design/books/art/and more: SO I BEGIN

This is the inauguration of my website and I thought a blog would be a fun way to keep everyone up to date on my work and my thoughts. I will attempt to address issues related to design/books/art/and more.

BOOKS
For those of you who are interested in my children's books, I am working on a new book for Henry Holt and Company. We are currently putting together a table of contents and I have developed a few preliminary layouts. Because I am a designer first, I write my books by designing them first. This is not the usual approach publishers expect, but my editor seems to accept this method. Once I create a few design layouts, then the publisher can decide if they are interested in pursuing the project further. My layouts seem to have the green light and I am looking forward to getting under way.

ART
I am trying to squeeze some drawing into each day over the summer. I have been developing a series called Monday Afternoons. Monday afternoons are meeting days in our department and I have spent many hours doodling on our meeting minutes. I began saving these doodles about two years ago and recently started composing them into drawings. Here is an example:

You can find a few more on my website.

AND MORE

So here is a combination of design and more. I recently returned from Copenhagen, Denmark where my daughter has been living and studying for the past five months. As a designer I cannot help but love the simple, clean and smart design of the Danish. I have included a few examples below. I particularly love the toilet flushing mechanisms. "Big flush, little flush" So smart and so beautiful. Check it out.