LINDSEY TOM

my collection of random thoughts & bits of inspiration

[smallpenchant-blog]

Greg Franklin directed, animated, and designed this short excerpt from Wyatt Cenac's Comedy Person. Wyatt Cenac is hilarious.

[smallpenchant-blog]

David Gifford & Adrian Dalca's time-lapse video of The Boston Ballet's rehearsal is gorgeous. It looks so serene.

(via Design Taxi)

[smallpenchant-blog]

Spot Painted Art Wars Stormtrooper Helmet Damien Hirst, 2013

Art + Star Wars = Art Wars. I love this exhibit. I wish it would make its way to Chicago.

(Images via Freshness)

[visualgraphc]

BAMA Storkjokken by Mission Design

[smallpenchant-blog]

This is branding is drop dead gorgeous.

[smallpenchant-blog]

Attempting to distract myself from travel blogs...and failing miserably. I have a serious case of wanderlust.

[smallpenchant-blog]

I love weddings. I especially love it when designers get married because everything they do amazing things with their design talents. For instance, Will Geddess organized a private poster show where he showcased works by himself and 19 other graphic designers, illustrators, craftsmen, and tattoo artists. Geddes used the posters and other art work to propose to his girlfriend. For more info and better pictures of all the posters, go to Love Letters.

(via Love Letters)

[smallpenchant-blog]

What I've Learned by Aja Monet. I could watch this video for days. There is something to be said about expressing yourself in more than 140 characters.

[annfriedman]

In my ongoing quest for the perfect framework for understanding haters, I created The Disapproval Matrix**. (With a deep bow to its inspiration.) This is one way to separate haterade from productive feedback. Here’s how the quadrants break down:

Critics: These are smart people who know something about your field. They are taking a hard look at your work and are not loving it. You’ll probably want to listen to what they have to say, and make some adjustments to your work based on their thoughtful comments.

Lovers: These people are invested in you and are also giving you negative but rational feedback because they want you to improve. Listen to them, too. 

Frenemies: Ooooh, this quadrant is tricky. These people really know how to hurt you, because they know you personally or know your work pretty well. But at the end of the day, their criticism is not actually about your work—it’s about you personally. And they aren’t actually interested in a productive conversation that will result in you becoming better at what you do. They just wanna undermine you. Dishonorable mention goes to The Hater Within, aka the irrational voice inside you that says you suck, which usually falls into this quadrant. Tell all of these fools to sit down and shut up.

Haters: This is your garden-variety, often anonymous troll who wants to tear down everything about you for no rational reason. Folks in this quadrant are easy to write off because they’re counterproductive and you don’t even know them. Ignore! Engaging won’t make you any better at what you do. And then rest easy, because having haters is proof your work is finding a wide audience and is sparking conversation. Own it.

The general rule of thumb? When you receive negative feedback that falls into one of the top two quadrants—from experts or people who care about you who are engaging with and rationally critiquing your work—you should probably take their comments to heart. When you receive negative feedback that falls into the bottom two quadrants, you should just let it roll off your back and just keep doin’ you. If you need to amp yourself up about it, may I suggest this #BYEHATER playlist on Spotify? You’re welcome.

** I presented The Disapproval Matrix to the fine folks at MoxieCon in Chicago yesterday, and they seemed to find it useful, so I figured I’d share with the class. It was originally inspired by a question my friend Channing Kennedy submitted to my #Realtalk column at the Columbia Journalism Review.

[fek]

Barbara Kruger’s never really talked about Supreme, the skate company who’s been ripping off her ideas and prints letter for letter, color for color, for their red-and-white logo, which you have seen, because it is everywhere. 

I emailed her casually to ask her about this. And today, she got back to me, and gave a candid statement on the matter of Supreme for the first time, ever, really. By emailing me a blank email, with an attachment. Which you can see above.

[annfriedman]

This is SUCH a baller move.

[smallpenchant-blog]

AMAZING.

[acehotel]

Grace Jones gets painted by Keith Haring — both are May babies, and creatures from a better planet who’ve blessed us with a spell here on Earth. Happy birthday.

[smallpenchant-blog]

A little video from the Monuments Men Foundation highlighting Rose Valland's contributions to the preservation and recovery of stolen art during WWII.

        I have always loved Rose Valland. If I could have dinner party with any 10 people of my choosing, Rose Valland would be one of them. Every 6 months or so, I scour the internet (a.k.a. use millions of Google searches) to see if there are any new documentaries or books that talk about her. Guess what? No new books, but a new feature film is on the horizon! Excitement! So. Much. Excitement.

       George Clooney co-authored the screenplay adaptation of Robert M. Edsel's fantastic book, Monuments Men. The movie is set to release December 2013 and I am excited (did I already mention that?). I'm excited because I love the book, the documentary, and Rose Valland. But the icing on the cake is that Cate Blanchett is playing Rose Valland! Perfection! I hope that this upcoming feature film will give Rose Valland the attention she so deserves.

[millionsmillions]

Claiming that feminism killed home cooking is not just shaming, it’s wildly inaccurate from a historical standpoint…As should be obvious to anyone who’s peeked at a cookbook from the late 1940s or early 1950s that promotes ingredients like sliced hot dogs and canned tomato soup, we’ve been eating processed crap since long before feminism. Yet the idea of the feminist abandoning her children to TV dinners while she rushes off to a consciousness-raising group is unshakable.

Foodie nostalgists might want to re-read The Feminine Mystique. (via millionsmillions)

[smallpenchant-blog]

Love Emile Sandé. Loving this jazzy version of Beyonce's Crazy in Love even more! Emile and the Bryan Ferry Orchestra added some new flare to the song for the upcoming movie, The Great Gatsby. So excited!

[smallpenchant-blog]

Yesterday, I attended Moxiecon, and I loved the venue, 1871. I did a little digging around on the internet, and found this interview with 1871 founder Kevin Willer, about the energy of the space and the experience in working with Skender Construction. ShiftFocus Productions did a great job with the video.

Don't you just love their mural?!

[loveyourlibrarian]

The gypsy librarian! What a treasure

[yourmommaluvsbatman]

(via

TumbleOn)

[artoflisasikorski]

I could live in this.

[smallpenchant-blog]

Love this. Books are important. They should be read and shared as much as humanly possible.

[quiltedprocess-blog]

WEEK 5 // SKETCHBOOK ITERATIONS

Emphasis on “honeycomb” structures (hexagons) as a way of referencing bee hives. Bee hives represent complex inner-workings and stability - this ties back to themes of family and fusion. I explored the idea of pockets where recipes could be hidden or stored.

However, this was not successful…..at all.

[smallpenchant-blog]

I am combing through old random blog posts from back in the day. I need to sketch more...

[smallpenchant-blog]

Design High

Today, I am on a design high. I woke up early to attend Moxiecon. It was the first Saturday with beautiful weather, but I spent the better part of the day indoors so that I could learn and be inspired. It was totally worth it.

The conference was hosted by the talented women of Quite Strong, and featured a diverse panel of speakers--most of whom were women. I was blown away by all of the speakers and their personal journeys over the years. I found that the common themes were these: Do what you love, embrace the things you are passionate about, and make personal work that is honest.

I am so bad at devoting time to my own work. Often times, I feel too drained of the creativity and energy required for personal projects. And instead of trying to do something about it, I become complacent. So, in an effort to change that habit, I am posting my design goals for this summer. Maybe having these goals out there in the public will give me some sense of accountability--that is the hope, anyway.

SUMMER GOALS

Blog more.

Sketch something, anything, at least once a day. 

Take more pictures of things that inspire me. There is no need for gallery-ready photos, a quick snapshot with my cellphone should suffice. I'm always telling myself to make a "mental note" of everyday things that inspire me, like street art or hand-lettered business signs. Since I'm not a robot, I usually remember 0% of my "mental notes".

Take at least three classes to learn something new. Learning new things is an important part of expanding my creativity.

Wish me luck.