20/52: Angry Moderate
This post was originally posted on November 5, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
It’s tough being in the middle.
Each week for a year, I’m going to be designing a shirt and releasing it on my Threadless store. This is the design for week 20.
When I was in high school, a friend asked whether I considered myself conservative or liberal. I told him that I was more of a moderate.
“You can’t be a moderate,” he said, “That means you don’t stand for anything.”
It’s tough being moderate in today’s hyper partisan world. But I think now, more than ever, moderates are the key to stabilizing our country.
Moderates are not the same thing as independents. Independent voters don’t claim one party or the other, but they’re views aren’t necessarily in the middle. For example, some independents think the Republican Party is too liberal.
Moderates on the other hand tend to be pragmatic. They look for ways to solve problems for their state or country. They work with people from other parties to craft solutions, not division. Moderates can be Republicans or Democrats (or independents), but they believe you can achieve more by working together than constantly demonizing each other. For many of our problems (but not all*), compromise is a solution to the issues that challenge America.
Today, with highly gerrymandered districts and campaigns financed increasingly by SuperPACs and the influential donors, it’s tough for a moderate to make it through the primaries, let alone win a general election.
On Facebook, my political beliefs are listed simply as “Angry Moderate.” It frustrates me that people can’t work together. I’m baffled by political parties that put their needs above the needs of the nation. And I’m completely pissed off by politicians who want everything to be about them, instead of realizing that they were elected to serve this nation, not rule it.
But the problem with moderates is that they typically don’t get angry. There is no moderate equivalent of the Tea Party. There isn’t a group of radical moderates that will band together to defeat a hyper partisan candidate in a primary. People don’t build moderate Super PACs. I can’t think of any billionaires wanting to fund moderate candidates.
When I decided to make an Angry Moderate shirt, the design approach was straightforward. Pick a sans serif designed by an American** and select a medium weight. Set the type in white and make it available on red, blue, grey and purple shirts. The result is appropriately the most subtle “angry” shirt you can make, perfect for a moderate.
You can purchase Angry Moderate at my Threadless store.
* There are many things that you can’t compromise on. Basic human rights, for example.
** Proxima Nova Medium, designed by Wisconsin native Mark Simonson.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
Happy Halloween from Team Wertz
Palmetto Trail
19/52: Duel
This post was originally posted on October 29, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
“Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
Each week for a year, I’m going to be designing a shirt and releasing it on my Threadless store. This is the design for week 19.
I was two when Star Wars came out in 1977. I don’t know when I saw the movie for the first time. Back then we obviously didn’t have DVDs or video-on-demand. We had to wait for the movie to be rereleased to the theaters. But I remember seeing the lightsaber dual between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which ends with — SPOILER — Kenobi inexplicably sacrificing himself and disappearing.
“Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
— Obi-Wan Kenobi
Later his disembodied voice reminds Luke to use the force when destroying the Death Star. And of course, we find out later he becomes a “force ghost” and continues to guide and help Luke through the next two movies.
Star Wars (and all science fiction) has been a major influence on my life. Most of my toys growing up were Star Wars toys. And the rest were Legos that I used to make spaceships. But Star Wars — the original — started it all.
This December, the eighth Star Wars Saga film is released — The Last Jedi. I wanted to shirt to wear to the movie that subtly referenced the first film. And so we have Duel. A rough approximation of the lightsaber fight between Obi-Wan and Vader. Each frame is in a 2.35:1 ratio, the proportions that Star Wars was filmed in. And of course it ends with only one red lightsaber.
I’ll be wearing Duel for opening night of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. You can grab one, too, at my Threadless store.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
Boo at the Zoo
Parallel
This post was originally posted on October 28, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Apparently, giant tardigrades are all the rage on television today.
Tardigrade, Original image, CC 2.5
My son* loves the animated show, The Deep, and he recently discovered that the second season was on Netflix. Our whole family loves the show, and we binge watched a bunch of episodes together over a weekend.
One of the episodes of Deep deals with a giant tardigrade — a normally microscopic animal that is one of the toughest animals in existence. Tardigrades are so tough, that they can survive pretty much anywhere, even in the vacuum of space.
Fast forward to that Sunday night, while watching CBS’s new Star Trek Discovery, where the show featured — you guessed it — a giant tardigrade.
I guarantee neither creative team was thinking someone would beat them to using a giant tardigrade as a plot device. These two shows couldn’t be more different. One is an under-the-radar Australian animated show about futuristic sea exploration that streams on Netflix. And the other is the latest television iteration of one of the best known science fiction series. These ideas obviously developed in parallel and were inspired by the same creature.
“I guarantee neither creative team was thinking someone would beat them to using a giant tardigrade as a plot device.”
I guess, for me, this coincidence demonstrates that in today’s environment — with so many people creating so much content — truly original concepts seem like an impossible task. Even when you think you are creating something new, the reality is, someone else may be working on the same idea at the same time.
* Okay. I may love the show, too.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
Working.
18/52: Fancy
This post was originally posted on October 22, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
A chance for family to gather and celebrate
Each week for a year, I’m going to be designing a shirt and releasing it on my Threadless store. This is the design for week 18.
Once a year, we prepare an irrationally large meal. We make a turkey and use a stuffing recipe that’s been in the family for decades. We cook the same casseroles and side dishes that we have at Thanksgiving every year. My wife makes a Kentucky Derby Pie, which is like a giant cookie, because most of our crew won’t eat pecan or pumpkin pie.
We pull all of the special dishes and silverware out. China that belonged to my wife’s grandmother. Goblets that were gifts from our wedding. Serving dishes that my mom used. We use the fancy table cloth and set the table correctly, with all the silverware in the right spots.
“We use the fancy table cloth and set the table correctly, with all the silverware in the right spots.”
And then we gather around the table — with as much family as we can — and have the fanciest meal we’ll have all year. We tell stories about past get togethers and the time my wife went into labor right before we were about to have our Thanksgiving meal. We eat way too much and have plenty left over. We pack up the leftovers and send them home so that everyone can have turkey sandwiches for days.
Thanksgiving is a chance to be together with family, and for me, the big meal, with a formal place setting, is a perfect symbol of that. So this week’s shirt, Fancy, is in honor of Thanksgiving — and released early so you can wear one while you prepare your own Thanksgiving feast.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
Models and holograms
This post was originally posted on October 21, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Sometimes you need to break with continuity
Admiral Hologram appears on the bridge.
I’ve been enjoying the new Star Trek Discovery, and yes, I subscribed to CBS’s streaming service so I can watch it. It seems to be getting mixed reviews from fans who feel it strays a little too far from the Star Trek mold. It is different, but I guess I don’t see that as a bad thing. Personally, I think it’s an engaging show and I look forward to watching it each week.
Star Trek Discovery is a prequel, set after Enterprise, but 10 years before the original Star Trek. I am fascinated by the creative decisions the art directors have made to try to help the show visually fit with the other series. The challenge is to make the show look futuristic to a modern audience, while using enough of the earlier material — which occurs later in the timeline — to connect the show for the true fans.*
For Star Trek, this is especially challenging because the original series was filmed in the 1960s and include lots of buttons and switches. In today’s world, buttons and switches are anything but futuristic.
Among fans, one of the most controversial elements** of the new show is holographic communications. In the premiere, several conversations occur with holograms on the bridge. In another episode, a main character looks at herself in a holographic “mirror” program.
“In today’s world, buttons and switches are anything but futuristic.”
This “controversy” reminded me of an episode of Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica podcast.*** He did an episode commentary for every single show of the rebooted Battlestar while drinking scotch. I used to listen to them religiously.
To visualize space battles, Battlestar Galactica used seeming archaic models on a table to show what was happening. It seemed odd, considering that we were flying though space, and looked like something out of the German high command in the movie Patton. Moore explained that it was the best way to show the viewer how the battle was unfolding. And he was right, the models on the table were much easier to understand than blips on a screen.
The Cylons are closing in.
It’s true that these holograms aren’t used in any other Star Trek****, but I like the addition. Being able to have your cast interact with a hologram is much more dynamic visually than having them talk to a view screen. And just like Ron Moore’s decision to use models on a table to show a space battle, the use of the holograms is simply the best way to engage today’s viewer.
Sometimes, the best creative choice is to break with tradition.
* This is a problem with all sci-fi prequels. Take a look at how the Star Wars prequels handled technology and art direction and compare that to a more faithfully-aligned Rogue One.
** And also, small caps subtitles.
*** Sadly, they are not available online anymore. They were a fabulous companion for watching the show.
**** I’m probably wrong, but the entirely of the series is too vast for me to find a specific reference.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
17/52: Introvert
This post was originally posted on October 15, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
It’s tough being an introvert in an extrovert world.
Each week for a year, I’m going to be designing a shirt and releasing it on my Threadless store. This is the design for week 17.
No one believes me, but I’m an introvert. Yes, I speak in front of crowds without much of a problem. I have no problem talking to people I know. And I would never describe myself as “shy.”
But I am 100%, absolutely an introvert.* Being around people all day wears me out. I struggle networking when I go to a conference or event where I don’t know anyone. Trying to talk to someone I don’t know at all can be paralyzing. After a full slate of morning meetings, I often need to go for a walk and decompress. I have no problem eating lunch by myself. Being in the middle of a large crowd can be overwhelming. And I need my alone time.
Because of my job and the challenges I take on, I have to be an extrovert sometimes. I have to work at controlling my introverted nature. Every extrovert behavior I have is learned. I do a good job of hiding how uncomfortable I am in social situations, but “being an extrovert” exhausts me. And I have to recharge with some significant alone time.
I’ve come to accept that being an introvert is a big part of being me, so this week’s shirt celebrates being an introvert in the quietest way possible. “Introvert” is a subtle design positioned in the lower corner of the shirt, almost like it’s hiding on the periphery of a really crowded conference in a vast hotel ballroom. You can buy a copy on Threadless.
* INTJ on Myers-Briggs, to be precise.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
I’m designing a shirt a week for a year. 16 down.
How to beat fake news
This post was originally posted on October 9, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Assume that everything you read is false.
Everyone is looking for a way to defeat fake news. (And just to be clear, when I say fake news, I mean news that is demonstrably false. Not just something you disagree with…) We also now know the problem is amplified by Russian bots spreading divisive news on Twitter and Facebook.
In college, my first major was newspaper journalism. And even though I decided I didn’t want to be a reporter, I still have a respect for journalism and believe it’s a vital part of a functioning society. Fake news undermines one of the cornerstones of a healthy democracy.
If you want to combat fake news, here are some things to think about when you are cruising your timeline…
This story looks completely legit! Really? How do you know? Who wrote it? Is this a publication you are familiar with? Or a blog you’ve never heard of? Look at the sources. Do they even offer sources to support their “facts?”
But this headline is catchy! Did you actually read the article before liking it? Or worse, sharing it? The devil is often in the details. Maybe you should read those…
But I completely agree with it! Most fake news is written in a way that confirms your own bias. So especially if you agree with it, take a few minutes and double check that the story is accurate. If you feel so strongly about the topic, it shouldn’t take you any time at all to confirm it.
But I only need one source. I’m sure you think they are trustworthy, but if you only get news from one source, then you are a fool. And if only one unknown blog is reporting a major story, it’s a hoax. If there’s really a story there, trust me, more than one publication is going to be covering it.
When was this published? Where did this happen? Look at the date. Is this post years old and someone has just now rediscovered it? Does it even have a date? And where did it happen? Fake posts are often light on the details, because once you know where it happened, you can fact check it easier.
But look at the awesome picture! Are you sure that picture accurately reflects the article? It’s probably a stock photo unrelated to the article to get you to click on it. Fake news always uses fake photos… because the “news” didn’t actually happen.
People I know liked and shared this! It must be true. Or they got tricked, too.
**This is exhausting. I read so much news on social media. How can I check it all?**That’s what the scammers are counting on. That you are too busy or lazy to spend a few seconds thinking critically.
The only way to defeat fake news is to think critically. Social media sites want you to react quickly — like, share, retweet — and then move on to consume more content. But to combat fake news, you need to slow down and don’t just react.
When you read something on the internet that dovetails perfectly with what you want to believe, question it. Before you get worked up and repost or share that content, ask yourself if you took the time to actually think about it and process it.
Because everything you share is your responsibility, and if you share fake news, you are the problem.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
16/52: Team Luther
This post was originally posted on October 8, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
The Reformation started 500 years ago this month with the posting of the 95 Theses.
Each week for a year, I’m going to be designing a shirt and releasing it on my Threadless store. This is the design for week 16.
500 years ago, on All Hallows’ Eve, Martin Luther hammered a list of 95 theses on the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg. He aimed to discuss reforming the church, but instead, started the Reformation and fragmented the Christian church.
I’m a big fan of Luther, and not just because I’m Lutheran.
Luther was a passionate communicator and he used the latest technology to share his message. The newly-invented printing press made it possible for his ideas to spread across Europe.
“Luther was a passionate communicator and he used the latest technology to share his message.”
Luther focused on grace. The idea that we are all sinful and imperfect people and that we can do nothing to earn salvation. Salvation, instead, was given to us when Christ died on the cross for our sins. Today I look at the state of Christianity and I can’t help but think it’s time for another Reformation. One that focuses on love and reflects on what it means to be Christian — and to act like a Christian — in today’s world.
This week’s shirt is Team Luther and features a “95” in blackletter-inspired* lettering. This is the perfect shirt for Lutherans who want to celebrate the Reformation in a really subtle way. Lutherans never want to talk about their faith, so with this shirt, if someone asks you what it means, you can then tell them about the Reformation and about being Lutheran. After all, they asked.
You can buy Team Luther from my Threadless store. I recommend you buy it in red.**
* Blackletter is a type style commonly associated with medieval Germany. When I had this shirt idea, I thought I knew what blackletter numerals looked like. When I did my research, I discovered that I was completely wrong. So I drew what was in my head, and didn’t base it on a historical model like I had planned. Hence, “blackletter-inspired.”
** Red is the color of the Reformation, and the traditional color of doors in a Lutheran church.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. He’s currently in the middle of a project to design a new shirt a week for an entire year.
Ford.
Ford.
Ford.
