Jim Krause lives in the Pacific NW and works as a designer, an author, a photographer, and an illustrator. His clientele has included Microsoft, Kodak, Seattle Public Schools, Washington Apples, and lots more. Jim is the author of over a dozen books on design and creativity, including the globally popular Index series (Idea Index, Color Index, etc.). His latest pair of titles, Visual Design and Color For Designers, has just arrived in bookstores. When not working, Jim can usually be found outdoors on either a motorcycle or a bicycle, hiking, reading, doing an art project, and/or drinking great espresso.
Sessions
Sustainable Insanity
Wednesday, May 6 • 10:15 – 11:00am
You’ve got to be crazy to want to make your living as a creative professional. Or at least that’s what they say. And maybe, really, “they” are right: Maybe we do need to have at least a couple extra jokers in our right-brained deck of cards in order to maintain a sense of joy and balance as we simultaneously choose typefaces, combine colors, and conjure aesthetic beauty from compositional chaos while managing the needs, wants, and demands of our bosses and clients.
And if it is true that a touch of mental mayhem is necessary for creative output—as it very well may be—then why not embrace the thread of lunacy that seems to fuel and direct our artistic endeavors? Why not cultivate our mania toward a form that—if anything—keeps us from falling off our rockers as we aim to survive and thrive in the realm of on-demand creativity? This session will provide you with a wide assortment of sustainable practices that are both mentally grounding and creatively elevating (on-the-job and outside-of-work practices that have kept Jim Krause cheerfully engaged in the certifiably bat-guano crazy business of professional design for over three decades).
3 Main Take-Aways:
- Specific brainstorming and hands-on practices that replace panic and befuddlement with confidence and solutions.
- Ideas about how to expand your skills into creative arenas you want to pursue—while keeping your day job.
- Strengthening on-the-job focus and productivity in ways that help protect your all-important NON-working hours.
