Growth

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

— Natasha Jen, Designer.

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.

Goodies

The Great Discontent interviews Michael Bierut
I love TGD's interviews but this one is one of my favorites, partly because I admire Michael Bierut but I also found a sort of kinship in his outlook on life and this interview was a nice window into that.

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:

“How long is your long term?

A simple question with an answer that’s difficult to embrace.

What are you willing to give up today in exchange for something better tomorrow? Next week? In ten years?

Your long term is not the sum of your short terms.”

— Seth Godin

Make your unknown known

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.

The Shape of Design | Frank Chimero

I came across Frank Chimero's talk on design at Build Conference in 2010. I don't know how I didn't see this before, but it is such a smart and nourishing discussion on the design that I had to share it! 

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:

“The technical know-how, skill, craft, and art involved in production, manufacturing & making; using good deliberation, understanding, resulting in deliberate desire to be carried out with cleverness.”

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.

"No"

“A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”

— Mahatma Gandhi