I quit “trying so hard.” I wrote like I was writing to my best friend. I added facts. It’s just not right.

I’ve made things in Star Studio. I go to Art Openings. I work at every exhibition opening event and spend time in the galleries. So why can’t I pick up a brush, pen, piece of chalk, prick my finger and write in blood, whatever – and spill my brilliance into a sketchbook or an electronic diary? Throughout my life I’ve owned countless notebooks and sketch pads that I’ve bought only to sit in a corner and get dusty. Packs of markers of every width and color that I draw the same ol’ Ninja Turtle(usually Donatello – but only because I have a fondness for purple).

Some of my work is on the wall at Zest – the great restaurant on 54th St., where they have placemats you can draw on and a glass of crayons. But it’s no Picasso. I think I even asked the my dining guests at the table “What should I draw?” It was winter. I made a snowman. It’s hanging next to – you guessed it – a little kids drawing of a Ninja Turtle.

Lately I’ve gotten it into my head that I want to illustrate children’s books. As long as someone were to write the story, I could draw the pictures that go along with it. And I have recently discovered that a knack I do have is for scrap-booking. But I want to be a blogger – a GOOD blogger. So I guess I’m asking this – what inspires you? I could join the Army to Be All I Can Be, but how do you get over a creative block? My inner Martha Stewart is trapped. Please, set her free…

Okay, well maybe not. Perhaps I’ll just follow Richard’s lead and start off with what I do.

I’m the Senior Graphic Designer here at the IMA. So what does that mean exactly? Any graphic designer will tell you that we get this a lot. Not a big deal. Don’t be afraid to ask if you ever find yourself in this situation. My own family still has trouble figuring out exactly what I spend my day doing. When I was growing up I loved to draw things. I was a drawin’ fool. Mainly Spider-Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This, of course, implied to every adult that knew me that one day I might just become a successful artist. Watch this kid; he’s going places!

When I grew up I did go to art school but I didn’t major in the illustration of mutant turtles that have mad ninja skills. Those classes were always full or at least had a really long waiting list. Instead, I got a degree in Visual Communication, or Graphic Design. Generally after I tell someone that I’m a graphic designer, I get one of three reactions. One: they know exactly what it is I’m talking about because they have a cousin who does the same thing. Two: I get a “that sounds fun” response that I think mainly pertains to the fact that I work in an art museum and not to my exact job here. Three: I get asked to explain what that means. When I do explain, I will usually get hit up for a logo because their uncle’s ex-wife’s second cousin who was lost at sea for four years recently decided to open up a business that specializes in mold abatement for residential architecture. (Not making that one up. Well, not the mold abatement company part anyway.)

Every day you encounter work by a graphic designer, whether you think about it or not. Magazines, billboards, book jackets, the graphics on your Starbucks coffee cup…all graphic design. Design is not only an end product, but also a process that usually begins with research and brainstorming. A graphic designer takes an idea or concept and makes it visual through the combination of photography, typography, color, the right type of paper,etc. When successful, everything comes together to produce a feeling and visual style that best communicates to the audience.

Good design makes things easier. It makes people happy. Anyone who has ever had trouble reading a magazine because of bad layout, had trouble navigating a website or gotten lost in an airport due to bad signage design knows how important well-executed design is to daily life.

I work in collaboration with nearly every department in the museum to design anything from a brochure for Summer Nights (to the graphic identity of an exhibition and the printed pieces that market the show. Anytime you get a printed piece like Art For You in the mail, see a banner on the outside of the building or even just pick up a brochure while you’re here, I might have worked on it.

Some of you out there have my work in your recycling bin right now. If it’s in your trash, get it out of there. If you’re going to throw my stuff away at least recycle it. With any luck, you got something that I did tacked up in your office. Or better yet…your fridge! Score!

So, that’s basically what I do.

Up next, Philippe Starck and why design is useless.