We lose out in the fragments

When the short reels of Seinfeld clips find their way to me, I feel the love in those 10-15 seconds for sure. Why? Because those seconds are drawn from a significant amount of input.

I’ve put in tons of time with full episodes over many years and it’s bearing a LOT of fruit.

Those clips mean way less without all the time put in.

From a recent interview with Michael Stipe in the Times, there’s a quote from some kid about how he loves only a small bit of a song. 10-15 seconds maybe. That idea bothers me so much. Why do we need full songs when we can just have the hook?

Put as plainly as I can: kids, we need full songs!

As everything gets compressed into fragments, we miss out on a fuller understanding, fuller joy, fuller intensity, fuller jokes, fuller whatever else.

If you watch a 90 minute soccer game on fast forward you aren’t able to feel the beauty. You get to the “good bits” quicker but they mean less. There’s no build up.

Without the buildup and release that follows, the experience is diminished. It’s weakened. Made cheaper. We lose out.

A small corner of a masterpiece isn’t worth as much as the full work. The process that went into the masterpiece adds more layers of intrigue and delight. How it fits into society adds more. What’s the audience reception? That adds even more.

A fragmented life is less fulfilling. We miss out on so much if we only take the hook and leave all the other bits behind.

Adulting.

It’s a drag. Everybody knows it. The responsibility, the aging, the bills, the exhaustion. Yes, parenthood is incredibly hard. Your body losing its luster is not fun. Living these days costs a lot of money. And keeping it all going really wears you out.

Being an adult, it’s such a bummer.

However, there is also light.

If the Internet is always pointing out how terrible adulting is, often giving only one side of the story, we’re more likely to be all distraught about actually being an adult.

Rather than going into the existential benefits of getting older, I’d like to call attention to a couple WINS associated with having more time on this Earth. Here goes:

1. My T-shirt wardrobe is really super solid these days. Bands, politics, graphics, etc. It’s very good.

2. I’m super stoked on my vinyl collection. It’s not huge, but it’s very good.

These things only happen with age. Accumulation, memory, choices, taste, curation, joy. The addition of all that makes for a great end result. Vinyl and Ts! They make me smile. And it’s because of adulting.

Take that, Internet.

Being an adult is a complicated endeavor. There is darkness, but there is also light. And I’m choosing to shine it on a couple superficial accomplishments, both of which I owe to being an adult.

With that said, now I gotta go, the school called, and the kiddo is sick.

Awareness Isn’t Enough

We can no longer raise awareness for a cause and expect anything to change. Awareness is not enough. It can be a start. It can be a catalyst. It can keep the fight going. But it’s not going to lead to change on its own, especially in America, where polarization, misinformation, suspicion, and contempt for each other are so prevalent.

There once was a time I thought all we had to do was tell enough people and people would do the right thing. I no longer think this. Over these last two decades the people have been made aware time and time again and in far too many instances, nothing has happened. Nothing changed. A dangerous or deadly status quote kept in tact. Often exacerbated.

Yes, keep fighting. But with a clear idea of what does what. Awareness has a place. It’s a tool in the kit. It’s not the end. Maybe the start. And then keep going.

Break It Down: BOTH SIDES

The “Both Sides” argument moves in as reassurance we have a national dialogue one could call functional. It’s cover for everyone to look at our politics and say, yep, everything is okay. Both things are not true.

If the extremism of the right is just the other side, then it’s not that out of the ordinary. If the lying, cheating, and gaming is talked about in the same breath as normal political hyperbole then the lying, cheating, and gaming must be normal too.

Whataboutisms dull us. Our efforts to make imaginary scales balanced weakens us. When we soften language as to not offend those sliding into authoritarianism we give the tyrants cover.

Not calling a fascist a fascist is leading us to fascism. An insurrectionist vs a politician is not the same. We can act like it is right up until the final boot on our necks or we can open our eyes.

When politicians say “both sides” they’re trying to justify unacceptable behavior. When our media leans on “both sides” it’s a lazy disservice. When citizens find “both sides” to be the answer to maddening questions we let the madness fester.

If we are on a quest for balance, “both sides” must be the way, we tell ourselves. When we do this, we stop demanding policies to help address our modern, very American problems. Problems that are fixable, but only if we act.

And when we don’t act, once again, the fascists win.

I have a real job, but also, not really

What’s my super power?

Gum.

I mean, working whenever I want how I want to.

That’s my super power.

Which in the American sense, I suppose I don’t really have a job-job.

And having to now join the ranks of the millions of Americans who have to put their kids through school while navigating a sub system built as an add-on to a capitalist economy that really doesn’t care about that education sub system even though the education part feeds directly into the economic part, I have to say it all is quite stupid how misaligned these two parts are.

At least I don’t have a real job even though it makes enough money to call it work. Because if I had to work 8–5 every day at a physical location I’d be real pissed at how the country at large seems to hate me as a worker.

I have a luxury many other Americans do not.

So why does this infuriating system continue to exist?

It’s probably because of money.

Which sucks.

The most important software in my career since Adobe Illustrator

When I figured out how to use Illustrator, all those years ago, it was a game changer. As in, now I felt I could finally play this graphic designer game and learn how to play it well. It was like my arms reached into the screen and became one with what I was doing to those pixels. Mind, hand, mouse, creation!

It’s been a long, long time since that feeling of excitement. It’s not that I’ve been let down by Illustrator in the years since, it’s just become common. And I tried to do everything I could in it; logos, posters, share graphics, infographics, websites… All of it!

But now, I have that feeling again.

Figma has delivered. It’s just so light and airy. Again, I feel I’m reaching into the screen, taking ideas from my head and manifesting them into pixels. It moves at the speed of thought. It jumps with me. It opens quick, it loads quick, it keeps pace. Click-click-click-GO!

And I can invite you to join in the speed of light. Collaboration in real time. Enough passing files around just waiting for something to get corrupted. Enough!

It’s just a design program. Yet another tool. More software. But my oh my does it hit. With Figma, I can feel not only the design but the possibility without the program itself getting in my way.

And for that, I say thank you.

Two Design Insights

Over these last few years, I’ve landed on a couple key design insights. I haven’t always believed in them, but these two insights have become something I strive for:

1. Cut out what’s not needed. Anything that doesn’t serve the core task at hand (designing a website, a logo, a graphic, etc.) has to go. Maybe it’s the mood board phase, doing sketches first, creating a complete guide of visual rules, whatever. If it isn’t part of the work-work, it’s gone. In place of all that stuff, I listen, tap into my expertise, iterate, and get to where we need to go with everyone who needs to be there.

2. I want the client to be really happy. Because I want the client to really want to use what I make. Not simply convinced. I want them into it. To be stoked. To want to wear the thing all the damn time. If that means I lose some of my preferences, or even design industry standards, then fine. My peers aren’t the ones who stand by me and my work and push for that work to be seen. The clients are. So they get what I can give them, always.

Where I used to hide behind certain processes, now I just get to work. And where I gave too much deference to what I the designer wanted, now the client is top of mind.

Do these insights ensure everything goes smoothly? Sadly, no. But they have made my work better and more effective at what it’s tasked to do. Which is to design things for people.