First month of the new year and I am severely behind on client work but we shall prevail! This edition of CJ has some nostalgia and reminders that not everything has to make sense. Hope you enjoy!
Creative Juice is a weekly newsletter published every Monday morning so you can start your week feeling inspired creatively to make cool sh*t and get paid for it. Every Monday I share something gorgeous, a portfolio of the week, three creative finds, one amazing post from social media, and one lesson I learned recently.
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TL:DR
- SOMETHING GORGEOUS: The Only Calendar You'll Have For Life
- PORTFOLIO OF THE WEEK: Your Design Portfolio Website As An Archive
- CREATIVE FIND 01: Hooks of Different Colors, Sizes, and Shapes
- CREATIVE FIND 02: Production Company Meets Blade Runner
- CREATIVE FIND 03: Ain't No Thing Like a Chicken Wing
- ONE GRAM: Wholesome Embroidered Characters Depict My Imagination
- ONE LESSON: Always Trust Your Gut
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Something Gorgeous
The Only Calendar You'll Have For Life
Enzo Mari Formosa and Timor Perpetual Calendar
In my second to last full-time job, I worked for one of the largest snack and beverage company in the world. During my time there I was lucky enough to work with one of the best creative directors I ever had worked with. He was a gentleman that had impeccable taste in fashion and design. Every day, he entered the office sporting unique and rare articles of clothing. Some may describe them as bizarre and outlandish, others may say they were whimsical and gorgeous.
After making his morning rounds to say hello to the other teams he would go to his desk and setup his work station. While doing this he would always pull out his Enzo Mari calendar. At first I thought this was a cheap Muji calendar or something he might have ordered from Amazon. One day he told me about the legendary Italian industrial designer Enzo Mari and how this simple yet gorgeous calendar was an example of beautiful timeless design that he had for many years.
The perpetual calendar is as beautiful as it is functional. With it's aluminum base and PVC cards printed with the months and numbers in Helvetica Bold. The Timor Perpetual Calendar has been in production for over 60 years. Look around your house, desk, room, and ask yourself what are some of the things that you or your parents have had that have lasted that long?
I for one can't say I have many but that idea of owning objects and things that last a lifetime is very interesting to me.
Portfolio of the Week
Your Design Portfolio Website As An Archive
Kevin Hoegger
Can your design portfolio website be an archive of all your previous work? Should it be? These are questions I have heard many times and ask myself a lot also. Kevin Hoegger is a graphic designer from Zurich Switzerland that has a global network of clients and self-initiated projects that you might also be familiar such as Mockup Maison(great resource for mockups btw).
I stumbled across Kevin's portfolio website as I was admiring the visual identity he developed for the Swiss cafe Belmondo and was very intrigued. When I was younger I really admired this sort of functional default design. If you are not familiar with the legendary design studio Experimental Jetset, well you should be. I think their website has been the same for the last 10 years now and employ this same idea. An archive of all the projects they have worked on since inception. Kevin's work is superb so I won't spend too much time on that but rather analyzing the idea of using your portfolio website as an archive for anything and everything you've ever created.
A design portfolio website is very much an archive. It is a collection of images displaying your skill and expertise as a graphic designer. However, when it comes to the discussion about what work to include. I believe there is always a level of curation that is required, especially if you are just starting out. Kevin's design portfolio website didn't always look like it does today. Using Wayback Machine you can see versions of his portfolio website from 2018 which have a similar look and feel but not exactly the same. The one thing that has stayed consistent with Kevin's design portfolio website however is his quality of work.
To be frank, when you are able to produce quality work that checks all the boxes, you can almost get away with presenting it however you want. There is another project that lives rent free in my mind that you should know about. It's called The Spoken Portfolio, audio by Paul Sahre for karlssonwilker. Karlssonwilker recorded Paul Sahre describing various projects from their portfolio. It's rather comical but also interrogates the idea of presenting work that is visual. I won't rant about that today but still. When you are producing top tier work you can present it a lot of different and unconventional ways.
In closing, Kevin's work is wonderful. His design portfolio website reflects that. But don't think for a second that he doesn't carefully curate the projects he wants potential clients to see. Just because it is presented as an archive, doesn't mean he is throwing everything he has ever made in there.
Score: 8.9/10
Built with: Custom Coded
Creative Finds
Hooks of Different Colors, Sizes, and Shapes
100 Hooks Exhibition at Blunk Space
Who would of thought hooks could be so interesting? Not I for one, but put a 100 different hooks from esteemed artists and designer together in a room and call it a day.
Production Company Meets Blade Runner
XR Rebrand by Athletics
I don't know why this new visual identity by Athletics for XR reminds of Minority Report with Tom Cruise but it just does. I especially love the art direction of the brand photography with the accentuated motion blur and the motion package.
Ain't No Thing Like a Chicken Wing
Le Coq Frit by As We Procced
I'm a sucker for food and beverage branding so this playful, fun, and youthful approach by AWP for fried chicken actually gets my stomach dancing to try it out since it's fried chicken and all.
One Gram
Wholesome Embroidered Characters Depict My Imagination
@nengiren
I love discovering artists from the places and countries I've traveled to! Nengiren is an artist from Tangerang Indonesia and she creates these colorful and whimsical characters that seem to not have a care in the world when it comes to what they want to wear. Honestly I look at some of their fits and want them for myself.
I love to see work like this because it reminds me that not everything has to make sense. As a graphic designer, it is easy to follow logic and data. But sometimes evoking some sort of feeling or emotion can be just as impactful.
One Lesson
Always Trust Your Gut
This past week has been super busy for me. I am onboarding a few new clients and getting ready to kickoff some exciting projects that I will be heads down on for the next couple of weeks. During last week I was referred a potential client from a friend who was looking to build a web/app experience for their service business. This is pretty standard for me as a lot of the clients I work with are through referrals and a great way to somewhat filter clients.
This started off like any other potential client referred to me. We exchanged messages, trying to find a time that worked for both our calendars to discuss the project requirements. The week we were put in touch with each other didn't work because of travel plans etc so we scheduled for the following week. Usually when this happens it signals a few things to me. One, the project isn't as urgent as described. Two, they may be in discussions with other potential creative partners. The day of our video call rolled around and we jumped on the Google meet.
This is when the vibe started to slowly decline. I'm not sure if you have ever experienced a client with a "I know everything" mentality but you know right away. Usually a potential client will walk you through what they are working on and what they would need from someone like a designer or engineer. Instead, it would seem that this individual had everything figured out already and I was left there asking "What is that you need me for then?".
We continued the discussion for another 10-15 minutes but I already knew that this possible partnership would be a terrible match. When I thought about it, I had that feeling even before our call.
Your gut has a mysterious way of giving you a heads up especially when it comes to creative projects. Don't forget to listen to it.
PS. I have really bad sunburn again. Anyone have any home remedies that can help. SOS!
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