To have a reminder is to have an object, word or phrase that prompts us to do things, remember to do things, or to behave in certain ways.
Mohawk Maker Quarterly, Issue 14 surfaced in the stay-at-home cleaning. Tactile and visual appeal pulls readers through the interviews, profiles, and photographic stories of artists, marketers, makers, and designers. Here are my favorite quotes and reminders from this issue.
- “Two of the main aspects of art are invisible: its nature and its integrity.” ~ Donald Judd,
- While we are home, busily creating things in all arenas, consider this. “There’s a visceral, deeply personal thrill that accompanies the act of making.” ~ Jennie Lennick of Jenny Lemons clothing.
- “In recent years, business culture in the mainstream went from celebrating cut-throat attitude, quick-thinking and decisive leaders who prefer the inner voice to celebrating a new kind of leader, a contemplative, consensus builder, who makes employees feel safe and listens to all. We need leaders who inspire us to bring out our collective best.” ~ John Dugan
- This idea of collaborative leaders is also presented in Moving Out of the Box by Jana Kemp. Stanford University Press.
- “Daylight and fresh air are natural assets. Why not bring this kind of delight to every environment we create?” ~ Jordan Kushins
- “Humans design their lives as they go. We’d do better to incorporate as much of this live-as-it’s-lived in our (architectural) word as soon as we can. Desire paths are worn into the dirt by humans choosing the shortest route to their destination. We’ve been making them for centuries.” ~ John Dugan
- Building Community in Buildings speaks to Kushins’ and Dugan’s words as well. Ken Baker and Jana Kemp co-wrote the book. Praeger is the publisher (now ABC-CLIO).
- “User activity tells its own powerful story and we should be listening. … It’s called user experience, not designer experience, after all.” ~ John Dugan
- Marketers, inventors, designers, and writers – we can all learn from this directive sentence!
- “Perhaps planting a no-go bush is a better bet than more concrete.” Is Dugan’s response when complaints were lodged about people not using sidewalks and he asks “Why? Was there a puddle issue on the sidewalk?”
- This made me smile! As the author of NO! How One Simple Word Can Transform Your Life (AMACOM and in six languages), I hadn’t thought about landscape plantings being a form of saying NO!
- More from John Dugan: The Hero and The Ghost as skills for designers and consultants in all fields is helpful too.
- The Hero is independent and iron-willed, singular and absolute. This is big “L” leading and small “s” serving.
- The Ghost embodies the invisible and serves as an empty vessel for the will of the client. This is big “S” serving, small “l” leading.
- Jana: These are great reminders of how we act, how our clients need us to act, and how we can consciously choose our actions!
- Phillip K. Smith III, artist, install mirrored collections that reflect and refract light. He says of his work: “Each visitor is in charge of their experience. The experience at any particular moment may never be replicated. There is a true sense of living in the moment. The audience becomes an active participant. Through the process of slowing down, people might recognize the beauty that is directly in front of them.”
What are you in charge of today?
What are you intentionally designing?
What beauty is directly in front of you?
Workplace: Managing the moments of our day-to-day business lives takes work. Together, let’s explore what issues and activities affect us every day (or some days) that we go to work. – Jana