breathe it in

I have just been admiring this gallery of particularly lovely business cards, which I found via this insane kaleidoscope of design tidbits.

my favourites: originalia and portsmouth tea co. look at all of them. go on, get sucked in.

all the work at Card Observer makes me miss the strain of pulling and tweaking all the ideas in my head into something meaningful and relevant for a specific client. it's been a long time since I've done anything like that in a design sense. I have no clients. not even any imaginary ones. there's just me, struggling to define myself and what I want.

from the about page:

We do this for a couple of reasons: to shine the spotlight on the talented designers who create these beautiful cards, and to inspire you.

it's working.

the trouble is, my life is wide open and extremely vulnerable to change at the moment. if I were to go to the trouble of designing a business card for myself, all of the information on it would probably not be the same in a few weeks.

I'm sure I'm not the only one for whom such a statement could be true. the question arises... why bother? the world is such an uncertain place. why put so much effort into anything? I ask my mum the same thing when she forcefully suggests I make my bed. it's just going to be slept in again. why bother?

inspiration is a funny thing. what are we supposed to do with all these ideas and thoughts and urges that grow like mildew in the corners of our minds? I can relate to what Marian Bantjes says in her autobiographical snippet--

I can be inspired at any moment by the strangest things. I am seldom bored. I have more ideas than I will ever be able to produce in my lifetime—some of them are even good ideas.

creation is vital. whatever sphere we find ourselves in, we need outlets. we need to give. inhale. exhale. don't worry about tomorrow.