Today’s baking challenge: Beer bread. (I have no idea how it will taste…)
Red velvet. From scratch.
My feline coworkers just lay around the ‘office’ napping.
Team Wertz walk after dinner tonight. (Don’t worry, we kept appropriate distance from other people.)
My wife’s temporary work-from-home spot is cooler than mine. (Probably because she is much cooler than me.)
Temporary work from home setup. Normally, I just work at the kitchen or dining room table, but the kids need that for homework (and crafts, games and puzzles.)
My anxious logo
This post was originally posted on March 14, 2020 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Uncertainly in the time of coronavirus
When I redrew my Sketchbook B fish logo a few months ago, I decided to draw him with a few different emotions by moving the eyes around and changing his expression. The nameless little fish has been a proxy of sorts for me and I thought it would be cute to switch out the logo on the site for how I was feeling. I even drew a few with hats and sunglasses for the summer.
Today, I decided to change the fish on Sketchbook B for the first time because of the coronavirus. The pandemic response is impacting everything in my life. My conference presentation in Memphis was moved online. My grad school classes next week are cancelled and going online only for a couple of weeks after that. For now, my wife and kids are still in school and my daughter’s lacrosse season continues, but all of that can change with an email.
Cancelling everything is completely the right call. Preventing the spread of the pandemic should be the priority for everyone, but everything has changed so quickly. Even for someone like me who has been following the coronavirus spread closely, things went from scary to terrifying so incredibly fast.
I opened the Affinity Designer file with all my fish variations and looked for the appropriate one for how I feel about the coronavirus pandemic. I fully intended to use one of my “disappointed” fish, but as I looked around the screen, at the top edge of the artboard was one of the last fish I drew: my “anxious” fish. I didn’t think I’d ever use him, but honestly, if I don’t use him now, I don’t know when I’d use him.
For now, I’ll go with the anxious fish. And as my emotions about things change, I’ll switch out the little guy. I look forward to the return of the happy fish and can’t wait to use the version with the Cubs hat for opening day.
My logo, for now.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, researcher, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create.
More network analysis as art. #nodexl #nodexlgraph
Network data visualization as art. #nodexl
Normally, this Starbucks is packed with graduate students. Not tonight. I’m the last one…
I love when my @jetpens order arrives two days earlier than expected. New mechanical pencil, fountain pen and ink… all green, of course.
Variations.
Thinking about the Facebook audience
This post was originally posted on January 4, 2020 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
You can’t ignore a billion people.
When it comes to web standards, Dave Winer is a legend. The foundations of today’s web are based on many of Dave’s ideas and creations.* His thoughts yesterday about journalism on Facebook were thought provoking.
It’s become trendy to bash Facebook — and everyone on Facebook — as unsophisticated. Dave’s especially pointing out how journalists have a tendency to dismiss Facebook and its audience. He’s not so much defending Facebook as he is pointing out that with over a billion users, you can’t ignore Facebook if you are trying to build a business.
I’ve been mostly off Facebook for a little over a year. I’ve decided that, for various reasons, Facebook was not an experience that I enjoyed anymore. I have issues with Facebook. I don’t approve of Facebook’s approach to privacy and I think the algorithm brings out the worst in people sometimes, but the reason I’ve left Facebook is that it doesn’t make me happy.**
That said, I completely agree with Dave. If you are trying to build a business, you can’t ignore Facebook. I’ll be honest, when I post links to my blog posts on Facebook, the articles get more traffic. Leaving behind Facebook meant leaving behind that audience. If we’re talking about my blog, that’s a trade off I’m willing to make. If you are starting a business venture, you don’t have the luxury to ignore an audience that large.
Dave’s follow up post brings up a second, maybe more important point:
I want to clear something up. I do not equate the net with Facebook. However a lot of people do. That’s where you have to meet them. If you want to go forward with them, Facebook is where they are. Why do you rob banks? That’s where the money is. ;-)
For those of us who have chosen to quit Facebook, it’s important to remember that we are in the minority. Most people enjoy their experience on Facebook. I’d actually say that most people find it impossible to imagine their lives without Facebook. To some people, Facebook is the internet. When we bring up the need to build a better internet, we need to talk about the ways that an open web improves on the things they like about their Facebook experience.
* RSS, Podcasting, etc.
** I don’t love Facebook, but I’m still on Instagram.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, researcher, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create.