientific to creative to social and really explore the human experience. It's a thought-provoking show that is digestible (approx. 30 mins in length) and not at all boring.

My favourite episodes so far are: Speedy Beet (did Beethoven intend his music to be heard differently?) and The Trust Engineers (is Facebook tweaking our behaviour?). I've only just started listening to this but I already know that I'll have many more to add to this list.

Illustrator Lisa Congdon on Getting Older and owning it!

After hearing Lisa's story on The Great Discontent, I stumbled through her site and found this post she had written early this year about getting older and it made me love her more. She talks about realizing that her age was now showing (a fact that we will all encounter) which may be a hard realization for most of us.

I'm not at a point where I feel my age is showing and I am still young, relatively speaking. And the little of what I have seen, like my first gray–no white hair and the start of laugh lines on my face, has not shaken me. But I am keenly aware of our mortality and how aging is one of the hardest things we all have to experience. I admire women (I don't know if men worry as much as women about aging and having that show) who own their age, especially those who rock silver or white hair. I hope I become one of them. Perhaps I'll look like Storm... hmm.

Anyway, Lisa's post was eloquent and honest and it's worth a read. She describes herself as a late bloomer, having discovered her art in her early 30s and finding it as a career (after a successful first career in education) in her 40s. That simple fact–that she was able to find her art and make a living from it was a nice contrast to the top 30 under 30 lists or top 20 under 20 lists of the talented youngsters we see. Talent and discovery can emerge at any point in your life. It's your choice to decide whether you want to grab hold of it, no matter what age.

When you keep your head down working or creating each day, no matter how inadequate it seems, when you come up for air you realize that a body of work emerges. That is how careers are made. That is how an artist develops herself. That is how a life is made. After all, how you spend your day each day is how you spend your life.

Do today's work today. Tomorrow, do tomorrow's work. One step at a time, we realize what we are capable of.

Check out my project #100DaysOfLineDrawings on Instagram.

“Chase the things that excite you, otherwise what’s the point?”

Last week was FITC Toronto 2015 and I had the pleasure of going again through their Women's Initiative. It is a 3-day conference jam packed with creative and innovative tech talks. I always leave this conference on such a high having been introduced or re-introduced to artists, designers and creatives that do amazing work and share wonderful insights. Thank you to FITC for allowing me to attend!

Here's some of my favorites and standouts from the conference:

1. Gavin Strange a.k.a JamFactory

Image from JamFactory

Gavin is a graphic designer from Bristol, UK. He opened the conference with his Keynote presentation and went through some of his work and his path to being a designer. He is an incredible speaker who manages to make every one in the room feel like a friend that he's talking to over pints at a pub. He is Senior Designer at Aardman, the studio behind the Wallace & Grommit franchise among others. By night he runs his own independent design studio JamFactory where he creates both personal and client work. His outlook and work comes out of a genuine appreciation for his craft and the ability to design for a living. He says time and time again that we're the lucky ones–we get to do this for a living! 

Gavin's work is fun, quirky, lighthearted but has so much personality. You can check out his impressive portfolio and see that this guy just loves what he does and constantly gets shit out. On top of his day job he does so much personal work that's opened up opportunities to him. For example, he was able to turn some of his personal characters into actual, tangible toys. His enthusiasm and love of his craft is contagious and makes me realize the importance of play and personal work.

I took so much away from his talk, all of which stem from his excitement and positive outlook on life and his work:

• Just do the work, there are no shortcuts.
• Care about the things you can control, don't worry about everything else.
• The reason we struggle with insecurity is that we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel.
• Work can be enjoyed, not endured - We're the lucky ones that get to do work that we like!
• Be the change you want to see - don't complain, do something to change it
• You don't stop being great at 5pm. Seek creative satisfaction wherever/whenever you get it.
• Don't worry about being original, just be true to you and that in itself is unique.
• Make time for the things you want that excites you.
• If you can make things, make it. We live in a time where producing things is inexpensive.
• Be silly. Make silly graphics & mashups just because it's fun!
• Put your work out there.
• Be positive. We can make people feel good with our work, exercise that ability!

If you don't know him, check his work out. It's fun, lighthearted and makes you smile!

2. Shantell Martin

Image from Shantell Martin

By far, my favorite talk this year was Shantell's. It wasn't just her talk, I just love her. And I can't believe that I didn't know of her until now. She is an incredible artist who stays true to herself and encourages everyone to be true to who they are.

Her path to being an artist started when she was young. She grew up in Thamesmead in Southeast London. She always doodled and wrote poetry and she went to art school. She spent a few years in Japan which is where she began to develop her drawing style. She was a Visual Jockey and would perform live drawing events with music. She began experimenting with digital techniques and spontaneous performance art. She drew for the moment and let the atmosphere drive her drawings.

She moved to NYC in 2008 and literally had to start over as no one knew who she was. So she began making things for herself and made work wherever she could. She left the digital techniques and reverted back to analog, using just her pen to perform spontaneous live drawing performances. She drew on everything, cars, circuit boards, walls, etc. She hustled and she stayed true to herself and continues to do so. Her work has been exhibited and featured in so many places including Hong Kong, New York, Toronto and London. She continues to draw on literally everything, collaborating with other designers and technologists to draw on people, walls, furniture, shoes, circuit boards, buildings, etc.

I had the pleasure of talking to her briefly after her talk and after the panel about making money that she participated in and she is genuinely nice, personable and helpful. You get the sense that she genuinely wants to help people, taking a moment to talk to everyone who wanted to talk to her and giving them her undivided attention. I just love her!

Some takeaways from Shantell:

• Find your way to yay. Just keep finding your way to what makes you feel happy and fulfilled.
• It's not precious. It can be scary to start with a blank canvas, what happens if you make a mistake? But really, everything is a mistake, so just enjoy the process.
• She realized after having to start over in New York that she needed to make work for herself and that's what she focused her energy on.
• You can't please everyone.
• Say "No" to people who want you to work for free or for exposure. Your ideas, your work, your time is of worth. You wouldn't ask this of photographers, marketers, etc. so why you?
• Saying "No" will bring respect and people will come back to you.
• She spent 1 - 2 years struggling, sleeping on friends couches and hustling trying to do work and lived month-to-month, but when she started imagining what her life would be with steady work and money to live on for loner than a month, somehow things started to change.
• Be careful when working with people, even and sometimes especially larger institutions who have bigger contracts. Charge them for your lawyer fees to go through their contract. If they want your work, they should value your work and your terms.
• If you approach everything with good intentions, then it could never be a mistake.

3. Ash Thorp

Image from Ash Thorp

I knew nothing of Ash Thorp before FITC, but his motion graphic designs, UI designs and art direction can be seen in many popular films including Ender's Game, Total Recall and Prometheus.

This talk was really fantastic for me because Ash seemed really keenly aware of how he works, his strengths and weaknesses and I think identifying that in ourselves, especially as designers, is extremely important in order for us to understand how we work best. Ash writes down his daily habits to help break out of creative block. That's helped him identify what his patterns are. His daily routine seemed very structured and that's what's worked best for him. He writes down his talks every evening for the next day and prioritizes them. This allows him to block out time for each task and stay focused. It also let's him think about what he needs to do as he goes to sleep and he starts to visualize how he'll do everything. The result is when he wakes up he already has an idea of how he's going to do everything. He sets goals for each week, a month, 3 months, etc. That way if he sets a date or timeline, he gets things finished and stays focused.

He's battled self-doubt, analyzed his daily habits, grown to understand the need for rest and recovery and play. He shares all of this in his talk.

Some takeaways:

• Don't wait for inspiration, create a framework for it. Take a break, exercise, take a walk, do what you need to to recharge.
• "Just for now." You can do anything just for now... for the next 30 minutes, for the next 1 hour. It's a good way to break down a big project that otherwise might overwhelm you.
• Visualize the person you want to be. What is your dream day? Write it down.
• Value Time.
• Play! It helps you mentally and spiritually recharge.
• Take care of yourself. Exercise, rest. It makes a difference!
• Stay humble, stay hungry.
• Keep your work at a certain quality level, be great at communication and be on time! These are most important especially when you're a freelancer!

Re: work and his process:

• Write down everything, even if you don't know where it'll go and sketch!
• Identify things that stand out and clarify them.
• He takes his sketches into illustrator and goes with the flow, letting the idea and process take over. This allows him to get all his ideas out.
• Then he brings it into Photoshop trying colors, textures and effects.

4. Sheena Matheiken

Sheena is a self-described certified unemployable. She did work in the advertising industry for a time after moving to New York from India, had good pay, stability but it didn't fulfill her. She didn't want to just make a living or do the sensible thing. She realized that she likes doing many things, wearing different hats. That makes it hard to find work, but she pursues the things that she wants to do and figures out a way to make money for it and a living from it. She is probably unusually comfortable with instability and uncertainty which is why I was drawn to her. I am not fully comfortable with uncertainty but I'm learning to appreciate it and embrace it, so hearing Sheena talk was refreshing to say the least.

Her work varies from film, to design to production and digital projects. You can't define it in a few words and that's just how she likes it. She's not about the definitions, the predictable or the usual. It's just how she is comfortable living her life. Her work explores and questions ideas and she does it for the journey. Many of her projects always involve community in some sense, whether that's an analysis of it, involvement or any other form. The moment people want to turn her projects into something profitable, it looses it's spirit and she usually ends it or converts it into something that will in turn contribute to the community in a meaningful way.

I had the pleasure of talking to Sheena about her work and random things at the after party and she was lovely to speak to and incredibly honest. She also shared some insights in the 'art and making money' panel where she openly admits that she doesn't value money in the usual sense. She is driven by doing the things she wants to do and spending her time doing the things that are valuable to her.

Some takeaways from Sheena:

• There are many of us certified unemployables but not all of us are comfortable in this role.
• The unemployables don't necessarily make a living or make sense but they have many callings and pursue them.
• Being an unemployable shouldn't work but maybe the traditional way doesn't always work either.
• Laws of nature and creativity look very similar to each other. There is chaos, flux and impermanence.
• We are used to packaging everything and turning everything into a profit, into a definition, but the employables fail at this because the chaos works, making sense of things doesn't work, they don't thrive on structure or doing things the 'right' way.
• If you're unhappy with a job, quit! Always.
• Do what works for you.
• Don't worry about what other people think of your decisions, be true to you.

4. Jason Theodore (jTed) and The Working Dead

Image from Jason Theodore

Jason's talk titled The Working Dead explored the traditional ways of working and how they're just not working. He unpacks the traditional work ideas, routines and attitudes and how they breed a culture of cynicism, politics, mistrust. I found his talk so incredibly eye opening. It's easy to say do work that you love or don't work in a cubicle. But have we actually sat down and thought about why some of the traditional maybe corporate working environments don't work? We know somehow in our gut that it doesn't feel right but do we know why? Well Jason breaks it down in an incredibly enlightening way. He takes us from "Workpocalypse" to "Jobvana". You can actually read the article he wrote that birthed this talk of the same title on Medium: The Working Dead.

Enlightening takeaways from JTed's talk:

• Rid cynicism by creating an environment built on purpose rather than preservation.
• Mission statements are great but they can turn into dogma. It should be intrinsic not imposed!
• Earn respect through collaboration not through cliques. Collaborative leaders rather than traditional leaders. It's not about getting your job done, but about learning, adapting and collaborating. Note: you need people who can collaborate and let go of egos to do this!
• Trust people rather than breed paranoia. Let people do their jobs and take ownership. Give people respect and they will want to do good work for you. Responsibility drives ownership.
• Real time feedback is more important than yearly performance reviews. Be transparent and work out loud.
• Don't hold people to defined ways of doing things but allow them to adapt and be an active participant. Play to their strengths.
• Purpose drives people.
• Find your own purpose and find a company that links to that or partner with someone who believes in the same values.

Other notable speakers:

• Shawn Pucknell gave a really honest talk about the ups and downs in his career and how he came to create FITC into a worldwide event.
• Jason White of Leviathan shared some of his work and some advice: document everything. People hiring you want to know what the story is that you're trying to tell and your thought process.
• Chip Kidd. I don't know what else to say about this man, but he is a great speaker and an incredibly talented designer. He's beautifully designed so many books to count.

In my Goodie bag last week I wrote about #The100DayProject that I'll be participating in (check out the post here). I've committed to creating a line drawing a day for 100 days straight from April 6th - July 14th. The project kinda scares me because that's a lotta days but I'm excited for it. I have so many ideas at any one time and for years I write them in my journal or sketchbook. This project gives me a reason to at least tick some of those illustration ideas off the list.

I chose to do line drawings because 1. I want to be able to do something quickly and with little tools (no computer, photoshop or illustrator here!) as I will be travelling mid-way through the project, and 2. although I like finishing and polishing my designs or illustrations I think it's more important to play and experiment and the quickness and simplicity of the line drawings will help me do that. I want to let go of the control and need for every illustration to be perfect. I believe there is beauty in the imperfect but I have a hard time letting go of perfection in my own work. This project will help me get over that. I also have a gut feeling that something great will emerge from it. I think there's something in this way of illustrating that really suits me. If nothing else, it will give me the fulfillment of having finished a project from start to finish, developing a series of illustrations in the process and pushing through no matter what.

You can find all my drawings on my tumblr but the best way to keep up with my progress is to follow me on instagram. You can also follow my daily drawings using the hashtag #100DaysOfLineDrawings. To follow what others are doing check out the project hashtag #The100DayProject. It's not too late to join–anyone can join at any point in the project, just count your 100 days from when you start.

After I read that interview I stumbled across this post from Tina of Swiss-Miss (Side note: Tina is the inspiration behind these "Goodies" - part personal archive and part sharable goodies of interesting things that I come across)...

Michael Bierut on the power of logos via Design Indaba
I'm always intrigued by how people perceive things and how design can help shape that. The power of a logo is dependent not just on the design but also on the business, it's values and how the entire brand shapes itself.

Tina Roth Eisenberg on using values to thrive in work and family
Tina Roth Eisenberg a.k.a. Swiss-Miss is a designer and founder that I've admired from afar because it's clear that she leads her business and ventures with her heart. Her creations have come organically from her needs including Tattly and Creative Mornings. Tina talks about how she runs her business with values, heart and a bit of confetti in this podcast episode.

#The100DayProject
Michael Bierut created a project called the 100 Day Project for his MFA students at Yale as an exercise in discipline and creative thinking. The idea is simple, think of an action that you can do every day for 100 days. Cool right?

Now artist Elle Luna, along with TGD, is launching the #The100DayProject with the goal to encourage people to show up day after day and celebrate the process of doing. 

April 6th is the launch date and anyone can participate - I will be. I'm not yet sure exactly what action I'll do but I'm narrowing it down.

You can join me by signing up here and showing your process on instagram every day starting April 6th. See you on the instas!

Image via The Great Discontent

Elle Luna & The Crossroads of Should and Must
Elle Luna is a designer turned artist who I admire for taking risks, being honest and putting her heart out into the world. Her post on The Crossroads of Should and Must is a MUST read for anyone who has a free spirit. AND she's turned it into a book due out on April 8, 2015. I'll be getting my copy for sure–I am a sucker pep talks, especially one's that encourage you to find and follow your callings (yes plural).

Image via Elle Luna

Your long term is not the sum of your short terms
And finally, in the spirit of doing what you need/love, here's some food for thought from Seth Godin:

I was lucky to attend FITC last year thanks to the FITC Women's initiative - HUGE kudos to the organizers for encouraging more diversity in the overall conference circuit! I'd love to attend again to (re)connect with people, to learn and discover new ideas, challenge existing ones and, of course, to be inspired by the speakers.

For those who are thinking of entering this industry or are just starting out, welcome! I know it can be overwhelming starting out and trying to figure out where to go, what to do, how to do it, but you'll find your place in it. 

I found my place in design. That's my experience and that's the place from which I give my advice to you...

1. Do the work

It's easy to talk about ideas, but ideas are useless if you don't do anything with them. Put your head down and do the work. Whether that's client work, personal work or contributing to an open source project. Approach everything as an opportunity to showcase your skills. Because the more you do, the more you learn.

2. Try new things

Meet new people, try new tools and processes, read different ideas, go to conferences and meetups, step out of your comfort zone. That's how you evolve and grow in this industry. 

About conferences & meetups: Whenever possible, go to them! You learn so much and you meet such incredible people.

3. Ask for help

No one builds anything in a vacuum. The beauty of our industry is that help is readily available - reach out on Twitter, email someone, go to a meetup. You'll find that there are so many people ready to help you. And remember #7 when you reach out to people...

4. Join the conversation

As you discover things through your work, put it out there. Share your ideas, opinions and processes. It's beneficial for you to be able to articulate what you're doing. You'll find that writing and talking to others helps you process your thoughts and ideas and builds your communication skills. No matter what part of the business you're working in, those communication skills will help you, whether it's talking to clients, team members or managers. If you can't explain why you did what you did (whether it be design, code or management style) then why should anyone listen to you–how will you stand by your decisions when questioned?

5. It's not about you

In design, and often in development, our work is for others. We design/build things for other people to use/consume. Think of the people who are going to be using what you're creating. Put yourself in their shoes. Open your mind to other ways of thinking or perceiving. How you do things or perceive things is not the only way.

6. Learn to say no

When you start out in your career, I encourage you to say yes to many things (read #2 above). Try working on different projects and with different people. But as you progress through your career and gain experience, be selective with the work you do and who you work with. This is your career, your life, your time - you can't get any of it back once you use it. Work on projects that you get excited about. And work with people who value your contributions and respect you.

7. Be nice

It should go without saying that you should be nice when working with and meeting new people. Be considerate and courteous, listen to people and really give them your attention. Contribute to the conversation and debate ideas but always do it in a respectful way. Opportunities come from the connections you make. The people you work with and encounter are just as important–sometimes more so–than the work that you do in your career. You may have great ideas but you will always be remembered by your character.

Also, defend against those people who aren't being nice to others. This is OUR community. Help to cultivate an environment where people are accepted and encouraged.

8. There is no right way

There are incredible people in this industry doing cool things all the time. They've found their voice and their way of doing things it's worked for them. Don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. It can be hard, especially when you're inspired by others in this industry but do you. Cultivate your ideas, find the tools and processes that work for you. Everyone has their own voice and their own way, including you.

9. Have a life

It's so easy when you're working in this industry to constantly read things, do things, try things and stay connected. Many of us sit at a computer all day and when you're inspired it's hard to step away from that. But it's equally important to step away and live your life. Spend time with your family and friends face-to-face, go out into nature and enjoy non-digital life, talk to people outside of this industry, TRAVEL!! The things you do outside of work refuels you, recharges you and inspires you. It will clear your mind and soothe your soul. Being a more well rounded person will help you in your work and in your career.

10. Be grateful

This industry changes fast and you're always looking for the next thing to tackle or the next project to work on. But remember to take a moment every now and then to be grateful for the opportunities you have and the work you're doing. There will be challenging times but if you love working in this industry, remember to enjoy it and appreciate it. We are lucky to be living at a time where design and technology work together and where we can produce things so readily and share it with the world.

Good luck and reach out–we're here to help!

Sometimes it's not about the end result but about knowing that you tried and attempted something. Maybe it works out. Maybe it doesn't. Better to know than to always wonder.

It is extremely difficult to give an accurate definition of design. And those of us who work as designers often get lost in the everyday business and process of it that we forget the true power of our work. In this talk, Frank Chimero gives us a more acute definition of design (from way way back in time) and reminds us what it means to design. We have the power to delight our audiences, tell stories and nourish our lives through this practice. Most of us become designers for these reasons, and that can be forgotten all too easily as you meet deadlines, work with clients and pay your bills. We need this reminder every now to remind us why we do what we do.

Frank discovers, a most accurate definition of design from Aristotle's writings:

Design requires some degree of cleverness, technical know-how, skill, craft and art. Frank notes that "logic breaks when we work with people." What he means by this is that technology operates on logic, but the systems we build and the things we want to communicate with design is meant for people, and people are not logical, they're emotional. It takes more than technical skill and logic to design. It takes cleverness, heart and empathy. Designing with data only gets us so far. It makes sense for logic and for business to work from data. It's very scientific and it makes sense. Often people don't understand design; they understand data and logic. But the most important and impactful designs and discoveries are such that because they delight people on an emotional level. They resonate with them because it hits them in their gut or in their heart. It elicits a reaction. That can't be designed based on data alone.

Frank Chimero's talk makes you fall in love with design all over again.

"City of Immigrants" follows Lena Brodsky, a 14 year old Russian Jewish immigrant girl newly arrived in New York City in 1907. She is faced with the challenge of supporting herself and her family, dealing with labour issues for women in the garment industry and her increased need for independence as she outgrows adolescence.

I've been working on this project for the last year with the wonderful folks at EFS and it's been as rewarding as all the others. I am still in love with the idea of leveraging technology and games for education. It's an innovative and fun way for students to learn some difficult concepts and really delve into history and story telling. It's one thing to read about history but it's another to get a sense of what it felt like to live in that time, and Mission US gives students just that.

This particular mission is close to my heart because it takes place in turn-of-the-20th-century New York City. Firstly, I love NYC. Secondly, I love history. It's been fun to go back in time and consider the life people lived back in 1907.

As with all the other missions, we worked with a lot of historical references...

It was important to ensure the character designs were appropriate for the time, so the hair styles and clothing was important to get right.

As NYC was ripe with new immigrants, we wanted to capture the different ethnicities of the characters. In the game, Lena meets other Russians and Jews in her community, befriends an Italian girl, and meet white, Protestant Americans at her work in the garment factory.

Rosa's family are immigrants from Naples, Italy.

James Poole encounters Lena to talk about her work at the garment factory.

The game environment was built in 3D and although our characters were designed in vector form, the combination of the two works quite well.

Each character illustration started with a character description and their storyline in the narrative of the game. Some reference material was collected for each character. Historical characters, especially, needed to be as accurate as possible to their real life counterparts. For example, this character illustration of Clara Lemlich, a leader of the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York's garment district in 1909, was based entirely on one of the few portraits that exist of her.

Photo of Clara Lemlich

Character art of Clara Lemlich

For the fictional characters, including Lena, I took the reference material and the character description to outline a sketch of the character. Some sketches are detailed, some are less so capturing the pose of the character more than the details.

I then take my sketch and the reference materials into Illustrator and draw out the character in vector form.

To get a glimpse into my illustration process, check out this time-lapse video of the Rosa character illustration.

The character vector art is then sent to the folks at EFS to check for accuracy. Some back and forth may be required to get things right, but generally it's good to go.

For the major characters that the player encounters, a talking head was created from the vector art. For that several different expressions for the face was created and various lip states which was turned into a talking head. The different states and expressions was turned into a spritesheet which is used in the game engine for use in the dialog. This allowed us to bring the character to life using different expressions at appropriate moments in the dialog. The character talks and blinks giving it a more life like feel.

A unique character in this mission was the character of Isidor, Lena's baby nephew. He doesn't talk but he does what babies do - he doesn't sit still and he cries. So the character art was created as well as a small animation of him crying. You only ever see him carried by his mother Sonya.

Here is a shot of some of the major characters for this mission...

And some minor characters that you come across throughout the game...

I had fun creating the cast of this game. Bringing character descriptions to life and seeing them in action in the game is incredibly gratifying.

You can check out details of the game and play it at mission-us.org.

Onto the next mission!

Designing For The Elderly: Ways Older People Use Digital Technology Differently
I've been thinking a lot recently about designing for seniors and this Smashing Magazine article gives me plenty to think about. It's a really interesting topic and one that I think we'll consider more and more as web and interaction design matures. Interactive design involves thinking about your users and your audience. It's important that we design not just for our peers or our generation but for the whole population, especially when it comes to the products and services that many people need/should use. Older people may be slower to adopt technology but they are adopting it and are willing users if we are considerate enough to include them.

Short Documentary of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
As part of the Women&&Tech team, I encourage a more inclusive view of people working in technology, and that includes women and people of different backgrounds and cultures. This short documentary about Grace Hopper is an incredible look into this amazing woman who did amazing things at a time when the barriers to women were much more and much harder to break down. Her contribution to history and computing should be remembered. She was a trail blazer who didn't even think a trail needed to be made. She just did the work.

Illustrator Pascal Campion
I love illustration. I'm always inspired by an illustrator's point of view and how they look at the world. I recently discovered Pascal Campion's art and I am in love. I love it's whimsical, childlike love for all things ordinary. His work delights in the small every day things. They tug at my heart strings. The stories he tells with one image is both personal and universal, beautiful and purposeful, fantastic and ordinary. He's been doing "A Sketch A Day" for over 10 years and still continues. Check out his tumblr here. 

There's some truly magnificent pieces and I didn't capture them all in the photos below. If you're in or around Toronto, check out the show. It opened this past Thursday, November 13th (to a packed opening!) and will run until November 19th. Be sure to check it out at The Black Cat gallery at 2186 Dundas Street West.

Limited edition screen prints are available - contact me for details.

Image by Toronto Design Directory