Ira Glass said...

"All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work … It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions … It’s gonna take awhile … You’ve just gotta fight your way through."

word.

Project 365

A few days ago I was challenged with the daily task of finishing the statement "I am..." with a short, but creative, response (as if my responses would be anything but). I've been doing it on Facebook and Twitter, but now I think I have loftier goals. I was given no real time frame on this task. It was simply a "Hey, I did this and TAG, you're it." sort of thing. Yesterday (or the day before...who knows as all my days run together right now), I contemplated taking the responses and creating a typographic poster out of it. Today, I've decided to go one further...enter Project 365.

I've seen challenges where people are tasked with taking a photo per day for a year. I like this...a lot. It will likely be the next Project 365 unless something fancier steals my affections. I say "next" because every 365 days I will start a new Project lasting, you guessed it, 365 days. Check out the link on my website to follow my progress.

I am...inspired. What are you?

Things Are Bloomin'

Things are really taking off around here lately. Around every corner is something new to work on and I couldn't be happier or more appreciative. It's so fulfilling to be doing the work you love. I thought I should start getting back in the habit of blogging and putting up shots of what I'm working on...

I've been working with Bloomin' Delights to finally give them a web presence. They have a farm and nursery in Woodburn and sell flower baskets, live wreaths, fresh cut flowers, herb pots and other bits of eye candy at farmer's markets and places like New Seasons. They had a logo they wanted to stick with, but had me recreate it so that we could actually do something with it. The tiny little .gif was a mess to use at anything bigger than a half-inch. While doing so I changed up their typeface and gave them something more reminiscent of what you'd find on the chalkboards of the very farmer's markets they sell at.

I took all of the photos used on the site. On the right is a slideshow of various things they grow from year to year and on the left are smaller shots that simply show a few bits of what they currently have available. I'll be going back to take photos often and switch those up for them. In addition there is a link to contact them and check out a list of what they have available (which changes biweekly it seems).

I launched the site a few days ago and am moving on to other projects. I'm nearly done with a logo for Steel Mountain Electric and will post the result soon.