Why I prefer vinyl

Vinyl records are the best because:

  • The music sounds better — it just does, end of story.

  • The music feels bigger — CDs are too small and digital doesn’t physically exist.

  • The music is expensive — which is the point.

  • The music is on a shelf — it’s right over there, and will be when the apocalypse comes.

  • The music requires more work — it’s physical, and the extra work to get to the music is a perfect counterpoint to the ease of online streaming.

  • The music becomes visible — you can see it spinning, round and round.

  • The music is a memory — and you can feel it.

  • The music tells time — like a sundial.

  • The music is commitment — like all good things.

  • The music asserts itself — of all the stuff at your fingertips, you’ve chosen these to exist with you

  • And the music doesn’t deserve to be rented.

The Anthro Classes of Our Office

Thinking recently about what makes our office work, I came back to this classification of the Nebraska Creative Class put together by Tom Trenolone of daOMA. There are four in all, of which, our office has three:

  • Justin is the Stalwart Native

  • Jake is the Pioneer Traditionalist

  • Adam and Anna are the Inquisitive Imports

Taken altogether, a force to be reckoned with. Alike, but different. Very much Nebraska, but so much more.

I LOVE NU

New work for the University of Nebraska:

I don’t know where I’d be without the university. My time in Lincoln as a Husker was extremely formative. Full of smart stuff, dumb stuff, growing stuff, changing stuff, etc. Being pushed. Challenged. Getting out of my comfort zone on a scale that was big. Still Nebraska. Still a city I was familiar with. But different. This place of higher learning was where I learned, lived, and started my path to where I am today. I owe it a lot. And I won’t forget it.

Midwestern Meh

If you’ve lived and worked in the Midwest for an extended period of time, you know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen it first hand and have had to navigate how much to let it go and how much to hold someone’s feet to the fire.

Midwestern Meh is very real. And it bites like a motherfucker.

There you are. Doing your job. And someone who has been hired to work with you in some capacity simply doesn’t live up to expectations. Not even that, they stink. And worse still, they think you won’t notice.

But of course you do, because anyone with eyes would notice.

They think it doesn’t matter because this is the Midwest and things just don’t need to be that nice here. So what’s the big deal anyway?

Turns out, lots.

If we’re all cool with Midwestern Meh then what in God’s name is the point of all this?

I’ve experienced my fair share of Midwestern Meh the last couple years. And I am getting sick and fucking tired of it. I think you are, too.

Years back, I read an article about the percentage of a project that turns out as expected. In this particular designers’s view it was about 87%. Which seems right. Remember, this is the real world of budgets, opinions, timelines, talent, and any number of externalities that happen because that’s what life is.

In terms of a percentage, Midwestern Meh is in the 40s.

Whether graphic designer, architect, web developer, video producer, etc. We are all capable of Midwestern Meh if we don’t put in the time. We must do the work. No way around it.

To all the Midwesterners who phone it in because they think no one will notice, trust me, everyone notices. And there are going to be consequences.

Step ya game up, bud.

— — — — —

PS. If you happen to not be familiar with Midwestern Meh just think of East Coast Fuck It but more polite and way more bush league.

KEXP Office Radio

All day every day. We love the music, we love the DJs, we love the mission, we love all of it. KEXP has fueled my design career since the beginning. Stop into Round and Round and you can pretty much expect it to be on, loudly. To learn more about why it means so much to me and the team, check out this nice article on the most important independent radio station in the world:

Can Music Heal Your Mind? This Radio Station’s Mental Health Programs Aim To At Least Try.

One of my biggest mistakes

Is that I gave too much consideration to what is said rather than how often something is repeated. My approach to life has been one that operated with the incorrect assumption that what is said is the most important thing to care about. But I’ve recently come to realize, probably because of social media, that anything can be said, what really matters is how much it’s said.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. That’s how shit gets done.

Frequency over novelty.

The new thing gets forgotten while what’s repeated becomes dogma.