Two Thousand Twenty Four

When I set out to write regular news updates for my website, I knew that I wasn’t always going to have something newsworthy to write about.

The priority of this whole endeavor has been the act of writing, the creative exercise of it, and keeping folks apprised of what I’m doing professionally is more a reason to write rather than the reason to write. When I started, I told myself that I was going to put out an update every month for at least a year. It was the scope and the framework I needed to stay motivated, and it felt like a pace I could keep up with. The reality of that pace, however, is that the work doesn’t always keep up with it. Most days, being a graphic designer is just another job, and the work, just work. It doesn’t always warrant the celebratory ritual of sitting down and writing a few thousand words about it.

Knowing that, I allowed myself the freedom to write about more than just whatever project I was working on at the time. Not only would this give me the flexibility to post monthly, but it would also let me discuss topics that were adjacent to my professional work. Aspects of my creative process, artists or works that inspire me, my hobbies, video games, books, and so on. The idea was that in the void where I can’t talk about a project yet, or there’s simply nothing new to discuss, I can still write about something.

This month, that something is everything. With 2024 coming to a close, it feels timely to spend this update’s few thousand words reflecting on everything that made up this past year. The good, the bad, and the whatever springs to mind. To encourage my memory and grant myself a little bit of freedom, I’ve decided to take a sort of stream of consciousness approach to this update. Bouncing from topic to topic, briefly or verbosely, unbound by time and space and continuity. We’re doing a Billy Pilgrim. My hope is that letting myself wander somewhat aimlessly through the year that was will make for a more meaningful update, and failing that, a more entertaining read.

Now, where to start?

This was a very Tale of Two Cities kind of year for me. Best of times. Worst of times. A measure of French Revolution thrown in at the end for flavor. The highs were high and the lows were low. It was a deeply exhausting year, and yet, that exhaustion never really prevented me from being creative. If anything, it bolstered my creativity. My professional and personal work were an opportunity to take all that was burdensome and turn it into something beneficial. That’s not how it usually works for me. Historically, when life has been exhausting, I’ve struggled to be creative. I think it’s safe to say that’s normal for most artists. I don’t entirely know why this year was different. It could be that I started making art for myself again. It could be that the professional work I was doing felt fresh, or just different enough to inspire excitement and focus. Maybe shifting to freelance design work unlocked something for me. Or maybe channeling my frustrations through my work made the weight easier to carry. Who can say? Maybe when I turned forty, I told myself on a subconscious level that I was going to make the best of whatever came my way. Probably not that one, but still. I do know that I’ve really enjoyed the work I’ve done this year and that goes a long way to lift everything else up.

Speaking of, I’m looking forward to sharing more about my brand work with Ignition Press in a future update. That whole project has been a great experience and it’s a substantial milestone in my career. I’m in the process of writing that update now so you can expect to see it sometime early next year.

Over the summer, I finally got around to finishing Cyberpunk 2077. Given its disastrous launch and everything that went into its long and winding road to redemption, finishing the game feels like an accomplishment worth celebrating. When the game first came out, I was far too forgiving of its many, many flaws. I pushed through broken quests, glitched mechanics, and endless bugs until finally I had to step away. It wasn’t the first or last time I would have to put down an absolutely broken, never should have been released in this state game, but it was definitely the most disappointing. Cyberpunk is my favorite sub-genre of science fiction and when it’s done right, it stays with you in a deeply satisfying way. Cyberpunk 2077 had all the necessary elements and then some, they were just in a broken heap.

Flash forward to the Phantom Liberty expansion and an endless list of patches, fixes, and wholesale rebuilds of game mechanics, and I was finally able to commit myself to playing the game again. For real this time. I don’t love that this is where we’re at in terms of video game development. The idea of fixing your game well after release has become so normalized that it’s practically mundane. And on some level, I get it. I understand that the creative process isn’t A to B. I also understand having to put something out into the world that you aren’t satisfied with. Creative industries don’t reliably act in the interests of the creative. All that said, the Cyberpunk 2077 that exists now is nothing like the Cyberpunk 2077 that was launched back in 2020, and I’m very thankful for that.

For me, it’s a near perfect game. The characters, the world, the story, all of it leaves a mark. By the time I finished the game, I had invested nearly 100 hours in Night City. I had seen and done pretty much everything the game had to offer, and even then, I was already thinking about starting a new playthrough. Cyberpunk 2077 has lingered with me in a way that few games have, and I expect it will be a game I come back to again and again.

On the subject of video games, this year I had the opportunity to design the logo for Closer the Distance, a slice-of-life sim from Osmotic Studios. In terms of process and the actual work of designing the logo, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking or even all that different from the kind of work I usually do. I’ve designed a lot of logos over the last twenty years, and on some level, the process is always the same. This was my first for a video game though, so it was pretty cool, if only for that reason. I haven’t had a chance to play the game yet, slice-of-life sims aren’t really my speed, so it may be a while before I get around to it.

Mocha Mousse was announced as Pantone’s color of the year for 2025, and I don’t want to take away from something that might bring people joy or comfort, but I really don’t understand who this is for anymore. Earlier this month, I read an NPR article written by Emma Bowman about the color of the year announcement that also dug into a bit of Pantone’s history and how the whole color of the year thing came to be. It was a great article and the origin of modern color systems is pretty interesting stuff whether you’re a designer or not. What I didn’t love was the grandiose way Pantone talks about itself. I mean, I understand advocating for your brand and wanting to contribute to your industry, but when you start talking about capturing the “zeitgeist” or creating a “cultural antidote” it feels as though we’ve good and well lost the plot.

I recognize this is mostly my hang up. I’m not a fan of brands that cast themselves as architects or tastemakers for their respective industries, and I’m even less a fan of language that over glorifies design and makes it inaccessible. Pantone is an indelible part of graphic and visual design, but it’s also just a color system. One that has managed to copyright colors. Colors. It’s one of those, “Wait, how did we get here?” kind of things. That said, I do have to admit that flipping through a Pantone guide feels pretty cool when you’re a designer. So, what do I know?

It’s a relatively recent development, but I started drawing again this year. Well, I drew one piece this year, which given that I’ve neglected the whole skillset to the point of near atrophy, it’s a pretty big deal. It took me a while to find the right tools, and honestly, the motivation. The right tools came care of Guerillacraft. I bought a set of their Photoshop ink brushes on a whim and I ended up absolutely loving them. They’re easily the closest I’ve ever come to digitally replicating the way I draw on paper. The motivation to start drawing came in the usual way: the envy of seeing other folks online creating incredible illustrations of their own, and the dumb arrogance to follow suit. I don’t know how often I’ll have the time to sit down and draw, it’s a pretty slow process for me, but I’m going to do my best to keep up with it. I finally feel like I have my personal style in a place where I’m happy with it, so it would be a waste not to make the effort.

Earlier this year, my father-in-law passed away. It was devastating. In one moment, your life is exactly the way it has always been, and then in the next it is irreversibly different. You are irreversibly different.

My wife and I flew out to Delaware for his funeral in early March. It was the first time I’d ever been to that part of the country, which made the whole experience feel all the more surreal. While I feel like I knew the kind of man my father-in-law was, I wish I had known him better. Or rather, known him more. He was a kind, gentle, and curious person, and his service revealed just how much he had affected the lives of everyone around him. It’s not a thing we get to see ourselves. The echoes of who we are rippling through the people we encounter. We might see glimpses of it from time to time, but never the full scope. If nothing else, it’s a reminder that the things we say and do will always matter to someone.

There’s a strange weight to my memories of that trip to Delaware and my father-in-law’s funeral. It’s a menagerie of moments and scenes all blurred together by the overwhelming emotion of the circumstances and the eventual fog of memory over time. One detail that has managed to remain relatively clear is something my wife said during the eulogy. She said, and I’m paraphrasing of course, that her father always gave you the space to figure out who you are, to be who you are. Of all the anecdotes and memories people shared, that’s the one that has remained with me. It reveals volumes about the kind of person he was. It explains the independence of the daughters he raised, and the fully formed people they are. It’s a practice that feels in precious short supply, a kind of patience that might make the world a little better if more of us could manage it. My father-in-law was one of the good ones, and I miss him.

In September, I went through the first layoff of my career. I’ve already covered the experience in a previous update, so there’s not a whole lot of value in revisiting the details here. All in all, I think I’ve managed to make the best of the situation. I was able to pivot pretty quickly into freelancing full time, and I’ve enjoyed the flexibility and variety that’s come with it. I won’t go so far as to say the layoff was a good thing, they’re pretty much terrible regardless of the circumstances, but it did leave me with the bandwidth I needed to take on some projects that have been pretty rewarding, so it is what it is. I’m feeling good about my professional work right now, and if all goes according to plan, next year should be pretty exciting.

Despite my best efforts, I did a bad job this year of keeping up with my miniature painting hobby. When I did have free time, I usually spent it gaming instead of painting. It’s a fair enough trade, but one isn’t exactly an even swap for the other. They’re both great hobbies that help me unwind, but they scratch different itches. I do want to push myself to start painting on a more regular basis next year, so hopefully I can make that happen.

I’m still processing the election. Or maybe it’s better to say that I’m still trying to mentally prepare myself for the next few years. Frankly, I’m already exhausted. The unending chaos of the news cycle, the absolutely insane rhetoric, the shameless audacity, all of it just erodes your nerves. I’m not looking forward to how Orwellian it will all be, but I also can’t ignore it.

I made an effort to read more this past year. I had varying degrees of success, but I did manage to finish a couple of books and I’m nearly through a few more. The Unexpected Universe by Loren Eiseley and the Writings of Eugene V Debs were easily the best things I read this year. Well, those and Absolute Batman #1. The Unexpected Universe is hard to explain. It’s sort of a poetic blend of science, human history, and philosophy. In a series of essays, Eiseley explores elements of the natural world and the mythmaking humans use to frame our place in that world. It’s incredible. The Writings of Eugene V Debs is pretty much what it sounds like. It’s a collection of speeches and essays from all throughout his career with the American Railway Union, and his political activism as a socialist. He’s probably my favorite figure from history, in part because of his views and advocacy, but also because he was a deeply flawed man who still managed to be a force for others.

There’s plenty more that happened this year, but I think this is where I’ll wrap it up. When I started writing this update, I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t have enough to talk about, and by the end I was cutting more and more. Some topics I’ve decided to save for future updates. Others are better left when and where they happened.

This was a weird year. High highs. Low lows. The best of times, and so on. There’s a lot I’m looking forward to next year, and just as much that I’m dreading. Creatively, I’m doing better than ever. Professionally, I’m excited about what comes next. And everything else, well, I’m figuring out.