I have a full-page illustration in this month’s Fast Company. The issue is entitled “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” and my illo was in response to their 41st company, Kickstarter. The article focuses on how low-budget “dream” movies are not only getting made because of Kickstarter, but they’re being well-received, and about a dozen of them have actually qualified for the Sundance Film Festival competition.

I was asked to do this in the middle of my move from SF to NYC in early January, so unfortunately all my office stuff was packed away. Where would you be without friends who let you use their studio when you’re homeless? Huge thanks to Florian Bachleda and Ted Keller for so much fun!

Fast Company
Art Director: Ted Keller
Creative Director: Florian Bachleda

As an act of perseverance, and compassion, I will attempt to draw a valentine for EVERY single one of my Twitter followers tomorrow, February 14, between the hours of 7 AM and 7 PM. I will draw the valentine on a 4 1/2” x 5 1/2” pre-cut card, take a picture with my phone, and tweet it directly to each follower, real-time. Call it a “Valentine’s Marathon” if you will.

With 1150 followers, I’ll have roughly 40 seconds per valentine (or 96 an hour), so I will have to act swiftly. However, it is my goal to make every card unique to the individual follower. By doing so, I will respond to each person’s handle/picture/bio as seen below. Obviously, with such little time, these cards won’t be mind-blowing, but who doesn’t like to get a hand drawn note for Valentine’s Day?

Why? Well if there’s one day in the year I’m heartily encouraged to show my love and appreciation to someone, that day is tomorrow. Traditionally, Valentine’s Day is spent expressing ourselves with gifts and “valentines” for people we care about. However, interesting enough, in lieu of all the people I care about in my personal life, I spend much more time sitting in front of my computer every day: working, searching, writing, emailing, scanning, printing, G-chatting, and of course, Tweeting.

I have developed great relationships with people in my personal life because of Twitter. That being said, everyday I have conversations with designers and illustrators on Twitter that never go beyond the monitor in front of me. In spite of this, I wonder how I can honor these virtual relationships? Can it be done outside of technology? And besides the typical gifts we give each other on Twitter—like a mention or a retweet—what would it mean to make an analog gift for someone who is following me?

Note: Twitter says you can’t tweet more than 1000 times in a day, and because I won’t have a lot of time, I will have to double up on many of the tweets. Oh, and I won’t create valentines for any new followers than the ones I have now. In the next week or two, I will put a website up so you can see all 1150 together.

Statistical breakdown:
1 Tim
15 Red Sharpies
12 Hours
1200 pre-cut cards
1150 Followers
5 bottles of water
2 coconut waters
3 pre-made sandwiches
1 Bag of Hershey’s Kisses
Andre 3000’s “The Love Below” on repeat

This is going to be fun! (maybe impossible!?) I guess sometimes you gotta be mad for love!

1. New York vs. California
Recently, I elaborated a bit more on my leaving Apple, returning back to NYC, and the internal debate between NYC & California. Have I mentioned how immeasurably happy I am that I live in New York again? And the myth that you’ll never move back to Manhattan after living in Brooklyn is NOT true.

Click here to read.

2. They Might Be Giants + Paul Sahre
Last month I wrote a brief synopsis on Paul Sahre’s album design and collateral for the band, They Might Be Giants, that included the construction of an amazing life-sized monster truck hearse. Paul is a big design hero of mine, so I was honored when he asked me to do this. If you’re one of the few people who haven’t seen this project, make sure to watch the music video.

Click here to read.

1. As part of the Art Directors Club Young Guns talks, I gave a presentation last night at the Apple Store SoHo. It was so great to be welcomed back to NYC by a crowd of my peers, old friends, and new friends. I love you all, and thanks for laughing at my dirty jokes.

2. This Thursday, I’m traveling to Baltimore to give a presentation and do a workshop with the students from MICA. I’m totally stoked for this, and equally excited to share the day with four amazing designers: Tracy Kroop, Max Snyder, Silas Munro, and my buddy, Michael Freimuth. Isn’t MICA the oldest art college in the United States? I’ll make sure to wear my SVA t-shirt.

I have three illustrations in the January/February issue of Foreign Policy. They’re in response to a series of articles on ways to save the economy, touching on topics such as currency wars, infrastructure, and the world’s debt. Thanks to Dennis for letting me have tons of fun on this!

Foreign Policy
Art Director: Dennis Brack

#1 “Write Off The World’s Debt”

#6 “Spend $1 Trillion On The Future”

#9 “Tame The World’s Crazy Currency System”

I have some hand lettering on the cover of this week’s New York magazine. The cover story is on workplace confessions—and how 20 individual “informants,” such as a transsexual escort, a police officer, and a Per Se waiter, reveal the behind the scenes dirty-dirty on their professions.

Doing this cover feels symbolic, considering I moved back to NYC just 4 days ago. I was charged to do a lot more type, but they ended up piecing it together and mixing and matching. Big thanks to Randy!

New York magazine
Art Director: Randy Minor

A couple weeks ago my new website was picked as the Webpick of The Day by Communication Arts. With a variety of great sites featured, I’m honored they selected mine. Big props to Greg Maher at Look North!

After a year and a half of living in San Francisco, I’m moving back to the only place I call home. It’s been two months since I quit my job at Apple, and left the branding/advertising world. I like to romanticize my newfound self-employment as if I’m a professional basketball player who’s on strike from the league, playing ball in the neighborhood court, just the way it was played when we were kids: no refs, no fans, and no shot clock. I need to practice on my jump shot, and I’ll stay a free agent until the right team comes along.

I’m also very excited to teach a typography class this January for my alma mater, School of Visual Arts. It wasn’t too long ago that I was nervous design student, pestering all my teachers, begging them to give me a bit of their knowledge. (I still do this, and thankfully most of them don’t tell me to bugger off!)

People ask me why I’d leave a place so beautiful and serene like San Francisco? While California’s culture is just as predominant as NYC’s, neither could be more opposite. The decision to move back East has made me think a lot about what makes California feel so different. Besides the weather, and the slower pace—or the fact that people strangely wait for the street lights to change before crossing the street—there’s a collective essence that is inherently different than New York. But what is that exactly?

Recently, I was discussing this topic with my neighborhood barista. He explained an old comic he once saw that perfectly articulated everything I felt about the two cultures! I rushed home and Googled said comic. After a long search, I unfortunately came up unsuccessful. So I did the only thing I could do. I tried to recapture the spirit of that insightful comic.

See you back in the motherland!

I have a series of illustrations in today’s Bloomberg View. They’re in response to four articles written by economists on the current monetary forecast for Germany, France, Finland, and Ireland. The Euro pact is in trouble, and it’s not looking promising.

Considering I had to do four illustrations in the amount time that’s allocated for one, I knew I had to come up with an idea that had a strong through-line. And I’m always pleased when I can incorporate two of my favorite loves: doodling and making corny three-dimensional vector objects. Big thanks to Gary!

Bloomberg View
Art Director: Gary Fogelson

I also have an illustration in Wired magazine this month. A micromotor, roughly a tenth the diameter of a red blood cell, spins a polymer web in order to repair tissue.

Wired magazine
Art Director: Bradley Hughes & Rina Kushnir

I’m honored to be invited as a guest for SUNY New Paltz’s Art Lecture Series tomorrow night! This should mark my last trip to NY as a quasi-tourist, and I couldn’t be more excited to spend part of it with aspiring graphic designers. They were also super rad to print this poster I designed for the event.

Although, I must admit that I don’t know anything about the university, their programs, or even where New Paltz is exactly—which should make this all the more fun!

SUNY New Paltz
New Paltz, New York
Lecture Center 201
Wednesday November 30, 2011, 7 PM
Free and open to all