Take time to notice something.

I think this can go back to the old simple saying of "stop and smell the roses."

Most of us can lead some pretty hectic lives. Work, family, commuting, friends, hobbies and the countless things that can go on within each of these areas and combinations of said variables. That in of itself can produce some crazy moments in our lives. Often these moments end up more like spans of time, much to are chagrin.

So while we hop between these different variables we already have little time to smell the roses already. We are doing something unprecedented in human history. We are able to fill these spaces...these pauses in our day with more stuff. All thanks to technology, more specifically the mobile device.

Let me say this. This blog is not a "Technology is ruining us and making us worse people. Smash your iphone immediately and go live out in a forest and be one with nature" type of articles. I love technology and it is amazing. It often gets hated on and falsely blamed for things that are simply out if its control or even more simply. It is the future...and people are scared of a future that is different then their present.

We are constantly inundating ourselves with more stuff. These small pauses in our lives are being filled with surfing the web, connecting, sharing etc etc. Now this is all good and bad. Again...maybe this is the wave of the future. Maybe people are evolving and peoples brains 50 yrs in the future are different then ours currently.

But as of now. I do believe these breaks in life are very important. I am convinced that these pauses are when we have our best moments. We tend to notice things a lot better when our attention is not somewhere else. Maybe it is a book idea, new painting perspective, an improvement to a system, invention, music etc. It is funny, how often do we have some kind of great idea or perceived great idea while we are taking a nice hot shower. Why? Because we are having a break! Our mind gets to wonder and take advantage of having nothing to do.

We should try our best to not fill all the pauses in our day. You never know when your first or next big idea will come to you. It would be a shame if you missed out because you were trying to fill a boredom gap in the day.

Stop and smell the roses...enjoy the pauses and notice something.

Sometimes the idea sucks.

An area that I find creatives struggling with is the topic of good or bad.

Just for example sake, let us look at creating a brand, writing a story or creating a piece of music. That way we have a breadth of "creatives" to talk to since we have all been there...no matter what you do creatively. Knowing if what you are doing is good or not.

My best piece of advice is to make it public, publish it, show it on the internet...exhibits etc. No one gets to decided what is good or bad. People/consumers...aka the market, gets to decided what is a good/bad idea.

You could create the most beautiful piece of art, music, what you think is awesome logo or creative writing piece. But if no one else likes it...is it actually good?

This is where we start to dance around the bigger question of...are some creations inherently good regardless of what people think. Yes and no.

Just the same...just because a lot of people likes something does not mean it is good.

"But you just said..blah,blah,blahblah."

I know, it is a bit of both.

I do believe that certain creations...stuff that is truly unique, things that changed the way culture does/sees things...something paradigm shifting. Those have inherent qualities for whatever reason that will forever make it good and very hard to slip through the cracks of the market. Mozart's music, The Mona Lisa, Evard Munch, Shakespeare, Hemingway, Socrates, Dickens, Picasso, Einstein etc. These people have created unique things, ideas, positions, art that never existed before them.

"So just because it never existed before and now it does means it is good?"

No, of course not. But those same people also had the market on their side. Not only did they make something new but that new thing was wanted/needed.

This is why I say we do not get to determine what is good and bad. It is up to everyone else to let us know if sucks or not.

So we must make our work public and get as much feed back as possible. That way we can determine if the idea/thesis sucks.

The hardest part about this is patience.  Sometimes the timing is poor and the market doesn't like it or need it now but maybe they do in 5,10,20 yrs. Sometimes it takes awhile to get enough eyes on it. So waiting, learning and understanding feedback is very important.

Now some amazing stuff will slip through the cracks. Shit happens and the chance you are next ground breaking artist,musician etc is slim to none (sorry).

The hardest part for many of us is simply putting our stuff out there in as many spots as we can and getting feedback to know if we can hack it. This is all up to you and what you do. Learning how to feel things out etc.

Keep making awesome stuff, keeping publishing and let the market decide what is good.

Just enough is more.

Everyone has heard the old say, "Less is more.". There are some amazing truths and things to take away from that statement. Not just as creatives but as people in general.

Now as much as I tend to lean in agreement with that statement. Since there is a beauty, a refinement and elegance of designs that are simple. Showing ultimate refinement and control over computational elements. Apple being a quintessential example of how simplicity and restraint is used boldly and elegantly at the same time to communicate effectively. That thesis is pervasive in everything they create.

After reading an essay by the great Milton Glaser. He is quoted as saying, "Just enough is more." He understands that not every solution out there requires the bare minimum of elements. There seems to be a misunderstanding that just because something is"busy" it does not mean that it cannot show refinement, elegance or restraint.

Sometimes you need to open the flood gates open more. The voice and the message is what is important, what is trying to be ultimately communicated. Communication is not always clear, it is often noisy, cluttered and disorganized. Rough around the edges...often having a hand crafted appeal that makes communication so individual. (Why I think hand lettering and styles as such are growing in popularity.)

It only makes sense that some people will have different voices and in need of having to say their message differently. People often have a hard time disseminating aesthetics elements from gestalt principles. For example, lets look at a grunge or punk band. Aesthetically speaking, they will look as such. Loud typography, tons of texture, clashing colors/patterns...this type of look often doesn't please the vast majority of people (which is good). It is lacking the restraint and refinement of Apple. Often times, these aesthetics are still well designed, great organization, hierarchy of computational elements and communicates very effectively. But....what if they still broke those base guides?

Then maybe that message isn't for you. I believe it is very ok to understand who you are trying to talk to and communicate with them how they like to be. It is expected as such in marketing 101 kind of way.

After all, who decides what is good and bad design? We create and build something that fits the need. They public/consumer gets to decide what is good regardless of "our good tastes."

Use enough elements to say what you have to say, not the minimum amount...just enough.

Perfectionism is killing you.

I always thought that with my creative projects that I was a "perfectionist". That everything had to be just right in order for me to call the project finished. Embracing it as some kind of quirky creative character flaw that seems to follow most people in this community.

As I started growing in my understanding of self, I found out that this perfectionism was killing my growth and was simply an excuse to not ever finish work and start more.

Perfectionism is fear.

I will draw this example to show you what I mean. Let us take a fine art piece I begin working on. I start getting to the fine tuning end of the project, the final details so to speak. I used to not be able to stop picking at it and call it "done". Tons of creative artists never "finish" projects. When you call a project finished, that means that it is open to review...open to criticism. Most of our egos are pretty fragile and we like to keep it as safe as possible.

By not ever finishing anything and when we run into criticism, we can simply say, "Well it isnt finished yet...." This protects our ego's from the stones of opinion that get tossed at our work. Work that often we pour differentiated levels of ourselves into. The ol' blood, sweat and tears.

We want to take this thing that we have created and protect it...protecting ourselves from the reality of what other people think.

This inability to deal with 3rd part influences or criticism keeps our growth at bay, from truly tapping into something great that we have to offer our community.

It is our duty to finish our work, whatever it may be. Mark it and label it as finished, that way we can send it off into the world for further review. Maybe everyone hates it but then again..what if they don't? Often times, the success is more daunting than the failure, since failure is often expected and success isn't.

Finishing work lets you get started on more and repeat the cycle. Increasing your chance of finding something that is worth doing, something that matters.

Stop making it perfect and finish it.

Creative services taboo topics and a thank you.

The secret is knowing your worth.

Something that always seemed to be a taboo topic in anything creative was the topic of business/money. I grew up around artist, mostly fine artists and a lot of my influences come from that community. It is all too common to hear about people "selling out"...you know...god forbid you get a job and pay your bills or put yourself in a better position for the future.

For some reason, you can only get paid for your art if people want to collect it/buy it.

But as soon as you collect a paycheck...that is frowned upon.

Now we have to make a living somehow and I can understand to a point about "selling out". But we have to take another look at this. Especially for those of us who work more with businesses, companies, organizations and people outside of our community.

Never in my entire career as an "artist/designer" was I ever taught about the business of design. It was one of those things I had to learn on my own. In college I did not have to take one business class nor was I pushed to take any. It was always about my studio time and humanities etc. God forbid I learn how to earn a living.

So after school I was flying by the seat of my pants. Trying to work on establishing my career. I started getting some work and I had no idea how to price my work. Fine art or design. The hardest part was finding out my worth. Charge too much or too little and you can not get a job, just the same...you do not want to charge too little and try to scrape together a million clients to pay the bills.

Now I started to slowly to put things together and make something of myself through much trial and error.

I found a resource that I wish I had found in college. I stumbled across a youtube channel called "The futur" @thefuturishere

their youtube channel

Created by:

• Chris Do @theChrisDo
• Jose Caballer @josecaballer

These guys break down the business of design and creative services. Learned some new tricks and tips myself. I cannot thank these guys enough for what they do and the value they are bringing to the taboo topic of money.

Anyone who is in school for creative services, wants to be or is...needs to give some of their videos a look. You wont regret it.

Learning how to make a living should not be kept a secret and TheFutur is paving the way and dropping knowledge bombs the entire way.

A favorite designer of mine.

Massimo Vignelli is in my list of top 5 designers, easily.

Now, I know...that is like saying, basketball players have a lot to learn from Magic Johnson. Obviously they are great and recognized as such. But it would be a huge misstep to not acknowledge the influence that they have had on not just my development but on the entire craft itself.

When I was younger, still in high school. Like most designers, I did not understand the full implications of typography and how powerful it is. I readily skipped over it in favor of illustration every time. I watched a well known film "Helvetica" which gave a discussion of not just the specific typeset and its history. But also addressed designers who did and did not use it, their work and the importance of type in design.

The film (at the time) seemed a bit boring, was type really that important?

This was the start of need to learn all about type. I got into college and started my design studies and I did not know where to start learning about type. With the help and direction of some awesome professors I dove headfirst. Low and behold, in my first type class we watched the same film "Helvetica". It was that much more interesting at that point in my life. Such a great film and only gets better. (I may watched it probably 2 more times throughout my life.)

In that film Vignelli had a huge part in the narrative. He is considered to be THE best designer for Helvetica usage. His designs showed the entire breadth of creativity and type usage. Even though he considered only about maybe 5 types were worthy of any usage at all. And he seemed to mostly use 3.

The usage of white space, scale, color, type/layout.....was just amazing, groundbreaking and ultimately legendary.

He was able to communicate so many different things while showing such restraint all whilecreating some dynamic iconic designs.

I refer back to his work time and time again in order to better my own type setting skills. To try and learn from one of the very best is always a great way to learn.

If you are already very familiar with his work.....then go back to it...take notes...study it, if you somehow aren't....do the same.

Go near the fringes.

Whenever I start a new design or project I do my best to tackle it from every angle I can imagine that way I have many different looks to use in my development of the design.

Having many different points of references allows you to pick the best solution for the problem you trying to solve.

Now what do I mean by work with the fringes. It means taking the design principles you learned and pushing them to a limit that often you are not comfortable with. One of my favorite examples of this is scale.

Scale can be such a powerful tool when used properly in your ability to tell powerful, convincing and dynamic stories. Scale is the size of an element as it relates to its usual physical size. The ability to use the size of elements on a plane to dictate the narrative is a next level design skill. Everyone loves drama and what is more dramatic then large elements juxtaposed against small elements. But there must be a rhyme to the reason or else you are risking the loss of computational fluidity.

I always take the element I am using and make whatever is important really big....like uncomfortably big. Just to see where the fringe is. You would be surprised at how many times what you thought would be too big is actually in the viable realm of use.

Just the same when it comes to making elements small. Scale objects down till they seem too small. This is helping you define the usable spaces around and how you will tell your story.

From here on, you will find that it is a juggling act of scale comparisons. The bigger things are, the more dramatic they seem, almost like it is shouting at you. Just the same small things are often just a whisper and sometimes can be missed altogether.

This is not to say that something large cannot be soft but it is all about the relationship to other elements.

You will also start to see that compositions that often have all the elements roughly the same size are boring, unresolved and bothersome. Now, there are often exceptions of course, we must take into account the reason for the design in the first place. But generally speaking, scale is something that really brings it too life.

Be daring and create some drama.

I can get down with this.

The design community is subject to the cycle of trends just as much as any other community. I hate trends and think that they lower the creative ceiling. (At least being a slave to said trends).

One of my favorite things going around is custom lettering and attention to typography. It seems to be almost a fight against the many years ruled by the king Helvetica. Now do not misunderstand. I love Helvetica and use it a decent amount myself. But it is great to see a change coming to the current status quo.

Many hand lettering is done on paper, sketching out letters, inking and refining the lines. Then importing the finished letters/type into Illustrator and vectoring the logo making is crisp, clean and highly usable since it is now a vector. Now you have all the tools available to you in the digital realm to make changes and edits to further explore the mark you are creating. All while preserving the handmade look of the original drawing at the same time. 

This really speaks to my background. I grew up drawing and am pretty handy with a pencil and pen. So being able to combine these two worlds to create unique logos and types is really a dream come true.

To see larger companies start embracing this look and breaking from the blocky, sans serif type choices is refreshing.

I would love to see this not as a trend that is destined to die. But more like another tool to add to the toolbox. Offering another look and possibility when working on brainstorming sessions.

Stay coachable.

Much of my life was spent behind a canvas (of some sorts) or on some kind of sports field/court.

So much of my time was always occupied with coaches and teachers. It doesn't matter what you are trying to learn. Whether it is how to properly observe and record perspective on a 2D plane or if it is trying to learn the proper timing of a jab step pull up jump shot. They all seem to take the same thing to learn.

Lots of hard work, quality practice and good listening. If you do not have one of those qualities then it will be hard to learn a lot of things. At that point you are simply getting in your own way.

My biggest takeaway is to stay coachable.

The moment you think you do not need to practice it or you know it already or do not think you need to put the work in. That is a main driving moment people stop progressing.

My high school volleyball coach did not know a ton about the finer aspect of the game. I came into a team that had some great athletes and I was a freshman that had been playing club and been around the game for just about my entire life. I could have been a huge ass and tossed my knowledge around like an arrogant know it all. But I didn't. I kept my mouth shut and learned something different from my coach. How to be a good leader, how to communicate better, passion and intensity, team building skills etc etc All of these things I would have missed out on learning if I didn't keep my ears open. I cannot thank my coach enough for teaching me how to be a better teammate, person and man.

How many hours with a pencil do I have in practicing human anatomy? Countless. How many hours do I have spent running sprints, practicing my shot, serve or any other skill? Tens of thousands of hours. This kinda of work ethic mixed with a constant want and ability to learn something new is what keeps driving my skills forward.

Even this day with so many repetitions and hours under my belt. I still learn something new..sometimes from the most random of places and people. But if you do not leave yourself open, then those things will surely pass you by.

Where it all started.

Everyone at some point ends up asking me where it all started with my passion for art and design.

It was my grandmother.

She loved art...especially oil painting. It was her hobby that she spent years developing. Taking classes, practicing, reading books and continually learning. Even till she was into her 90's!

From a young age, grandma loved to share her art with me. It was something fun to do with her and bond over. We did not live super close so I always would draw things and mail them to her religiously, showing her how much I have learned and how much better I had gotten.

She was the first one to tell me that I would grow up to be an artist of some sorts.

The never ending support she gave me to do what I loved to do is what really stoked the flames. At a young age I found myself in love with art and doing it now for myself.

She was always sending me old boxes of art history books, photos of her work (or actual work) art contests to try and of course materials to practice with. She continued to support me till the day she passed away.

If it was not for her, I have no idea what I would be doing now. Not one clue. It seemed like I knew that I was suppose to be doing this since day one.

Thank you gram' for everything. I love you very much.

Shout out and a thank you.

I think it is super important to recognize people that influenced, taught, pushed and overall helped us progress further in whatever cause we are chasing for.

This shout out goes out to Fabio Sasso.

Firstly you can find him at.

http://fabiosasso.com/

http://abduzeedo.com/

He is the founder of abduzeedo which is a responsible for helping, motivating, connecting and inspiring millions of creatives around the world.

He is by trade a designer, product designer and art director with just a stupid (in a good way) amount of talent and years of hard work to back it up.

Years ago I found myself looking for new tutorials on how to learn Photoshop better. I stumbled across the abduzeedo tutorials page where Fabio and other awesome knowledgeable designers had amazing tutorials to help anyone looking for something new to learn. I probably went through just about all of them one by one, step by step, trying to recreate the style or effect.

I learn by doing and this was perfect for me. Being able to take advanced techniques and with some growing pains memorize and keep them as my own bag of tricks.

I cannot emphasize enough doing tutorials, even if you think you have a pretty good grasp on things. Even reading through them I can pick up on tips, tricks and moments to keep in the ol' tool chest.

From there I explored the rest of his page. His links to other artist, creatives and companies...connecting people all over the world. Sharing ideas, information and art/design etc...it was amazing. I spent so many hours going through links and exploring the awesome web of creatives across the globe.

So simply said, thank you Fabio (I hope you find this some day). I cant thank you enough for what you have taught me.

Discipline > Inspiration

There is an ongoing pervasive trend throughout any community which requires hard work. This idea of constant need for inspiration and motivation.

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not here to say that these two things are not vital in our search for well, anything. But I am finding that many people are using these two ideas as the foundation for where they build their house.

Much of the life lessons that I have learned from have come from either my studies of art and design or from the world of sports and performance. Many have built some kind of false dichotomy between these two. That they are incompatible and offer little to know understanding between the two. But I would like to humbly disagree. The people tend to be pretty polarizing and at face value of no use to one another. There is so much more to the two groups then what we like to believe.

One of the major ways that these communities are almost exactly alike is their use of motivation, inspiration and discipline.

Social media is overwhelmed with every piece of content available to us through every available platform, absolutely chalk filled with motivational pieces; photo's, quotes, videos, blog posts and everything else. Some can light a fire so hot under your ass that you feel like you can jump over mountains. It can be pretty sickening and almost nauseating at all of it.

This being said in full understanding that we are all in different places in life, that we all require different things at various stages in our lives. Which is super important to understand. But I continue to say this,

Inspiration sucks it isn't your friend and often will get you no where.

Discipline is what drives the engines, which keeps you going even when gas is on E. Everyone that I try to learn from in my studies has overwhelmingly one thing in common. It is simply that they do not rely on motivation as their foundation.

We have got it backwards. Lets take a look at building a fire.

You start with small flammable pieces of wood/paper/etc, things that can get caught on fire easily. Like a match. We all know how fast a match can burn out tho, almost just as fast as it was lit. We have to quickly add other things to it, building up volume and mass for the fire to catch till we are slowly adding branches, then cut up limbs then eventually logs.

These types of fires are the ones that burn all night or even longer. Just like our own work capacity, we want to be able to burn for a long time.

The beautiful thing about these types of fires is that even the morning after and all you are left with is coals. These warm coals can be quickly turned back into a fire with some oxygen. Add some small pieces and you are back in business.

Just like anything we work super hard for in life. You need a strong base of discipline. Something that you work at and practice daily. That way if the flames ever go out or you are in fear of them doing so. All you have to do is add some inspiration (oxygen) and you are back at.

All to often people start something with just a match. They don't add anything more. There is no substance to back it up, nothing left to burn once the motivation is gone. People hit a cycle of striking another match just to have that burn out too. Rinse and repeat for any major goal.

Add to your spark and make it a glorious blaze. That way even in you darkest, laziest, uninspired moments you can find solace in being able to add a touch of motivation to send it ablaze once again.

The lost art of drawing.

Before anyone gets too upset, just hear me out. I came from a fine art background so I am trying to be as unbiased as possible. I'll will let you be the judge of that.

Let me say this first.

So for the most part I have always been able to draw or use whatever is in hand to illustrate. With more years under my belt I have grown my skills and have gotten to a point where I feel comfortable being able to draw well...anything and do it well.

I believe this gives you a bit of an advantage when it comes to design. There seems to be no better way to understand the concept of form and space then trying to recreate that object on a plane. For example, being able to study how the human body is put together, how the skin sits on the muscles and gets wrinkled at curtains places and proper proportionality of anatomy.

All of these observations take place in the eye and brain. Taking mental notes trying to learn. But ask someone who cannot draw to visually show that information they just learned. Even if they spent an hour studying just the eye, they would only show a poor representation of what they had just studied.

Why? Do we forget what an eye looks like? Well of course not. But we have not practiced the forms. Many of us have to learn by doing, especially something that relies heavily on observation. We have to use our hand to practice laying down lines over and over again till we start to build whatever we are observing on the paper.

This repetitive practice of using these physical motor patterns and nerves firing help us learn these forms in a better fashion. That is why the vast majority of designers who have a background in illustration have awesome understanding of the basic gestalt theories already. Why? Because they have to, it they didn't then they would most likely not be very good illustrators.

Practice recreating forms and experimenting with space and volume. Teaching your eye not to just obverse but to be able to reproduce it down these physical pathways. Eyes have terrible memory so it is up to us to ingrain the motor pattern so that our brains are more in tune with this fine detail and level of observing.

I took a summer art class when I was younger and my teacher said,"Drawing is 90% observing." Which makes sense. Look carefully and thoroughly so you can properly understand the shape in front of you.

Draw more, people.

Helping myself

There has been one thing that has helped me the most in my search for growth as a designer. It is pretty simple

Do more work and make it public.

I always thought that I was a perfectionist growing up. That I did such little amounts of pieces and work because I always wanted it to be perfect. But in the recent years I have learned that that is a bunch of crap.

I was and am.... scared.

When I was younger my sketchbook was always filled with finished pieces mostly and not ideas. It was filled with things that I would be proud to show people if they thumbed through my book. I was scared to have anyone look at stuff that wasn't good, that wasn't finished and that didn't show my skills. There was some kind of irrational fear that showed itself as perfectionism. 

There was a moment where I became a bit more self aware about my own growth as a person and designer. I was stagnant and boring...there was nothing being added and I professionally suffered for it (hell even personally).

So I decided to do more work...and show people. I made a online portfolio and an Instagram account along with some other platforms to showcase my work. It forces me to continually do more work, practicing, trying new ideas trying to better myself. But most importantly I have it public. For all eyes to see, to judge, to like, to not like..to comment etc etc.

This helps to keep me honest. To slowly build a body of work that represents who I am as a designer and person.

Hopefully this lesson doesn't come too late for me. Hopefully any damage done can slowly be mended as I try to "Quiet the lizard brain." Seth Godin. And do my best to be proud of my work.

So my tip to anyone out there. Do more work....and show it.