I know it’s possible to have too many inputs when it comes to critical thinking, but what about for art and design? Because of the monthly rigors of my day job, the scope of my design work has been less than desirable. I pretty much shit out pages without much care for how well they are designed. For our magazines, it’s not in our nature to be that concerned. “Good Enough” is the mantra spoken company wide. Trust me, I have my issues with that, but it’s taken its toll on my design sensibilities. For the past couple years, I just haven’t had as much energy to do anything of value. The irony to that is I feel I am a much better designer than I was two years ago, go figure.

Tonight I find myself gorging on design work by Scott Hansen of iso50 and listening to music from Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith (don’t worry, I’m not going to off myself) and the more I take in, the better I feel, the more inspired I get. Scott definitely has a style all to his own, so much in fact that when others do work like his, they call it iso50-ish. I don’t want to copy his work, but it’s so visually stimulating, my mind just wants to do something just like it. Would I be a better designer for trying or am I just a hack riding the coattails of somebody better than me? Either way, I’m just glad that I’ve got the bug again even if becomes short lived.

Thanks Scott, Elliott and Jeff for the virtual kick in the pants.

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