Issue 19: Fireside Chat
On sparks, and s'mores, and seasonal shifts.
🔥 I searched for my spark, and I found it
I’m not ashamed to admit that of all the wholly unreasonable demands I had while house hunting, my highest by far was a fireplace. Fire is one of those wild conundrums—one of nature’s most destructive forces when unmanaged, life-giving when controlled, and cozy as all heck when you put it in a stone pit or a brick box with a glass screen. So many of my happiest memories have happened around fires—singing in four-part harmony over s’mores with my choir friends at summer camp, reminiscing about the year with a glass of Scotch after another successful Christmas, hosting my first dinner party in my new home last fall. As the weather finally starts to cool and we move from campfire season to fireplace season, there’s nothing I’m anticipating more this week than curling up on the couch with a blanket, a Hozier album, and crackling flames to distract me from whatever book I’m re-reading. In a time of not only seasonal transition but, let’s be real, a very stressful world around us, it’s hard to think of a better creative reset.
Fire is, in many ways, inspiration made visible. There’s a pretty obvious case to make there—fire is never the same twice, and what we bring to it is what we see and hear in it. I have been very literally inspired by fire through so many creative blocks. But one thing I find wild about fire is the way it can make a moment glow that might otherwise seem ordinary. It can act as a social glue for the most apprehensive groups. It can make an activity-free evening an act of self-care. When I think about what I aspire to in my work, it’s this quality in a nutshell—not to make things look better than they are, but to take a project’s potential and show it for what it is.
That’s why this week, we’re having a Fireside Chat. We’re roasting s’mores under the stars, listening to the gentlest of tunes, and contemplating the value of taking our own spark seriously. Read on for all this and more!
The Guidelines will be on a 2-week hiatus, as I will be traveling for the next two Mondays for a friend’s wedding in Argentina (I know, I’m jealous of me, too!). I’ll be back with virtual presents for all on October 7th.
🪵 Moodboard of the week
This week’s moodboard is inspired by the nebulous space between summer and fall, cozy evenings in, the orange leaves I found on my car last night, autumn rain, marshmallows, and the pretentious library living room of my dreams. Click here or below to view the full board and original images on Pinterest!
🔍 Question of the week
“Am I wasting my time pursuing a passion career? Should I find something more practical?”
This question can, of course, mean many different things. After all, we all have different passions. I’ve met people who had a true passion for building businesses and making money and didn’t care what industry they were in. Given that you’re asking this question, I have to assume your passions are more similar to mine, that you’re relatively familiar with the better-known paths to success and security, and that the ways you want to spend your day don’t align with that.
Only we know the right decisions for our own lives. We all have different comfort levels with risk, and the truth is, no matter what we choose to do with our lives, we need to be comfortable with the commitments we make. That said, I can speak to my personal experience. Not only can our passions take many forms—from creative pursuits to sports to helping others to playing with numbers—but so too can the options we have to pursue them. I think we often cut ourselves off from very real possibilities by assuming the things we love are not viable career paths.
I recently saw a Facebook post from a new college grad asking if anyone had leads on design or UX jobs. An older grad from the same college commented, saying the poster needed to find a job people would pay her to do and that she should save art for nights and weekends. “There's no such thing as a job as a novelist,” the commenter wrote, by way of illustration. “I wish there were.” To say nothing of the fact that being a novelist is a job (albeit a very competitive one), I was floored by the commenter’s assumption that opportunity only lay in jobs she understood. But I couldn’t even be offended because I think her perspective is actually very common. Most people I’ve met don’t share her air of condescension, but I think even for those of us who want to pursue passion careers, it’s easy to worry that it’s an unreasonable pipe dream.
Speaking from even the most practical standpoint, that is just not true. Virtually everything we hold dear has an industry associated with it and, by extension, real career paths. It took me years to learn that design was actually a marketing job—that it’s a critical component of ensuring that even the best ideas succeed. Everything we purchase and interact with has been designed, and it takes real work to make that happen. As far as I can see, virtually every passion has its equivalent, and the more industries I work with, the more I realize the world is full of jobs I never knew existed but are no less real (or important) for my ignorance.
But from a pure passion standpoint, it’s also important to remember that when we spend so many hours of our day at work, we don’t necessarily have nights and weekends to pursue the things we love. I love what I do more than anything, and I’m still wiped at the end of the day. Not everybody has something they care so much about that they’d miss it if they couldn’t do it every day. But for those of us who do, an opportunity to merge the two is a blessing, not to be taken lightly. We can each decide for ourselves what it’s worth to try and make it happen, but it’s hard for me to argue it’s not worth a shot.
At the end of the day, pursuing a career in one of your passions—be it design or anything else—may take more work and faith, at least upfront. It’s not the right decision for everyone (it genuinely wouldn’t be for that Facebook commenter!), but it is one worth pursuing seriously, given the potential for fulfillment and the knowledge that you can always change your mind. I’ve never looked back from my decision to become a designer, and I’m grateful every day for the opportunity to provide real value to my clients. I know whatever you end up deciding to do, you will make the right decision for you, and I wish you the best of luck in whatever that is!
Submit your burning design questions by sending me a message below. Questions can relate to design itself, entrepreneurship, workflow, or anything you think I may be able to answer. There are no limits.
🎧 Soundtrack of the week
This week’s playlist is by far the coziest yet—equally perfect for the golden hour glow of a late September evening, or the crisp chill of early October. More than zero songs are literally fire-themed, which I’m quite proud of. Preview the playlist below, or click here to listen to the full thing on Spotify.
You may be asking yourself, “How many playlists can she put The Promise by Tracy Chapman on?” and the answer is, “You guys have literally no idea.”
✨ My Favorite Things
This is not what I intended this section for, but last week, I won an award, and I am so excited about it. If I can’t self-promote at a moment like this, when can I? The logo below, which I designed for Fractals & Co. Consulting, was recently awarded a bronze medal at the International Visual Identity Awards.
This logo, constructed from a fifth-iteration dragon curve fractal, represents the company founder’s ability to notice trends in even the most complex institutional problems. This project was a delightful opportunity to get nerdy, and I couldn’t be more excited or honored to have it recognized.
🌱 Touching Grass
📖 What I’m reading: After much anticipation, TJ Klune’s Somewhere Beyond the Sea, the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea, FINALLY came out last week. I didn’t think it was possible for anything to be sweeter, funnier, more gripping, or more addictive than the first book, but my guy TJ has managed to blow my expectations out of the water yet again. A third of the way through, I’ve already cried, and I have a feeling I’ll be finishing this one in the next 12 hours or so.
🎧 What I’m listening to: Somehow, I haven’t listened to a single episode of Netflix’s Official Heartstopper Podcast yet, but I’m kind of thrilled I get to catch up all at once ahead of the Season 3 release.
📺 What I’m watching: Agatha All Along finally premieres this week. All my faves are in it (Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Kathryn Hahn), and I’m dying of excitement.
🍴 What I’m eating: My mom taught a Persian cooking class yesterday, and I get leftover Fesenjān and Jeweled Rice today. It’s a good day to be me.
💖 Other Highlights: It’s Bi Visibility Week, and I got new dance choreography over the weekend—pretty much the two most reliable ways to put me in a good mood.