Finding moments of joy
I really do try and find moments of joy in my every day life. It’s not easy, often, with the way the world is and the usual pressures and demands, but it’s still important to me to try.
When I was in Berlin last week the breakfast room had an automatic pancake machine. Reason enough for a moment of joy in the morning, all by itself. Even better, though, was my first time using it.
On setting no alarms
Yesterday I caught a video on the Awwwards YouTube channel by Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Co.
Draplin is an incredible, and prolific, graphic designer working out of Portland, Oregon in the US. His designs have punchy power, big colour, and vintage sensibilities and I’m a huge fan of the graphic design work he does for a whole range of impressive clients. He also does amazing work for friends, family, small-league businesses, start-ups, and, as he likes to say, “little guys and underdogs.”
On where I take my brain
I am fortunate enough to have a home office in which I do most of my work. It’s set up to be a space that works well for me and that I like spending time in. It’s got 1000+ books on the wall, a sofa, pictures and art that I enjoy looking at, a big desk with a big monitor, lots of stationery tucked away in drawers, and lots of technology stored in nicely labelled crates in cupboards. It’s a great space for all kinds of things. Writing emails? No problem. Having Zoom meetings? Fantastic. Doing technical design work? Go for it! But it’s not a great space for creative thinking and for a long time I was struggling to figure out why.