The Elusive Muse...

Like many of you, my loyal readers, I am an artist. I'm an artist in the strictest of terms and in the loosest. Graphic design is a passion, a hobby, and a life style but so is the fine art world. As with any one involved in the world of art, we draw inspiration from the world around us. Sometimes we passively observe the happenings that surround us and let it guide us as we create and other times we actively search out that defining moment that opens the flood gates of ideas and creativity. Whether you search or wait to be discovered by inspiration, everyone has their own methods of breaking through the barrier.

Personally, I have two separate paths I take when searching out inspiration. The first path I take is just that; literally I leave where ever I am at and go for a walk. I have no destination in mind except that I will inevitably end my walk back where I started. It is easier for me to dive back into my work with what I observed still fresh in my mind. I try not to put a time constraint on my roaming because I'm never really sure if I have taken in all that I can. Still, sometimes the deadlines are pressing and I must gather my thoughts sooner than I may wish so that I can deliver on time. The other path (this time more figuratively), is a pretty common practice amongst the designer community. Music has a way of opening a can of creativity. I've talked to countless designers and others that interact with creative people and in almost all cases they say that music has a guaranteed presence in any setting. Maybe this is the case because music is an art in itself and that fuels the fire for most of us. I can't say one way or another but for some odd reason, now that I've been thinking about it, I think they did a study on it sometime. I'll look into it and report back later on what I find.

Anyway, no matter if you fall into the common or the uncommon, everyone has their muse. We constantly seek out external elements to spur our imaginations in hopes of uncovering something even more elusive to most, originality. The lucky few of us stumble upon it with very little work while others search their entire lives. Unfortunately, originality and creativity goes hand in hand. You can have creativity without originality but not very often can you have the opposite. You're muse is there to help you along the path and push you closer to your inevitable goal. Finding the elusive muse to do that can be the hardest part.

As always, I'd like to hear your thoughts and more specifically, I would like to hear what you do ignite creativity and originality. Shoot me an email or leave a comment and I'll try to get back to you.

Who Are We (Part:18)...

When giants are mentioned, most people tend to think of huge illiterate men hobbling around with massive clubs. That or the baseball team out of New York. This week however, my weekly entry into my Who Are We posts is a giant of another kind. His work is known through out the world and he is sought out for work, advice, and inspiration by some of the greatest people on earth. When I mention his name you will undoubtedly say "Of course.. it was only a matter of time till he was mentioned" or "Who?" If it is the latter of the two, you may want to do a little research of your own. This guy is "designer royalty."

Who is this giant in the design/marketing community? None other than Pat Fallon of Fallon Worldwide. He founded Fallon in 1981 and has seen success in every dimension of the word. Known internationally for their ability to deliver results without breaking the bank could be the key to their success. It could also be that Fallon employs some of the best talent out there and has clients that place complete faith in the work they produce. With clients like Sony, Purina, Time, and NYSE it's hard not to gain international recognition. Fallon has experienced such success that they have reached a level where they can be selective with their cliental. They aren't exclusive because they feel like it. Pat Fallon creates a very personal relationship with each of his clients and that just isn't possible with hundreds of clients.

Pat Fallon released a book a couple years ago named "Juicing the Orange." It was recommended to me by Greg Ness of Sundog (a former professor of mine whose agency has a great blog worth checking out as well). I'm currently reading this book and so far I can't seem to put it down. It's a book that delivers invaluable advice and opinions on the creative marketplace. The insight that Fallon's book provides makes it a must read for any designer of all ages and experience levels.

Check out Pat Fallon and his book "Juicing the Orange." Let me know what you think. As always, if you have anyone you think belongs in my weekly posts of Who Are We, let me know and I'll check them out. You could see them up here soon.

Who Are We (Part:14)...

It's that time of the week again. I've had a little time this weekend to look around for great designers and I think I've stumbled upon an amazing woman who has contributed a great deal to our profession. Debbie Millman is that woman and this week's addition to my weekly post Who Are We. She is a Managing Partner and President of the Design Division at Sterling Brands, one of the leading brand identity firms in the country. This probably means that she is no longer getting her hands dirty in Illustrator or Photoshop like so many of us designer pawns but she has put in the time and her involvement in the graphic design community speaks for it's self.

She has invested over 25 years in the design community and now heads up a brand identity firm with clients like AOL, Burger King, Citigroup, Miller, NBA, Sony, and Valvoline. This is all very impressive but I think the reason why I'm glad to be highlighting Debbie Millman is because of her blog. Yes Debbie blogs just like yours truly. To be honest with you, Debbie's blog is much better than mine. She is so well respected by designers around the globe that she is fortunate enough to be able to sit down with other designers and conduct an actual interview. These sessions are called Design Matters and she does this live every Friday from 3-4 pm (eastern). She has interviewed nearly everyone that I have highlighted. I only offer an overview of who these people are, and then you have to go out and research more yourself. Debbie gives you the opportunity to hear what these designer greats are thinking. She can ask the questions that everyone wants to know, dig deeper and further into the graphic design elite, and expose some of their tricks and secrets.

Some of her comments out side of the interviews are a great read as well. They are reflections on the design/marketing/advertising world and everything else. I haven't had a lot of time to really dive deep into her blog but from what I have seen, I'm extremely interested and impressed. Let me know what you think. I'm always looking for feedback on my choices for Who Are We. If you have any suggestions on who I should highlight next, I'd love to hear them. You never know, you could see them up here sometime soon.

Spotlight Search: Design Inspiration...

Wouldn't it be great if when you hit that inevitable mind block during a project you could hit a couple keys and search for inspiration. Most designers after being in the real world for a while build up a bunch of prior concepts that they can return to for help in tearing down the walls of a mind block. Maybe those more experienced know of places on the web that can either offer advice or inspire you so that you can beat that lingering brain fart. One thing your not really taught in school, that you most likely pick up on the job, is where to look for new and fresh ideas. So I thought I would share a few sites that might help when your feeling creatively challenged (these are most likely familiar to a lot of you out there but maybe not).

1. HOW Magazine - A design/Creative/Business magazine/website with a lot of great articles online to help offer ways of breaking through some of the most common design barriers. It also has great information on the global design community. Most of the articles are pretty interesting and worth checking out.

2. DeviantART - It's kinda like a social network for amateur and professional artist alike. It's a great way to see what some of the young undiscovered talent is doing out there. It can help when trying to get a read on what the younger generation is into and doing.

3. DesignFLOOD - More for the web designers among us but who says print designers can't take inspiration from websites. It's a site that has multiple pages of links to some of the most creative websites I've seen. You can vote on which ones you like and don't like. It's another great way to keep your finger on the pulse of design.

4. CMYK Mag - Another heavy weight in the design magazine/website arena. Basically HOW Mag and CMYK Mag are along the same lines although they may not appreciate me saying this. They have different writers and therefore different articles but both appeal to the same demographic.

5. Best Brand of the World - This site isn't really about inspiration but it can be a big help when doing logo designs or using corporate logos in a project. If you ever need a logo (ex: VW, Smirnoff,etc...) look here. It's my bet that they have it along with all the restrictions that go along with how you can use the logo. Best part is that they tend to be in vector format so they can be resized easily.

There are countless others out there that are great for inspiration and help it's just a matter of finding or hearing about them. If you have any sites that you think have been invaluable to your creativity or design and you want to share them, post them in the comments or shoot me an email and i'll include them in a later post. I'll keep looking and my ears open for any more sites and when I find them, I'll post them.

What Makes Your Cube Creative...

In a working world surrounded by four free-standing walls, it is hard to find great inspiration from your surroundings. That doesn't mean that it isn't there, just that you need to look harder. Some people take their work space and turn it into some sort of theme park, others litter the walls with notes and other assortments, but what ever you do, it must speak to you.

I'm interested to hear what other designers and creative individuals out there do to make their work space more conducive to the nature of their profession. You can post a picture, describe it in word if you'd like, you can even make a crayon drawing and submit it. I'm just very curious to see the lengths some people will go to make their environment creative.

I'll start things off...

My "cube" is four walls covered with notes, color palettes, thumb-tacks, and posters. My shelves are littered with books that focus on design and help stir my creativity. Out the door is a window that looks over downtown Denver. It helps me feel like I'm not trapped in a cell. Computers and monitors consume most of the space on my desk but their is still room for a notepad when I need to sketch up an idea. It's not the most creative environment but I'm still in the process of making it my own.

-Chris Nuernberger-

Who Are We (Part:4)...

Ok. I know I promised that every Monday I would post about someone in the Graphic Design community that I thought was worth knowing. I APOLOGIZE for faulting on my promise. It has been a difficult week (and it is only Tuesday!) but this week's highlighted designer is worth the wait.

Anyone out there who has had any formal training in graphic design has almost had to have had a little bit of history in the subject. You most likely have heard of Milton Glaser. Now to those of you from the Big Apple. This guy is like a hero. His designs not only re-ignited the worlds affair with New York but his " I 'heart' New York" campaign revitalized New York City, basically bringing it out of the modern dark ages and giving those that lived there a certain sense of self pride. Not many people can say that about their work.

Milton Glaser didn't stop there. He has since gone on to accomplish what most of us in the design community can only dream of. So if you are interested in Milton Glaser, check him out. He is truly an inspiration and a design role model. As always, I would like to hear from you as well. Let me know what you think about Milton Glaser or if you have any other people you would recommend that I check out.

The "Magic" in Creativity

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my apartment watching one of the new shows that are being premiered on all the national television channels. The new episodes or surprising plot twists were not what caught my attention. The commercials are what really reached out and grabbed me. Not all commercials I guess, but one inperticular stood out. It was a commercial for Hewitt-Packer laptops. It went like this:

Gwen Stephanie was walking around, Japan or some oriental country talking about all the benefits that this laptop brought to her work. She mentioned that there is a "Magic in creativity." She also said that you can't just turn it on and off but it just sort-of happens and when it does, she is able to create her wonderful masterpieces.

That little segment of the thirty-second ad really kinda struck a cord with me. As a member of the creative community, I would have to disagree with Ms. Stephanie. As a graphic designer, I am asked on a daily basis to be creative and create work that millions will deem worth purchasing or paying attention to. My whole life revolves around me being able to turn my creativity on at 8a.m. and off at 5p.m. (sometimes much later). I do understand what they were trying to say in the ad. That she takes inspiration from her surrounding world and that she doesn't know where or when something will inspire her. Still, as I sit here in my cubical with nothing to inspire me but my wandering thoughts and a brief conversation with my supervisor. I can't help but think, what if the world really knew what advertisers, marketers, and designer went through on a daily basis. Do you think that we would be idolized just like those musical performers who are "SOOO CREATIVE."

I'm not sure what we do is as glamorous or as individual. Not that most of those performers do everything on their own either but I think you get what I'm trying to say. So I would like to make a toast to those of you out there who are like me. A member of the creative community that has been over-looked by the public. We are the true creative gods that have found a way to be creative on command.

A Good Black Night...

Have you ever been sitting around late at night and not sure of what you can do with a tennis ball, some lighter fluid and a lighter? No? Well neither had we until a couple nights ago when my room mates and I we sitting around talking about random things. Tennis became the subject and then we started talking about "Fireball" from the sitcom "Friends". We thought it was a funny idea.

Now this night happened to be a little different than all the other nights where we have sat around and talked. You see, it was the fourth of July and we had just came back home from the fireworks show. We were all feeling a little adventuresome so we decided to give "Fireball" a go. It turned out to be more fun than we had ever thought! Somme of the photos turned out to be really cool. A friend and I figured out that if we gave the camera a slow shutter rate and a did a couple other adjustments to the settings we got this really cool effect.

I think the photo speaks for it's self. I'm not sure how legal it is to light a tennis ball on fire and hit it back and forth on the street but a cop drove by one time and didn't seem to care too much.

So if you are ever sitting around with a tennis ball in hand, wondering what you could do to entertain yourself. Simply find some lighter fluid and a match. It will be a good time ... I guarantee it!

These Little Black Words are Changing...

A new English is upon us. The most exciting part about this is that it is already being taught in our schools and none of us are the wiser. What is this "New English" you might ask. It has the same basic principals as the current form of English and is actually readable by those who are still using the "traditional" form. By the time children are 10, they have nearly mastered it while adults are still struggling with it.

It is the way we text!

2 much txting mks u 1 bad splr!

Everyone can look @ this n mke out wht i'm tryn 2 say. This still sounds the same when u spk it but looks entirely diff when u try 2 read it.

Now technically it is not a new language but a form of shorthand for English. I think it is going to replace the current way of spelling in some manner of speaking. It will not happen over night but as more and more generations grow up with txting as an option for communicating, the spelling of words will slowly start to drift to the most common and practiced form.

Txting may just be trend but so far it has lasted and made serious ground as a niche market option. That is the first step to changing everything.

Whats New in the World of Gray...

Hello everybody! Yes I know, it has been a long time since I have posted last but don't worry, I think now I will have the time to be able to post fairly often. So I bet all of you out there are wondering what I have been up to since graduation. Well there are a few things that I have been keeping myself busy with.

First, I have picked up a Freelance design job. Yes! I am now officially a graphic designer with a client. Not too bad for just graduating not more that a month ago. So how it happened was, I was sitting around in my room playing guitar when the art director of the Fargo-Moorhead Opera called me. He asked if I was interested in competing against other designers in the area for the chance to have them as a client for the upcoming year. I'm not sure he needed to ask because of course I was interested. I met with him the following day and he explained what they were looking for. The gave me a week to present them with my ideas. Well, I went home and that very day came up with a great layout and design approach. So instead of taking it only to the idea phase and presenting them with rough sketches, I did a complete comp and had most of the design work done. I created logos for the three performances that they were going to do, developed a unique layout, and did the necessary photography for my designs. A week came and I presented to them, they loved it and said that they would present it to the board the following mon. I got a call a couple days later and I had won the account. Lets just say I was a little excited! So for the past week I have been fine tuning the design, coordinating the printing with the print vendors here in town, and have been meeting with people to get my design to work. I think by the end of the week I should be at the printers getting the proof which is a full week ahead of the deadline they were hoping for! I'll have to keep everyone posted on that.

I know and if that isn't enough to keep someone busy for the entire day, I've been taking 4 hrs every morning to teach myself Macromedia Flash 8 professional. I was unable to take a class on Flash and I feel that if I am to be competitive in today's market, I need to know how to use Flash even if it is not going to be a part of my daily routine. It is going really well so far. I bought a book (which is 1200 pages long!) and have been working through it every morning. To be honest I thought that when I graduated I would take some time from learning and really just relax for a while but I am really enjoying learning this program on my own. I think I might be one of those people who doesn't want to stop learning new things. I plan to apply what I learn to my website so keep an eye out for changes at CN-Designs.

I think I must be crazy because I'm also working full time at a steak house here in town. I put in about 35 to 40 hours a week so my nights are pretty much shot. I do however get wed. off so I do have one night out of the week to go out with friends and have a good time.

Now I know it sounds like, I must be out of my mind but i am always looking for more design work. If more work comes in I will begin to start cutting back my hours at the steakhouse so I can accommodate my schedule (they are pretty good at giving my a fitting schedule). So don't hesitate to contact me!

There are other things I've been up to but these are the most common and everyday things that I do. So far (and I know you won't believe me) I've been having a great summer! I'm looking forward to all the new things that come my way and hope that there are more people out there that like what I do.

White Words, Black Secrets...

Communicating has always been important to human kind. From the very beginning we grunted to express ourselves, later we developed symbols to convey our thoughts over greater distances, recently we have moved back to the oral communication and invented ways to converse at anytime and anywhere on this planet, and now we find ourselves taking an old creation and fusing it with new technology. An new form of communication has risen and with it, even greater possibilities.

As with every invention and assimilation of ideas, there must come a test period where this new idea will be stretched in countless directions to see if whether or not it will work. Sometimes this new idea will break and crumble before us and other times it will work better than it could in our wildest dreams. We are just starting to ascend the Internet mountain. We are learning that there are bumps, holes, crevasses, and impassable points along our journey but with every obstacle we manage to find a route either around it or through it. Privacy is the relatively new obstacle that is holding us back from scaling higher into the potential of the Internet.

I think the privacy issue first surfaced with e-commerce and whether or not your money was safe when purchasing items or doing online banking. I think we have pretty much got a handle on those issues and you don't really hear about people having problems any more. Now we are our own victims. Our own self disclosure is causing us greater head aches than identity theft ever did.

Facebook, Myspace, Blogs, and other programs such as Twitter are our new concern. What we disclose now will be forever held in some obscure archive for our future employers, family members, and generations to come to look up, examine, and scrutinize. Is what we say a reflective aspect of who we are? Are our private actions really that important that all we ever do be posted, labeled, tagged, or searched? We are all slowly becoming voyeurs of private lives. Peeping toms into lives of those we hardly know in hopes to catch a glimpse of the unknown.

Obviously I am being hypocritical with this blog in itself. I am opening a passage to my own personal thoughts that will be cataloged and almost definitely searched. Yet, for some reason I am OK with this. Maybe I feel it is the responsibility of my generation and the generations to come to not only maintain multiple identities (virtual and actual) but to supply a seemingly never ending record of who we are. To update those close to us and far away about our weekly, daily, and hourly habits.

I'm not sure where I find myself on this issue. And as with every issue, there are both positive and negative elements that make the decision even harder. But for now ... my current status is "Chris is finding his way out of the difficult spot between a rock and a hard place..."

Your Reflection is Never Black and White

Here is something I bet not very many people have taken the time to really notice. You will never see your reflection in black and white. Take some time to really let that sink in... Kinda strange to think about that but that is how my mind has been working lately. I've been taking the most common occurences and trying to scew them, re-invent them, and view them from a completely different perspective in hopes that it will cause me to think in a few different ways.

First, I've noticed that just like everything else, you need to practice your creativity in order to get better at it. What better way to stir up the creative juices than to take the most mondain event and cause it to be something exciting. It's like areobics but for the mind.

Secondly, the world has become less dull. I'm starting to realize that my little slice of the world has so many intertwining elements that go unnoticed unless you make the effort to notice them. Take the title of this little blog; I sat and really thought about the different ways I've seen my reflection for at least forty five minutes. To be entertained by that little curious thought shows me that there are countless bits of entertainment lurking around every corner, I just need to be actively seeking it.

Lastly, I've been reminded of how much I have lived and how much I have left to live. I'm starting to really become aware of who I am and what I am surronding myself with. Your surrondings make you, create you, and define you. So take time out of your day today and look around. Find the charm in the life you live in. I garuantee you that just like your reflection, it is sitting right under your nose.