Today marks the completion of the first in a series of twelve paintings based on two very simple but pivotal concepts. Concepts absolutely central to our lives, yet ones we're often reluctant to recognize, slow to name out loud and cautious to embrace. I'm talking about time and grace.

I don't have all the details worked out just yet nor do I have a formal artist statement drafted. I'll be working on that as the new year continues and will post those updates here as they develop. For now, I'm simply acting on gut instinct and a very real sense that I've stumbled upon a subject matter, a philosophy and a process that I cannot ignore. Here's an overview:

The subject matter: Time and Grace. Time is fleeting, it's one-directional and it cannot be altered. Grace is freely offered by a loving creator to redeem lives and remove shame. It can only be rejected or received.

Philosophy: Each day is a new beginning. And while today is colored by yesterday's mistakes and successes, It need not be anchored to either. It's uncharted, unpredictable, short-lived and beautiful in its own right.

Process: A daily approach to the canvas with alternating intentions. Day one; make simple, direct and bold marks. Day two; review, reflect and alter yesterday's marks with semi-transparent layers and equally bold remarks. A month-long tug between these two intentions yields a beautiful, authentic and unscripted story. A dynamic journal built upon itself. Ever-changing, always growing and self-informing.

In an attempt to be true to the experiment, to be honest to the precepts of both grace and time, to propel the discoveries forward and to keep me from fixating on the progress or outcome on any single painting, I've decided to give each one away as soon as it's completed. Friends, family, I hope you've got some room on your walls.

I'm a bit behind in posting this so please forgive the timing. Last October My son and I took part in a local hack event. It was the first event of this kind for either of us and while excited we were unsure what to expect. The goal of the event? Simple. Build 48 websites in 48 hours for 48 local non-profit organizations. The organization behind the crazy idea is aptly named 48in48. Talk about big hairy audacious goals, that takes the cake. I mean could that really happen and if so how do you pull something like that off? Well the short answers are yes, and with a ton of planning, select tools and a truck-ton of marketing pros and willing volunteers.

How did it turn out? Over 150 designers, developers, project managers, copy writers and digital marketers gathered to donate $1,200,000.00 in goods and services to 49 local non-profits. By any measure, that's pretty impressive. And I can say without equivocation that I'm glad we participated. We had an absolute blast. Good folks doing good work for good causes. What more could you want from your weekend?

IF you're interested in joining in the fun, I've got good news. The event was such a success that they've decided to double-down and hold two events this year. One in NYC and another here in Atlanta. For more information and to sign up check out their website. I hope to see you there.

I enjoy creating UX personas. It's one of my favorite parts of the website design process. Over the years I've shared back-of-the-napkin drawings with co-workers and have delivered client-ready, fully comped, color bios that deserved framing. But no matter the fidelity of the final output, there's always something about the simple thinking/sketching exercise that appeals to me.

I think I like it so much because it reminds me of what it was like when drawing was something I did for fun. An exploratory process eagerly dawned with the full understanding that there are no wrong answers, just a direct expression of thought on paper.

So recently, while my wife and I were helping our son fill out his college scholarship applications, I jumped at the opportunity to help him think through his answers and essays by crafting quick personas of his jurors. We whipped up three direct sketches representing the types of folks we imagined would be reviewing his work. It was amazing how quickly he was able to connect with the drawings and rework his language once we put names and rough characteristics to the individuals he was trying to persuade. It was a testament to just how intuitively the persona process is and how effective it can be. Plus, it was a lot of fun.

Did it payoff? We dunno yet. Ask us in a few months when all the applications have been reviewed and the monies have be divvied up.

If you've never created personas for your design projects you may want to give them a try. Here's a good primer on what they are and how to use them effectively. If you're an old pro with using personas but have never leveraged them in a non-conventional way, let me encourage you to mix things up and give it a try. What can it hurt? And you never know, there might just be a pot of gold on the other side.

Have you ever even considered using Pinterest as a design library?

Okay I admit it, I'm a bit of a process geek. I love finding new ways to do things. Especially new ways to optimize curation, communication and design team collaboration. And I'm kinda psyched about discovering (or rather re-discovering) Pinterest. I forget the details, but sometime ago, I ran across an article, or a podcast where someone mentioned using Pinterest as a design and pattern library. It sounded like a novel idea, so I gave it a quick try with the project I had open at the time. I found the experience quite effective, but the project was shelved and due to interruption I was never able to get the team fully onboard with the concept.

But as luck would have it, another opportunity to try it out came along soon enough. A client recently engaged us for a b-i-g front end gig. Their request was heavy on design and light on development, they needed a team to drive the user experience, content strategy and to deliver design specs for all major site components and (to my delight) the microinteractions too. The perfect job!

Let's face it, the context in which most of us are familiar with Pinterest is not necessarily professional. We tend to think of it as a tool better suited for fun time, weekends or vacation dreaming. We've all seen the boards used for collecting examples of everything from  vintage slushy machines to sock puppets. But think about it, why not use the platform to collect examples of rollover effects, hamburger menu interactions or home page designs. How is collecting pictures of rare Snoopy tees that much different from curating screen-grabs of e-commerce form components, unique approaches to lead-capture forms or CSS animation examples? well, it turns out it's not that different at all.

The project is just beginning to wrap up. We've got a few more weeks of design deliverables scoped and then we'll move into the maintenance and consultative role as their in-house development team takes the reins. But now's when the power of Pinterest may just begin to make the most sense. Handing off a single link to a client that houses all the examples our team referenced during the front end phase should make ongoing conversations easy. The jury is still out on how the client will respond to this component of the handoff but I have every reason to believe that they'll quickly see the value. Our project post mortem will follow soon enough. I'll make it a point to update the post once all the cards are on the table. In the meantime, I'd recommend giving Pinterest a try on one of your upcoming redesign projects. What can it hurt? It's a well vetted platform made specifically for the unique tasks of collecting and sharing. And it's free. What's stopping you?