Drawing Conclusions

Give me a three-hole punch and a binder. Scissors, stapler, and a stack of my subscriptions … I am good to go. Among winter’s many graces are snowy nights stuck inside. I have been organizing the dickens out of my home. The promise of having a place for everything requires removal. I have shed two years worth of Sunset magazine by clipping and filing into binders to match their mission: travel, home & garden, food. I am transferring notes from my monthly Cooking Light into their annual cookbook. This is my ninth year of loyalty. In fact, I am donating three cookbooks other’s have gifted me because I simply won’t use them.

This year-end scrub up and filing fantasia is even more delightful as I completed today both a sketchbook and a diary. I watercolored the last page of my Moleskine notebook bought in San Francisco in ‘06. The first painting was on Labor Day ’08 and I have consistently painted an impromptu picture each holiday since. I also finished a wood-covered journal bought in New York last year. First entry was the day after Thanksgiving ’09. It brings great pleasure to crack open a new Moleskine (scheduled for Martin Luther King Day) and a new journal I bought last month in San Francisco.

In truth, I spoke to soon. I have yet to tackle the filing cabinet. I just don’t think I can do it without a paper shredder. My organizational armory is incomplete.

More Food Drive Campaign Photos

Results of the drive:

51,500 lbs of donated food

+ 43,104 lbs of food (by way of $21,552 in cash donations)

= 94,604 lbs of food contributed to fight hunger

We nearly doubled our goal of raising 50,000 lbs of food. Equally impressive—U of U employees volunteered 270 hours sorting at Utah Food Bank.

Bar Code Deluxe: Second Edition

Another playful bar code in letterpress. This one is from Mr. Letter's Press. It's a special-edition holiday card made for AI[Give]A Holiday Card Party held recently at Salt Lake's tastiest little boutique: Frosty Darling.

The View From Here

McSweeney’s #33 is a triumph. The San Francisco Panorama is a one-day musing on what newspapers could be. It’s newsy, but it’s also spirited, vogue, earnest, and engaging. The Sports section comes with an illustrated baseball insert that makes even me wish I was an enthusiast. The Absolut ad makes me want a martini with Zooey Deschanel right now. Kudos McSweeney’s for imagining what newspapers could do to differentiate from the Web. Whatever they can imagine, they can pull off. I don’t always enjoy their contributors but when McSweeney's goes conceptual … they inspire and astound. I haven’t missed newsprint much since I left it four and a half years ago. Until now.

Yes We Can

Asked to put together a food drive in just two weeks was it's own monumental task. Pulling it off with flair ... the only way we'd make it through. Our VP conceived the whole thing; our junior designer executed it; and I supported them with vendor management while attempting to keep the rest of our design projects from stagnation. What a relief to be on this side of the equation now.

We created a flat soup can, perforated and scored, to be delivered to every employee. A simple solution, but an ingenious one for not only creating an interactive opportunity for the message to sink in, but they also created instant decorative flair. As I walk through the hospital and office areas now, it's hard not to find stacks of our cans. Grocery bags were mailed to everyone's home with both a call to action, and a seasonal message from the CEOs. After shopping, employees drop their bagged donations off at work in giant barrels wrapped with the same soup can graphic. We designed an "I Gave" sticker to wear after dropping off your donation ... it looks like the top of a metal can. And to track donations, we're wrapping a two-story pillar after semi-weekly weigh-ins. By the time we achieve our goal, it will look like the largest grocery store end cap ever. More photos to come. (Including the dancing can mascot.)