A few weeks ago, I was browsing a downtown boutique at lunchtime, when I saw it.

There, on a low table by the door – tucked into a cluttered display – was my next purchase: a perfectly imperfect hand-thrown mug. It was beautiful and one of a kind. The irregular shape and uneven glaze gave it just the character and charm I love in a funky coffee mug.

And to top it all off, this mug was the work of a local artist.

It was a find, for sure.

Or at least that’s what I thought until I got back to the office and hand washed it in the kitchen sink. I peeled the price tag off the bottom of mug, expecting to see the artist’s initials carved in the rough surface. What I found instead was a printed brand logo above a “made in” location.

And to top it all off, this location was decidedly non–local.

My one-of-a-kind mug was a scam. Just another mass-produced piece designed to look like an original.

Hey, I get it. Manufacturers are shrewd about consumer preferences. They know that people care more these days about where and how products are made. And many of us want to support our local artists and communities. It’s easy to see why a company would mass produce goods to look unique and handmade.

How can we avoid being deceived? Here’s what I learned about being a savvy shopper:
1. Shop at art galleries, arts and crafts fairs, and farmers markets – where you can meet the artists themselves.
2. Buy online at reputable websites for local shops, galleries, and artists.
3. Ask questions about the origin of a piece, so you know exactly what you’re getting before you buy.

In case you’re wondering, I do use the mug once in a while. Though not handmade, it’s still totally functional.

But I swear my coffee just doesn’t taste the same.

posted by: Denise Wilson  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Recently, I discovered good design in an unexpected place: a video game.

Yes, I’m serious. And no, gaming is not my thing. Or helveticka’s, for that matter. Don’t expect to see our team heading to the next Lilac City Comicon, dressed like characters from Zelda.

My husband, on the other hand, is a bit of a gaming nerd. Sans the costumes and conventions. A few days ago, he got me hooked on the indie game “Spiritfarer.” And I do mean hooked – I’ve already put several hours into this game.

For me, that doesn’t happen. This isn’t my first gaming rodeo. I’ve tried video games before, and they just didn’t stick. (Okay, okay. Except “Animal Crossing,” and that’s one I chalk up to early pandemic boredom and those annoyingly cute characters.)

“Spiritfarer” struck another chord altogether. It’s slow-paced and relaxing, with a bittersweet orchestral score and a surprisingly moving storyline about death and the afterlife. But what I enjoy most is the hand-drawn art and detailed animation.

They’re skillfully done.

In a video game. I had no idea.

It turns out that, not only have I been ignorant, but I’m also late to the game (pun intended). This month, MoMA opened an exhibit on video games and interactive design. You can read about it here: http://www.wired.com/story/video-games-moma-art/

You can also see “Spiritfarer” at https://thunderlotusgames.com/spiritfarer/  Just remember, you may end up hooked on it too. That wouldn’t surprise me at all.

posted by: Denise Wilson  |  category: the design life  |  make a comment

Maybe you’ve heard the report that our blog is dead. Well, like Mark Twain before me, I get to correct the news.

I’ll start with the obvious – the blog has been silent for a while. That’s because it takes time to work through all the resumes, inquiries, and interviews required to find not just any copywriter, but one with the experience and talent to work at a firm that has high expectations. Where clients are accustomed to clear, concise, and engaging writing.

Today, I’m pleased to announce the addition of Denise Wilson to our creative team. She’s got just what we were looking for: copywriting expertise, strategic thinking skills, and – perhaps most importantly – a sense of humor, which comes in downright handy when you’re surrounded by persnickety graphic designers.

This means we’ve found a pulse again. And the blog lives on.

Welcome aboard, Denise.

posted by: CK Anderson  |  category: staff  |  make a comment

On a flight home from grading hundreds of the 280,000 five-paragraph essays submitted for the Advanced Placement Test in English language and composition in 2007, an exhausted Edward M. White realized he’d had enough. He wrote a response—a five-paragraph essay on the five-paragraph essay. Here’s the fourth paragraph:

The last reason to write this way is the most important. Once you have it down, you can use it for practically anything. Does God exist? Well you can say yes and give three reasons, or no and give three different reasons. It doesn’t really matter. You’re sure to get a good grade whatever you pick to put into the formula. And that’s the real reason for education, to get those good grades without thinking too much and using up too much time.

Over at Aeon, David Labaree explores the “five-paragraph fetish” and how it came to be. “As so often happens in subjects that are taught in school,” he writes, “the template designed as a means toward attaining some important end turns into an end in itself. As a consequence, form trumps meaning.” Which means content and style are secondary—if not entirely unnecessary.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

Elizabeth Corey praises the slow, humble work required of true scholarship: “Though it can be fun to act as an impresario or a firebrand—to write with confidence, erudition, and verbal swagger on the hot topic of the moment—the most meaningful writing takes place when authors do not call attention to themselves, but to truths concealed beneath the busy surface of everyday life. These insights are best conveyed in language that is crafted carefully and at leisure, with the overgrowth of pride and self-concern cut away so that the prose itself stands luminous.”

John Horgan ponders the profound philosophical questions raised by derealization: “Sages ancient and modern have suggested that everyday reality, in which we go about the business of living, is an illusion. Plato likened our perceptions of things to shadows cast on the wall of a cave. The eighth-century Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara asserted that ultimate reality is an eternal, undifferentiated field of consciousness. The Buddhist doctrine of anatta says our individual selves are illusory.”

Alec Marsh explains why the English love lazy sports: “The fact remains that getting out of breath playing cricket is like breaking a sweat on the golf links: it’s your body’s way of telling you you’ve got bigger problems to think about than your batting average. It’s time to visit the GP.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

From the eminently quotable Cornel West, on the subject of American pragmatism:

We can go all the way back to Plato’s Republic, one of the founding texts of Western philosophy. There we see the battles going on between Thrasymachus and Socrates. Thrasymachus represents power, the idea that “might makes right.” And the younger generation looks to Socrates and says, is this true? Is it true that history is nothing but a slaughterhouse, as Hegel said, is it true that it’s just about might and power and domination? And Socrates says, no. Justice has to do with intellectual integrity. It has to do with philosophical inquiry. It has to do with some moral and even spiritual dimensions that are not reducible to might and power.

And that is the raw stuff for democracy, right? Because democracy says, Of course there is always economic and political and military power, but there’s got to be moral and spiritual dimensions rooted in the consent of everyday people. That’s what self-government is all about.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Leo Nocentelli turns 76 today. The lead guitarist and co-founder of The Meters was born in New Orleans in 1946.

To celebrate, open up your streaming service of choice—like, I dunno, Bandcamp—and listen to Another Side, Nocentelli’s long-lost solo “roots rock” album and “a remnant of a vital culture constantly in danger of slipping into the past.”

Then marvel at what one of the greatest funk guitarists of all time can do when he’s channeling his inner James Taylor.

Oh, and maybe buy the record, would you? Septuagenarian musicians gotta eat, too.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

If hell exists—and I’m inclined to believe it must, otherwise the Kardashians would have no place to go when they die—then this is probably what it’s going to look (and sound) like:

Television exists to make money. Which means someone, somewhere, thought that this is what Middle America was craving on Tuesday nights in 1968. (Given that the Red Skelton Hour was the seventh-most-popular show in the country at the time, well…I guess that person wasn’t exactly wrong.)

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment