100th Post; Wish-to-Do List

Every night, as I lay in bed waiting to fall asleep, a million things speed through my mind. I think about what I’ve completed that day and what I have yet to accomplish the next. It never stops until I am asleep. When I wake up, I already feel behind.

This is a problem. Even though I take pride in being someone who is constantly generating ideas, I inevitably have more ideas than I can execute. Yes, a lot of those ideas are probably not that good and practically trivial, but ideas are ideas, and until they are executed, they all weigh relatively equally as valid solutions.

So, to ease the pressure off my brain just a little bit, and to celebrate the 100^th post of Flush, I would like to share 100 things I have brewing in my head. (I have a lot more, as I’m sure you do as well.) Some are very realistic and executable, while others are more ideal and fantastic.

Site

1. Get all areas of the experiments section opened and working.
2. Have a creative About section.
3. Redesign Flush to fit with transparency theme.
4. Have the entire site be mobile and screen-reader friendly (in other words, accessible).
5. Have the site completely done by sometime next year, before I realize I need a redesign.

   Career

6. Continue with learning ActionScript 3.0.
7. Learn MySQL.
8. Learn Processing, whatever benefit I may get from it.
9. Learn AfterEffects.
10. Learn podcasting.
11. Learn a printing press.
12. Learn to hand-assemble a book.
13. Learn to use a type design program.
14. Learn to write a form that will update an XML file.
15. Finish my print portfolio.
16. Create a multi-functional business card.
17. Design a body font family, including ligatures and special characters.
18. Attend AIGA Design Conference 2009 in Memphis, TN.
19. Be a part of the Olympic branding committee of a Summer Games.
20. Buy a copy of CS4 (unless I wait too long and CS5 comes out).
21. Meet well-known design figures with mutual respect.
22. Design a self-promotional holiday souvenir.
23. Be part of an “awesome” project.
24. Own a copy of Sagmeister’s “Things I Have Learned From My Life So Far”.
25. Volunteer with whatever AIGA SF needs volunteers for.
26. Start a career portfolio archive.

    Experiments

27. Design and screen print shirt graphics with geeky design-related topics.
28. Make a poster/series with writing with light.
29. Make an info-graphic poster of the bodies of the solar system.
30. Print an image on the same sheet multiple times.
31. Print an image on separate transparency sheets and align the images in the light, then photograph it.
32. Create a poster series of the sun’s actual visible electromagnetic spectrum.
33. Design a reusable calendar.
34. Do a time lapse series of one location at the same time each day for a long period of time (e.g. a year).
35. Invert night sky photographs.
36. Overlay a high-resolution photo onto a low resolution version of the same photo.
37. Align panoramic Photomerge photos but don’t blend the edges.
38. Put supposedly-panoramic Photomerge photos in a grid in relation to one another.
39. Create a new typeface by overlapping two typefaces, then take the overlapping areas or dissimilar areas.
40. Use enlarged small type on screen as regular type.
41. Use Flash/ActionScript to write a visualization of two bodies orbiting.
42. Create a motion graphic piece that will show a writing with light, but the light moves with time, so the writing cannot be seen at any one time, but collectively.

    Life

43. Continue with learning either/both French or/and Japanese.
44. Learn Morse code, just because.
45. Learn Braille, just because.
46. Learn American Sign Language, just because.
47. Learn more about astronomy.
48. Learn more about physics.
49. Learn to surf.
50. Learn to ski and/or snowboard.
51. Learn to ballroom dance, for whatever future occasion.
52. Start life blogging again.
53. Get my life completely GTD’d.
54. Pay off my student loans and start being in the black.
55. Get a green job.
56. Live in a studio apartment.
57. Have a road trip of some sort across the country.
58. Go to an amusement park one of these days. It’s been too long.
59. Go mini-golf with friends.
60. Go on a road trip with friends.
61. Go on a cruise with friends.
62. Go to a beach where the water and the weather is not cold.
63. Be part of the excitement in Washington D.C. on January 20, 2009.
64. Attend an American/Western wedding. (I’ve only been to Chinese style weddings).
65. Attend a baseball game.
66. Attend an indoor concert with die-hard fans who sing along to all the songs.
67. Play more Wii.
68. Become a space tourist.
69. Experience Zero G in one of those planes.
70. Fly first class.
71. Ride in a Rock-Star-Style Tour Bus.
72. Spend a week in a cabin with friends.
73. Get into a habit of exercising and eating right (for the most part) for the rest of my life.
74. Return to a routine of swimming.
75. Get shampoo/body wash that takes out the smell of chlorine.
76. Have a crazy adventure night like in the movies, but with no one dying.
77. Buy myself things for the holidays that I’ve been longing for all year but have been really conservative with money. Or when I get a full-time design job.
78. Go on a “vision quest,” whatever that is.
79. Re-watch the Matrix Trilogy.
80. Watch something in IMAX.
81. Re-watch Motorcycle Diaries.
82. Re-watch the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.
83. Have a movie marathon of Planet Earth.
84. Be an awesome and cool uncle when my niece or nephew is born.
85. Help build houses for families who need and deserve it.
86. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or something similar during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
87. Convince my friends that it’s “should have” and not “should of”, among other things.
88. Build something useful with wood.

    World

89. Visit New York City and live there for a month.
90. Visit Japan and live there for a month.
91. Visit Beijing and the Olympic area.
92. Visit Vancouver during the Olympics in 2010.
93. Visit London during the Olympics in 2012.
94. Volunteer to do something in Africa.
95. Visit Australia.
96. Visit Machu Picchu.
97. Visit France and try to live there for a month.
98. Visit Italy.
99. Visit Dubai and sight-see all the cool architecture.

100. Learn to live, and live to learn.

Let’s see how many of these I can accomplish by the 200^th post. I know I won’t be able to do all of it, but it’s still good to try.

Flush.

A Real Ax to Grind

A few weeks ago, I received an automated e-mail from the feedback form on my beta site home page. It wasn’t from someone I know, nor was it a feedback on my beta site, either. It was from a Mr. Stephen Eskilson. Based on the content of his comment and a little Googling research, I found out that this Mr. Stephen Eskilson was the author of Graphic Design: A New History. It turns out that he had read my Christmas wish list on Flush, where I had crossed off his book from my list because I read in a guest review on Design Observer that the book wasn’t that good.

Mr. Eskilson suggested that I check it out from a library and give it a real look myself. Giving him the benefit of the doubt and trying to be fair with everyone’s work, I immediately looked up his book on my local library’s website. There was one available at the library near my work, so I decided to go to work early and check out the book before starting my shift. But after about twenty minutes of looking around the library, including with the help of a library staff, it turns out that the book was missing. Frustrated at my search and at Mr. Eskilson’s comment, I gave up and went to work.

That was seven weeks ago. I haven’t done anything about it since, but I don’t see a real urgency to do so. A little more research revealed that Mr. Eskilson is an associate professor in the Art Department at Eastern Illinois University, specializing in Art History, according to the school’s website. And with a reread of the review, I’ve come to a temporary conclusion that Mr. Eskilson sees graphic design from an art history perspective and may not fully understand the mind and the essence of graphic design.

Now, I may not be as educated in art history and in life as Mr. Eskilson, nor do I know how much graphic design experience Mr. Eskilson has had, but I am more inclined to take the word of a graphic designer than that of an art historian when it comes to the subject of graphic design. Still, Mr. Eskilson deserves a fair review from me before I make my final decision on whether I should have this book in my design library. After all, Mr. Eskilson approached me in a relatively polite manner and closed his letter with “best, Stephen.” And I just discovered yesterday that his book is available again at the library, so I will most likely check it out in the next few weeks or so.

I won’t post what was said in Mr. Eskilson’s comments, although he mentioned that I might find one of the reviewers “had a real ax to grind.” I might risk looking stupid, but I honestly don’t know what that really means. I know it’s not something good, but other than that I’m stumped (semi-pun semi-intended).

Flush.

Glance Review: Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design

A few days ago, I received this book from my wonderful friend Angela, to whom I referred to my wish list. Just looking at it up close, I am already excited to be reading it in the next few months. I enjoy that the essay titles are on the cover, much like How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul by Adrian Shaughnessy.

I also like how they’re all in different typefaces, which makes them fun, and funny. What’s even more cool is that each essay is set in a different typeface as well. And what’s cooler than that is that the appendix, it lists what typefaces they are. That is awesome, because for those who know me, I like to recognize typefaces, and I probably can’t recognize 90% of them in this book, so it’s going to be fun learning about type while learning about design.

I just took another quick look, and saw the title “Graphic Designers, Flush Left?” I remember seeing that for the first time at Borders in Union Square in SF, and that’s when I started considering titling this blog “Flush Left,” which eventually reduced to just “Flush.” I took a quick read of that essay at the Borders, and it turned out to not be about designing flush left, but politics.

So it’s going to be fun reading and re-reading this. I’ll probably discuss a few essays here on Flush if I have something to say.

Flush.

Wish List 2007

I don’t want clothes. I don’t want video games. I want books. Design books. Organize-Your-Life books.

First Choices

• • 
  • Seventy-nine Short Essays on Design
  • by Michael Bierut. 9781568986999.
  • Reason: Because it's Michael Bierut.
• • 
  • The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)
  • by John Maeda. 9780262134729.
  • Reason: Because I think simplicity is important.
• • 
  • Dictionary of Brand
  • by Marty Neumeier. 9781884081064.
  • Reason: Because the BADCast says so.
• • 
  • Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
  • by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. 9780865475878.
  • Reason: Because respecting the environment is important.

Secondary Selections

• • Sagmeister: Made You Look
  • by Peter Hall. 9781861542748.
  • Reason: Because it's related to Stefan Sagmeister!
• • Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far
  • by Stefan Sagmeister. 9780810995291.
  • Reason: Again, because it's Stefan Sagmeister! Found out on UnBeige.
• • Beautiful Evidence
  • by Edward R. Tufte. 9780961392178.
  • Reason: Because I'm interested in infographics.
• • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd Edition
  • by Edward R. Tufte. 9780961392147.
  • Reason: More infographics.
• • A Designer’s Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need
  • by Jennifer and Kenneth Visocky O’Grady. 9781592532575.
  • Reason: Because research is important for design. Heard from BADCast #46.
• • Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design
  • by Kristen Cullen. 9781592533527.
  • Reason: I need to improve my layout skills.
• • Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design
  • by Timothy Samara. 9781592533015.
  • Reason: I need to learn more about typography.
• • Make It Bigger
  • by Paula Scher. 1568985487.
  • Reason: Learn from one of the best through case studies.
• • The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
  • by Neil Fiore. 9781585425525.
  • Reason: Attempt to increase productivity.

Still Good to Have

• • Made with Fontfont: Type for Independent Minds by Erik Spiekermann. 9780977985043.
  • Reason: Type! Heard on ESAD lecture on Swiss Legacy.
• • The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher. 9780714834498.
  • Reason: Lots of inspiration. Skimmed through it at a bookstore.
• • The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet by David Kahn. 9780684831305.
  • Reason: I like puzzles. Heard about it through something related to the movie “Zodiac”.
• • The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. 9780446691437.
  • Reason: David Allen recommended it.
• • The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson. 9781401302375.
  • Reason: Need to learn about business. Heard about it from Ellen Lupton via SVA Podcast Series.
• • Designing Design by Kenya Hara. 9783037781050.
  • Reason: Core77 reviewed it.
• • Graphic Design: A New History by Stephen J. Eskilson. 9780300120110.
  • Reason: New history, eh? Steven Heller recommended it. Never mind. Two guest writers on Design Observer don’t think it’s that good.
• • Layers: The Complete Guide to Adobe Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature by Matt Kloskowski. 9780321534163.
  • Reason: I want to maximize the ratio of my knowledge of Photoshop features and the amount of space Photoshop takes up my hard drive and my life.

Flush.