so, i had this idea in mind of a typographic composition transcribed in cookie dough. in its early stages of development, i pictured a mutant ligature of sorts with puffed serifs waxed by the heat of the oven into a giant hunk of cookie. and subtle lines that only suggest what the composition might have read pre heated-oven.

like an expanded cloud of thought… to be devoured with a cold glass of milk. nom.

i set out to make this dream cookie happen. kerned a handful of words into composition, printed and hand-stenciled. i originally tried to cut the stencil from an acetate sheet. when that didn’t work, because it was far too thick for my little x-acto to wield, i turned to coated paper. therein lay the first of many mistakes.

i failed to consider how much time i would need to cut out the cookie shapes before the dough turned soft and also how much larger the stencil should be given its course to leaven. i also used paper, like an idiot.

throwing all logic out the window, i realized much too late that:

1. there is a reason we have cookie cutters and not cookie stencils
2. there is a reason those cutters are usually large, resembling child-like alphabet pieces
3. coated paper in the oven makes for an inedible cookie
4. chocolate chips can be difficult to cut through when you’re ‘stenciling’
5. it is important to know the nature of the materials prior to production

WILL DESIGN FOR FOOD. espíritu not for sale.

it’s easy to become disenchanted with the design process when client/product is always involved. but i guess at some point, for me at least, it’s important to get into the habit of drawing a clear separation between work design and personal design.

if i never want lose that good feeling, that excitement, i must be able to recognize the transfer of intentions.

in work design, the end product takes precedence. whereas in personal design, the process does - and the end result is simply a by-product of what-just-happened (art). 

perhaps this is a method of convenience - applying personal art philosophies on an as-needed basis. but what can i say, with sallie mae on my ass and a cosigner in the mix, survival mode kicks in. .. and i can only afford to lose my paycheck.

anyhow. last night, i returned to personal design (see: *calisthenics: grey matter).

the feeling was absolutely wonderful.