simplicity and time

I've been working on several projects and it's frustrating that I can't show you any of them—at least not yet. What I can share are two tools that I use and work for me all the time.

The sketch that I showed you in my previous post (which actually makes me cringe a little now) inspired one of my latest designs. It also illustrates how I use the first of these tools—simplifying. I edited most of the image and concentrated on the basic tear shape. Reducing an illustration to a minimal expression almost always provides me with better results. I also find that the challenge of knowing how much to edit is half the fun.



This bowl was one of the first projects I pitched for my book. It didn't make the cut because it was determined that I needed something more colorful. I reworked it with different paper and found that I preferred leaving gaps between the strips of paper. That's how I ended up with the three bowls that are on the cover. I built them in a different way than my first bowl which also allowed me to experiment with a new technique. All around a win-win situation.



The passage of time is something else that I include in my design schedule. It involves walking away from a piece (for several days if possible) and coming back to it with fresh eyes. It's such a simple thing to do. The fresh view usually confirms that my design needs minor tweaks or that the idea isn't feasible at all. Discovering the latter isn't exactly fun but it's better to rework something than to show a poorly executed piece.

Today I happen to be staying away from some work for the above reason. We'll see what happens tomorrow when I take a look again.