Blog ✎

"It's April." I say begrudgingly. Yes, it's not halfway through the year, but it might as well be. It's all spinning on so rapidly, and with that some of the greatest music has been produced so far. In the last month alone, countless of my favorite bands have released music and I can hardly keep up. Thank goodness my commute is long so I can cram all the listening in. So here's my top list so far, sure to change, and sure to stay the same come the end of 2018.

Hometown. For everyone, they picture something different. I picture oak trees, spring mornings when the grass is explosively bright, long suburb streets, stretches of strip malls and of course, my home. It’s strange how “my hometown” Sacramento was suddenly put on the map after Lady Bird stole our hearts. It painfully reminded me of when I moved to Seattle and when people asked where I was from. I would (could) lump it into San Francisco.

I finally dusted off my Nor Cal boots and found it in me to take them South. Los Angeles to me seems like a mythological place. It's a place of beauty and chaos, littered freeways and glamorous cocktail bars. It's where people go to "make it big" or people try to leave because it's just "too big." It's a wonderful paradox.

It's that time when I try to eek out the best that my ears have heard over the past year. I know I should hold out for a few more weeks, but for now, here's what's been spinning all 2017.

Paper marbling, a 2014 trend that took Pinterest by storm. Everywhere you looked was a DIY tutorial for how to make something look marbled, marble contact paper, marble laptop covers, marble jewelry. It was a full-fledged takeover. At the time I was working at Paper Source in Queen Anne, WA and as it goes, the notorious Queen Anne moms were all over this stuff. Soon we were hosting DIY marbled paper tutorials and trying to cover any scrap of paper in this strange, psychedelic pattern.

Like a careful spider, Autumn is plotting and spinning it's crimson and rust-hued web. More satisfying dried leaf crunches, a colder and more favored climate, and finally less sweats. It's nice here, and It's a time for creativity and a push for something new.

No. "Photoshopped" is not an adjective, and no, I cannot just "remove the crowd of people," or "add some new hair." Gripes aside, something I never questioned was, where the h*ck did photoshop even come from? It's so widely used now and even if you've never heard of the Adobe Suite in terms of design, most people will connect graphic design with the idea that, "oh, you use photoshop then?" Absolutely!

"Lo-fi design," what does that mean to you? For me, the term is used to describe a brand of design is steeped in David Carson and in modern times, crosses over to the Yale School of Design website. I would assume that for most audiences, it looks messy, confusing, and maybe just bluntly, bad.