“‘We need more true mystery in our lives, Hem,’ he once said to me. ‘The completely unambitious writer and the really good unpublished poem are the things we lack most at this time. There is, of course, the problem of sustenance.’”

— Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

After a conversation with Stefan Sagmeister about design, here are reflections on things I have learned so far.

An Education

Four years ago, I experienced a moment that is rare to most people: the chance to hang out with my idol.

Your Brand Is More Than A Logo

Your logo is the container other people fill over time.

Creativity and Wonder

There is a bit of magic to the process of making an idea.

Six Key Points for Effective Branding

The work of brand design is not creating a logo – it’s creating a visual voice.

Rather than a sterile, stodgy and strict tradition, brands should know how to create materials that are lively, amusing, creative, playful, irreverent or subversive

Heresy

Brands should know how to create materials that are lively, amusing, creative, playful, irreverent or even subversive.

Design assumes value over time because of the value we assign to the content it represents. It becomes more beautiful when it's meaningful.

On Meaning

Good design cannot fix bad content.

Empathy

Delightful design makes design that is worth sharing.

Doubt stirs up new potential for what could be next

Self-Doubt

Or "Why I Tend To Think My Work Is Crap Over Time."

Understanding the difference between design and decoration

Where Does Style Fit Into Design?

A better understanding is needed about the difference between design and decoration.

The Call to Stubbornness

“Relentless and unshakeable.”
A Guest Post by Kyle Taubken

Designing a Gap

Powerful design creates an inner-dialogue in the viewer.

the more that we have to communicate the idea to others on the front end in collaboration, the better we will understand how to communicate it through design in the final product

Collaboration and Conversation

When we involve others, we force ourselves to really work through our ideas more clearly.

Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it’s invisible.

Good Design is Invisible

It is simple. It is subtle. It is obvious yet somehow still ingenious.

We are set apart from the noise when we create with authenticity.

Craft

The idea, the work, the time, the energy, and the skill should show through in everything that we make.

Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.

Creative Block

Sometimes creativity possesses us. Sometimes it’s hard work that takes just showing up again and again.