"1. It’s their livelihood. 

I don’t care if it’s not a graphic designer’s full time gig, it’s still how they feed their family. It’s not some casual hobby they’re doing, it’s their career. So if you’re going to ask them, at least start your sentence by saying, “Hey, here’s why I’m not going to pay you for your livelihood.”  - Jon Scuff

I've always wanted to delve into the topic of paying designers.  I stumbled on a post from Jon Scuff's blog titled, "4 reasons you should always pay designers and developers." This is a great read, especially for those who are ill informed on the compensation of designers. 

Read here.

To Survive and thrive in a career that you love

The best way for a troublemaker, or creative person, to survive and thrive in a career that you love is to focus on doing your best work and learning something new every single day. — Chris Coleman

THE BIRTH OF DOODLING

Inspired by Sunni Brown's TED Talk, Doodlers, unite!, I began adding doodling as an everyday practice, outside of just brainstorming graphic design projects. Over these past 6 months, I have watched my non-sense doodles become illustrations and drawings. It has been fun sharing them on instagram, and seeing the reaction of friends and fellow designers. I have even taken up learning new techniques and adding them to designs accordingly.

I created a space for them via tumblr titled, JVZZI Draws, where my doodles are refined and sharable.

March Passion Project : Allison Graham

Client: Allison Graham

Project: Branding / Identity

I came across Allison Graham via an email from Brass with the subject, Your Spirit Animal. After finding her tumblr and instagram, I could agree, that her style, in all its dapper glory, was the makings of my spirit animal. Very impressed by Allison, and seeing her need for identity, etc, I reached out to collaborate, after already coming up with an aesthetic. 

For Allison I was inspired by old esquire, old 60's mad men. The primary mark of the identity is based off symbols that embody the 'Dapper-Style'. Suit, Tie, Watch, and sunglasses. The secondary mark contains an element from the primary, but is shaped more like a jacket tag. I added a needle to bring an emphasis to tailoring, which also comes along with 'Dapper-Style'.

Allison loves patterns, especially unique patterns. I chose to go with a blue floral. I used the blue floral as an accent, adding it to her website as a wallpaper, and border on her business card. 

Overall, this is one of my favorite projects. Working with Allison, was great. She has such a great spirit, I can not wait to catch up with her in Brooklyn. Maybe more collaborations in the future.

To learn more about Allison, click here.

Chill Ultra - A Spotify Playlist

In celebration of daylight savings time, and the warmer weather coming our way, I created a playlist. Something chill for those chill weekends, and last night sessions. Features some of my favorite artist, Rhye, Bonobo, Disclousure, and Jhene Aiko. 

Press play and enjoy.

My Friends Make Cool Things: Stamp Yo Face

 I learned about StampYoFace.com on the launch date, and I couldn't be more proud of Hannah and Kevin. It is always an exciting time when your friends come up with great ideas, it is even more exciting, when you watch them come into fruition, and make some buzz around the inter web. 

Stamp Yo Face is hand-drawn portraits, cut out of rubber, and mounted, so that you are able to indeed, stamp yo face. It is creative, is fun, and it has many purposes. Perfect for the neurotic, egomaniac, sociopaths of the world. Just kidding.

Hannah, the artist talent behind StampYoFace, is a friends of mine from Kansas. Hannah and I go way back to passing each other in the halls of North H.S. I am always telling Hannah that I am her number one fan, she such an amazing artist, I will always make time for her shows. Maybe one day, I can get an expedited sketch of my face, turned to stamp.

So if you have any interest in having your face turned into a stamp, give them a shout on their site: stampyoface.com

Creatives Are Strange

I stumbled on a blog post not too long ago, shared by an artist friend of my via Facebook. The tile of the post is, "Why Creative People Sometimes Make No Sense". Quite intriguing right? The theme of the post stemmed from a passage inside Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book,' Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People'. 

“I have devoted 30 years of research to how creative people live and work, to make more understandable the mysterious process by which they come up with new ideas and new things. If I had to express in one word what makes their personalities different from others, it’s complexity. They show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated. They contain contradictory extremes; instead of being an individual, each of them is a multitude.”

Though I personally have never read a anything by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (note to self: read), I can't say that I wasn't impacted or felt validated by what was quoted. Even though I would like to believe that I am completely outgoing, pragmatic, pretty easy to figure out, there are situations where others find me incomprehensible, leaving my friends to scratch their heads at my drastic change from introvert to extrovert, or happy to sad to completely overwhelmed. Its a whirlwind of thoughts, and ideas, that I know confuses even the most apathetic folks in my life. 

Mihaly describes 9 contradictory traits that are frequently present in creative people:

1. Most creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but are often quiet and at rest. They can work long hours at great concentration.

2. Most creative people tend to be smart and naive at the same time. “It involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas; flexibility, or the ability to switch from one perspective to another; and originality in picking unusual associations of ideas. These are the dimensions of thinking that most creativity tests measure, and that most creativity workshops try to enhance.”

3. Most creative people combine both playfulness and productivity, which can sometimes mean both responsibility and irresponsibility. “Despite the carefree air that many creative people affect, most of them work late into the night and persist when less driven individuals would not.” Usually this perseverance occurs at the expense of other responsibilities, or other people.

4. Most creative people alternate fluently between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality. In both art and science, movement forward involves a leap of imagination, a leap into a world that is different from our present. Interestingly, this visionary imagination works in conjunction with a hyperawareness of reality. Attention to real details allows a creative person to imagine ways to improve them.

5. Most creative people tend to be both introverted and extroverted. Many people tend toward one extreme or the other, but highly creative people are a balance of both simultaneously.

6. Most creative people are genuinely humble and display a strong sense of pride at the same time.

7. Most creative people are both rebellious and conservative. “It is impossible to be creative without having first internalized an area of culture. So it’s difficult to see how a person can be creative without being both traditional and conservative and at the same time rebellious and iconoclastic.”

8. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, but remain extremely objective about it as well. They are able to admit when something they have made is not very good.

9. Most creative people’s openness and sensitivity exposes them to a large amount of suffering and pain, but joy and life in the midst of that suffering. “Perhaps the most important quality, the one that is most consistently present in all creative individuals, is the ability to enjoy the process of creation for its own sake. Without this trait, poets would give up striving for perfection and would write commercial jingles, economists would work for banks where they would earn at least twice as much as they do at universities, and physicists would stop doing basic research and join industrial laboratories where the conditions are better and the expectations more predictable.”

Share Your Creativity

If you read thru my journal, you can see I am a pretty big fan of Austin Kleon's Book, 'Steal Like an Artist'. So it is no surprise that I share a similar adoration for his book, 'Show Your work'. As a creative, it is innate that we create, but for most of us, sharing aka self-promotion, maybe the mountain we struggle to conquer. Strong are the gentle. Being an artist is a labor of love, and with any kind of love there is a level of vulnerability. Just the idea of having our hearts up for display and open to criticism, can bring about the worst anxiety. Not all is lost, but it takes the first step. Though all Austin Kleon's guidelines, may not be gold, they are something to consider and try, if you're ready to take the next step in your journey.

An except taken from Austin's post on Medium.

“Find your voice, shout it from the rooftops, and keep doing it until the people that are looking for you find you.” 

— Dan Harmon 

We’re always being told find your voice. When I was younger, I never really knew what this meant. I used to worry a lot about voice, wondering if I had my own. But now I realize that the only way to find your voice is to use it. It’s hardwired, built into you. If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share. Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.

__________ 

For more visit showyrwork.com

"Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with prestige. That’s the recipe for getting people to give talks, write forewords, serve on committees, be department heads, and so on. It might be a good rule simply to avoid any prestigious task. If it didn’t suck, they wouldn’t have had to make it prestigious.”

(Excerpt from "How To Do What You Love" )
___________

The battle between Prestige and Ambition is that of equivalent to angels and demons. As a creative we want to feel validated for our contribution, our hard work, our genius, which then have us chasing the big name outlets, and that large number of followers/likes. Our love affair with cyber appreciation can lead us down a rabbit hole, just like Alice. A following, a fancy title, accolades, should all be a byproducts of our work, not what defines our worth. 

What I love about Kendrick Lamar during the Grammys, is while everyone was denouncing Macklemore for winning a Grammy for best new artist and best rap album,  Kendrick continued to outshine the majority of the performers, not skipping a beat, not shedding an ounce of disappointment. He understands. At the same time what I detest about Drake in losing the Rolling Stone cover to the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman, Drake responded in offense to not receiving this prestiges reward. He only felt his worth was based on how often he can be honored. 

Focus on your legacy and not your pedestal. 

Be cool my friends. Your day is coming. 

A Kansan's Guide to Boston (So Far)

1. It will SNOW every week.

I actually do not remember a week in Boston, that I have not been met with Snow. It snows so often, I wonder if the arctic region is jealous of Jack Frost adoration for the colonial States. As a kid, I would have loved it here. Endless snow days, snow men, and snow fights. Now even the hint of snow, and I'm stock up on groceries and shutting the blinds, like I'm awaiting a cold war missile attack. 

2. Arrive 5-10 minutes early, buses are unpredictable.

Before leaving for the bus, I check the MBTA app. It first began with giving myself a 3 minute cushion, to assure my wait is short and sweet. After watching the bus fly past enough time, ahead of schedule, and being forced to wait 10 - 20 minutes for the next bus, I have made the executive decision to leave earlier, and actually force myself to wait. It has paid off, greatly. 

3. Taxis are 1 million dollars a trip.

Unless you like digging into your savings just to pay for a taxi ride less than two miles away, I suggest using Taxis for the dyer situations, like when the buses and trains are not running, and you need to get to the airport for a 6:30a check-in.

4. Last Call is 1:15a, and Happy Hour is Illegal.

When you think of Boston, you think of drinking, beer, and more drinking. My have my views changed. Yes, there is drinking. Yes, there is a lot of beer, even a brewery here. If you are expected cheap drinks, and a long night of drinking, I suggest throwing a house party. The simple luxury I took advantage of living in Kansas City, and LA, hell, even Wichita, KS has a better drinking culture, in my opinion. 

5. The train is fun and safe, in comparison to LA.

I love the train. It's quick, its convenient, and the people are clothed. If any you have experience the LA subway system, you understand how nice it can be to share a train ride with individuals who are not barefoot, drench in the smell of urine, and yelling about the coming of the messiah. Thank You Boston. 

6. Being nice gets you no where.

It's not that people are mean in Boston, they just don't have the southern values I was raised by, you know southern comfort. Its safe to say, these people, are immune to a smile and 'Hi, How are you?'

7. Don't talk to Strangers.

Piggy backing off my last statement, people are not accustom to cheerful gestures, so be vary wary of those who are overly inviting. I once spent an afternoon dodging an older gentleman looking to make an 'arrangement' with me. Not that I am opposed to free meals, and getting to know someone new, but anything that borders the line of prostitution is not necessarily something I am looking to pursue.

8. Dominicans Do it Better (Haircuts).

15 bucks is money well spent for a haircut and eyebrow arch. I have never looked better, or felt better. I walk in looking like teen wolf, come out Ryan Gossling. It is amazing what I our Caribbean brothers can do. It may take them 2 hours are to finish, but you will not regret the time spent or the experience of being in the shop. I can never go back now (unless it's JR from back home)

9. Fresh Clam Chowder is so much better than what is in a Can.

Legal Seafood has great Clam Chowder for the Low - Low. Need a quick snack or something to warm you up, buy it and love it, and buy it again.

10. The Pats are the best gosh-darn team ever.

If you're not already a Chief's fan. Everyone loves the Pats, and in denial about the cheat scandal. Never forget.

11. White People love getting naked in the winter.

from the naked santa run, to the pants less train rides, I have never seen so many people eager to take off their clothes when its below freezing, and mostly likely snowing.

12. Space heaters are the best investments.

Lastly, buy a space heater and thank me later.

To sum up: I like Boston. It has been an interesting experience. I have had the best irish coffee, the best dessert, and fell in love with the tradition New England architecture. I look forward to exploring the city more, and finding where I belong in this city. The opportunities here are in abundance. And who can't appreciate MIT and Harvard being in your backyard, at least the nerd in me is geeked. Now if only the temperature could get above 50 degrees.

Must Have: Unstuck App

As a designer, or creative of sort, we all run into those moments where we feel stuck. Sitting at our desk, staring determined at our macbook screens, pointing our pencils at the paper, waiting for a thought to develop. So desperately pushing our minds to think creatively, find our moxie and wit, only for our ideas to fall flatter than pancakes at Denny's. The all too familiar case, we call the block. 

If you're anything like me, you google, "How to overcome a creative block?" The wiki-how articles tell you, step away from the project, allow your mind to think about other things. The Huffington post advice may suggest listening to NPR, or podcast. And for awhile, these simple tricks work, but what if I told you there was an app, called Unstuck, that could help with a long term solution?

I discovered Unstuck thru a creative blog I subscribe to. Unstuck is a self-improvement ipad app, with tools and tips for specific kinds of stuck moments.  After answering a collection of questions, aimed to help uncover the type of stuck moment you are experiencing, you are presented with a detailed analyst of whats contributing to your stuck moment and how to resolve your stuck moment. There are  also stories of famous figures that also exhibit the same traits, and went on to create great things. 

What I have learned thru unstuck is that we all exhibit different traits, as well as experience changes/sceneriors that may contribute to our blocks. With figuring that out, we are able to approach the block uniquely. For example, I am a spontaneous creative, I work out of luck and instinct. In situation where there is a plan needed, I may become overwhelmed. Thru the unstuck app, I read about other creatives who are also just as gut-driven, and learned ways to plan out my creative process, based on priority and timeline. 

So for those who have an interest in self improvement, or just need a solution for a creative block, I highly recommend downloading the Unstuck App for iPad. And for those who do not have an iPad, I suggest reading their blog. 

My Backpack Essentials

When you're living life as if it were a Gulliver travels style adventure, you learn that your best friend is not another human being, but your backpack and the all the contents inside. When packing up my bag every morning I like to think that if I were given notice that I have to leave in 1 hr, that everything I have on me is efficient for living on the run. Besides my macbook and changers, these are my backpack essentials:

iPad 2 (w/ Camo case) + Stylus

My iPad is such an all around key tool in my day to day life. Its good for jointing down notes, maintaining my schedules, and drawing out concepts for design project. My mind is always full of ideas, being able to get them down and sync them within the cloud, is such a great benefit. Also I love to read, and unfortunately it has become a hassle to lug book around, especially paperback.

So I have invested and/or inherited a collection of ebooks, which is very handy on MBTA commutes. 

Moleskin Volent Journal + Pilot Pen

Last year for my 25th birthday, I decided to keep a journal of things Im learning, my goals, and my progress as a creative. It has become a very useful habit, not only to track my growth, but for passing on knowledge to fellow creatives. I love going back and looking at things I was reading about, questionnaires I have filled out, and quotes I've collected.

Tortoise Shell Eddie Bauer Glasses + Case

Over the summer I decided to invest in glasses. Its not that I have the worst eyesight, but looking at screens all day and traveling at night has worn a little on my vision. With my eyes being such a key part of my creative expression, I decided to put the ole prescription to good use. Besides they make me look smart, and smart is sexy.

Aveda Hand Lotion

Because a girl needs to have soft hands.

Gentleman's Brush

And because a girl has to look sharp. There is nothing like hearing my mother tell me in between haircuts, "Jaz, You have just let yourself go."

Moleskin Turntable Daily Planner

Organization is my top priority. Between jobs, commuting on public transportation, and freelance gigs, I have to be ready and aware of what is happening in the next hour.  My moleskin not only keeps my moving at a timely manner, but I also keep a daily list of 3 positives, big or small. All in all, my planner serves as a reminder that everyday is blessing, and there is always something to do.

and last ...

Fab Lens Thermos

I get a lot of questions when I pull this baby out. Its like my own show dog. Its is nerd-dom at its best. The best re-gift I have ever received. I love that the Lens thermos looks so similar to my camera lens. I always have to double take to make sure it's not. I carry this around because I want to be kinder to the environment. If I use this thermos, instead of disposable cups, I feel more of a solution than a problem. Plus there is usually a discount involved. Everybody wins.

- Jazzi

How To Be Creative, PBS Off Book

How much thought have you gave to the concept of creativity? Do you believe creativity is natural? Do you think Creativity can be taught?

Off Book, presented by PBS, is an interesting video I stumbled across, covering the topics that plague artist.  I found that this video reaffirmed a few beliefs I already harboured, while broadening my mind on other points.  I've learned that being creative is a constant process of rejuvenation. I am continually working not only to enhance my craft, but maintain the skills I already hold.  That maintenance then leads to hours of research and development, that transcends into new creative concepts. With my craft being so essential to the cultural shift into technology; more web, less print, Its even more of a task to push forward, and stay forward.

Creativity has always been essential for our cultural growth, but there are still many misconceptions about this elusive process. Not the left-brain/right-brain binary that we've come to believe, being creative is considerably more complex, and requires a nuancedunderstanding of ourself and others. Being a powerful creative person involves letting go of preconceived notions of what an artist is, and discovering and inventing new processes that yield great ideas. Most importantly, creators must push forward, whether the light bulb illuminates or not.