storm from the east

Happy New Year 2012!

Just a quick post to wish everybody a great year in 2012 and to thank those who have sent season's greetings over the last couple of weeks - they're much appreciated.

Cheers!

Richard

Time for a(nother) change: the Evolution of storm from the east

Like a traveller with itchy feet, it's that time again when I want to change the look of the website, as is my wont.

Some people have told me I should just leave it alone, but I can't help fidgeting and changing. I can't seem to be satisfied and I think I've worked out why.

Part of it is due to what I mentioned the other day about designing for oneself and wanting to experiment, but a lot of it boils down to one thing: a lack of direction. Throughout the (rather hasty) evolution of this site, I have had a bash at making it a design blog, a web magazine, a design portal and a creative agency. Nothing seemed to fit, which is probably because some were awfully pretentious and my heart wasn't truly in any of them. I was trying to be something I am not, subconsciously trying to emulate other - much better - sites.

I love writing, I love illustrating and I love designing. I also love minimalism. That's who I am and that's where my heart is. Well, that and teaching, but that's another business entirely. So that's the direction the site will go in. Minimalist and more about the things I love to do. There will be more of my writing, my random thoughts and rants, and more of my illustration and design work.

Funnily enough, the posts about random things are the ones that get the most attention - I get more feedback from them and they are much more likely to be read by my email subscribers. It tells me that I might well be on the right path at last.

I hope you enjoy the journey as much as me.

Anyway, that's all coming in a month or so. For now, let's have a look at some of the various designs and titles I've applied here in the past. I really don't know what I was playing at with some of them. Let's cringe together then move on.

Great work is never reasonable, safe or boring. Thanks anyway.

I wish I had come up with the title to this post, but I didn't - Seth Godin did. The sentiment hit home, however, because of some of the things I mentioned yesterday.

Some may find the things that people like me do, or the ideas we come up with, unusual, risky or unreasonable. Some things might seem a bit outlandish and far-fetched, but I don't think so. Who wants to be boring?

I would never suggest something to a client that I a) thought was likely to fail, b) thought would adversely affect their image, and c) would not do myself. Trying to come up with new things is incredibly motivational, and seeing them succeed even moreso.

Believing in what you do is incredibly important, but equally important is being willing to listen. I don't claim to have all the answers, of course, but sometimes it's worth being more open to things that initially seem risky, unreasonable and outlandish.

They may just be great.

Why I draw weird little figures and other bits of non-conformity

When people ask what I do, there are inevitably a few follow-up questions along the lines of 'what do you write/design/draw/teach?' and there is not an easy answer to any of them.

Some people view this as a weakness: 'You should specialise, Richard', they say, 'You should choose a path and stick to it.'

I say bollocks to that. I've chosen a path - I like writing, designing, drawing and teaching. Who cares if I write a short story one day and a language worksheet the next? Who cares that I illustrate a website one month then draw funny little characters just for my own amusement? I'm truly honoured that people pay me to do what I do, even though I remain slightly startled and humbled that anybody would want to. My clients (hopefully) see the value of what I do, whether it's designing a logo for them or suggesting that they should change their website because it looks like an arse.

The thing is, I would be writing, designing, drawing and probably teaching even if people didn't pay me for it. In fact, aside from teaching, I was doing all of the above before people started paying me for it, I still do it whether or not it's for money, and I'll go on doing it for the rest of my life.

That's because I love doing it. All of it.

I don't like the idea that we should do things in a certain way or conform to stereotypes. Being a designer is not about telling people how great you are and poncing around design shows being sycophantic any more than being a writer is about spending hour upon hour locked up in a room producing a magnum opus. Do what you want, how you want.

Creativity is not about carrying a Moleskine notebook or an iPad, it's about doing something, bringing something into being. So if you are truly happy doing what you are doing and you see value in it, don't let anybody tell you it's a waste of time. Try non-conformity every once in a while. If you enjoy what you do and find value in it, you can bet that there are other people out there that will also find value in it.

You never know, a few of them might start paying you for your quirky ideas.

Frozen Planet

I've always been fascinated by snowy, desolate wildernesses and I would love to visit Antarctica, so I love the images from David Attenborough's Frozen Planet series. It just pisses me off that the BBC iPlayer isn't available to me in Japan. Hopefully I can watch the series on Discovery or perhaps later on NHK.

Images like these are both stark and beautiful.