Featured post from February 7, 2011

Radio Famous

My appearance on KSL to talk about my Super Bowl work.

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Walk Like an Eqyptian

A killer bluegrass cover of a great 80′s tune.

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(via Neatorama)

Getting Personal

I get annoyed with myself for letting so much time pass between posts on this site. I think back to how regularly I used to post here (well not this blog, but the one that existed previously in this space), and I get even more annoyed.

In my defense, life was a bit different back then. I was single and had just hauled my butt 700 miles away to chase a dream. The whole reason the blog started was to keep my family up-to-date on the latest and greatest happenings from California. …of course, that explanation sounds much nicer than how it actually felt. To speak more plainly, I was getting annoyed at having to re-count the same stories over and over by telephone to each member of my family. So I started the blog and told them all to get online.

I wrote very frequently back then. Every little thing that happened was spun into a narrative published promptly – usually the same day that it happened. I actually remember it too. I remember typing the posts while sitting at Starbucks after work. I remember enjoying my life, and being genuinely excited to tell the world about it. Words flowed easily and the stories were fun to tell. So what’s changed?

The stories are still good

I still enjoy my life! Great things happen every day, but the place I share my stories is different. My lovely wife is the first person I run to tell the exciting news. She is usually within earshot, so she gets it even before it’s a story. I still tell the rest of my family stories… but while they were once 700 miles away, now they are 2. So they get them in person. And with that, I’ve sort of covered the core audience of the previous blog. …so is it the audience? Is that what changed to slow things down?

I’ve thought about why I post less, and that internal monologue usually ends up with me blaming life changes, wife, kids, yard, house, work, bills, twitter, facebook… all of which are perfectly valid excuses, and I’m sure they all contribute to this blog getting pushed down the priority list, but none of them really feel like the core of the reason I don’t post here.

I decided some research was in order.

The Archives

I fired up the ‘ol computer and dug deep into the archives of that old blog. My goal: to remind myself what I was writing about that was so damned interesting.

I found that reading those old posts brought back a flood of exciting memories. It was so much fun to read the funny, stupid and passionate things I had to say about my life as new adventures unfolded in front of me. After enjoying myself for a good 30 minutes (I actually was enjoying reading what I had written about my own life, is that narcissistic?) I let my eyes wander to the very short bio that was on the top of every page.

I’m a 25 year old guy living out a dream in southern California. This blog is just a brain-dump of whatever is holding my interest at the time of posting.

I rarely stick to a theme and always have an opinion.

BINGO! That little passage held the nugget that was the exact reason you don’t hear from me more on this site. Pay close attention to that last line: “I rarely stick to a theme and always have an opinion”.

That old site was a hodge-podge of whatever struck me as interesting to write about. This site… well… isn’t. Or at least it wasn’t, because I’m going to do some things different now. Or at least I’m going to start. Here, let’s back up just a bit to why this site isn’t the place I post everything.

The “new” site you’re looking at now came about when I needed a place to present my work, as I was getting ready to make a jump into the freelance world. I needed a place that stayed professional and presented information that centered around what I did for a living, and interests of the people I wanted to hire me. I ripped out a lot of the bits I felt were unprofessional and tried to stick to a theme of designery & eventy things.

I am declaring this course a complete failure.

I have a place to present work. So over time this site developed an identity crisis. It’s not really a personal site… but it’s not a business/professional site either.

Live in the now

So, I’ll no longer be censoring myself, my personality, or my way of speaking, typing, or thinking on this site. I’m taking it back as my personal platform to pontificate about what ever the hell I want and tell my stories to people who may or may not care to read them.

I can’t promise it will pick up quickly. But for now this feels like the right thing to do with this site.

I’ll still talk about designery and eventy things that are cool… but it will most likely be mixed with stories of insomnia, stress, dog poop, a two foot tall chaos machine ruining all my nice stuff, mowing the lawn, renovating an old house, my talented wife, my damn cute son and other completely unrelated topics of interest to me. You can stay and read, like them, don’t like them. I don’t care. I want my soapbox back.

Thank you, and goodnight.

(photo credit: FindMiMi)

What to say about what I do

I was smack in the middle of finally updating the ‘About’ page on this site when I realized there was a good post topic buried there. It’s all about that question so many adults ask…

What do you do?

This is always hard for me to answer.

My whole life I’ve presented different versions of myself to different people. Not really on purpose, it just seemed to be the path of least resistance when the only other option is to lay on a big story about all the things that interest me and, in later life, people pay me to do. It never seems right to shove my whole story on people

It really started back in high school when I split two schools for a few years. I traded off and spent alternating days at each school. At one I was a singer & actor. I was in the musical productions and choirs and never really let on that I did anything else. At the other school I was a drummer. I was captain of the drumline and played in percussion ensemble and symphonic orchestra. I never really had a reason to let people know that I was a singer. I inadvertently separated two major interests that made me who I am. It was kind of like living two separate lives. I didn’t actively try to keep them separate. Nobody asked, and I didn’t bring it up.

Now that I’m older I find myself creating a very similar situation. Different groups of people know me as different things. To some I’m a programmer who makes web applications and processes information with cool systems. To some I’m a communicator who can help if they need to entertain or share ideas. To others I’m a researcher & technical writer who takes confusing information and helps communicate it clearly.

Some people know me as a designer & creative type. To them I’m an idea guy, presenter & showman. Some people see me as a tech guy. They see me fidget with the computer for a while and, like magic, machines do my bidding (then they ask me to fix their email, but that’s another topic).

I would venture a guess that a few of the people I associate with have an idea of the full breadth of my professional skills and experience, but not many. It’s completely my fault that most don’t.

But, what do you do? Why is it hard to answer?

It’s hard because I do what catches my interest. But even more than that, I get all bent out of shape when people try and file me into a little box that only has one label.

I love to create experiences. I like to take ideas or information and present them in new, interesting & elegant ways. I’ve had the great fortune to design & produce a wide range of things, both real and virtual. Live events for thousands of guests, web applications, websites, outdoor & print ads, brand/identity systems, environment theming, way-finding systems, ways to manage thousands of volunteers for stunts and performances, music, experimental performance, art and anything else that has presented an opportunity to learn or teach.

So, what do you do.

Yeah yeah, I know. I’m afraid this isn’t a post with a clear point, or even an clear answer to the question I posed. Just food for thought I guess.

I know I’m not the only one with this problem. I work with people who have wild jobs that defy any sort of description. How do you all handle it? Is it even an issue for you?

I never finished that update to my ‘About’ page.

Woo Hoo! It’s a birthday!

Well… not so much a birthday per se, but there is something that just turned a year old.

On August 15th, the little company that Janey and I started as a vehicle to chase some dreams, celebrated it’s 365th day in operation. To be fair, the actual company was formed a bit earlier, but we didn’t do any business until I had finished my employment obligation to everyone’s favorite entertainment company.

The year has been a rollercoaster ride of monumental proportions. I’ve learned so much, made many mistakes, hit a few home runs and met some wonderful people.

I have loved the independence to live life on my own terms (which usually means breaking out to hang with my wife and boy all too often). I love working with my pal Nanna (the dog) at my feet, in a studio I put together with my own two hands. I love that my desk is next to my wife’s, and I love that we do what we do together.

We’ve launched a fun new product, that is only the first of several we’re either working on or have thought through. The future is rife with fun and interesting projects that will be executed with passion and love.

All that said, I’ve missed Disney terribly. Well… I miss what I loved about it. I miss the magic. I miss my friends. I miss my mentors. I miss the work, that I did care deeply about. I’m very happy to be consulting on Disney projects, but it’s not the same as being a Cast Member… and even more so, not the same as living and working so close to Disneyland – which holds a place in my heart that I couldn’t possibly describe. Sometimes I miss it so bad that I physically hurt.

Of course there’s plenty that I don’t miss. The sterile corporate crap that happens at any company of that size. I don’t miss red tape or layers and layers of hierarchy. I do kind of miss being the guy who goes rogue to get things done and prove a point. Sometimes it flew, and sometimes it crashed and burned… but I tried new things and it was cool.

There are some people I don’t miss. Mostly the people who’s priorities put process before product, or themselves before their Guests. We didn’t get along and I made a habit of being pretty vocal about that.

In the end, the time seemed right to say goodbye to those people who were bringing me down, even if it meant leaving a company that I loved. We had some dreams that needed chasing.

We’ve only scratched the surface of what we set out to do. We’ll keep chasing and making cool things happen. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to provide for my family doing something I love. I’m so happy to know that we’re scheduled up with both client work and our own projects. I’m so happy that things have worked out so far, and I’m cautiously optimistic for the year to come.

So Happy Birthday, J. Blackbird. You’ve been our chariot through this new adventure. And I’m looking forward to what year two brings.

The Story of Maingate Ads

One of the first projects I devoted time to after leaving Disney, almost a year ago, was to finally finish and release my Magic In Type – Castle letterpress poster. It was a project I had started many months earlier, but I could never devote enough time to get it to the finish line. I was very excited to finally be able to work during real daytime hours and make it happen.

Skip forward a few weeks to when I had a crate full of freshly pressed prints on the floor of my studio, and it was time to let the world know about it. I, of course, had this dream that I would post one tweet about my posters and the world would be completely amazed by what I had done. Word would spread like wildfire and I would sell out in mere minutes. I did tweet about it, and posted on facebook, and I had a reasonably good response to that… but reality was setting in that I would need to dig a little deeper to make it work.

I decided I would do a little online advertising in the niche areas that might be interested. Disney fans & typography geeks don’t really run in the same circles, so I focused on the area I was most familiar… Disney Parks fan sites.

To make a long story just the tiniest bit longer, I found that advertising on the sites I frequented most was a complete mess. There is a myriad of sites that were possibilities, but they were all covered with boring, vaguely-targeted text ads or flashy, noisy, annoying animation ads, and in most cases, both. It all felt like somebody was handing out a box full of megaphones and telling everyone to stand in the same room and yell their message. With everybody trying to scream the loudest, everyone gets lost in the noise.

It was around this same time I read an interview with a business hero of mine named Jim Coudal. In the interview Jim talks about being frustrated with the state of online advertising in a specific demographic where he wanted to market a new product. He got annoyed and did what any self respecting entrepreneur would do. He decided he could do it better, and with that he launched The Deck.

His story just hit home with me at the right time. I started forming plans to fix what I think is broken about advertising on the sites I love.

After several months of planning and working out the technical details, I’m very happy to announce the launch of the latest J. Blackbird venture…

Maingate Ads – A new ad network reaching out to theme park fans, travelers, memorabilia hounds and amusement industry buffs.

Beginning July 1, 2010 we’ll be serving simple, beautiful and perfectly targeted ads on an impressive lineup of websites. We’ve been so fortunate that our message has struck a chord with website publishers and advertisers alike. We’ll start reasonably small, but we’ve already got some big plans for the road ahead.

If you run or know of a website that’s interested in carrying Maingate Ads, or if you’d like to find out about purchasing ad space, drop us a line.

Redesigning TouringPlans.com

Back in early march I was contacted by the great folks from TouringPlans.com about doing an identity and website redesign for them. I won’t bore you with a lot of details today as I plan to follow this up with a real post about the project and some of the fun stuff we encountered along the way.

For now I’d just like to invite you to see the new TouringPlans.com.

For reference, here’s what the site looked like when they first contacted me:

So many wonderful things

The stars have somehow aligned today and we’ve seen the launch of a bunch of really wonderful things around the web. I’ve linked to some on twitter, but it’s just not doing it all justice. I thought I’d take a cue from Dan at Simplebits and link to a bunch of wonderful things I’ve seen launch in the last little while.

Betaloft

First, I’ll let you know about the launch of one of my own projects. The re-branding and site design of an absolutely killer coworking facility in Salt Lake City called Betaloft.

If you work independently and, like me, often find yourself talking to your dog during the work day, Betaloft provides a wonderful way to keep your sanity and meet cool people. There really is nothing like the spark of creativity and inspiration that comes from face-to-face time with other humans.

betaloft_site

I could go on for hours, but I’ll let you check out the site for more about all that.

Jessica Hische

I was first introduced to Jessica’s work when I ran across her Viney Alphabet in my feed reader. I became an instant fan.

She’s launched a new site full of hand-lettering goodness, and a store full of drool-worthy goods. A must see for type fans of all ages.

jessica_hische_site

On a side note, don’t miss Jessica’s Daily Drop Cap for more beautiful lettering.

Ligature, Loop & Stem

This new site has a small, but wonderful, catalog of type related goods. They’ve just released a white version of their wildly popular Ampersand Test Print that I can’t help but love.

ligature_site

…and just look at that site. lovely.

Teuxdeux

A brand new web app by swissmiss that puts a slick designy spin on the todo app. I love the way it looks, and I’ll spend the next week or so giving it a try.

teuxdeux_site

Mighty

Design hero of mine Jason Santa Maria resolved to work on “stuff that matters”, and he’s launched a studio to do just that. Meet Mighty.

mighty_site

I, and the rest of the web/design universe, will be watching closely for the stream of wonderfulness that is sure to emerge from this little studio.

Prep & Landing

Last, but not least, a beautiful bit of animation hit the airwaves this week. I was skeptical when I heard about it, but last night I watched it on Hulu while I worked. Disney’s Prep & Landing very quickly seated itself as a Christmas classic with me. It’s a creative little story with a ton of heart that will be played right alongside Christmas Vacation and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

If you haven’t seen it… get over to Hulu and check it out.

So I guess that’s about it. I wish the very best to everyone launching something new, something they care about. It’s a difficult but wonderful thing.

Now… back to work.

Two months

I didn’t plan it like this… really I didn’t. I didn’t mean for this site to become a monthly chronicling of my life post-Disney. It’s just sort of ended up that way so far.

You’ll remember from my last post that I’ve been busting my butt on some ever-changing plans. Well, that work hasn’t slowed down one bit, as the world keeps throwing interesting situations our way. I’ve been very fortunate to have met several wonderful new clients and made some great friends who keep me in mind when they have design projects and such. I’ve got ten great posts for this blog, in draft form, collecting a bit of dust while I hustle at getting a few more projects out the door.

I guess this is my obligatory sorry-I-haven’t-blogged-but-I’ve-been-busy post. Damn, I hate those.

Ok, how about this. I’ll say sorry, and I’ll make a vague promise of doing better. But I’ll raise the bar a bit and bundle a bit of an announcement.

… remember a while ago when I was asking you all to help me decide on a few things for our new company? Well, that work is complete. I’d like to introduce J. Blackbird LLC.

Moo Cards

The J. Blackbird website has been online in various forms over the last month. But it’s only just started taking it’s final shape. For now, only the design/development side of our business has a presence. The event side will come shortly. So… any thoughts about that?

One month

Well, it’s been exactly one month since I bid farewell to my dear friends at the Walt Disney Company. It’s been a wonderful adventure, and I thought I’d jot down a few notes about the whole experience.

I can say out loud now, that I left the company a little earlier than originally planned. My wife and I had set a goal to have our affairs in order for me to give notice by the end of October. It’s a date we picked fairly arbitrarily, but it was our way of drawing a real line… an actual point in time to hold ourselves accountable. We had talked a lot about our next adventure in life, we made plans for the next step in our personal and professional lives, but it just never seemed to happen. The time never seemed just right, so we didn’t pull the rip cord.

There were a few times we were sure we’d be pushed into making the move. First it was when we decided to move several states away from Disneyland to start our family. We worked up plans and were ready to go, but I was given the opportunity to work remotely (which was truly a pleasant surprise). After that we had a nasty round of layoffs. I was sure, as the only remote employee in our entire global division, that I would be on the chopping block. So we dug up our plans, polished them off, and were ready to strike out on our own. By some miracle I was spared and I went on working for Disney from 700 miles away. Plans were shelved again in favor of a regular paycheck, and I went back to the grind.

Each time it felt like we were on the edge some something big. We prepared ourselves mentally & emotionally… and when things just stayed the same it was almost a let-down. We were ready to make a big jump, a big move. We got our ducks in a row to make something happen, and it kept fizzling out.

Finally, I reached a point that it was clearly time to move a different direction. Without bringing up topics that are entirely inappropriate for this blog, I will simply pull from a post I wrote exactly one month ago: I needed to take the chance to spread my creative wings a little more independently.

It was earlier than we planned, but there were a few big influencing factors that made us sure the time was right. …so we jumped.

So here we are, one month later. What have we learned?.

  • Plan for the worst, but hope for the best.
    This old saying has so much wisdom packed in it. Our own experience took us from plan A, to plan B, to plan C, back to plan A, some shuffling through several ad hoc plans, and finally finding some traction with plan J or K. Almost nothing has gone according to plan, but it’s all turned out damn fine.
  • Be ready to punt at any time.
    I don’t make many sports references in life, but this one seems to fit. It’s one that I learned in my time planning and executing large events. Sometimes you watch the perfect plan turn to crap right in your hands. It might have been your fault, or it might have been factors totally out of your control. You just have to be real with yourself, and be comfortable when it’s time to kick the hell out of the old plan and come up with something new.
  • A deal ain’t a deal until somebody’s signed a contract.
    We had several projects lined up. Big projects. The kind you spend months just planning. We had commitments, and had actually started some work. But those projects fell through, and I didn’t have a signed contract to back me up. I learned my lesson. Contract + deposit = a deal.
  • Make new friends, and make sure they know what you do.
    I know, I know, it’s Networking 101, but that doesn’t make it any less important. I had some projects fall through, but happily I’ve been able to fill that gap in my schedule by letting some online friends know what I was looking for. A few messages on Twitter… and a great new client was in the door.
  • Stop and smell them roses
    No matter how awesome you are, going out on your own is stressful. There’s a lot to think about. Make sure to take the time to appreciate what’s important and why you made the move. The world is one big beautiful place. Don’t let a day go by without appreciating it.

To wrap this up I will just offer one more little tid-bit. If you’re thinking of chasing a dream, DO IT ALREADY! Be smart, get your stuff together, and chase that damn dream. I chased a dream to Disneyland, and it was truly truly wonderful. Now, my loving wife and I are chasing a new dream. So far, it’s been truly truly wonderful.

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