Today is #GivingTuesday. A global day of giving where we can support some of our favorite nonprofit organizations who are out there doing good work day in, day out. The Union for Contemporary Art is moving into an exciting new home in north Omaha. Bold Alliance is taking action to build tiny solar barns to stop the Dakota Access pipeline. Nebraska Appleseed is looking to raise $50k by the end of the week. Hear Nebraska supports artists and helps shape the state’s growing reputation as a cultural destination. Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance improves children’s health through healthy homes. And KEXP, well, they are simply amazing. Remember Omaha Gives! 2017 is scheduled for May 24th.
AIGA Nebraska! What!
Once a year Nebraska’s chapter of AIGA puts on an exhibition and celebration of the most outstanding design work in the state. The event is called SHOW. It’s always a good time. In the wonderful new space at KANEKO with mighty fine burritos from Maria Bonita and beer from Brickway. Running into fellow designers doing great stuff out here on the Great Plains is always a highlight of the evening. And this year, ole JKDC won big:
GOLD + Judge’s Choice: Joy Formidable Poster
GOLD: WE Appleseed Poster
GOLD: AO* Branding
Silver: Made In The Neb
Bronze + Judge’s Choice: Lincoln Calling
These are all projects I’m really proud of. They were done for some wonderful clients and I’m glad to see the work recognized in front of our design community.
MEX > OMA: Enrique Norten
Design Alliance Omaha is back with one of our signature lectures. This year we welcome Enrique Norten, Mexican architect and principal of the design firm TEN Arquitectos. Projects as places where senses and meanings are accumulated: planning and scale, the architecture and its objects, the city and its complexity.
I do love a good, thought-provoking lecture from an esteemed architect. One constant is the multiplicity and action in public space, as the bridge, between people and their environment. Quite an impressive set of projects. Taking place the day after Election 2016. I’m expecting the mood to be celebratory.
Special sidenote. It’s the 10th anniversary of Design Alliance Omaha. To everyone who has ever attended a lecture, Pecha Kucha OMA, or generally advocated for design in the middle of everywhere, we’d like to extend our gratitude. We couldn’t have come this far without you.
Enrique Norten
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
On holiday (almost)
The campaign was launched successfully. The building mockups were sent off. The data graphics delivered, photography is close. The band lineup has been updated. Final round of logo options made. Rally signs did the job. Site QA about complete. Content for all states almost in. Second round poster concepts coming together. B-roll videos need just minor tweaks. Weird hosting issues almost resolved. Stationary designs approved. Need to send event logo. T-shirt designs are pretty much there. Should spend more time on the brand evolution. Get those social graphic templates going. Lineup those meetings. Then the icon suite. Then the community promotion. Then launch all those sites. Then this, then that. Yep, holiday is almost here. For now, 2 more days in office, then time for a little recharge. Then back at it.
I didn’t want to have a boss and I didn’t want to be a boss
6 years ago. Long time. A lot happens in 6 years. Presidents are elected. Students graduate. Startups sell/fail. Books are written. Cities feel more like home. Friends move away and some come back. Things you thought would be something aren’t and other things you didn’t think would make it become quite notable.
6 years. That’s how long it’s been, grinding away at this independent designer game. When it began, I had no real plans for longevity. I just sort of started, and luckily, it keeps going strong. I wasn’t sure how long it would stick, if the work would keep coming in, or if I’d continue to enjoy independence given all its challenges and short comings. The only thing I knew at the time way back in 2010, after 7+ years of agency design life, was that I no longer wanted a boss and I sure didn’t want to be a boss. I mean, c’mon, we all know there’s only 1 Boss anyway.
At this point, I do know I’m certainly looking forward to another year. More Round & Round, more Action Backed, more Omaha. All very enjoyable in their own right. After another year, who knows. I’ve never been able to plan too far out. I’m more of a 6–12 months kinda guy. As long as the work is inspiring, challenging, and continues to do some good, I’ll probably keep at it. Design/Activism/Collaboration has its benefits. To keep a better work/life balance, I’ll probably just take more vacations. And try to hit that 30-hour work week goal.
6 years. Worth celebrating. If you don’t celebrate life’s little milestones, what’s the point. So tonight, I’ll be sure to toast to all the independent folks out there who keep kickin’ the tires and lighten’ the fires. Those who keep grinding away and making it happen in their own unique ways. It takes a special kind of stubborn, with the right balance of humor, perseverance, and zest.
Cheers!
The Work Archive
The ever-evolving presentation of my core online web presence—the JKDC portfolio site—has just pushed a small update of note. The Work section of this site, which showcases the primary function of my day-to-day (client work), has been given an archive.
Since I launched this site, “Work” has always included everything, for the most part. A timeline of my career of cause-focused design. From 2005 until now. But as with anything that involves a decade, things pile up. So starting with some stuff from 2012 and going backwards, I’ve made a little Archive. For the oldies and the goodies. Still there, because I still see those projects as being very important to the formation of my design practice, but less emphasized so what’s on the homepage is more current. And a little more representative of the types of projects I’m really wanting to do more of.
The Work Archive, full of unbridled youth, bright-eyed optimism, and a healthy disregard for the “right” way to do things. Enjoy!
Add Your Helpful Tips!
Tiperosity is a tip-sharing community for smarter living. It’s where helpful people share what they know to help make every day life a little bit better. At least, that’s how the people behind the idea see things.
As one of those people, I’m really proud of the product we’ve built over the last year. Led by Nathan Preheim with the dev guys from Human Shapes, it’s been a focused side project that has come together well. A solid product of 7,000+ tips, 20,000+ Twitter followers across all accounts, and some great content continues to be added to our Tip Lists feature.
Product aside, I’ve been very pleased with the process we’ve used to get to this point. We established a clearly defined product road map and then we just started designing and building. We utilized a milestone-based approach so we could easily reprioritize to solve issues or create features we hadn’t originally planned for. From requirements to design to development, there’s always been lots of back and forth with each feature being very team-created. And since this isn’t our full-time gig, we’re able to do only the work we think is really needed. We aren’t trying to fill time or find things to “fix” because we have a bunch of money to spend. Instead, we’re very scrappy and that keeps us highly efficient.
High level, in the mix of projects that can be going on at any given time; client work, community involvement, or artistic experiments, I feel it’s key to have a startup partnership included. The time percentages can be a little tricky, but working on a focused product requires a unique kind of thinking. It’s become the space to hone objective ideation skills and try to get better at recognizing what long-term success looks like from the vantage point of very early stages.
What long-term success looks like, we have some ideas on that. Though with any startup, there is a lot of steady uncertainty. For the time being, you can expect interesting lists on a variety of topics to go with our beautiful bits of wisdom. And if you’re so inclined, create an account to start adding your helpful tips to the site. Enjoy!
