If you’d asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer would never have been graphic design or marketing. I always imagined myself in a more active profession, perhaps a firefighter, or a mountaineer, something with a little danger involved. And although graphic design seems a fairly harmless career choice, in reality it can be just as dangerous.
Let’s face it – sitting on your ass staring at a computer screen all day is not good for your health, and I’ve yet to meet a designer who actually works 9-5 with a one hour lunch break. Big design projects can mean 12 hour work days, little sleep, poor diet, no exercise and way too much caffeine.
Throw a couple of difficult clients and dash of stress into the mix, and the result is a profession that can lead to heart disease, weight gain, high blood pressure, poor vision, and even diabetes. All potentially life-threatening conditions.
So, at Pretty Lethal Designs, we’ve decided to make 2011 a year of living (un) dangerously. We’ll be exercising more, trying more vegetarian, vegan and raw recipes, shopping at local farmers markets, eating a lot more fruit, drinking a lot more (filtered) water – and maybe even taking a five minute break from the computer screen every hour (crazy I know!). And, we’ll share our favorite recipes, work outs and health tips on this blog, as we believe graphic design doesn’t have to be deadly.
Snowpocalypse 2011
Ollie helping out with the snow shoveling
Record snowstorms have been blasting the country this winter, and we haven’t escaped here in Chicagoland. One of the advantages of working from home, of course, is no commutes – one of the disadvantages of working from home, however, is no snow days.
For small businesses, one interesting aspect of these snowstorms has been the use of social media to alert customers of closures or meeting or service cancellations. In situations like this, Facebook and Twitter become far more than networking sites, and can be far easier to update with real-time alerts than websites or phone messages.
Businesses or organizations that didn’t make use of these tools (like the city of Aurora) almost certainly had their phone lines jammed with frustrated customers unable to find the information they need. Let’s face it, communication has changed, and companies who don’t keep up with modern trends are likely to fall behind.