Today, while working on a design, I had Twitter, AIM, Google Talk, Google Reader, my email, and a music player open. All at once.

…which inadvertently lead to this:

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a great slice of insight from Cory Doctorow on “Writing in the Age of Distraction.” The article focuses on writing (clearly), but the thoughts are on-point for creative people of all shapes and sizes.

Among his advice,”realtime communication tools are deadly.” Amen, Cory.

He also recommends that you “leave yourself a rough edge:”

When you hit your daily word-goal, stop. Stop even if you’re in the middle of a sentence. Especially if you’re in the middle of a sentence. That way, when you sit down at the keyboard the next day, your first five or ten words are already ordained, so that you get a little push before you begin your work. Knitters leave a bit of yarn sticking out of the day’s knitting so they know where to pick up the next day — they call it the “hint.” Potters leave a rough edge on the wet clay before they wrap it in plastic for the night — it’s hard to build on a smooth edge.

I think I’ll unplug for a while and let my head pull itself together.

Click here to read the full article.

(via Drawn: The Illustration Blog)

I’m completely enthralled by the work of Barcelona-based graphic designer Máximo Tuja, aka max-o-matic.

(via we-make-money-not-art’s review of “ESC: Enter Spanish Creativity“)

A few months ago, in a conversation about the role of design, my friend and co-worker Brandon Ferguson laid it out like this:

[Designers are] both working to build and for the system, and simultaneously subverting it. They’re the mouth pieces, and the destroyers.

I kind of love that. So much potential in the artful communication of messages.

And that’s why we love Brandon.