You should learn something new everyday. If it's about you, your best friend, your dog, a new software technique, etc. You should always be afraid of becoming dated. You should always try to make yourself more valuable. More irreplaceable. Pick up a book. Read a new blog. Ask a new question. Look at the people on your bus. You'll learn something.

You should learn something new everyday. If it's about you, your best friend, your dog, a new software technique, etc. You should always be afraid of becoming dated. You should always try to make yourself more valuable. More irreplaceable. Pick up a book. Read a new blog. Ask a new question. Look at the people on your bus. You'll learn something.

Not too long ago I was talking to a Recruiter/Talent Manager about the types of books she sees on a daily basis. According to her, a lot of books coming across her desks are all the same. They all seem to come from the same checklist. You have an idea, then you see it in print, outdoor, out-of-home, microsite, Facebook application, iPhone application, iPad application, etc. A lot of the time, most of the executions don't even make sense with the concept. Just because it's a medium for an idea, doesn't mean you need to use it. If it's not serving a purpose, it's just more clutter. Everything needs to be thought out. If it isn't, it's pretty transparent. Especially if you can't defend why you have a billboard that directs you to a microsite that directs you to Facebook.

When you're thinking of an execution, just ask yourself if this is engaging. Be honest with yourself, would you really go to this site? Or partake in this application? Would your friends? If you answer no to the above answers, it's not a good execution for the idea. If you just have a print campaign, that's fine, if you can add some extended pieces to it, even better, but don't just add executions based on the "checklist." It will waste your time and hurt your book.

Tomorrow I'll be turning 27. Last year was my golden birthday and my wife totally gave me a kickass birthday. The only thing I didn’t have was a job in advertising. I was still working away at Kinkos trying to break into the business.

Looking back, I started to think that I was never ever going to get a job in advertising and my dreams started to shatter. Well, two months later, I was in Chicago working my first job at DraftFCB as a Jr Art Director.

What I learned from all of that is this: you have to live in the moment and not look into the future. You never know what’s going to happen so make everyday count and surround yourself with people that make you smile.

Like John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

I grew up in my parent's grocery store as most of you know. Our playroom was right off of the kitchen. So when we got hungry, we didn't have to go far. We got to watch my parents cook all sorts of stuff and this is where we learned how to cook our first meals. When I was in second grade, kids were bragging about making mac'n'cheese I was making pork pot roast with potatoes. 

Now when I cook, I take a recipe I find online or that my parent's gave me and I modify it with ingredients I know that will add to the dish. I feel confident adding these elements because I know how the flavors will enhance and better the dish. It evolves and becomes my creation. I was thinking last night while I was making homemade chicken noodle soup how I can take my cooking philosophy to my advertising job. I took this original recipe from my dad and added celery, bay leaves, crushed red pepper and few other things to make it taste better. It all made sense to me. 

If you know the tools or elements you have as a designer or art director you can make your own recipe for whatever medium. Textures, font weights and sizes, colors, shapes, cropping of images, photography style and proportions proportions can all enhance the recipe of design. 

Be nice to everyone. You never know what the other person is going through.

If you don't have something nice to say, post or tweet, then shut up.

Remember when you were in high school sports and the main thing you were taught was teamwork? How the team in one? How you’re only as strong as your weakest link? You can’t succeed unless you work together? Well, I think these principles should be applied to whatever field you’re going into.

I just recently got reassigned a new partner at work a few weeks before we had to concept for this huge launch of this new product. After a long two weeks of late nights and working the weekend we came up with a solid campaign. It made it through all the internal reviews and made it to the client presentation. Sounds like a dream right?

Well, two days before the big presentation I still haven’t developed a look and feel for the campaign. I was introduced to the Director of Design to help me develop it. What a dream! He was so awesome and encouraging. Probably the most I’ve ever been pushed in my life. I looked for hours for stock photos to use and didn’t find anything. My bosses were packing their stuff up and so was my partner. They all stopped over and asked how it was going. I lied and said that it’s going good but I still haven’t found the perfect image. My partner offered to stay later to help but I told her to go home. My boss told me to give myself a time limit, if I don’t find what I’m looking for after an hour, use my best image. The hour passed and I chose the best image possible. And it turned out that I picked that image hours ago.

The next morning I met with the Design Director and I did probably twenty different layouts before we decided on a one. The rest of the day I was putting TV scripts together before our checking-in meeting. I get to the check-in and our Group Creative Director did not like the look at all. I’m shitting my pants at this point. So I did three more variations and ran it past the Sr. Art Director and then back to the GCD. Thank god she approved one of them.

The presentation went great, unfortunately our idea wasn’t one of the three finalist. But I learned a lot about myself through this. Don’t panic when things aren’t coming together. Rather, ask for help. So many people are too proud to ask. I wished I would of asked earlier. You can’t win them all, but if you learn something that’s just as valuable. You have to work as a team. Although the other teams were busy working their concepts, they still made time to answer my questions and help.You have to be a team to get shit done.

Did Comic Sans hit on Gill San’s wife? At one point CS was the life of the party. Everyone was raving about him and wanted him to be in everything. From Christmas cards all the way to programs for a special event. This dude was rocking it for a long time in the 90s. So what happened to make Comic Sans so despised?

Some say that it was overused and worn out it’s welcome. But some people have their favorite fonts that they rotate in and out. And they are still crowd favorites. Maybe Comic Sans was just a one hit wonder. Was it the Chumbawamba in the typeface world? I remember jamming to “I Get Knocked Down” for weeks but afterward and even to this day, when I hear that song, I want to puke. The same feeling people have when they see Comic Sans on stuff.

Or was Comic Sans like Pauly Shore? Was he too fun? Couldn’t be taken serious? Did CS want to take his fun and comic lifestyle to a more serious stage? I think that was the problem. He wanted to grow up and be taken seriously. He started to appear on college reports and funeral programs and was put out on the street.

So will Comic Sans ever have a comeback tour?

When you complain, it makes everything seem way worse than it actually is. People complain too much. I complain too much. We really don’t have it that bad. I mean, look at all the crazy shit that’s going on in the world and we complain when we have a bad day at work.  Or if someone on the bus was rude or if someone cut in front of us in line at the supermarket. It not only ruins your day when you complain but it also ruins the day of the person you’re complaining to. Forget about it, move on it’s not worth whining about. Just remember, be positive.