Other than the thinly-veiled hint or two, I’ve neglected to properly mention that (spoiler alert) I’m speaking at Weapons of Mass Creation in Cleveland this June. Further details about the event are still pretty murky at the moment, like uh, what exactly is going to come out of my mouth for the duration of 30 minutes (my vote’s on puppies!). And/or how Chad & I are getting there…At the moment it’s hard to say much else other than, hell yes, this is happening. And I’m really excited and trying my very best not to think about just how many awesome people are coming. (Real talk: it’s enough to make my brain melt. Go look at the line-up if you need more convincing.)

Every year there’s a fresh crop of conferences and seminars all touting to be the Awesomest Event to End All Events (at least since last year!). Most seem a bit grandiose like a traveling circus Freak Show promising thrills of the the century. It’s sometimes hard to believe they’ll really be so amazing, especially since most of them come with price tags that would make the world’s fattest lady seem small. That’s what’s so special about WMC Fest though, it’s as grassroots as they come. Huge effort has been poured into making it one of the most diverse design conferences around (did you check the line-up yet?) making it the type of high brow event that also manages to be come-as-you-are.

WMC takes this grassroots idea to genius with a sponsorship campaign on Kickstarter. It’s nicely produced and doesn’t feel sales-y. It’s just giving people another way to share in event, a small sense of ownership, even if they can’t go. Crowd-sourcing at its best right there, more funds for the funs. Might as well back the project if you’re thinking of going. Pledging $50 comes with the 3-day festival pass. You just bought your ticket in and made some people really freaking happy in the process, WIN!

If you’re already going, speak up and say hey would you! I can’t promise to bring puppies, but there are promises of awesome anyway, that I do know.

Oh, my dears. I’ve missed you. Thank you for being patient with me during my extended quietness here. I’ve been experimenting with my schedule & my billable hours, trying to find a better structure & schedule so I can bring home both the bacon and the blog. It’s been a tough process. And I’m slowly working out a re-design. This site’s been the same for almost four years now and I think that is a major part of my reluctance to write. The internet is different now than when I first created this site and doing some restructuring around here will do a lot in terms of re-investing my time. Never fear, I’m never going to pull the plug entirely, having a growing internet presence is too important to me personally & too important in terms of growing my business for that.

It’s funny, this process is so specific and personal. It’s like a ritual of sorts. I’ve been thinking a lot about the rituals of making things ever since my friend Vaughn Fender asked me to participate in the ninth issue of his online magazine, Peculiar Bliss. The theme of which is creative rituals. I didn’t even really think about what mine were until this topic came up, but now I can’t stop, and in some ways that’s kept me from producing here. Navel-gazing has diminishing returns after while…So here I am, consider this me getting over it. Jumping back in again, with a bang.

Vaughn’s done a lengthy interview with me on my process, background, and yes my rituals. The article also includes a whole bunch of my work that’s never been published anywhere, and my friend Julia Stotz was kind enough to take all the pictures of me. Ellen Hunter of Word Couture Consulting made sure I did my commas and grammar right. I owe major thanks to them for their hard work, you’re only as good as your fellow collaborators and these kids really threw down. Thank you friends, from the bottom of my heart.

Flip through the digital pages on ISSUU, Cargo Collective, or PDF. My piece starts on page 17, and there is plenty of other gorgeous illustration and photography on either side of the article as well. If you can take a few minutes to kick back and take this in, inspiration is sure to follow.

Have an excellent Friday! Next week is going to be a doozy over here. We’re talking WMC Fest, stories from our trip to Detroit, and a giveaway – which I never do, but this one is a unique one so I don’t think you’ll mind. :-)

It’s good to be back.

It’s baaaaaaack!

I apologize to the non-locals for this post, but Chicago, you are going to this right? Yes, the Show ‘N Tell Show is the world’s only design-improv-talk-n-rock show. With plenty of variety and even the occasional Muppet, it’s guaranteed fun, promises. Come designers, photographers, musicians, comic book heads, style mavens, font lovers, code monkeys, and poster boys. Thursday’s guests will wow you, they’re some of my personal faves: The INDO Projects, Letterform, Paul Octavious, Paul Koob, and a top secret mystery vistor!

Feb 23rd @ Lincoln Hall, $5
8pm, 21+

And, okay, so if you can’t come you should watch this bonus video instead. If you’ve ever been to a design conference, you should also watch this video. If you look closely, you can catch yours truly briefly at 1:45. (Gah, video is so awkward…like hearing yourself on an 80′s answering machine!)

Guess what, guess what?! I’m writing a biweekly column for Studio Sweet Studio and it’s launched TODAY! Margot’s Design Dispatch is a digest of all things (you guessed it) design-related. It takes a similar format as my Friday Links posts, but with a little extra snazz (that’s the, uh, highly technical term) for even more fun times. Meg & Tuesday have put a lot of thought into growing their content by putting together an excellent batch of contributors, each with our own specific topic area. Breanna of Moxee writes about self-employment with Be Free, Lance, Elana Schlenker covers all manner of print and publication issues with Pressing Matters, and Mike Smith spotlights bright young talent in the industry with Honor Roll.

You’re just going to have to go, go, go to there!

It’s rare to come across an illustrator/designer with such a huge range in style. And though Nathan emailed me about his work, just this morning I was flipping through one of our older issues of Its Nice That and there he was again. No chance of forgetting about this talented wunderkind now!

How funny is this poster? An icon for every Bill Murray movie, I especially like the Ghostbusters ones! By DKNG Studios, it bears strong likeness to Always With Honor’s work. Via Hipstreet.