Tips on moving

Moving can be a real pain in the butt. It's exciting as hell to hit the road for a new home clear across the U.S. (George and I are moving to Montana), but the actual packing up part is quite a bit less fun. The last time we moved (from Ohio to Texas, where we are now) we only brought what could fit in our little car. The little car was not happy about this. We filled every tiny space available inside, as well as four bikes and a large suitcase on it's roof. Luckily Texas was all downhill and we didn't hear the muffler scrape against the road too many times. But that was before we had furniture. That and the other things which come with not being college students anymore.

From packing we come to realize that owning things is nice, but that schlepping those same beloved things around, is not. Here are a few tips which might help you the next time you're trying to stuff all your earthly possessions into a smaller space;

• Instead of wasting newspaper to protect your breakables, use your clothes. Better for the environment AND less clothes to pack later. 

• Use your move as an opportunity to slim down on your earthly possessions. Go through all your junk and toss the unwanted instead dragging it along.

• Never, ever underestimate your pile of stuff. George and I do this again and again, thinking that our boxes and bags will definitely fit, only to realize that a terrible optical illusion was at work.

• Many of your belongings have holes and cavities - those holes are opportunities waiting to be filled with more stuff!

So wish us luck! It's a 33 hour drive almost all the way to the Canadian border. We're going to try and do it in three days so that I can get back to work as soon as possible. A little house is waiting for us in a small town called Columbia Falls. The real estate agent promises that mountains can be seen from all of our windows. If so, it should be a happy relocation.

Illustrations created with my trusty micron pen (and a bit of Illustrator)

Repertory Dance poster

As is the way with design work all too often, my resources were a bit limited with this one. I was asked (very nicely) if I could please use a particular photograph of a dancer to create a large poster to advertise an upcoming dance concert. The image, unfortunately, was not very good and lacked the vibrance I was hoping for. Some edges were blurry and the dancer appeared a little damp, and well, uncomfortable in certain spots... She seemed so rigid for someone in motion. I wanted to highlight the image's movement and color and bring more contrast, while hiding the fact that I was working with a not-so-awesome photograph.

Faculty Exhibition Postcard

It's important to have those fun, quick projects to keep the creative juices flowing. This postcard was quickly created for a friend who needed something ASAP. With little time to ponder the meaning behind a faculty art exhibition, I mainly focused on simple typography. I'd like to say that the spectrum of colors illustrate the versatility of the faculty who's work was being shown, but I couldn't say for sure that I got to think about it quite that much! Quick, simple and fun.

SFASU Faculty Art Exhibition postcard (2010)

One man's trash...

For me, living simply means living consciously. I've always appreciated things which were well designed, simple and extraordinarily effective. The same should go for the decisions we make and the habits we choose to keep.

It's not easy. George and I started living simply because that was all we could afford. While attending college we lived in a small attic and only owned what would fit in our limited space. We had a garden and rummaged through dumpsters for exciting finds. We were always amazed at how incredibly wasteful college students could be. Bags of unopened food, new looking furniture and clothes, Spanish dictionaries, airplane tickets to Cancun... everything! Are you wanting to head over to your neighborhood dumpster yet? There are many ways to live simply, but being aware of your resources (whatever they might be) is the first step. Not wasting your resources is the next.

We hope to keep things simple. It’s tough, especially when you start getting that pesky monthly paycheck (“why Yes, let’s buy the pre-sliced cheese!”).

When we initially moved to Texas, we brought nothing but what could fit into our small car. Once we arrived and found a home, we lived without furniture for quite some time. It was tempting to run to WalMart and buy something quick and temporary just to fill the cavities in our home. Sitting on thermorests got old pretty quickly. But instead of buying furniture that would probably look like hell before we were even done assembling it, we decided to find and create anything we might need. We also wanted quality furniture; the stuff made from thick wood and nails, not particle board and sticky tack.

Today at least 90%  of our furniture has been found, given or salvaged. Instead of heading to the landfill, it came to our home with a new purpose. Painting, refinishing and sometimes building our furniture from scratch was a lot of work. Although a lot more fun than a dreary visit to the furniture isle at WalMart... and a heck of a lot more fulfilling.

Most of our furniture was made  from salvaged wood and other found materials: kitchen table, cutting boards, kitchen shelf, picture frame, coat rack, planters, sitting boxes (good for storage too), bookshelf, guitar hook, outside stool, bench (that converts into picnic table), outside table, glass bottles, postbox stand, bird feeder and oven timer.

The beginnings of a blog

I enjoy blogs. I spend many hours a day (in between those pesky real job projects) wondering from inspirational posting to the next. Honestly, though, I've never been completely convinced to start one myself... There's a lot of blogs out there. A LOT. The world has done an exquisite job of covering at least everything I'm interested in; graphic design, typography, cooking, building things, funny shaped dogs, travelling, cycling, rock climbing, bright yellow pencils and fanny packs - they are all being written about in abundance by many a disciplined blogger.

I'm still starting a blog.

Why? Because sometimes we come up with a few very good ideas. We've lived decently interesting lives so far, and I have a feeling it's about to get a whole lot more interesting...

Either way, it might just be worth sharing.