This year marks seventeen years for me in the design industry. During those years I have been self employed, employed, semi-employed and back to self employed. I have also been a Christian for 12 years. I’ve been asked,“How can I combine my faith with my passion for design?” The answer is simple really—realizing that a person still needs to eat. And the answer is to make design work for you. That is to say, design is the tool that God has gifted you with in order to earn an living. At the same time, design is a gift to bless others with either visual art for appreciation, communication tools for a better than average fee, or possibly some design donated for a Christian or good-will cause.

There is much opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life in the designs we as designers create. I recall a business card I designed for a youth rehabilitation center. On one side were seven correct choices and on the other there were seven wrong choices. The organization that I designed these for called me several months after the cards had been in use to tell me a story. A youth had been given the card at a school assembly and held onto it for some time. The youth apparently was planning to commit suicide and on the evening of the planned suicide the card surfaced. It had a 1-800 number to call if you needed help. She called and the representative was able to talk to her and eventually counsel her from following through with her intent...... Keep reading

Lately I’ve been trying to understand the connection between God as designer and people as designers. As you know God has quite a design portfolio.First, you have all the standard portfolio pieces that He’s well known for: the intricacy of the human body, the beauty of nature and the expansiveness of the universe. Then you have the not so often recognized design projects where He’s art directed and architected: Noah’s ark (one boat, one family, a million animals, very simple materials and the charge to save the human race from a flood…talk about design challenges); the Temple in Jerusalem (won’t even go there); identity development for His “company” (hmmm…a timeless logo to express His love for the next 2000 plus years, connect with people across all cultures and genders, be simple for the poorest of the earth to use…glad I didn’t get that creative brief), and the list goes on. When you consider His design portfolio, you realize that all His designs lead us closer to Him. So should our design.

We get in trouble when our design leads people to ourselves or to something else…money, power, greed, whatever. We need to uncover the heart of design. What does it look like? Does this mean that design work has to be “religious” in nature to qualify? I hope not. Take your thumb for instance. Nothing religious there, but so perfectly functional that it points to a magnificent Designer....... Keep reading

I don’t even know where to begin. In the last few weeks I’ve been struggling to clearly define the big bad wolf that seems to hold the heart and soul of design in it’s grasp. I’ve identified certain features of the wolf that appear to hinder us from pursuing our God-given passion in our work—advertising, marketing, agencies, corporations, management, clients and profit.

A recent post on Speak Up by Marissa Kraxberger titled Designing for Deception jolted me. In it she says that “as designers, we play a large part in this game of deception. We create in order to influence opinions, attitudes, and behavior. Our power to communicate is then strategically used by the government and the media to control society’s thoughts and opinions.” There’s another term for creating to influence opinions, attitudes and behavior—witchcraft. Let me explain.

We all have the stereotypical understanding of witchcraft—little old ladies in black, casting spells, stirring cauldrons, reading palms and pricking voodoo dolls. These practices are blatantly witchcraft. What I’m talking about is anything we do in design to manipulate or control people’s attitudes, emotions or actions. This spirit of con...... Keep reading

About two weeks ago I posted a mystery photo and asked for your thoughts as to who created it, why they did it, and what it means for us as designers. And I received one very thoughtful response (thanks Jonathan). Here’s the scoop on the mystery poop.

Last fall I was reviewing some of Stefan Sagmeister’s work, and my six year old son, Noah, was in the room looking over my shoulder. Normally, I can’t work with folks staring over my shoulder, especially my kids, who tend to ask a million questions about what they are seeing. Since I was taking a break (I work out of our home), I enjoyed having Noah there and hoped he’d learn something. Turns out we both did.

After lunch that day, Noah took the peanut butter and jelly sandwich crusts, which he and every other child despises, and crafted the word “poop”. Parents know that any words alluding to body functions are fascinating and funny for kids. I thought his work quite good both in content and execution. He was doing more than mimicking what he saw Sagmeister do. He was creating connections between ideas and physical objects that expressed something inside of him. Poop. Rejected bread crus...... Keep reading

I’m regurgitating this short rant (see title above) for your consumption from Tibor Kalman’s biography, Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist. I think it is more relevant today then when he wrote it in 1998. As design is increasingly recognized by business as the new “competitive edge,” designers will get more stroking in the form of paychecks, press and pretty plaques. I’m concerned though that this new attention on design from outside the design community will be enough of a disguise for the big bad wolf to cook us all.

“It’s about the struggle between individuals with jagged passion in their work and today’s faceless corporate committees, which claim to understand the needs of the mass audience, and are removing the idiosyncrasies, polishing the jags, creating a thought-free, passion-free, cultural mush that will not be hated nor loved by anyone. By now, virtually all media, architecture, product and graphic design have been freed from ideas, individual passion, and have been relegated to a role of corporate servitude, carrying out corporate strategies and increasing stock prices. Creative people are now working for the bottom line.

Magazine editors have lost their ...... Keep reading