Sports Illustrated predicts the Bears to lose to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. It’s gonna be a long season in Chicago.

Why don’t they make commercials more like this?

So how many of you have a blog? What is it about? If not, do you read blogs with any kind of frequency? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Good design is relative. Think about fashion. Or interior design. Or automotive design. Rarely does anyone have the same taste in design as their neighbor. You might have the capacity to appreciate it, but you just KNOW when you try on a sweater and it was meant to be yours. Well at least I do. As a designer, I work with all types of tastes, and the biggest part of my work is to listen to each client and merge what they inherently “like” with what delivers, and let me tell you, sometimes that isn’t very easy!

So.. here I am. I’ve made the decision to market myself. Write an ad. Get the word out a little bit in the neighborhood where I live. Reach out to a new audience. Now, I get it, I’m really really difficult to please. I could design a new business card for myself every week because I see something inspiring and mentally apply the thought process to my own work. Bingo! New plan. My favorites always change, and I think it helps me grow and offer more inspiration to my clients, but sometimes it just makes things difficult for myself.

Now the million dollar (actually in my case, about $300.) question – Which way do I go? All of my clients have different core markets. I have to gear this ad to each one, at the same time. If I go one direction, will I turn off another? Lots to think about. But, that’s me I guess, overthinking everything. Not unlike my website makeover. I loved the flash site and how slick it was, but it was also limiting. My SEO was crap. I’ve already exploded up the Google rankings since I changed to a blog, and that’s great news. It’s such an intricate balance between art and work. This teetering right on that edge. I’ll keep you posted with what I do.

As I was sipping coffee and going through cnn.com like I do most mornings, I read that Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys was diagnosed with cancer. His prognosis is good, fortunately, and it made me think about the photo someone had posted on Facebook of Scott Wilcox, Matt Stuttle and me from a lip sync contest back in high school. (Thanks for the memories Kirsten!) Well, we won the contest, and with it the Beastie Boys became a part of me.

Get well soon, MCA.

Scott, me & Matt as the Beastie Boys, circa 1989

So, it’s been a weird week with celebrities passing, but Billy Mays leaving us hits close to home for me – literally and figuratively. The Mays have lived in Tampa for awhile and he was a regular at the fish house a block away. I first met Billy, Jr. there and talked to him for a long time about infomercials from my days at OttLite Technology without even knowing that he was a Mays. I eventually was introduced to his father and remember how nice he was and sharing stories about people in the industry that we both knew. Other times he’s been there he’s spoken with my kids and you could just feel how genuine he was for being a guy that is known for being in the spotlight.

On a professional level, I’ve spent the last week preparing to pitch identity and packaging concepts for one of Billy’s projects. I woke up Sunday thinking of how I was going to finish up my proposal for Tuesday’s meeting and had just gotten started when I heard the news. So, there I am, sitting at my desk with images and sketches of Billy that I had just finished and his name in 20 different typefaces on my screen. I had just spent many hours of many days immersed in thoughts of who Billy is, how the public sees him, and how to represent that in way that works for this project and.. then – like that – he’s gone.

I can’t imagine how his family feels. Personally, its hard not to be disappointed about losing a great opportunity, but as a neighbor, I feel for his family and their loss of a great husband and father. Rest in peace.