The beauty of the icon

Squint

I had this randomly downloaded image on my desktop for a long time. Everyday I looked at this icon of it and assumed it was an image of something it was not. One day while cleaning up, I finally bothered to open the image up. It turned out not to be what I thought it was, at all. It was beautiful image, but I was disappointed because I liked the image I imagined.
So I produced my image trying to mimic exactly how I imagined the original image from its icon. The whole thing was like mishearing lyrics, loving your version, and then being slightly disappointed by the actual lyrics, as nice as they are.
The mind fills in details and gives motives to the random and the misheard. Its fundamental to our perception, so that we don't get bogged down in deciphering every input. We generate textural smoothness to fill in the gaps in understanding and sometimes blocks those inputs that don't conform to a general worldview. Its beautiful though and it can generate new things, if you use it.

What I thought the image was:

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What it actually was:


The icons beside each other:

My picture without the cropping:

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element

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And sometimes the most beauty can be found in a single element. Again, this summer I had to build some patterns for an MTV spot. The spot came out great, but this still image of the minor textures, that you'll barely see in the spot, was my favorite part.

left out

As a commercial designer, I find most of my beautiful ideas lying under my desk, covered with dust, months after I've conceived them. The spot gets made, and the beauty somehow gets left out (sometimes). In the frenzy of production, I've forgotten my lovely images/ideas, only to rediscover them later, and possibility recycle them when they will suit the client's needs better.

Sometimes it makes sense that the client doesn't want a certain this or that. Sometimes it doesn't. Its not surprising or unusual or torture, its just the job. Surviving as a designer in large part means not caring too much about your beautiful ideas. If you care too much, you're an artist. And that's a different job. The beautiful Richard Carlyon used to say, Designers solve problems, artists cause them.

So here are a couple frames I really liked that got cut out of a spot this summer. The spot was for a back-to-school sweepstakes what was giving away a lot of money, I thought it would be funny to suggest buying 10,000 pencils with some of the money. Not funny enough apparently.



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join me outdoors

After my first few months of intense New York City-living this summer, I finally left town. This resulted:

The hard woods of America still exist.
The forests are still filled with wild
   mosquitoes and beetles - of all sorts.
When the sun sets, there is still a chill
   that would run down your spine, if you were out here.
Now the darkness calls.
A heavy star pushes down on all the leaves
   so we can not get off the damp floor.
Newly alerted, by something crawling in the folded chamber of my ear
   I hope I never see concrete again.

So summer-themed, but applicable for this weekend too.

"successful" xmas cards

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Tender young seedling against the cold hard world. In his own little unfortunate pile of soil.

On the last possible day, I was asked to make some emailable xmas card for my company in lieu of mailable card, which failed to get printed because I wanted them to be completely unusual. We sent these out. Palatable enough. The thing I dislike about it is that it looks like it could be Macy's holiday card.

Below are the ideas I pitched. I like the verbiage. I'm okay with these, so technically I guess they aren't failures.

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failed xmas card #1

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This is my first failed xmas card for 2008.
In my head, there is some equivalence between the Indian Chief and Santa.

failed xmas cards #2

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At my job this year, I was responsible for directing the creative of the company's Christmas card. I told the designers to make the most crazy, innovative, weird cards they could think of.
Then the owner saw the ideas.
We didn't produce a Christmas card this year.

In my little world though, I do what I want with very little self-editing.
I am plagued by intense love for every image I make.
So I'm showing those mostly absurd ideas here.
And here's my second failed idea for a personal (digital) christmas card. Still might use it next year.