Word Poem #5: An experiment in human typography
These word poems are part of my Human Typography Experiment. An effort to revitalize appreciation for the ordinary.
Serene Wheat
Word Poem #4: An experiment in human typography
These word poems are part of my Human Typography Experiment. An effort to revitalize appreciation for the ordinary.
The Cynic in Me Experiments: Thoughts on Design
Retro Taco Train on magazine
Lately I've been experimenting with taking my personal work from the digital realm to the physical. The irony of this strikes me because the work I've been exploring handwriting (human typography) and dealing with it as imagery rather than written representation.
Lonely Creepy Private Comfortable Train on magazine
It bothers me that someone can only look at my work – I want people to interact with, touch, and be able to look at my work from different perspectives. As a designer who has made a career out of creating things digitally, I understand what a complete cynic I sound like when I say that digital design feels empty when it isn't paired with some sort of tangible design.
More on this another time. I'm heading back to my sketchpad and cutting board.
Yum Taco Night-Out Obesity Bong
Word Poem #2: An experiment in human typography
These word poems are part of my Human Typography Experiment. An effort to revitalize appreciation for the ordinary.
Lonely Creepy Private Comfortable Train
Word poem #1: An experiment in human typography
These word poems are part of my Human Typography Experiment. An effort to revitalize appreciation for the ordinary.
Reflecting Forward
I'm not typically the type of girl to create a long (or even short) list of New Year's Resolutions. In general, I feel like creating of a giant list (or small) of things I'm not allowed to do that year is simply setting myself up for failure. A few years ago, I read an article that found people who write down what they want to accomplish are more successful in accomplishing their goals than those who don't. So for the past two years, I've posted a short list of items I'd like to achieve in the upcoming year. Sometimes I hit those goals and sometimes I don't, and I'm okay with that. Last year I wanted to:
1. Find my style 2. Learn letterpress 3. Apply to grad school 4. Learn something new about myself
I accomplished 2 out of the 4 items on my list. I wasn't able to learn letterpress because I started a job 4 days after I moved to San Francisco, and I didn't apply to grad school because of timing (and that one is going to be re-recycled for this year). So here's the list for 2012:
1. Draw and design for myself
Two years ago (was it really 2 years?!) I embarked on a 365 challenge to create 1 design per business day for 52 weeks of the year. I only made it through August, but didn't consider it a failure because I learned quite a lot about myself as a designer and artist during that time. Designing without any direction forced me to evaluate design choices, cultivate creativity and learn more intimately about what I was passionate about.
2. Blog more
This one relates directly to the goal in position 1. The more I create for myself, the more I will blog. Regardless, I've been feeling a lack of personal creativity in my life lately. Here's to banishing that in every way possible. (Image from Stefan Sagmeister)
3. Wear more dresses
No matter how many sequins I wear, I'm a tomboy at heart. I grew up around mostly boys and loved every minute of it. Not because they were cute, but because I loved sports and a good competition. I remember begging my cousins not to "go easy on me" because I wanted to be treated as an equal. However, with my semi-new pixie cut, I have a new-found desire to come across as slightly more feminine. Thanks to a vintage/thrift-store shopping trip with a great friend, I have a few new girly-girl dresses that are just slightly out of my comfort zone. A great start to this goal? I think so. (Image from On The Racks)
4. Apply for grad school
I know. You've seen this one enough, but this year I'm serious. A Master's degree has always been un-questionable for me and I'm not getting any younger. Now that I know we plan to be in the Bay Area for a while (and not New York or London), it's time to start getting serious. Really serious.
I'd love to know. What are your goals for 2012?
A Hiking Weekend
This weekend, after a few months hiatus, we went hiking.
Since moving to California nearly a year ago, we've enjoyed taking advantage of the diverse geography (hiking, wine, ocean, etc), but without a car, and primarily public transportation at our disposal, hiking has proven to be slightly more difficult than when we had a car and were living in the south bay.
On Saturday we rented a Zip Car and headed down Highway 1 past Pacifica, to the McNee Ranch State Park. We were kind-of celebrating my birthday with this hike (I know, I'm a sick person to choose physical activity for a birthday celebration) so my husband allowed me to select the trail. A sad mistake for our bodies.
I chose a 'strenuous' trail (ha!) thinking it would be closer to moderate for us — we're more in-shape than the average person, right?. Turns out, strenuous (defined as demanding or requiring vigorous exertion; laborious) was actually closer to difficult (defined as not easily or readily done), but the views were amazing. We hiked from sea level — literally from the ocean — to nearly 2000 feet in about 3.5 miles. It was painful, it was crazy, and it was beautiful. At one point, we were able to see the ocean and the East Bay at the same time and San Francisco was a glorious peninsula separating the bay from the sea.
We also enjoyed a beautiful Sunday evening along Embarcadero in the city. While the Golden Gate Bridge is the landmark of the city, I argue that the Bay Bridge (and surrounding area) is the most beautiful.
