Remember Life Before Cell Phones?

Yes, those days actually existed—the good ol' days, as I call 'em. I suppose that by now, it seems so long ago—so long, in fact, that there's a whole generation of young folks brought up on cellphones, who probably don't even remember a time when there weren't any. Which is kinda sad...

But if you can believe this, there was a time when we only had wired "home phones"—like the standard-issue Pink Princess that I remember as a kid—and people actually had to be "at the house" in order to be reached by phone! Sounds quite limiting by today's standards, I'm sure. But we just don't know what freedom we've given up by allowing cellphones, as well as other modern-day gadgetry, to become such an ubiquitous part of our daily lives.

Nowadays, I can't even decide to leave my cellphone at home on a Saturday—for the sake of enjoying a carefree weekend—without loved-ones complaining at me for not having answered their midday calls. My girlfriend even gets offended at the idea of my cellphone not being fully juiced and on my person at all times. "What if I were in an emergency—how would I get in touch with you?"

It's a valid point, right? But nothing worth trying to make me feel guilty about, as if I'm forsaking my loved-ones just because I decide to take a much-needed "personal day" from the world at large. Because one of the "freedoms" we trade for this 24/7 connectivity—via the various mobile devices we keep strapped to ourselves, even while on the toilet, as if the world would come to a sudden halt without us knowing everything that's happening—is our sanity.

I dunno about you, but I'm all about keeping that part of me intact, as best as possible; and I make no apologies for it. So some days, I see fit to leave all the techno-gear behind—so I can think, regenerate, and just live at my own pace for awhile.

All that's well and good and understood; but even so, we still have a tendency to operate otherwise. Why so? It makes you wonder, does anyone really remember what we did before cellphones came along? I mean, how did we ever survive?

—grif

Positive v. Negative

Did anyone see the interview with Will Smith, on the Tavis Smiley show, which aired December 13th, 2007? (Which ironically was around the time of my last post!) I just spied it online yesterday, and I must say, the guy's kinda deep. Check out this YouTube clip from the interview.

Wow..."the universe is water," he says!

"Make a choice. You just decide what it's going to be, who you're going to be, how you're going to do it. Just decide, and then from that point, the universe is going to get out your way. It's water; it wants to move and go around stuff. So for me, I want to represent possibilities. I want to represent the idea that you really can make what you want."

So taking his "water" analogy further, WE are the swimmer! And as long as we keep swimming forward toward our goal, the rest of the world—like water—will flow around us, and "get out of our way."

I've even heard/read others declare that when you make up your mind and dedicate yourself to doing something, the rest of the world will align with you in trying to help you achieve that goal. Not so sure about all THAT, but it's a very unique way of thinking. Why? Because no one thinks that way.

I'm certainly guilty of being a pessimist, a cynic, a "realist"—or whatever word you want to call it—when I see fit. And along with that, I can also be one of those who can't seem to get past their own negativity—as if it were a helpless condition. But the other part of the equation is that when it comes to the stuff of life that I cannot affect, I must learn to become the "water." To flow around those obstacles, so I can keep moving forward to my goal.

So it seems that the Universe works both ways: Sometimes IT'S the water, sometimes WE are. The key to living a life that's positive vs. negative, I suppose, is knowing when to Swim and when to Flow...

—grif

Happy Holidays!Now for that Much-Needed Rest...

I hope that every one of you had a great Christmas! My own was filled with family, fun, and the wonderful sense of cheer and togetherness that not even the hectic pace of the Holiday season can shake.

But speaking of that "hectic pace," it sure is nice, after the Holiday is over, to be able to take a breather and actually relax for a bit. It seems, for me, that the entire past month has been nonstop—from the 'accelerated' schedule on my job, to filling constant client requests, to helping friends and family with various projects, to the big Christmas Rush—and then yesterday having the car stall out on me, at the end of all the day's festivities!

(Yes, my poor Betsy just couldn't take all the excitement anymore!)

Ya know, I remember the days when "going on vacation" meant I could take a break from work, in order to do the things I typically must neglect in life—like napping, eating, writing a blog post or two, and planning how I will spend the next two months of employed life. Not so much the case, these days.

But here's to hoping that I may actually get to kick my feet up today. After all, I called my girlfriend this morning, to ask what activities she was planning for the day, and when she wanted me to show up on her doorstep. (Like all good boyfriends must do!) Her response was, "Babe, why don't you just take a nice, long nap today?" What a gal!

So to everyone, Happy Day-After-Christmas!

--grif

Today is Blog Action Day!

I feel as though I'm coming kinda late to this party, but I'm glad to participate, nonetheless! Blog Action Day, put on by the great folks over at FreelanceSwitch.com—a really cool blog/site for designers who freelance—is all about the Environment. Bloggers from all over (and not just designers) are encouraged to blog anything about the environment on this day—and so this is my off-topic contribution to the cause!

At the moment, the one environment-related issue that comes to the forefront of my mind is smoking. Probably because I used to work for a legal services company whose specialty was tobacco litigation. (At least back in the days when that was still trendy and profitable for lawyers to chase after!)

I worked on plenty of cases where a big-name tobacco company was being sued, either class-action style or by an individual who'd smoked all their life and now had cancer. And even though it was always interesting to watch these cases unfold, I never saw one brought against Big Tobacco related to smoking's effects on the Environment.

Personally, I don't allow smoking in my own house or car. Not that I look on smokers as inconsiderate cads or whatever. (In that case, I wouldn't like my mom very much!) But it would be interesting to know just what kind of effect smoking has had on the Environment...

—Terry

The Big Idea

This blog is based on a theory of mine: That in-house graphic designers—those of us working in marketing departments, on 'graphics support teams,' etc.—can always make use of good information geared toward thriving in small-business and corporate environments. Especially since there doesn't seem to be a lot of it out there. But more about that in a minute...

Life on the Inside
A good many designers have always been—or eventually go—in-house, primarily for the sake of a regular paycheck, a level of structure and predictability, and in general, a life more like the rest of the working world. (Unfortunately, that life also includes Microsoft.)

At times in my career—when I was younger, and maybe a bit naive—I struggled with the idea of 'selling my creative soul' for a paycheck. Plus, I still sometimes miss the camaraderie and healthy competition of once having been part of a 'dream team' of designers whose mandate was to "have fun everyday."

Of course, the soul of a true creative is what resides in every designer and AD—even the corporate among us. And yes, some days can be, let's say, more challenging than others. I don't know that there's a 'best way' of getting past this issue. But there's always a fresh mortgage bill to be paid—that usually helps.

In the Meantime...
One thing I do know is that there aren't many popular resources for those of us who must switch gears between Quark and PowerPoint—or from high-end marketing materials to straightforward infographics—on an our-to-hour basis. Plus, because art departments, by nature, seem to be closed-off entities from the rest of the world, there's not a lot of sharing of information and assistance among the in-of-house.

That's why I started this blog: To discuss the everyday, practical issues of what we do—from tricky software issues, to maintaining a level of design integrity, to the politics of having enough bosses to count on both hands—and eventually cultivate some participation and community. (Especially by the time TheInHouser.com is up and running as a full-fledged website.)

The inspiration for this idea has come from regularly being able to help my colleagues' workday go a bit smoother, through whatever practical, creative, or technical assistance I can be of. My ultimate goal here is just to expand on that theme...

Terry Griffin
Designer / Art Director since 1994