Beginnings

Each project has a start, and it is generally with some apprehension and a lot of joy that I approach them. Beginnings represent a blank slate just waiting for a revolutionary idea, and no idea is unheard of yet. However, things can go sour fast and that is where the apprehension comes from. Sometimes projects just look like they are going to be trouble.

I don't know about most people, but I tend to like beginnings. Feeling like you are getting a fresh start and an open world of ideas at your fingertips is kind of intoxicating in a good way. Besides, design, like a lot of things, is all about what you put into it. So starting a project in a happy frame of mind is always a bit better in the long run. Then when the challenges come later hopefully you can still like the project on some level.

But thinking on beginnings can also get you thinking on endings, and for me that is the conundrum of starting a new design project. You are beginning work that is a means to an end. Each project generally has a definite purpose and all of those wonderful ideas from before must serve that purpose above all else. So is the beginning still just as open as before? I still think so. It's one of the first things you have to learn with design: limitations and purposes are not really as restricting as they seem at first glance. It is the wonderful job of limitations to help a solution take form from the primordial-head-soup of the initial idea. But that delves more into process than beginnings.

Sufficed to say, I enjoy beginnings. They give me hope and make me smile. So, in the spirit of good starts I present this:



What is that? The raw form of my sisters FANTASTIC cinnamon rolls. Their beginning was a little strange, but they ended up being awesome. That bit of delicious kitchen magic gives me hope for all beginnings, design or otherwise. :)