So I guess I've moved on from this blogger spot. I've got a more viable tumbler thing happening. Not many words, but lots of pictures and projects. It just seems like a more dynamic and flowing environment. So if you're interested, check it out.

A while back I traced what happened with a few photo mailers I received, and I thought I’d add an update to that conversation. Basically, this morning I looked around my space and realized that photo mailers were stacking up around me. Although I do look at them all, and find inspiration in more than a few of them, I realized that my desk was becoming a dead end. Not cool.

So I created a wall of photo mailers here at the fine REI headquarters. That way the fliers, postcards and sheets are out in the open, and my team of designers, art directors and dozens of other folks who run this business can soak in the cool, captivating work. And if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, all is not lost. 

What's cool is that when you post a bunch of work on a wall, it’s a whole lot easier to spot trends and patterns in a body of work. One thing that’s clear to my eye is that I respond strongest to those who are telling a story. It's not a literal step-by-step thing, but it's usually a consistency of tone, texture and attitude that create a vision for a possible life to live.

Props to the folks who do this well. That’s the challenge the crew here is faced with – how to tell stories in an authentic and resonant way. Yes, my brain oscillates between needing vibrant, captivating single images for quick hit moments such as ads, but I'm more and more using those to drive people to a series of images that tell a captivating story. To see people doing this well makes me happy.

I like the photo wall because it's a simple idea that's easy to maintain, which in my world gives it a longer life. I also like it because I've seen a ton of folks staring at the images today, which I think is cool. It means a group of photographers are getting an additional dose of exposure, and although they don't know it, they're at the center of a creative conversation and are participating through their work. 

That seems like an excellent success for any mailer.  

Rainy day fun: Alki

Never underestimate a rainy day. Tom, Leland, me, seals and sea lions hang for a bit. 

Travels: ATL>Las Vegas>Desert>Dentist

Pre-work diversion: Ambaum>Burien>Kent

Don't forget about winter (now in progress)

Jellyfish

Encountered this dense crowd of jellyfish while paddling out to an on-water reggae concert last night. It was like paddling through a giant pool of bubble tea.

Summer so far

Summer Vibe: Which wins?

In the spirit of Brian Benthin's recent urge to seek feedback and actual human contact, here are a couple of takes on a summer day wrestle with a sprinkler. Tweet me your vote for which wins the summer vibe throwdown. (Either way I win, because it's finally summer.)

Another awesome marketing moment

Spotted at a great cheap teriyaki joint in Seattle. The stack of Calrose rice bags and the complete and utter lack of pretense made me want to hop a plane to Hawaii and head to some favorite Big Island dives. So good. So salty. So much wood paneling. Happiness indeed.

Design inspiration: the Thermos

I love a good vintage Thermos. They usually have great graphics and logos representative of the era they were made. I also like them for the fact that a vintage thermos has usually been somebody's workplace companion for many years. There's something interesting there. I used to have way more, with the 70s, 50s and 60s represented (it gets boring after that), but somewhere along the way I got rid of a bunch. Now I have only a few, which are headed out the door to make way for whatever is next.

Design inspiration: Random vintage junk

I keep a pile of cool things that can kick start a design idea if I'm in a void. These things start to stack up, so I occasionally employ catch and release practices and send them back into the world for others to discover. If I'm smart I'll take a photo before they go. I guess I've been smart, because here are a few random items, some vintage others just old. I love the Best Test Rubber Cement can too much to not include it.

Design inspiration: Leaves

Sometimes it's good to stop and look around. I did this yesterday in my front yard, and found an amazing abundance of shapes and textures. Props to the gardener who makes it all happen. Probably way better than a rusty car hanging over your head.

Design inspiration: Build your own car

Found images pulled from bringatrailer.com. Something about these shots just looked so cool together. I'm really tempted to buy the body, hang it on a wall and just enjoy the decay. (or maybe mount it on the ceiling...) Plus I'm really perplexed about the green and yellow flags. Freaks me out if I go there for too long.

Shaun Tan's work is amazing

My dad is a great finder of cool stuff. He’s a constant explorer, digging through mounds of music, books, art, cooking techniques, spices, and so on to find something new and interesting. A random drop by might find him cooking Moroccan food to Okinawan pop, or solving physics problems to Ry Cooder’s Chavez Ravine. The latest thing he shared with me was the work of Shaun Tan, an Australian illustrator whose work is powerful, beautifully detailed and wonderfully off center.

He’s got a long history of great work, but he’s new to me. As soon as I opened the first book, it blew me away. He ranges stylistically a bit, but there's a consistent synthesis of future and past, plus a loving care for details, fonts, misfits, creatures and humanity. His book The Arrival is remarkable in the way it conveys the experience of coming to a new land and culture. It's truly epic, and to think of the work it took to produce is astounding. He’s also recently released a collection of some of his shorter stories, which includes his wonderful meditation on depression/artistic struggle/life, The Red Tree.

Tan has done a great amount of sharing around his process, and there's some really honest and engaging writing about the creative process and all the failures, successes and work that come through it. I’ve excerpted some of his quotes as picture captions below, but you should really go check out his site, spend some time reading and look at some amazing pictures.

Some of his books. First found in the library and now being converted to private ownership. As he says,

“Good ideas don’t just turn up, you have to go looking for them.” His books are a source of much inspiration.

A detail from inside one of his works. Says Tan, “Research - reading, looking at pictures, playing with different media - provides freedom from the creative paralysis that comes with infinite possibility. I need specific points of reference to develop ideas, and also a kind of resistance to my own stylistic ‘default settings’ so that I think outside the usual circles, and actually learn something new.” Bottle caps, words, charts and drawings indeed.

A spread from within his epic Arrival. Says Tan of the process, “I know I’m on the right track when there is a sense of unfamiliarity about what I’m doing, that I’m actually being surprised by the way mixed drawings and words make their own novel sense.”

Ah, summertime in the NW

Patterns: the two car garage

Last February I took a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend a funeral. My sis had moved into a mid 70s neighborhood after many years in the less suburban avenues neighborhood. I noticed an abundance of two car garages of a similar design and it kind of freaked me out. Here's a few.