Sub/Conscious Meanderings

After reading another blog about the upcoming show, I was appalled by the severe lack of design finesse professing to search out America’s top designer. So…I wrote a quick email expressing my distaste.

I find it intriguing that a reality show supposedly searching for “America’s Top Graphic Designer” has little concern for how it represents itself visually and yet expects to attract the aforementioned top designer. The identity is, at best, sophomoric, with a weak concept and definitely not an “out-of-the-box” execution.

For an industry that prides itself on allowing for clear, simple communication, the website does not provide a complete picture of the competition itself. For example, who are the sponsors and why would the winner want to work for them? How much of the $50,000 is cash vs. prizes?

Cheryle R. Reynolds, the founder and producer, is not even a registered member of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA), the largest professional association for graphic designers in the United States. Her 20 years of experience in the industry have definitely not instructed her where to find the best designers, as primary and “cutting edge” design centers like Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco are not included in the audition locations.

The most compelling concern is that “America’s Top Graphic Designers” already have amazing careers and would in no way submit themselves to any kind of farcical and inaccurate depiction of their treasured profession. The mere idea of this show is offensive and will only demean and dilute the value of excellent graphic design.

The insightful truths of Keith Olbermann.

So I finally heard from the gallery this week. The exhibition is October 20-31. I’m excited, but also a little stressed. I still have quite a bit of work to finish up, but things are close. I’ll be preparing the poster/specimen for press this weekend. I’ll also be taking my camera with me to catalogue the printing process and the exhibit, so look for those images soon. I’ll also have printed samples available after the the 20th, so if you’re unable to attend the exhibition and want one, just email me with a current address and I’ll mail one out. Unfortunately, printing specimen books ended up being more costly than I anticipated, so I’ll have a pdf available on my website.

I’ve received two notices within the last two days that I’ll be featured in two publications: 1. Graphis New Talent Annual and 2. Design School Confidential, by Stephen Heller and published by Rockport (I’ll keep you posted when it’s available). Between the two publications, 10 of my 12 classmates will also be featured. I’m just a little excited. Woohoo!

Typhotheque, a foundry based in the Netherlands, just released a pretty ingenious system of display fonts that span the course of type history. It’s called History. Check it out.

The time is rapidly approaching for me to show my stuff. Daphne: Unreciprocated Love is finally scheduled to hang at the BYU Harris Fine Arts Center at the end of October. Now the time crunch begins. Knowing how I respond to tight deadlines I’m hoping that this will motivate me to get more done than what seems humanly possible. I’ve still to set the kerning, design two posters and the specimen book, then get it printed and hung. I’m hoping to have invitations ready to go out by next week.

That’s the sound of nearly two months flying by without a single post. So here’s a quick update about what I’ve done. The move went very well. Austin and I are pretty settled now, with lots of odd jobs in the queue. We’ve already made new curtains, a table cloth and place mats. The next project is a little more daunting–find the right old chandeliers to hang in the living room as a gothic/modern blended sculpture thing. Needless to say, it’s still in the planning stages.

Work is treating me rather well also. We’ve been swamped with projects and the days have been a little longer on average. After an excellent three-month review I received a pretty comfortable pay raise that will help with the repayment of student loans. Hint has also hired a new designer, one of my former classmates and now my “underling”. He’s very talented and it’s a new challenge for me to manage another designer.

I’m finally wrapping up my BFA and might have an opportunity for distribution sooner than I anticipated. Daphne, formerly Marua, has nearly 500 glyphs and supports many languages I could never hope to pronounce, read or otherwise understand. But they sure do look pretty. I’m finalizing some programming things to make the final font functional. The goal is to have everything completed by the end of the month. (Fingers crossed.)

Austin started school this week, so my sleep schedule has been interrupted by NPR at 5:30 a.m. Not that there’s anything wrong with NPR or 5:30 a.m. I’m sure I’ll start to get used to the early mornings and fill them with some new project.

As of 10 July 2008 Austin and I have re-addressed our living arrangements. We’ll now be living in a marvelous house (converted into a triplex) upon on Capitol Hill. We’ll be officially moved-in by the end of the month. Woohoo!!. And here are some pictures of the empty house. I’ll post more as we get things settled.

Ebbs and flows seem to appear in every aspect of my life. The last few months have been eventful and transitional with so many new and interesting things happening, that I have neglected to acknowledge how wonderful the humdrum can be. Moments of ‘silence’ really do help me appreciate the ‘sound’, and they offer more clarity of purpose and mind to digest the ‘sound’.

I tend to identify myself—as I think most people do—with the stages of my life that are filled with change and ignore the times when monotony dominates. But, just like the changing times, the monotony can be filled with positive experiences. So however boring or short this next portion may be, I thought I’d highlight the simplicity of my life right now.

8:30 wake up and get ready for work
8:50 ish leave for work - I walk every day
9:15 ish arrive at work
9:30 emails have been checked, daily schedule established, and I’m ready to get started
12:00–2:00 i usually have lunch between these hours, it varies every day
6:30–7:30 head home from work. this also varies
6:45–7:45 arrive home, give Austin a kiss and hug
the rest of the evenings are usually filled with mindless activities like watching movies, cooking dinner, maybe meeting friends if it’s closer to the weekend, playing games, and reading about type. (I still can’t get away from that part of my nerdiness.)

Jenny would probably call me ‘borarlo’, which translated means boring arlo. Which reminds me, I have a whole series of adjectives that apply only to people named arlo, I’ll have to post that another day.

And there you have it, my humdrum life.

After a brief hiatus from design outside of work, I’m back with some updates to Marua. I think she’s shaping up rather nicely, but of course still needs some touchups. I’m almost to point where I feel comfortable designing support materials for the exhibition. As things get produced I’ll make sure to post updates.

I think there’s enough promise for Marua that I’ll be including a couple weights and an italic. These additions are probably a few months away, but plan on it.