Sub/Conscious Meanderings

This beautiful home has been added to the wish list. All you rich people who have money to throw around, please send some my way.

Prime Objective 16 is to publish Graymatters, a periodic publication that serves as an incubator for ideas, a sounding board for rants, a celebration of excellence, and a laboratory for typographic experimentation.

This post is the first article/essay in issue 1. The plan is to have periodic articles posted here and on a companion blog, that is yet to be designed. In the end I’d like to have each edition printed and sold, but we’ll see if that get’s off the ground.

A manifesto seems appropriate at the start of this particular new venture. This manifesto does not propose to become the source of a revolutionary new art form or political movement, nor does it assume its existence will make any significant contribution to the history of the world. Its only supposition is that of individual quality—specifically of thought, of passion, and of action. I applaud those who govern their lives by these three quintessential human qualities and seek to associate with them. However, a decrease in their apparentness within modern society has created a need for resurgence.* Too many careless wanderers have taken the places of mindful laborers. Mediocrity rules where excellence once did. Rather than accepting complacency with bowed head, I propose a return to creative existence; a return to self-initiated value of integrity and virtue—not dictated by another man’s conscience, but by my own. No longer will I be weighed down by anything other than my own expectations.

Thought, passion, and action have recently become the driving forces in how I approach most things, not just design. The interplay of these three attributes, properly balanced allow for immense growth. As I look back on times when I have felt a great sense of accomplishment, these three have been perfectly balanced.
Each corresponds to a part of living: mental, emotional/spiritual, and physical. The three are dependent upon each other and I upon their collaboration. When one outweighs another, I find myself less than my best. Their order is important also. My father used to say something that has stuck with me: “Thoughts lead to actions, actions lead to habits, habits create a character, and character builds a life.” The most key part of that process lies within thoughts to actions. Thoughts initiate passion which drives action, and the subsequent sum of actions create a life. My aim is to create one worth remembering.

Graymatters is intented to serve as a creative outlet for all three. First, and foremost, this publication is intended to be thought-provoking, both for me, as the author, and for whatever readers are persuaded to pick up a copy and peruse. Second, Graymatters provides a source of exploration within my passion for design, and more specifically typography. Third, I hope that in some way, Graymatters will inspire another to follow their thoughts and passions and act on them.

*A friend of mine, after reading this, commented that perhaps, it is not so much a decrease in the level of quality in the world, but more likely an increase in my recognition of what has always existed—that quality is rare.

Unfortunately this is not a report of some debilitating disease from a lab test gone bad that spreads through the population like wildfire, turning people into zombies. This is just me taking account of my inability to write a blog post. Kinda pathetic really. But it’s a turning point, even though it’s taken me a few days shy of a month to post the results of the beginning of my 29th year.

I’ve decided that New Year’s day is no longer January 1st, it’s September 29th. Technically (at 8:01 p.m. MST), that day is when a new year of my life begins. The number 29, for some reason or other has taken on a level of importance that other advents have not. Perhaps it is because I turned 29 on the 29th during 2(00)9. Regardless of the reason, I’ve selected 29 goals that I’m calling my Prime Objectives. (Cheesy and lame, I know. Make sure to comment about that. Lol)

In the end, I plan on improving the quality of my life over the next year, and the Prime Objectives are the means.