Anybody Can Be Creative
if you know how.
I'm working on developing this logo, or mark, for a "prevention of stroke re-occurrence" group at my former hospital.
I've had mixed feelings about the project... the grant-writer and head of the group is a little conservative and was also a little nervous. When I started out on this thing I kind of figured that the logo was going to end up being conservative. But, the project director started a sub-committee of folk to participate in the logo development (one of whom is my dear Mima's AuntV) and an amazing thing is starting to happen.
Two weeks ago when I met with them (without the project director who was on vacation) I walked in to the meeting feeling a little unprepared. See... I know how I like to work, and the PD was kind of throwing me off my game. He had asked me to re-do sketches, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew I didn't have to... so I didn't--thus the feeling of being unprepared. I told them when I walked in "OK, we're going to run this like a graphic design class" and started at the very beginning. And then I re-presented the sketches I had done, encouraging the group (made up of several community residents, mainly African American but all stroke survivors... probably starting around their late '50's to maybe 70's) to brainstorm words, phrases and feelings about what it meant to be a stroke survivor. Out of many discussions and brainstorming at that last session, we picked 5 of the sketches I'd done to develop further, and I managed to figure out how to shorten their rather long slogan/acronym into a much shorter one.
I haven't felt much like working. It's been a struggle. And all last week and over the weekend I kept trying to force myself to sit down and clean up the 5 directions we'd picked... but nothing was flowing. Finally, Sunday night at like 2AM I got cracking, took a nap, got up and finished all 5, very simply, each in a an 8"X8" square in black and white. I cut all 5 pieces neatly so that they were all the same size, and packed a black mounting board to post them on. Ordinarily I may have mounted each one... but uh, I broke and don't have any more mounting boards. My meeting was yesterday at noon.
I missed the bus off the Rock I'd wanted to take... I can't seem to find any of my traveling portfolios, I was extremely unhappy about life and then on top of everything else I get to the bus stop and the heavens open up and it begins to pour. And I'm inappropriately dressed, cold, and trying to keep the rain from wetting up my Graphis paper tablet and the mounting board. And I thought I'd be late.
But I got there just about on the dot, and presented the five ideas one by one. And a wonderful thing happened... The two more conservative ideas I had didn't fly... and the two more adventurous ideas, sparked by the two quieter folk in the group, suddenly took off. And they even made a suggestion to combine them... which was awesome cuz the minute the suggestion was made I saw it in my head.
I left feeling warm and happy and like I know how to do something in my pathetic little life... cuz otherwise quite honestly I'm suffering.
There are body parts scattered from here to Katmandu.
And I don't even feel like writing about it.
I'm working on developing this logo, or mark, for a "prevention of stroke re-occurrence" group at my former hospital.
I've had mixed feelings about the project... the grant-writer and head of the group is a little conservative and was also a little nervous. When I started out on this thing I kind of figured that the logo was going to end up being conservative. But, the project director started a sub-committee of folk to participate in the logo development (one of whom is my dear Mima's AuntV) and an amazing thing is starting to happen.
Two weeks ago when I met with them (without the project director who was on vacation) I walked in to the meeting feeling a little unprepared. See... I know how I like to work, and the PD was kind of throwing me off my game. He had asked me to re-do sketches, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew I didn't have to... so I didn't--thus the feeling of being unprepared. I told them when I walked in "OK, we're going to run this like a graphic design class" and started at the very beginning. And then I re-presented the sketches I had done, encouraging the group (made up of several community residents, mainly African American but all stroke survivors... probably starting around their late '50's to maybe 70's) to brainstorm words, phrases and feelings about what it meant to be a stroke survivor. Out of many discussions and brainstorming at that last session, we picked 5 of the sketches I'd done to develop further, and I managed to figure out how to shorten their rather long slogan/acronym into a much shorter one.
I haven't felt much like working. It's been a struggle. And all last week and over the weekend I kept trying to force myself to sit down and clean up the 5 directions we'd picked... but nothing was flowing. Finally, Sunday night at like 2AM I got cracking, took a nap, got up and finished all 5, very simply, each in a an 8"X8" square in black and white. I cut all 5 pieces neatly so that they were all the same size, and packed a black mounting board to post them on. Ordinarily I may have mounted each one... but uh, I broke and don't have any more mounting boards. My meeting was yesterday at noon.
I missed the bus off the Rock I'd wanted to take... I can't seem to find any of my traveling portfolios, I was extremely unhappy about life and then on top of everything else I get to the bus stop and the heavens open up and it begins to pour. And I'm inappropriately dressed, cold, and trying to keep the rain from wetting up my Graphis paper tablet and the mounting board. And I thought I'd be late.
But I got there just about on the dot, and presented the five ideas one by one. And a wonderful thing happened... The two more conservative ideas I had didn't fly... and the two more adventurous ideas, sparked by the two quieter folk in the group, suddenly took off. And they even made a suggestion to combine them... which was awesome cuz the minute the suggestion was made I saw it in my head.
I left feeling warm and happy and like I know how to do something in my pathetic little life... cuz otherwise quite honestly I'm suffering.
There are body parts scattered from here to Katmandu.
And I don't even feel like writing about it.
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