Thoughts From the Dirty City

Just wanted to let everyone know the new site design I have been talking about is finally up. I would love to know what you think!

You can check it out at: www.dirtycitydesign.com

First there was in vitro babies, next on the list, in vitro chicken nuggets. No, really. I’m not kidding. Scientist have spent years working on a viable meat substitute that is in fact meat. Last month in Norway in international symposium met to discuss the issue. With the world facing a food shortage crisis the new science of “growing” meat in a lab instead of the farm seems to be the solution of choice.

The ecological effects of farming for meat are well known. Not to mention the countless ways the end product can end up containing any number of diseases. Meat grown in a lab would eliminate all of the nasty side effects of farming for meat, as well as producing a safer product for human consumption. They are even talking about ways to eliminate certain types of harm full fatty tissue and incorporate other more beneficial fats like Omega 3.

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So I got signed up to get a quote sent to me each day. I’m not entirely sure how I got on the list, but I figure since they aren’t trying to sell me anything I might as well keep getting them. Not to mention the entire email is never more than a sentence, even I can handle that much.

Today’s quote was: “The best ad is a good product” from Alan H. Meyer. It was the first quote I had gotten that actually applied to me and my daily life. Usually they are proverbial nothings like “A good appetite never wants sauce.” Is that supposed to mean something, cause if it is it was lost on me.

Anyway, back to Meyer and his musings. I have only one thing to say to this guy and that is “shut the truck up.” I say a great ad is all you need.

Especially if it is designed by me

Graphic Design is an ever changing battlefield of technology. With new software, high speed internet connections that you can carry with you any where you go it is easy to forget the methods of old. You know, before Adobe or even Quark got their mitts on the industry. Designers used to actually draw, with like pencils and markers. Remember mixing rubber cement and thinner to get it just the right consistency?

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I think a Ninja stole my creative mojo this morning while I wasn’t looking. Some times I wake up and I can feel the creativity coursing through me, mostly I just hit snooze and wonder how anyone is suppose to feel “artsy” before the sun comes up. Some days are worse than others, days like today for example. I have been rearranging the same four images for almost two hours trying to make something happen. Well maybe I am just killing time, trying to LOOK busy waiting for some motivation (inspiration) to find me. I would never actually admit to the latter.

There are lots of tips out there for reclaiming your creative steam. There are countless sites, forums and blogs devoted to this subject, proving that I am not alone in my artistic malaise. I have to admit it is rare that any of these sites actually help do any thing more than kill time for me. So I wonder if these little tips are helping other designers out there. According to the forums they are life savers. To me, that insipid complementing is even more frustrating than the initial lack of creative spark.

I have been giving this a lot of thought today, considering the gusto I have for my current projects. I have come to realize a few truths about me and my work habits. These aren’t things that will inspire creativity. This is just a list of things I have noticed about my work habits, and some of my favorite ways to pass time on the odd days that I can’t find my creative footing. My top ten in no certain order:

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A note to all office employees,
I know you are being polite, and I am not trying to minimize your efforts at being a good samaritan, but seriously for the love of god stop holding the door for me. Every morning I get to the office and about half way between my car and the door someone spots me and decides to be nice and stop to hold the door for me. I know it sounds like a really nice gesture, and I am sure I should be thankful instead of resentful but it really isn’t helping me in any way shape or form.

It always happens when I am just far enough away that it would seem rude to continue walking at my normal pace. Obviously said person at the door is a nice person, one that holds doors open for other people, so I don’t want to be rude and keep this person waiting. But each morning it seems that before I have even finished my coffee I am jogging in dress shoes. In all honesty a door is not that hard a thing to open, and it isn’t like I am caring arm-loads of goods from my car to the door. It’s just me, my bag and my coffee. I am 100% sure that I am proficient enough at being upright as to remain that way while opening a door. And if I do happen to fall, or have a mishap I wont blame you, and it will certainly be entertaining.

So please, I beg you, don’t hold that door. Just turn and smile, if I am really that close give the door a toss to keep it open while I head in. I wont think you are being rude, I promise!!!

I have already discussed my passion for for fashion and color here, pointing to Pantone, one of my favorite places to garner inspiration. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered a side project/website from Pantone called myColor myIdea. The site features celebrities from a wide variety of fields with their idea of the perfect color and the inspiration for that color. Nothing as exciting as the color report I mentioned in an early post, but a nice added bonus to the mid-season doldrums.

I am convinced I must have fallen asleep at my desk while waiting for the clock to strike 5. It must be a dream. While perusing the list of celebs that have put their stamp on the Pantone page of fame I had to do a double take when I saw Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Executive Vice President & Artistic Director at OPI on the list.

Anyone that knows me, knows I have an unnatural obsession with OPI nail polish. For some women it is shoes, for others it is handbags, for me it’s OPI. I suppose I should be thankful seeing that shoes and handbags can go for several hundred to several thousand $$ and nail polish is only $10 a bottle. Each season I pick my new favorite color and it usually doesn’t leave my fingers until a new line comes out and a new favorite is discovered. Thankfully that happens every season so I never have to wait long.

And wouldn’t you know it, her favorite color, it’s red. My very first bottle of OPI was OPI red, and it is still one of my top five favs. I feel I must also mention my beloved “Lincoln Park After Dark” my favorite from the Chicago line that has graced my toes for years since. It is my favorite amongst favorites, myColor -her-Idea if you will. If there were one person I would want to trade polish with it would be Suzi. So seeing her on the Pantone site made my day, thank you yet again Pantone!

This was my first laugh of the day

A year or so I got an email forward. I usually just throw those things away, unless they are the variety that have approximately 10 photos attached and little or no copy, i.e. no irritating inspirational agenda. Attached were photos by artist Peter Callisen.

For those of you not familiar with his work, Peter Callesen is a sculptor from Denmark that works almost exclusively with paper. I think this email chain went around the world twice so I am not going to go into a lot about Peter. However, his work is amazing so if you haven’t seen it you should check it out on his website.

I looked through the pictures, googled the name, checked out some of his other work, and pretty much forgot all about him. Not because it wasn’t interesting, quite the contrary. You know how it is with these email chains, they appear in your inbox, knock your socks off and then disappear beneath 20 image request, ad deadlines and (on a really good day) proposal requests.

While at work this week desperate for some spark of creativity and motivation, reading the latest from HOW magazine I noticed a small photo that looked very familiar. It was an article about the growing field of paper artists. I originally skipped over this article thinking it was yet another “ad” for some new fancy mill creation. These always just remind me of the limited budgets most of my clients have at their disposal. I am so glad I kept this magazine around and happened upon this photo.

I had no idea there was such a wide variety of things you could do to a piece of paper to make it beautiful! It was just what I needed. If any of you are desperate to while away an extra 20 minutes or so this afternoon, or are in need of some inspiration you can find a copy of article along with photos and links to other talented artists of the papering kind here.

One in particular that blew me away was Chris Natrop.