Whether standing up for women’s rights, for truth, or for the need for the nation’s kids to feel safe from gun violence when they go to school, there is no shortage of issues that need our attention.
In that 2018 setting, I took on a packed schedule of work, projects, writing, and collaborations. What follows are the projects outside of client work designed to move the needle, in whatever small way. Because it all adds up.
Brad Ashford, a Nebraska Democrat, was my congressman in 2014–16. He ran again in 2018 and everyone assumed he’d make it out of the primary. That was not the case. He lost to a more progressive candidate. A woman named Kara Eastman who brought new voters into the fold. She ultimately lost to a vanilla Republican named Don Bacon. He’s not a terrible racist like other House Republicans but he did vote to take health care away from millions of people, which is the main reason I despise him. I very much wish Kara would’ve won but NE-02 has been gerrymandered all to hell since its electoral vote went to Barack Obama in 2008. Republicans here, like the national party, are into rigging the system in their favor. In just this last election they got term limits on the ballot for Lincoln’s mayor, an office currently held by a Democrat. It passed and now the guy, Chris Beutler, who has led Lincoln into the 21st century with a big, bold vision can no longer run. Just goes to show you, today’s GOP, no matter where you go, is full of anti-democratic partisan hacks who either cheat or change the rules to stay in power. The whole party is fucking horrible and every last one of them should never be voted for ever, ever, ever again. #VoteDemocrat
This year’s SHOW featured the best graphic design work in the state. Designers entered, they were judged by three tough critics, and if lucky, they won an award or two. JKDC won three this year. One being the highly-coveted Judge’s Choice, awarded by Lakota graphic designer and advocate Sadie Red Wing.
Many thanks to AIGA Nebraska for putting on another great event. They always do such a nice job.
See you next year!
What am I passionate about exactly? According to my interview with three design students from Seattle, it goes like this:
He loves design as a tool for making things happen, especially for the things he believes in, which means supporting his community and actively engaging in aggressive politics. Even better is the fact he gets to go through it all with his lovely wife.
On National Voter Registration Day, in advance of the 2018 election on November 6th, Wide Eye launched a poster challenge:
… a broad cohort of American designers have gathered together to produce original works to help GOTV (Get Out The Vote!) and inspire people to the polls on election day. Voting and civic engagement have never been more important, and design and art have an important role to play. All posters below are shareable, downloadable, and printable on a Creative Commons license.
... as we sang out with the earth ... quiet, then loud ... loud, then quiet ... under the black sky as a human so small, so insignificant, so unable to effect much in the grand scheme of all these things. earth, sky, universe. at once a bright shining beacon, at once someone so common place, at once moving off into the twilight, at once an after thought. here we all were, an established group of stragglers, spouting off to and fro, out into the world landing where we landed without much of a second thought. and then we were gone. separated into the infinite void of space and time and memory. can you paint a single picture of your existence? do you even want to try? what will you force into a drawing you can actually read from a distance? what happens when you zoom in? are those lines refined or are those lines rough? what happens when everything explodes? from the big bang onward, how did we end up here? are we being looked after? are we crafting stories to put something up there overhead? does it comfort us? my alphabet never felt all that complete. it wasn’t enough. if it ever becomes enough, i’d be worried. these aren’t the times to be getting complacent. write your stories because they’re all we ever will have. write them now, and then be gone!
At long last, the graphic design studio practice of JKDC is now offering select screenprints for sale online. Available for purchase through an online store, accepting payments via PayPal, and shipping by way of USPS in a sturdy tube. Check it out now, come back every so often as new prints become available. All profits go to the JKDC self-initiated project “fund.” Enjoy!
