Get Frank
What should you go for?
At the end of 2020, The Washington Post asked readers to describe the year in one word. The top amongst their answers were:
Exhausting
Confusing
Surreal
Transformative
I have to agree. I’m not gonna rehash and belabor the year of The global pandemic, The racial reckoning, The presidential impeachment, and The monumental election to you, because you were there, too, and you probably have a word (or two) to describe 2020 with of your own, so let’s cut to the point of why I even brought it up in the first place: graphic design.
(Ha! Only I would find a way to make such a complex, convoluted, chaotic year about graphic design. No, but really, it is about graphic design—at least in only some ways, and at least only as it relates to parts of me.)
I’ve never really written about what I did before I started graphicing that design. And honestly, I can’t remember, even if it was only four years ago that I started dabbling in it. Genuinely, what was I doing? I ask myself that question as I write this installment, and I am stopped in my tracks. I mean, yes, I remember the jobs I worked (retail and restaurants) and the classes I took (Accounting 2 and Statistics 1) before that fall of 2020, but what was I doing?
Does it matter now? I think not. I decide it best not to reweigh things from the past because (1) I have an awful memory anyway, so trying to remember would be a feat fruitless on par with getting the City of Los Angeles to give me a parking permit for my apartment ahead of Dodger Season; and (2) There’s actually no point. But I do reckon that does matter is what happened next.
When I first started playing with the idea of changing the trajectory of my life (changing majors, having to stay in school longer, and all its other associated repercussions), I was a marketing major attending Zoom classes in bed, spending the time zipping in and out of tabs looking at design bits all over the internet. This was pre-Are.na, so all I had was Pinterest and Tumblr. Yes, I had yet to step foot into the domain in which I would soon jollily reside: graphic design Instagram. And no, I did not know anything about gradients or stretched type or paper textures at the time.
What was the real come-to-Jesus moment was reading a book called Notes On A Nervous Planet by Matt Haig, and in one of the pages he implored the reader to “Go for it.” To go for it sounded easy enough. I go for things all the time: a food combining protocol, a weekend alone in the desert. The pickle was that I had no it to go for. But I knew I wanted to do something, needed even. I felt like my life was turning out to be one with neither direction nor excitement, and if you know anything about me, I like having new things to look forward to and do (just look at my credit card changes for traveling and online shopping). So I was faced with a question: what the hell should I go for?
Not shockingly my first instinct was graphic design. I mean, my school had a program for it so it’s not like it would be that big of a leap, but it would still be a change. After all, I had put in two years into marketing, and upending that progress, not to mention investment would be crazy. I concocted millions of other reasons why I shouldn’t go for it: How would I fare as a graphic designer? I don’t even know the software. All I know is that I know what colors look good together and which layouts work and which ones don’t (I didn’t even know what layouts in the context of graphic design were, for fuck’s sake). Could I even get a job? I don’t know a single graphic designer, either IRL or online, outside of the famous ones. Why would I switch career paths now when I’ve put in all this time, energy, and money into marketing? Also, I’m not creative like that! I like writing and taking photos and decorating rooms, not moving pixels on a canvas and tugging at kerning numerics!
I convinced myself it would be crazy to do it.
But 10% of me thought, wouldn’t it be crazier not to do it? Crazier not to go for something you wanted to? Would it be so horrible if I took a stab at something and let the chips fall where they may? I overthought the fuck of this, all from my bedroom at home with nothing but the sound of a Zoom recording of a lecture I missed playing from my computer.
And then I realized it wasn’t that big of a deal. I realized that actually, if I wanna do something, I should just do it. If there was anything lockdown taught me, it was that nothing is permanent, that things will change whether we like it or not, and that life is so incredibly, painfully, epically short. And to spend that short life doing something you don’t like doing? Yeah, it’s a no from me, dawg.
It’s been four years since I made that change and truly, it’s felt like 4 days. In the best way, it feels like I’m still on Photoshop trying to figure out how adjustment layers work. The things I’ve learned, the designs I’ve created, the opportunities I’ve gotten, the people I’ve met—none of them would be here if I didn’t listen to that 10% in 2020.
I know you have thoughts like this, too. I think you should go for it, too. You never know where it might take you.
🧾 A RECENT NOTE ON MY NOTES APP WITH NO CONTEXT
New bar: It’s always time for dinner the way I go ham in this bitch
Dated March 11, 2024 at 09:16
🎰 JAMES JUNK JUKEBOX*✝
XXL, LANY – I saw them live this past Saturday and hearing this song in person had me transcending the metaphysical realm.
Lay All Your Love On Me, Dominic Cooper & Amanda Seyfried – Every three weeks I’ll have a hyperfixation song, and this time it’s proven to be this banger from Mamma Mia. I’ve never even seen the movie, but I’m sorry, this song was perfectly executed.
true story, Ariana Grande – If I could add her entire new album to this list, I would. Alas.
Lonely Millionaire, Kacey Musgraves – This truly is the month of MY music. Kacey knows how to kiss my forehead with songs that speak both to me and of me. I’ll leave it that!
Soul Brother, Dalton – March was my month of being introduced to the subgenre of Habibi Funk. I highly suggest you follow suit and get into it.
*Now you can listen with ease! I’ve compiled these into a mixtape on Spotify. I’ll add as we go. 🔗 Here.
✝A nonelective disclaimer: No song from COWBOY CARTER is included as it’s only Tuesday when I’m writing this and it’s not yet out. I’ll see at next month’s Jukebox, where this entire list will most likely just be my top 5 tracks from the record.
⚙️ THINGS WE WERE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO GET
Deep-tissue massages
Our invoices paid in advance
Our hair played with by someone we love as we lull to sleep
Free drinks and dessert from our resident barkeep at our favorite neighborhood restaurant
Ourselves validated
⚙️ A DISRUPTION TO REGULAR PROGRAMMING
I made a font! It’s called Bruno and I think you’d love it. If you’re subscribed to this newsletter, then you probably already saw my post sharing it. But in the off-chance you didn’t, click in:
Alright. Enough of this commercial. Scroll on, dear reader.
👔 A SCREENSHOT FROM THIS MONTH WITHOUT CONTEXT
👔 LIFE UPDATE IN 300 WORDS OR LESS
March was filled with firsts, and I feel it incumbent upon me to show you in photo form. Without further ado:
🖊️ FIRST TATTOO
A few weeks back I decided to get a tattoo—my first ever. I’d never really had the deep desire to get one (‘cept for obviously that universal experience of wanting one when I turned 18), but I thought, why not? I trekked my ass from Echo Park to Venice on a rainy Wednesday afternoon and got myself a tattoo of two greyhounds—labeled J and A—to symbolize James (me) and Andrei (also me) always being together in tandem.
Simon at Night School hooked me up, so if you’re looking for a new tattoo person, he’s it.
✍🏽 FIRST FONT
I’ve told you about Bruno enough times, but let me do it again! I love him and his imperfectness. Bruno is free for everyone, so download and try him if you’re aligned!
📷 FIRST SHOOT OF THE YEAR
I’ve been luckily approached to something very, very exciting (and another first, but I am not yet allowed to tell you about) that warranted photos of me beyond just that ai-generated yearbook photo of me that we’ve all seen, so I asked my friend Harry Lada (who wrote for Byline’s latest issue, which is more worth your time than this email) to take some and they turned out lovely. Thanks, Harry!
📷 FIRST FOLIOSITE REDESIGN
Raise your hand if you’re surprised that I redesigned my website just a month after proclaiming in this very publication that I’m completely happy with the way it was.
Crickets? I thought so.
Nevertheless, here it is! A new look and a new ‘do! I’m biased, but I like it a lot and think it’s got an exponentially better interface and user experience, blah-blah-blah-and-whatever-else-people-say-about-their-new-website.
Also, RIP to the rotating/flying/obscuring me that floated about my old website. Gone too soon.
“It feels like whoever she [James] was before has grown. She got organized and lost the gimmick. In a good way.)” — A review from my roommate.
That’s it for this month. I wonder what firsts the next month will bring. I’ll tell you then.
🫗 CHAOS FUEL
🧹 Fonts
Freelance Kamchatka by Vic Fieger, Bruno by James Junk (duh), Monsier by Craft Supply Co
🛝 Internet Things
Design Declares – A growing group of designers, design studios, agencies, and institutions here to declare a climate and ecological emergency. Join us!
i met my first online friend – My design friends Ram and Dante met in person and watching the video Ram made of their meetup made me so happy.
James Junk on YouTube – There may or may not be something on its way in the coming week. Subscribe if you’re down!
🌐 IN THE ORBIT
Twitter / TikTok / Print Shop / OnlyFans / HomeFree / YouTube