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It’s roundup time once again! This month it’s a short list because I’ve been away and trying to focus on doing some internal soul searching. But everything on this short shortlist is well worth a read if you’re in need of insight or inspiration.

Short reads

Forget Tiny Houses—Try Miniature Sculptures

This video interview with Kath Holden, who transforms the world around her into immaculately rendered miniatures—a departure from the enduring trend of creating Victorian dollhouses or other period-inspired miniatures, brought me a lot of joy this month.

“On my way!” vs. “omw”

“Apple’s default auto text replacement of omw to “On my way!” may seem innocuous, but this feature actually invokes an existential crisis for many members of the internet generation.” Maarya Abbasi unpicks the dangers that lie in the design of defaults.

Literary Paper Dolls: Franny

Julia Berick of The Paris Review has paired up with illustrator Jenny Kroik to produce “what us bookworm-clotheshorse child-adults have always wanted: literary paper dolls”. The first in the series is J.D. Salinger’s Franny, and let me just say I’m more than a little bit excited.

Long reads

Tasting East London Through Its Fast Food Typography

I love anything that asks me to look at the world around me, particularly things I’m familiar with, a little bit differently. So this exploration of a neighborhood I used to live in through its letterforms piqued my interest and I’m so glad it did because it’s opened up a whole new world of signs to me.

“Be yourself” is terrible advice

““Be yourself” is the kind of empty self-help mandate uttered by such disparate artists as Audioslave and Oprah; something that that is typically (and ironically) advised before coming into contact with strangers” says Leah Finnegan.

Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers

From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. Yet, like car companies in the ’70s, today’s tech companies would rather blame the user.

The Creative Future Report

Adobe’s 99U asked more than 3,600 creatives what excites them, what scares them, and what they need in order to do their best work. Here’s what they found ft. some fun graphics.

Judith Kerr on fleeing Hitler, working at 94 and ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’

After the incredibly sad passing of one of my favourite childhood illustrators and authors Judith Kerr, I wanted to share one of my favourite interviews and articles about her from the FT where she spoke to Simon Kuper about her family’s escape from the Nazi’s, and it’s impact on their life and her work.

Eye Candy

@norakrug

This month Nora Krug (whose illustrations I adore) was chosen as this year’s Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year, and as Book Illustration Prize Winner by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. So I felt there could be no better time to share her work with you all in case you’ve not encountered it before. FYI most of these images aren’t actually from her instagram.

@kmsalvagedesign

Kristen Meyer’s collages and multimedia artworks are meticulously put together. Her ability to bring order to chaos and create art within fixed bounds is incredible.

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The Creative Pep Talk podcast is one of my favourite design/illustration listens. I was a bit late in coming to it – despite having followed Andy J. Miller for a long while. It’s absolutely brilliant “through ridiculous analogies, personal stories and artist interviews, Andy [helps] you break free from confusion and make a plan for your creative career success!”

 

I was listening to 229 – the 6 step process to unlock powerful creative business momentum in which Andy asks and answers the big question “if it’s not about practice, passion, talent or skill, what’s the real foundation of great creative work?”

 

It was an episode that really came to me at the right moment. I’m currently in a personal place of re-evaluating and evolving what creative work it is I want to do. To use the language of the episode, I’m cleansing my palate.

 

Without giving too much away about the episode, because you really should go and listen to it, the first steps Andy suggests for unlocking what will make you great in your own right are to forget what you think you know, to identify your super sense (not what you’re good at but what you notice) and to develop a taste profile of what it is you like. For this third step, he described a task of gathering up art from 3 contemporary and 3 historical sources and drawing out what it is about them that makes your spidey senses tingle.

It sounded like a lot of fun, and like something I could really benefit from. So that’s exactly what I’ve done, or at least I’ve made my own attempt at it and I wanted to share it out in the open with you because I think it probably says more about who I want to be as a maker than anything else.

 

So here’s a collection of pieces of creative work, both timely and timeless, which really speak to me. I’ve gone beyond just illustration and I’ve delved into books and film and design because I wanted to see if I could draw out any super macro themes and because I don’t just want my creative work to be still standalone visuals.

 

I’ve made moodboards before, but I’m usually concerned with creating something with a clear focus that answers a question or creates a coherent visual output. But here I just pulled what I liked and added a few words.

 

Seeing such a range of pieces together really made me take a step back and re-evaluate what it is I love.

Here are a few of the key values I found myself being drawn to:

  • Line – I feel like it comes as no surprise that strong line work is something that I look for in a piece
  • People – in general I gravitate towards works with a human focus, or that look at a human impact. Even in images with animals, I’m looking for anthropomorphisation
  • Organic forms – there’s something that’s difficult to put my finger on but that’s definitely rooted in nature in a lot of the images I’ve been drawn to
  • Texture – pieces that come across as tactile or show their human makers in their texture
  • Light and tone – colour on its own doesn’t catch my eye, but the use of tone to create a narrative or to indicate light is something I always love.
  • Stylised realism – while the use of colour doesn’t have to be realistic, I do generally prefer works that are representative of life
  • Clear voice – strong personality and message is key in both written and visual works
  • Personal but well researched – I have a huge amount of respect for people and pieces that seem to have a wealth of emergencies at their fingertips but manage to keep their work from feeling too academic and lacking in a human focus
  • Endings – I like a clean close, which probably links into the below point about purpose. A narrative shouldn’t just fade out.
  • Cultural purpose – works that draw on the world around them and offer new insights are my favourites

 

This is just the beginning, I’m only half way through the steps Andy suggests in his podcast and I’m barely taking the first steps on my own creative journey. But now, at least, I have a compass to give me some direction for what good would look like for me.

 

If you’ve got some time and a desire to collage (or a keen pinterest trigger finger) I’d definitely recommend giving this task a try.

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I’m awful at taking photographs. Awful.

 

I’m technically not very good but I’m even worse at remembering to take out my camera and click the button or to just snap something with my phone. I’m perhaps the worst when it comes to getting any photographs of myself. Whenever I need one, I’m still digging out an accidental snap a friend took 4 years ago – I’m not sure there’s one more recent where I’m not gurning.

 

I’ve made many attempts to try to shake this weird relationship with cameras, because I’d desperately like to have more moments documented. I’d love to have images I can thumb through when nostalgia strikes, when I want inspiration or just when I want a more personal reference to draw from. I know it can be done. I’ve watched longingly as friends have completed photo or video a day challenges, infinitely impressed at their follow through.

 

I’ve tried to set myself similar challenges in order to force myself to get better. But I’ve fallen short every time.

 

I think there are two reasons, I can’t bring myself to do a daily challenge. First, I live a pretty routined life and every day challenges like taking a photo everyday can be a bit of an uncomfortable reminder of how similar the things I see every day are. Second, I’m embarrassed to take photos, particularly in public and even more so with people in. This is before we get into any of the psychology of why I’m personally so camera shy.

 

So, instead of setting myself a challenge I knew I was going to fail at again this year. I wanted to try to tackle one of those underlying reasons. Rather than trying to take on my quotidien existence all at once, I’ve been working towards getting more comfortable behind the camera.

 

At the start of this year, I bought a super cheap film camera and a load of film which I promised myself I would finish within the year. I didn’t have to use it every day but I did have to get through it.

I didn’t need to buy a camera to start taking photos, especially when the ones my phone takes without even trying are probably better quality. But it was a little bit of encouragement. It was also a challenge, something I could learn. Having a new camera to figure out made it a project about that rather than the photos. Working on film also meant I didn’t have instant feedback, I had to get to then end of the roll before I could see the pictures and I couldn’t pick them apart.

 

Plus, it didn’t hurt that my favourite photos (family and otherwise) have usually been shot on film.

 

So, I loaded up the film and headed out. I’ve tried to take my camera on walks and adventures when I know I might see something nice, or want to take a moment with me for the future. I’ve also set out on trips with the purpose of taking photos, which has led to a few adventures in itself. I finally got out to Barbican Conservatory after 3 years in London.

 

When I’ve been with other people I’ve made clear that I’m doing a project and taking photos. No one has batted an eye, they probably wouldn’t have cared either way. Doing it for the ‘gram has become pretty standard. But declaring it as a project, just like saying you have a personal policy to set a boundary, has given it the legitimacy I needed in my mind.

Most of the pictures I’ve taken have been pretty bad, but it’s been nice to be a beginner. I’ve had images to thumb through and turn into new art, just like I wanted. Sure it’s been frustrating when half a roll turns out hinkey (protip: don’t go to a Kodak express to get your film developed) but I’m trying to get comfortable with the messy bits of the process as well as just holding the camera.

 

But the images I’m not happy with have taught me how to use the camera better – be slower (probably good life advice generally) and focus on things a little further away. I’m also trying to rework them into new pieces of art, so all is not lost.

 

I’m still not comfortable taking photos of other people or being in photos, but I’m working on it.

But I wanted to share this little bit of progress to talk about tackling things in baby steps and the freedom that comes from accepting you’re probably a bit shit at something before you start.

 

Experiment and turn being bad into part of the project.

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Here we are in my 25th book review.

 

I’ve mentioned before that this year I’ve really been diving much more into non-fiction, and that includes memoirs for the first time ever really. The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy was a bit of  stand out in the pack, and a strong pick for a book club recommendation.

 

Without giving too much away, this quote gets right to the crux of the subject matter: “the truth is, the ten or twenty minutes I was somebody’s mother were black magic. There is nothing I would trade them for. There is no place I would rather have seen.” It’s a memoir and something of a cautionary tale about trauma, about privilege, about being a woman alone, as a mother and as a wife. As Levy writes about the unravelling of “all of her assumptions about what she [could] control are undone after a string of overwhelming losses” there’s something haunting about the fragility of what we have day to day. As David Remnick writes of the article which was the prelude to her memoir, “the world is full of personal essays. My illness. My divorce. My delight. They are everywhere. Arguably there are too many. Among the average ones, there’s a kind of grasping aspect to them. When they connect, as Ari’s did, there’s really nothing like it.””

 

The Rules is unforgiving. It’s unforgiving in its depiction of loss and of trauma. It’s also unforgiving of itself. While Levy no longer blames herself for the twists of fate that she was handed, she never lets herself off the hook for the mistakes she feels she made. The Rules feels like a long hard look in the mirror after a shower where you see yourself, truly naked, under no one’s gaze but your own and find yourself examining quite how you’ve changed.

 

That is to say that’s it’s a brilliantly written piece of self-analysis. While Levy touches on some of the forces that influenced how she behaved, how she viewed herself, it is a book that primarily turns inwards. It is a memoir after all.

I wanted to riff on the colours of the original cover for this alternative design. I’m not sure why but the simple ones always take me the longest to settle on.

Levy is a privileged white woman and I know some readers have found The Rules too solipsistic. That Levy’s constant centring of her own story, is an act of narcissism. That her take on feminism’s and neoliberalism’s claims that women can, should, and are in fact owed the opportunity to have it all, long out of date. I would agree with the foundation of all of those claims, but I don’t think they act to the detriment of the memoir.

Are we not all at the center of our own stories? If we were to write those stories, surely they would come out with all of the baggage and biases of our own various privileges?

 

As for the point of ‘does anyone really think they can have it all?’ most notably levelled by Charlotte Shane. My personal opinion is no we don’t logically believe it. We can all outwardly debunk it as a myth, as a dream. We can analyse and unpick why it’s a fallacy we’ve been presented to sell us anything and everything, just like we can point of photoshopping on magazine covers. But that doesn’t stop us privately hoping we might just be the one who the rules don’t apply to, that we could have a partner and a career and a family and still have adventures, even if we have to compromise a little. But perhaps that’s my own naivety and privilege showing too.

 

I raced through The Rules Do Not Apply so fast that I felt a little queasy at the end. It’s not a book for a poolside jaunt into escapism, it’s a book for an afternoon where you need to be shaken a little. Shaken out of your own day to have a moment outside of yourself to reflect and to analyse.

 

I’ll just leave you with the words that are one the jacket of pretty much every copy of The Rules I’ve seen. They seem to be the only words that quite do it justice.

 

“I thought I had harnessed the power of my own strength and greed and love in a life that could contain it. But it has exploded.”

 

SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER AS YOU READ…

  • What impact does Levy’s privilege have on how you engage with her story? How do you think it shaped the story itself?
  • Knowing how The Rules ends, what impact does the closure it offers have on the messy trauma held within the rest of the memoir?
  • Levy describes her life as having been like a “movie” impervious to true loss before this memoir, how has the media shaped how you frame your own life?
  • The Rules was published a little after the American election that saw Hilary Clinton lose and books like Cheryl Sandberg’s Lean In lambasted, how does Levy’s memoir fit in this cultural climate?
  • Can we ‘have it all’? What does that question mean today?

 

IF YOU WANT SOME FURTHER READING TRY…

 

IF YOU WANT MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS HAVE A LOOK AT…

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Once or twice a year, I take myself away for a long weekend somewhere nice. I go on my own and I just focus on recharging and finding some peace with myself. Protecting this time has become essential to me, without it I’m not quite sure who I’d be.

 

Just recently, I went to Cornwall and fell in love with the south west coast. I walked and I read and I ate. I left London for 5 days and came back feeling grounded.

 

I’ve been taking trips alone for around 8 years now. I’ve gone on long trips and short trips. I’ve taken trains, planes, buses and ferries. While I’ve never done the classic backpacking through east asia alone (don’t come to me for trekking tips), I have become something of a master of a solo long weekend.

 

So I wanted to share some advice on taking some time away for yourself. I’ve written before, at length, about the importance of spending time alone and I still wholeheartedly back that. Getting comfortable in your own skin is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself. But I want to acknowledge the fact that I’m incredibly privileged to be able to take trips on my own, in a way that I know not everyone is. I am not dependent upon anyone else in my day to day, and no one is dependent upon me. I am relatively financially stable and I can take a few days away from work without worry. I am someone who (as an only child) was raised and encouraged to be independent, to step out on my own. I am also a massive introvert who relishes a little quiet.

 

Taking a few days to yourself doesn’t have to mean jetting off to a luxury resort (I never have) and in every tip I share there’s a huge amount of flexibility. But I know solo travel isn’t for everyone, and there are plenty of ways to get to know yourself without it.

 

For reference the trips I usually take are within the UK or Europe and are for 3-5 days. Personally, I go for places where I can get outdoors and walk. There’s something particularly powerful about being out in nature on your own. I try not to use my phone/digital devices too much beside navigation and checking when things open. I stay in airbnbs now, although when I first started travelling I was always in hostels. Hostels are great if you’re looking to make friends but now when I travel alone, I really do want to be alone*.

Plan with your comfort zone in mind

I know some people say the only way to grow is to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. But, first, I hate the term comfort zone. Second, there’s a difference between pushing yourself a little further and feeling like you’re jumping off a cliff. Like with a science experiment, I try to only push myself in one area at a time. So if you’re not used to spending time alone as a starter, and that’s intimidating, make the rest of the trip easy. You could stay close to home or go somewhere you’ve been before, just for a couple of days. If you want to go further afield but aren’t a confident planner, perhaps try hotels rather than airbnbs where you’re likely to have a little more support. You don’t have to do everything all at once.

 

Make sure someone knows where you are

I’m going to sound like your mum, but have a few scheduled check ins to make sure someone knows where you are and that you’re safe.

 

Know the key routes

This is another practical one, but make sure you know how to get from whatever station you’re arriving at to wherever you’re staying, without a phone. Print a map if you have to. But you don’t want to be caught in the dead of night (as I have been, more than once) in a different country trying to fumble with your phone while carrying bags, anxiously trying to get where you’re going.

Gut get lost if you can

If you can, get lost. Sometimes losing all bearings is the best way to find them in yourself.

 

Plan in potentials not schedules

While it’s important to know the basics, don’t over plan. Give yourself the freedom to have something catch your eye or to take longer than you thought it might. Go at your own pace and know that your pace might change.

 

Document as you go

One of the lovely things about travelling with other people is that you tell stories, and so make memories, as you go. How many times has a group trip resulted in an inside joke or that one story that gets brought out every year? When you’re travelling alone, it’s really important to actively document as you go, because you’re not socialising your stories in quite the same way. You could journal or take photos or even sketch what you’re seeing. But make sure you have something physical to help you remember.

 

Bring a book

A book can be a lifesaver on a solo trip. It’s something you can turn to when you’re waiting for a train, or food, or to find your next adventure, and it’s not your phone which is filled with updates about people you’re not with right now. Where I can I like to take a book that’s vaguely related to my trip. That might mean a book which is set in the same place as where I’m staying e.g. you could take the My Brilliant Friend to Naples. Or you could try a book my a local author, like reading some Fernando Pessoa while in Portugal. Or you could be a little less literal, and try something thematic, like reading Salt on Your Tongue by Charlotte Runcie, which is about women and the sea, by the coast.

 

Lunch is easier than dinner

I like food, it’s no secret. But dining alone can be a little bit awkward, especially if you’re not used to it. I’ve found that going out for lunch is way easier. It’s normally more casual and you’re probably already out so you don’t have to psych yourself up to go. Lunch also has the advantage of often being cheaper than dinner. So it’s wins all round.

 

Treat yourself

It can be easy to get into a mentality of “eh, I’m on my own it doesn’t matter”. But if you’re taking the time for a solo trip, please do the things you want to do. Eat the things you want to eat. Go to the places you want to go. Pay the entrance fee if you have to. This is your time.

 

Find time to reflect

If you’re going on a solo trip to have a moment with yourself, make sure you are actually having those moments. This can come from not planning too much in and making the time to read and not scroll. But I also think it’s key to actively seek out 10 minutes where you can just sit and think. It might seem a little weird of uncomfortable at first, but it gets easier and more rewarding I promise.

 

*This makes me sound incredibly grumpy, I probably am. But in this busy always connected world, there’s something to be said for being alone and quiet and with no one else trying to get your attention.