For Steve

The world gives us so few who provide a way for us all to see in new ways. It always hurts when they leave. The effused sadness that has spread through the internet from the news of Steve Jobs’ death is to be expected. We lament when things are taken from us, and I’d say that Jobs’ death (like Henson’s, like Disney’s) took a valuable lens onto the world from all of us still here. His way of seeing gave us a desirable path forward, and offered a way to live better with all of this technology. It was a way built on empathy and laced with magic. Technology and design have the potential to be life-enhancing, and I have never felt that more acutely than when using the things Steve helped make. Jobs liked to say computers were a bicycle for the mind, and with that understanding came something that was always left unsaid: a bicycle can be used for a commute, but it should also be used to joyride.

Today seems to be a suitable day for us all to step back and assess the influence and legacy of the work that we do. Jobs always said he wanted to put a ding in the universe. We don’t have to be quite so ambitious in scale, but it does seem prudent to consider the effect of our work in this larger concept of time. How will our efforts affect people now, and how will the way they change people extend into the future? The sadness you have (if you feel it) is not from a come-back story ending, or the changing of guard at a company, or from a connection to a device you carry with you daily. That sadness is for the loss of a man who unabashedly devoted his life to making things that helped others live well.

We all have that same opportunity. Take a moment to consider your job. Boil it down to its essence: you make things for other people. The most important concept to learn from Jobs is embedded in how we feel after using one of his products. That very same thing is happening now in his wake. Look closely and you will see it: wonderful experiences have an afterglow to them. The delight we find in what we do is in some way lost in the moment, but captured in our memories.

In memory.

*Post via Frank Chimero

Google Calendar, iOS, and Mac OS

I have a question, but first, let me explain the situation.

I have around six different calendars that I keep up with at any given time. For years, there has been no problem adding, removing and syncing events to my iPhone or Mac Book Pro… ‘Til now.

In a few days, I will be bringing on an assistant to help with various tasks and needs that I have around the business. That being said and with collaboration in mind, Google Calendar looks to be THE solution for us. I want to be able to plug in events on my iPhone and have my assistant be able to access them on her phone or on the web. 

My question. How may I post an event on any of my six calendars from Google Cal, iOS iCal, or Mac iCal and have it sync across the board as opposed to having to post it just to Google and only being able to read it on iOS and OS X?

EDIT: I have looked into CalDAV, but I have not been able to set it up in a way where I can have all access from and to any calendar I please. Thoughts?

Wait For Daylight – A Christmas Mix

Wait For Daylight – A Christmas Mix
December 2010.
A Christmas mix for all you music fans.

Going with the tradition of last year’s Christmas mix, I decided to do yet another volume for this year. I sincerely hope that you enjoy it as much as I have. To be honest, I’ve been listening to this mix strait for the last few days. It’s my favorite thus far.

So, my gift to you – Happy listening. You may download the mix here.

TRACK LIST:
01. “10 Years And Separating States” – Eager Seas (Watashi Wa)
02. “I See You” – Help Portrait
03. “In The Bleak Midwinter” – Paper Route
04. “Partial & Incomplete” – Sleeping At Last
05. “If You Were Born Today” – Jimmy Eat World
06. “No Earthly King” – Olivette
07. “Crazy Love” – Robbie Seay Band
08. “Speaking A Dead Language” – Joy Williams
09. “This Is The Christ” – Sandra McCracken with Derek Webb
10. “Joy (To The World)” – Oh, Starling
11. “Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year” – Rosie Thomas
12. “The First Noel” – Future of Forestry
13. “In The Stream” – S.Carey
14. “Amen, Amen” – Sojourn
15. “Silent Night” – Sixpence None The Richer
16. “Winter White” – Greylag
17. “Hallelujah (Remix)” – Shawn McDonald

All copyrights to respective writers / publishers / etc.
Used without permission. Do not listen at high volumes.
I support the buying of music. If you like what you hear, buy it.

You should follow me on Twitter here.

Reducing The Noise

Over the past week or so my friend, Jeremy, has been saying that his New Year’s Resolution will be, “Less Email, More Creating.” To be honest, my mind has been contemplating all the ways that I can reduce various noise in my life. In September of this year, I was subscribed to or following countless blogs, was following over 250 people on Twitter, and read every email that came my way (including advertisements). Noise at its finest distracting me from what my clients were paying me to do – work.

“We are already the most overinformed, underreflective people in the history of civilization.”
– Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey / Harvard-based psychologists

Beginning sometime in late October, I went through and cut out 80% of my favorite blogs and Tumblr follows. On top of that, I went through the 250 people I followed on Twitter and reduced it down to about 60 people. Because I didn’t want to completely lose connection to those I followed, I created a private list that I like to call “Unfollowed”. It’s a simple idea: Everyone of the almost 200 people I unfollowed, I added to that list so that I could “check in” whenever I wasn’t so busy. Of course people complained, but really, very few. Because I “checked in” every couple of days, I really didn’t miss much, and if there was something said that I wanted to respond to, easy – I just responded to it.

In late November, I still felt crowded. Too much noise. A problem I noticed in the beginning was that no single tweet or blog post or email had the ability to truly inspire me because there was simply too much going on at once.. So, I quit following more people and moved them to that “unfollowed” list. I got down to following about 35 people for a week or two. I am now down to following 39 people on Twitter.

Implementing this idea of “noise reduction” has definitely helped me get more work done and has honestly added value to the few things I check up on, whether it is Twitter, blogs, websites, etc. I would strongly encourage you to take the time to sit down and think about what “noise” you have in your own life and remove anything that’s not necessary to help you become a truly better individual.

Here are some practical steps that you can take to help you reduce your noise:

1. Figure out what noise does not benefit you or inspire you. Remember, noise can be people you follow on Twitter, books you are reading, and blogs or websites you’re following often.
2. Remove said noise. If you can’t quit cold turkey (which I would recommend), then create a list of items that you could at least check/read less often and move the noise to that list. Begin with not checking that list for 2-3 days. See if you don’t truly need it.
3. As you find new inspirations, new friends, whatever, don’t feel guilty following them. However, review #1 and figure out if there is noise that you are allowing into your life that you can remove.

Lastly, I want leave you with a video from my buddy, Grant. It’s a short video. 3 minutes. You can handle it. Have a great day.

You should follow me on Twitter here.

Massimo Vignelli

Like most designers I know, when the 90 minute documentary Helvetica came out, I found myself watching it religiously back to back countless times. I was absolutely enthralled by how much discussion could be had over a font face. If you haven’t seen the movie, to give you a brief description, it’s a documentary filmed by Gary Hustwit telling a brief history of graphic design, type design, the birth of Helvetica, and the future of design itself. The film also interviews some of the most influential people in the design industry over the last decade.

One of the men interviewed is none other than Massimo Vignelli. Upon seeing the movie for the first time, I was immediately captured as soon as Massimo began speaking. I would probably call him the “Grandfather of Design” due to the fact that he’s probably one of the most tender hearted yet easily one of the most knowledgeable people in the field to this day. To hear Massimo speak on design, it’s as if he and design were old war buddies. I could listen for hours.

Earlier today, I discovered a brief, 6 minute documentary on Massimo that Shelby White (Wanken) posted. There are many things to take away from it, but one of my favorite quotes from it is:

“You have to train yourself to have vision, courage and determination. These three things to me are very important… At the same time you should not have a fear of failure… Instead you have to have courage not to fail or courage even to fail.” - Massimo Vignelli

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Paper Route – Absence Live 2010

In October, I posted a blog featuring images of LIGHTS from her tour with Owl City & Paper Route. It wasn’t my goal to post the other bands so long afterwards. I’m Sorry.

That being said, there is one band that I’ve known for a few years now and have been blessed with the opportunity to see in both large and small capacity venues. This band started as three dudes writing music in a bedroom, but as time and word of mouth began to push them into the limelight, this band began to make some serious waves. In just a few years, they have toured with Paramore, Owl City, LIGHTS, Copeland, Brooke Waggoner and countless other incredibly inspiring bands that you’ve probably heard of. 

This band is none other than Paper Route. If you have never heard their music, I could not implore you more to go to iTunes or any record store and pick up any record of theirs you can find. All are absolutely incredible and will leave you speechless.

I sincerely hope you enjoy these shots from the show.

If you’re viewing in the Tumblr dashboard, click here to view the post in context.

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The Fear of Asking

Yesterday afternoon, I posed a question to my 590 followers on Twitter and my 1600 “friends” on Facebook and received 2 good replies out of 3 total replies. To give my followers yet another chance, I posed the question again. No further replies.

The question was this:

If you could ask me anything regarding what I do professionally, what would you ask? Topics could be: Workflow, Influence, Dislikes, etc…

As someone who has grown exponentially in the past 8 months, the best thing I have learned is to ask questions to anyone willing to listen to me. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest reason is simply: I don’t know everything, and I need advice from time to time.

I’ve never been afraid of talking to people, but I have been afraid of asking questions. A common thought process of mine was “What if they think my question is dumb? Or what if I don’t understand the answer? Or what if they don’t know the answer?”

“I deal with rejection by persisting…” — Ryan Marrinan

One of the best things that helped me ask questions was being in need of true help. It was as if all fear fell aside with regards to how dumb my question may be because the fear of not being able to complete a task was greater. If the person answering the question doesn’t have a helpful answer, ask someone, anyone, ‘til you find what you are looking for. 

I open the forum up to you:

If you could ask me anything regarding what I do professionally, what would you ask?

An Evening with LIGHTS

A few months ago, my friend, Breanne, called me to shoot some promos since she was going to be in town with Owl City. I kindly obliged, shot some promos, and then that evening went to the show where Paper Route and LIGHTS opened up for her band, Owl City.

In 2009, I had the chance to see LIGHTS in a room of 150 with Copeland, Lovedrug, and Lydia. My friends and I were obviously impressed with the lineup. The artist we didn’t really expect to see again was LIGHTS. It wasn’t that we were not impressed (rather the opposite), but simply stated, we just didn’t know she was on the rise. Her music at the time was average, her band wasn’t as showy as the other three artists, and the biggest reason why guys raised an eyebrow was because of her “cuteness”.

Fast forward. 2010. A different story. With a crowd of 2000+ and on tour lined up to open directly for Owl City, we find LIGHTS. Her show was immensely better. Her band was tighter, the songs were better, and she had obviously worked hard to get where she was.

If you have never listened to LIGHTS, I think you should check her out, buy her records, and then catch a live show.

Also worth noting, LIGHTS is her legal name (ask to see her driver’s license).

Here’s some photos of her performance:

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Gatlin Elms - “Carry Me Home” CD Release Party

Very few times in life do you get to witness a large group of great friends getting together to celebrate, but as it would so happen, I’ve witnessed three great gatherings of friends in the past year. The first of those gatherings being my wedding and the last being the CD release party of Gatlin Elms’ “Carry Me Home”. I’ve been so blessed to know Gatlin Elms over the years (and have them not only play at my wedding but stand in the wedding party). They are some of my closest brothers, and I couldn’t ask for any better.

That being said, the past two years for them has been quite a journey. One of hard work and determination. In 2009, they entered into the studio to record “Carry Me Home”, only to find out half way through that they needed to go back and re-think every aspect of the record. It is during this time, I would say that they found their voice.

Fast forward. 10-10-10. After much hard work, blood, sweat and tears, the band released “Carry Me Home” to a great-sized crowd.

You can buy the record here or on iTunes. Here are quite a few photos from the evening:

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