A LITTLE INSIGHT

Found via Twitter, posted by Slash. The 7 Stages of Design Grief The design process is fraught with self-doubt and second-guessing. I'm not sure there's any cure for it, but if you've ever stared at a blank page or screen and wondered if this time the creative well has permanently dried, just know that you're not alone.

1. Anticipation I can't wait to get started. This will be my best work ever, I'll win loads of design awards!

2. Despair I'm a hack. I have no ideas. This time I'll be found out for sure.

3. Resentment Why do I even try? They'll pick the most conservative concept anyway. And would it kill them to hire a professional photographer?

4. Desperation Deadline looming. I can't show them a blank page! Look through design annuals for inspiration, come away with nothing except "orange."

5. Cynicism More drop shadows, anyone? How about tilting all those photos at jaunty angles and putting "Polaroid" frames around them? No one's ever done that before. (Ugh. I hate myself.)

6. Resignation This sucks, but it's better than nothing. And now I can justify this invoice. I wonder if I can convince them that orange symbolizes "transition"?

7. Acceptance The client liked it! Hey, maybe I don't suck after all. I have been doing this professionally for years.

8. Repeat.

THE NEXT STEP IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

I received this in an email from my brother. Simply amazing. wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

STEFFEN UP THE HILL

And now for a plug for my sister in law who has just started a blog on interior design. Check it out!

seriouly folks

Are we looking at the next Jackie O. or what?

Picture from People Magazine's website.

on a lighter note

I've finally come to my New Year's Resolution. Maybe not so such a New Year's Resolution as a life goal. My goal as a designer is to some day be featured in a national magazine as a "Designer to Watch".

Every year in January, my design magazines are touting the People to Watch in (insert year here), or Trendsetters for (insert year here). Every year, I'm insanely jealous of every single designer featured in those magazines. So really, the only way to cure that ridiculous streak of jealousy is to be one of them.

go away ie6

DearIE6 is a way for Twitter users to say goodbye to Internet Explorer 6. What a great way to usher out such a horrible browser.

Some of my favorite comments include:

• Are you still here? Get outta here. Go home! You heard me. Go on.
• I want those 436.73 hours of my life that I spent debugging your bloated behind back.
• By the way, we broke up. About two months ago. I forgot to tell you.
• It's not me... it's you.

dear onion, oh how I love thee...

Direct from The Onion. America's Finest News Source WASHINGTON—In preparation for the traditional task of welcoming his successor to the Oval Office, outgoing president George W. Bush canceled all his appointments and press conferences Monday so he could spend the day outfitting his desk with a series of traps, gags, and hair-trigger switches. "Oh, man, is he gonna get it," the president said after rearranging the letters on his computer keyboard and supergluing the direct-line-to-the-Pentagon telephone to its base. "If the 44th president is anything like me, he'll grab this can of peanuts to snack on when he's talking to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and when he does—bam! Right in his face!"

Taking his place in a long history of executive office shenanigans that began with President Martin Van Buren's famous sneezing-in-Jackson's-coffee prank of 1837, Bush carefully drafted his personal letter to the next president on White House stationery, filled the envelope with glitter, and then used rubber cement to secure the letter to the bottom of his desk's right-hand drawer.

In what may turn out to be his greatest presidential prank, Bush also has spent the previous eight years damaging the American economy beyond repair and bogging the country down in an unwinnable war with a sovereign Middle Eastern nation.