Entries from March 2008 ↓

Second place, that is. After this weekend’s pitch by Bill that he would make a great VP on a joint ticket with Hillary, Barack dismissed the idea as “gamesmanship” and “double-talk.”

“First of all, with all due respect, I’ve won twice as many states as Senator Clinton. I’ve won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton,” Obama went on. “I have more delegates than Senator Clinton. So, I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place is offering the vice presidency to somebody who’s in first place.”

Right on. In related news, the Chicago Tribune takes on Clinton’s experience argument.

“…there is scant evidence that she played a pivotal role in major foreign policy decisions or in managing global crises.”

I never said my politics were entirely consistent. Despite a strong preference for low taxes and limited government, I believe in the work ONE is promoting in Africa and I’m glad President Bush has supported that work. Now, unfortunately, the President and Congress are on the verge of cutting that funding by $1 Billion in 2009.

ONE is campaigning to get 60 senators to sign an amendment that would restore this funding to the budget, and they need your help. Sign the petition here.

Incidentally, Senators McCain, Obama and Clinton have all gone on record in support of the ONE Campaign.

Signs of Life
Originally uploaded by JHawbaker1800

It looks like Spring is almost here…

For the curious…

In Tennessee’s primary this February, I happily cast a vote for Ron Paul. I knew that his chances of winning the Republican nomination were slim to none, but it felt good to be casting a vote for someone rather than picking the least undesirable candidate. I was drawn to Ron Paul’s candidacy for a number of reasons, including his positions on personal liberties, non-interventionist foreign policy and limited government. This quote from his op-ed on Forbes.com sums it up pretty well:

“America became the greatest, most prosperous nation in history through low taxes, constitutionally limited government, personal freedom and a belief in sound money. I decided to run for president because I am deeply concerned that the conservative movement has drifted away from these principles that we once so fiercely defended. Deficits have exploded, entitlements are out of control and our personal liberties are threatened like never before.”

As the results roll in from today’s primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont, I began to think more seriously about the general election. Should I fall in line with the party and support John McCain, despite some significant disagreements? Or give in to the Obama movement — Change We Can Believe In?

I’m going to explore this topic in more detail in a later post, but in the meantime — tell me why someone who voted for Ron Paul should support either McCain or Obama.

Thursday night at AIGA Chattanooga’s InForm panel discussion, Coptix designer Chris Johnston said something that really stuck. Asked about how to handle a situation where a client, or a boss, hated a particular design, he said “sometimes you have to have that fight.” He clarified that it shouldn’t be about your personal attachment to the project or how cool you might think it is, but rather about why that design solution is the right move for the business. In those cases, he said, you have to have that fight.

It’s easier said than done, but I can say from experience that the opportunity to defend your design work can be very rewarding. One of my favorite design projects at Clarity was developing the packaging for a new line of cordless amplified phones. It was such a departure from our established look and so unexpected (I’d taken it upon myself to try something new) that my boss asked me, along with the product manager (my partner in crime), to write up a defense of the work. He didn’t even say whether he liked the design or not, he just asked us to explain why we thought it was the right thing to do.

I knew in my gut that the shift from our existing sytle was appropriate for these new products, but the exercise of putting it on paper went a long way in getting everyone on board. The product manager and I explained how the new visual strategy was, at heart, a natural evolution of the brand and an extension of the new technology and industrial design present in the phones themselves. Our design brief was tightly integrated with what we knew to be the values of our brand, our target market and our aspirations as a company. In the end, the new visual design scheme was adopted for the product line — not just for the packaging, but in collateral materials, print ads and a flash piece for our website.

The day the first packaging sample arrived from the factory was one of my proudest days there, and it probably wouldn’t have been quite as sweet without having gone that extra mile to justify the design.

Terror on the Walnut Street Bridge
Originally uploaded by JHawbaker1800