Complete with a steak dinner, my favorite beer, (Dirty Bastard) and a wonderful show at Lincoln Hall from Heartless Bastards. It was an incredible show and the release party of their new album “Arrow” (Valentine’s. Heartless Bastards. Arrow. = irony?)

And of course, I bought the vinyl… and the poster

So including the list of wonderful that I experience, I had a beautiful date by my side. 2012 has been a wild ride so far. Everyone says 26 is the best year, and I’m really starting to believe them. Everything seems to be falling into place.

2012 02 14 - Heartless Bastards at Lincoln Hall

Seeing this gives me such a higher appreciation for this track…  so great.

This is so great, and an essential view/quote/feeling of every Holiday season.

…sometimes, you just don’t know.

“People say that I’m the Beatle that changed the most, but really that’s what I see life is about. You have to change” – George Harrison

My beer of the moment is a Founder’s scotch style ale called “Dirty Bastard”. With its hint at the oak barreled malty goodness that is scotch, Dirty Bastard rounds itself with a smooth finish and caramel overtone that is so very inviting. Being a scotch lover as well this beer has quickly become a go-to for me. I recommend it to any tasteful drinker.

Andrew Byrom was an old professor of mine who really helped guide my design career early in my education. His thoughtfulness and intelligence were very apparent in every lecture and critique. Here he talks about the way he finds his solutions and his process that generally isn’t linear. It’s a quick view and well worth it. Enjoy.

Check out his work here.

I’m sure every designer has been in this situation… You’ve been given a task–you try to wrap your head around it–nothing happens. Hours, days, weeks… years? In a class of Andrew Byrom’s at NIU I was given the task of creating a mark with my initials: J and G or j and g. The solutions I came up with were crude and unpleasing to the eye. Whatever, I was a student, I was learning. Anyway, the solution I sat on my Junior year was some convoluted relationship twisting a lower-case j and a g together like a fat earthworm on a fishing hook.

The other day, I was working with Brandon Grotesque and was putting the type on it’s side and noticed something. As you’ll see here… after a slight manipulation of the letterform the mark JG was created.

So that instant of satisfaction was great, and I thought I’d share. I don’t love it, but I think it shows that sometimes solutions will come to you when you aren’t expecting them to. Save them. Archive them. You will use them some day. That is all. Enjoy.