Choose Your Heroes Wisely
I wasn’t always the immature, middle-aged man I am today. I was once younger. Yesterday, for instance. Having ideals is key to defining yourself as a person. Having heroes helps guide you to...
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Home Again
As I write this, I’m returning to L.A. from a 5 day visit to my hometown – Queensbury, New York. Calling it my hometown is a marginally truthful claim. My parents, my siblings, and I were born in Rhode...
View ArticleGrateful
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The food is great, but that’s not why I love it. It certainly isn’t football or parades. Thanksgiving is a holiday that celebrates the introspective act of...
View ArticleReality TV Comes to Twitter
This Thanksgiving weekend, many were entertained by the exploits of Elan Gale, a holiday passenger on a delayed commercial airline flight to Phoenix. Elan’s foil was Diane, a fellow passenger who...
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What Does it Take to Be a Graphic Designer?
I was speaking with my sister Diane recently. Her son – my 13 year-old nephew – Carter has said he’d like to be a graphic designer. I believe I’m the only graphic designer he knows, so I’m flattered....
View ArticleChange the Date?
In The Guardian this past Monday, British expatriate Martin Pengelly bemoaned the American method of configuring a date. To much of the world, the day is primary. To them today is 18 December 2013....
View ArticleSuper Bowl = Voldemort
I am not a football fan. I may not even watch the Super Bowl today for the commercials. I can see its obscenely expensive, Hail Mary sponsor’s commercials Monday morning if I want to. But in spite of...
View ArticleThe Airbnb Logo’s Vaginal Birth
Overheard at Airbnb’s San Francisco headquarters: “Um, guys? Do you think that we’ll be accused of adopting a vagina as our symbol?” “HA! So you’ve never had sex with the lights on? Or was your...
View ArticleA Little Knowledge Can Ruin a Relationship
The very talented Graham Smith – aka the Logo Smith – posted an essay about the frustration of a dissatisfied client. Graham is one of the best logo designers working today. He was understandably...
View ArticleHello Jony Ive – Re Type
Hello Sir Jony, Of course you don’t know me. Like millions of others – designers and appreciators of design – I’m a fan of your work for Apple. But this is not a fan letter; this is a note about...
View ArticleLong Live Rhythm & Hues
Hollywood has changed so much in the almost 25 years I’ve lived in Los Angeles. The demand for skilled digital effects artists and designers brought me here. I was not alone. With demand came...
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Dear Louis CK, The Forum and the form.
Dear Louis CK, My wife Danielle and I were at your LA show at The Forum on January 11. We had great arena seats, 4th row, aisle, far right of the stage. I loved being able to see Todd Glass at the...
View ArticleConsider the Cloud
Is the Cloud an apt symbol for offsite storage and web-based tools? I don’t think it is. The cloud a visual cliché has been part of our visual vocabulary for a long time. But its meaning has evolved....
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Give Me a Sign
As a graphic designer, I do not sign my work. But when I had created 9 drawings in my new Comics of Comedy series, something clicked. My illustrations, cartoons, comics, have always been more...
View ArticleMy $5 Strategy Sale
In my time working in marketing and design, I have seen buzzwords posing as business trends come and go. Generally these trends involve renaming something you were doing already, and proclaiming your...
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“Which Way to the Hospital?”* or H as in “Huh?”
On XK9 and campaign brand identity – This presidential sweepstakes season I plan to limit my comments to campaign graphic design. Not ideology. Not policy. I will also do my best to keep those comments...
View ArticleSee Ex Machina
I have a new favorite film. Ex Machina. I have a new favorite writer/director. Alex Garland. Garland has crafted on of the best stories in cinema. Ex Machina really is that good. It explores our...
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The Comics Comic & the Comics of Comedy
Last month Sean McCarthy of The Comic’s Comic interviewed me about my illustration series Comics of Comedy. Sean had seen the celebrity retweets of some of my drawings. Patton Oswalt, Jim Gaffigan, and...
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