I’ve been knee-deep in the SharePoint project with Lilly’s SMQ. I lost count a week or two ago of just how many rounds of graphics I’ve done thus far. I am hopefully well on my way to finalizing the look and feel, but it really doesn’t help when the feed back is as inconclusive as “I just don’t like it”. Those haven’t been their exact words, but its always tricky trying to get into the client’s head. Its not their fault; I was the same way when I entered into my first (few) design classes. I didn’t know the verbiage (and often made up my own), I didn’t know any given standard of the industry or even mindset.
When you’re knee-deep in a project that has you spinning in circles, it takes quite a toll on your mood. When your mind is saturated in colors, graphics, shapes, sizes, folds, themes, etc. its easy to become more or less numb to the beauty in what you’re doing. Today as I was searching for textures for backgrounds, I not only stumbled upon possibly the best set of them out there (better than deviantArt, or at least more succinct), I also rediscovered beauty in everyday things.
Take this old suitcase for example. (The site won’t let me hotlink the image, sorry.) It looks a lot like how I feel right now, inside and out. It could very well tell my story for me. “I’m just out of college, finding the adjustment to the ‘real world’ harder than I thought. Men suck royally; nay, make that people. I own a “ringer” because I’ve been through one constantly in my life. I’m old in my young age, I’m jaded, but that’s what makes me beautiful.” Okay, perhaps a bit of a creative stretch for some. Nonetheless, who would have thought an old, beaten and battered suitcase could be so ordinarily beautiful?
Next. Not necessarily a strikingly well-composed shot, but somehow this struck me in a kind way. The texture of the red, the splintering of the wound, the dirt clogging its pores. Just another everyday image that somehow made me remember why I love what I do. (I make things look pretty, and thus get to look at pretty things.)
Who would have thought to make a texture out of a peep hole? The crazy thing I noticed in this shot which I cannot remember if I’ve ever noticed before, is that it looks like an eye! For those of you who have noticed this many times before, bear with me and my exasperation. I’m just in awe of the irony!
I’ll close with the one that started this whole thought process. A light of some sort, looks like a taillight of perhaps a bus or truck or something. To me, it said “yeah, what’s up? I’ve been here the whole time, dumbass. Thanks for finally noticing.” Well, at least someone noticed. It took their perspective to find my own.