Five things from the past two weeks . . .
1:
I tried to start and finish a zine in one evening and this was the result. It’s called “Emotions” and showcases some basic feelings.
But I cut it in half so you can rearrange the pages and express things that are a little more complicated.
2:
I’m going to start a small garden in the backyard this spring. I know almost nothing. Any suggestions?
3:
I saw The Boy and the Heron this week. It’s not what I expected, but Hayao Miyazaki rarely fits into a box.
It pains me to write this, but I left the movie a little disappointed. All the previous Miyazaki directed movies have a mythical “basically perfect” status in my mind so I had extremely high (and probably unrealistic) expectations for this one. I discovered Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli about 10 years ago and have found that all of their movies get better each time I rewatch them. I’m sure that will be true for this one as well.
If you’re unfamiliar with Studio Ghibli, two of their most popular movies are Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. I would also recommend The Wind Rises (my personal favorite), Princess Mononoke and The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya. These movies are animated but that doesn’t mean they’re for kids. They explore some pretty dark themes and do not shy away from the unsettling parts of reality. For a younger crowd (or a lighter mood) I would suggest Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Even though I didn’t love The Boy and the Heron I’m still happy to spend money supporting this type of content. We need more things that are weird, beautiful and made by hand.
4:
Our lives are made up of routines and repetition, but do we stop to appreciate the beauty in these seemingly mundane moments?
Artist Eleonora Marton captures and showcases the ordinary in a way that makes me think twice about the things I disregard as insignificant. Eleonora draws the same thing every day for a year like a clock in one minute or yesterday’s clothes or her bed after she gets up in the morning. Maybe these small pieces of who we are aren’t so small after all.
I’m still trying to figure it out, but there is some sort of magic buried where routine and creativity overlap.
5:
I was on a zoom call this week with Ellen Lupton. Her Instagram is a good place to start if you don’t know her.
So when I say, “I was on a zoom call with Ellen Lupton,” what I mean is she was giving a talk about inclusive design to another design class at UW and the professor was kind enough to send me the link.
She talked about her book The Senses: Design Beyond Vision and her exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt that highlighted artists and designers paving the way for design accessibility. She talked about how designing objects and experiences in a way that’s accessible to everyone (regardless of physical ability or cognitive function) actually makes those things better for everyone. A classic example of this is closed captioning.
This idea is often referred to as Universal Design. Here is a wonderful TED Talk by Michael Nesmith that expands on the idea.
During her talk Ellen showed a bunch of examples of thoughtfully designed experiences. One of my favorite examples was a smart watch called the Dot Watch that shows the time in braille.
Towards the end of her talk she had a slide that said
Inclusive design offers choices.
Inclusive design is co-creative.
Inclusive design welcomes everyone.
These ideas have been gaining popularity in recent years thanks to people like Ellen showcasing incredible work and making the rest of us pay attention. Unfortunately all of this is somewhat new to me. I want to get better at making design decisions that include everyone, not just people who look, sound and function the way I do.
ALSO:
A video I made where Jerry and George pitch “Get Ready With Me.”
“My mom is short and my dad is REALLY big.”
Thanks for reading! See you in two weeks. 👋