I was listening to a fascinating episode of This American Life all about job creation in America (find the episode here). As self-employed people, Ben and I made our own two jobs, but creating jobs for larger communities and populations is a problem that needs solving. According to Act Four of TAL, an organization that is succeeding is PathStone (www.pathstone.org), a non-profit that we designed the website for!

When WXXI, a PBS affiliate, canceled its monthly 40-page station guide that I designed, I lost one of my favorite monthly projects. Though WXXI didn’t bring the guide back, they did bring me back on board to design two new brochures, one for membership and the other for volunteers.

One of our current projects is to create a website for Kamala Nair’s THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN. The book won’t be out until June, but the website launch will be much sooner than that. Working in the publishing industry, I learned that planning happens months – sometimes years! – before the book is published. That way when the book hits the shelves, the advertising and publicity campaigns are in full swing. It’s an exciting (anxious?) time and hopefully all the advance work helps the book succeed. As research for the website, I read an advance copy of THE GIRL IN THE GARDEN and I predict great success for this fantastic debut novel.

For example, this week I completed work for just one fundraising event and the projects included: save the date announcement, printed invitation with reply card and envelopes, emailable invitation – 4 different versions, letterhead, full page magazine ad, video ad, 2 display slides, 24 award certificates, emailable thank you and a 52 page program.

All that work and I didn’t even get to go to the ball.

I’ve worked for VDAY for years and pieces I’ve designed have been in the hands of celebrities, which is always exciting. But this week VDAY sent me photos of something even more thrilling: posters I designed in the hands of women in the Congo!

I was hired by with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York to create posters and postcards for their upcoming regional CSA Fairs. Promoting healthy eating and thriving farms!

Though I implicitly follow client guidelines when specific fonts are part of a corporate identity, I cringe when a client chooses a font simply because it’s in the default pull-down menu of Microsoft Word on their PC. Well, first I oblige. Then I cringe.

Everyone benefits if a client tells me their aesthetic goal and out of my library of thousands of unique fonts, I can make the best professional recommendation. I feel less constrained and even though the differences in fonts styles may be subtle, the end result will be a piece customized to each client. It’s a win-win. And I always want my clients to feel like winners!

On Tuesday, January 25,  I watched the 2011 State of the Union. Our President spoke broadly (and as always, beautifully) of helping the economy and creating new jobs, but there weren’t many specifics. How would this happen? Would new jobs suddenly appear simply because Barack Obama said so? Um… apparently, yes. On the morning of Wednesday, January 26, three clients hired me for new design projects, among them a t-shirt, a brochure, and invitations for several spring galas. Coincidence? I think not. Thank you, President Obama!

During these long cold months when cabin fever sets in, staying active is more important but even more difficult. This year we got a Wii for the holidays and I am loving the Just Dance game! I’ve also enjoyed completing design work on the Spring Gala save the date announcement for Evidence, a NYC-based dance company. Next up is designing their gala invitation. It’s important to keep our business AND our bodies moving! Because, in the words of the late and phenomenally great Pina Bausch: Dance, dance otherwise we are lost

I was recently hired to design a logo for Jazz for Justice, an event by the Foundation of the Monroe County Bar Association. The logo needed to capture the feeling of jazz music, but also balance that with the sensibility of the bar association. The process of logo design is always way more complicated than the simplified end result indicates. Above are six of the initial samples that I presented to my client. This week, they made their final selection. Can you guess which one was chosen? Okay, I’ll give you a minute to think. Hmmm…

And the answer is: left column, middle logo with the trumpet.
Did you guess correctly?