The pure absurdity of our new normal was screaming to be documented. Little did I know that these insane little day-to-day realities would still be revealing themselves years later.
I have an awesome kid named Oscar. He spends half his time with me, and half of it with his dad, step mom, and 2 little brothers. We're all as communicative as can be, but I still felt like I was missing too much. So, on his 9th birthday, we started this experiment.
Every day we each wrote down the best thing that happened to us, on opposing pages of the same book.
Sometimes we captured our best moments together, sometimes we got a stolen glimpse into what happened when we're apart. Either way, I learned just as much about what makes me happy as I was intending to learn about him.
There are some words that have no direct translation in English. FUEL 18 invited 12 artists to translate a unique foreign word in visual form, representing the power of language and cultural differences as a way to connect rather than divide.
Jam Karet is an Indonesian phrase that literally translates as a period of time which is made of rubber or elastic. It's only possible for those who live life in a very relaxed and flexible way.
Thanks to one of my first (and favorite) creative directors, Kate Sonnick, for the invitation to participate!
A number of years ago, an old friend of mine and I discovered we were facing tangential milestones within a few weeks of each other. I was hitting 40, and he was hitting 50. Having worked together at a celebrity brand management agency with clients such as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Aerosmith, and Sigfried and Roy (yes, really), we decided there was only one thing to do: face the music.
We threw a giant party, fueled by a public 40/50 duel via facebook and Instagram. Perhaps I'm a bit too competitive for my own good...or I had an unfair advantage being the younger one. Either way, I think I won.
[Flowers] Alive / Dead
[Shots] Proactive / Reactive
[Bananas] Ripe / Rotten
[Apples] Sweet / Nutty
[Pasta] Saucy / Cheesy
[Grapes] Juicy / Withered
Occasionally, my attention to detail manifests itself in unreasonably temporary forms.
When IDEO moved into its new studio in the West Loop, we decided that we needed a public space to convey weekly events and activities. We painted three different central walls with chalkboard paint, and dedicated one to weekly events, one to daily events, and one to visitors.
For years, my handwriting welcomed colleagues from other locations, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, and invited all who passed by to movie nights, beer and chip events, and IDEO Stories.