i like to take pictures of signs

I like to take pictures of signs.

The Hinman Research Building at Georgia Tech. Love the typeface, and the brick, and the lighting...

One of the things that I’ve been working on for the past few weeks is some artwork for a product that we are readying for launch. The product itself will be printed with this design and associated words, and although I have no formal training as a graphic designer, my team is taking a chance on me for my own professional benefit.

I’ve said before that part of my process of professional self-discovery was learning that I am lyrically creative. I am moved by words. I have to watch myself - it’s tempting to fill this 1-in x 1.5-in space with words. But nurses don’t like words. Patients don’t need words. And so, I have to find a better way to communicate what needs to be communicated for patients to have the best possible outcome.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am insecure in my abilities. As an engineer, I want to be good at mechanical design. Engineers aren’t typically known for their diction or writing skills. They’re known for their ability to take things apart and put things back together. As a young engineer, it’s been hard for me to accept that I do not have to be good at everything, or that being good at one thing does not precludes me from being good at another.

Engineering is a fancy term for problem solving, and problems aren’t always solved by fixing broken components. It takes more than just a knack for tinkering to be able to solve problems. It takes vision. It takes an ability to look at a system... and also its components. It takes empathy, and an understanding of who it is we’re designing for, and what it is they actually need.

Part of the way we design our lives is aspirational. I carry around a camera and Play-doh not because I take amazing pictures or build intricate clay models on a regular basis. I carry them around because those are things that, when I make the conscious effort to use them, make me a better designer. To me, if photographs capture the stimuli in the world as it is, and sketching and prototype provide the response, then writing about our experiences in our world fills the gap between.

Back to sign-loving. I’m currently in New Orleans, which is proving to be sign haven. It’s given me some new insights on how to communicate with people the way that people need to be communicated with.

The capital of Luisiana.

Had to do it.

A personal favorite from sign-spotting today.