UGH.
i think graphic design is one of the most frustrating careers to be in because, if you are a good one, you can simply never get uninvolved and just leave it. From the day I graduated I have been advised on the merits of letting a project go, of not getting too attached to the end product and finding comfort in the fact that yes, I did my best. But what good is my best if it only extended to an idea and not the practical application of it? What good are words if they just hang in the air, not bringing with them at most a revolutionary change and at least a slight widening of the eyes?
Sometimes I wish I was a graphic designer with the sensibility of a fine artist, so I could design for myself and not have to worry about target audiences and corporate hoo haa. So I could design for the sake of design and people would appreciate it for the sake of appreciation. Just because it's graphic doesnt mean its devoid of a process or an intelligent thought behind it. You'd be suprrised if you looked at some good designer's work carefully. The amount of soul dredgery put into a regular body of an annual or CSR report is enough to bring tears into someone's eyes.
So what if design is not seen here at the grand scale of life altering ? So what if design is just "something pretty"? A good designer (and yes i use this term
very very specifically) knows otherwise and amidst the curses and anger, feels proud of herself.
monday blues on sundays
i love my sunday and i hate it when all the charm of a sunday vanishes, as the sinking realization sets in that you have a hellish work week ahead.
life of design
A lot of what is happening in my life inevitably gets translated into the design I'm involved with, so much so that it becomes hard to see it come to an end. There's always a funny knot in my stomach at the culmination of a much loved project; it's like saying farewell to a close friend, until something else comes along, which has you shouting deliriously, "On with the new!!"
blank.
buying birthday gifts for people you actually care about is the most difficult thing in the world.
just ONE word
There is this forward going around these days which you are required to send to people who know you (or so they think) and in just ONE word, they have to describe you. So, despite being a non-fwd person, out of sheer curiousity, I did the needful. And some of the results,especially form people who have know me a good 10-15 years now, really made me wonder...
Some words I got back were "rare", "expressive", "magical", "organized", "tricky" and "the eldest". I am still waiting to hear from the others.
curse of the last minute.
no matter how hard i try to time manage, i always end up doing my best work the night before it's due.
early morning crossword
For some 45 minutes on last Friday morning, with a miraculous hour free to myself, I found myself ensconced in a corner of Espresso, with my favourite dawn crossword, a mochacino and a bagel with cream cheese, feeling much like a character in some book in a place not a part of my reality these days.
art for a cause!
no client pressure to put in blues where we want reds,
no mental blocks to come up with taglines that rhyme,
no fear of whether it will be accepted or rejected,
this one's simply about artists, designers, thinkers, writers, doing what they do best, to put in their drop into the bucket.
continuing the line of thought and action from
mars' blog, it's time to
draw, design, paint, visually write, print-make, scribble, illustrate, and create for a cause.
more information will be available as details are worked out. suggestions are extremely welcome.
taoo.
on some level, every single day, each one of us is trying to fight some injustice in some system that governs our daily life. it might not be of value to others immediately or directly but it contributes to an overall sense of struggle towards what we call a life lived more passionately, more awarely, more drunkenly and simply
more.
