I know it is New Year’s day at some regions/places. It is 22.40 GMT here at the United Kingdom. I will like seize this moment to thank you all for being part of this adventure of mine.
Some of my favourite posts have been Living, Together,Storybook, and of course,Kojo and Not Just a Pretty Faceby Tambu Geeray respectively. I must state that Collaborating with Tambu Geeray brought out the best in my design concept to bring his story to life.
96 posts and counting, I wouldn’t have been here without the amazing followers and readers that have become a huge part of this journey.
My initial intention when I started was to at least have someone have a peek at my portfolio (which seems outdated now) having gone and studied Graphic Design as a mature student and doing the best I could. Life is about learning and discovery, and also rising to challenges. Studying Graphic Design in my mid to late thirties was no exception. It was very tough, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Imaging not trying at all. I gave my all despite my struggles, and in the end I graduated with a First Class Honours in Graphic Design.
In all these, I have met so many wonderful people along the way, and on the WordPress platform I have discovered some gems in people, their writings and stories. Simply amazing!!
This post barely has the space to express my gratitude. But here is to you all that have helped shaped and moulded me to who I have become. I can proudly say that I blog, I design, I inspire (I’d like to think so), I aspire, I illustrate, I……, I TRY.
2019 holds greater challenges but we will all rise to the occasion. Let’s go!!!!!!
Thank you again from the bottom of my heart and have a blessed 2019.
Life is an ever-changing blend of sweet and sour. _Dr Perry
Life is an ever-changing blend of sweet and sour, sometimes it parallels the sweetness of honey and other times it can be as sour as a lemon. It is easy to become overwhelmed when we think of the frailty of life. Every day of our lives we have one foot stepping forward into the unknown while the other momentarily remains suspended in the past. Life is a flux of constant energy in motion. We grasp for it, only to momentarily hold onto it, as it slips away.
I wish I had the ability to suspend the forward motion of time. I would choose to live in certain moments of my life; only moving on when I was completely ready to do so. Sadly, life does not allow us to hit the pause or replay button. Every moment blooms and wilts replaced by countless others. We must treat our time with reverence and not waste it foolishly. Life should be lived consciously and not in a state of reverie.
Dr Perry.
MakeItUltra™ Psychology
I read Dr Perry’s Awaken The New Year 2019 and I was totally blown away by how he poetically summed up ‘life’. Being a lover of words and quotes, I reached out to Dr Perry to permit me to post these two paragraphs from his post. Being the gentleman that he is, he kindly accepted. I did what I usually do as a designer and that is to give a visual context using text and image to elicit the emotional connotation of what he was trying to convey.
I would highly recommend that you visit Dr Perry’s blog which is packed with words of wisdom and super knowledge on psychology and state of being.
It is a mistake to think time is going. Time is not going. Time is here until the world ends. It is you that is going. You don’t waste time. Time is infinite. You waste yourself. You are finite. It is you that grows old and die, time doesn’t. So make better use of it. And one of the worst things to do with time is comparing yourself to others. A cow eats grass and gets fat but if dog eats grass, it will die. Never compare yourself with others, run your race. What works for one person may be that which will kill you. Focus on the gifts and talents God gave you and don’t be envious of the blessings He gave others. If a rose smells better than tomatoes, It doesn’t mean the rose can make a better stew. Don’t try to compare yourself to others. You also have your own strength, look for it and build on it. All animals that exist, were in Noah’s ark. A snail is one of those animals. If God could wait long enough for snails to enter Noah’s ark; His door of grace won’t close till you reach your expected position in life. Never look down on yourself, keep looking up. Remember that Broken crayons still colour. Keep on pushing, you never can tell how close you are to your goal.
_Anonymous
I was sent this powerful message via my WhatsApp chat. It was a forwarded text so I couldn’t place the source that have written it. I have chosen to use ‘Anonymous’ to credit the author and I hope the real author can find this so I can give whomever their deserved accolade.
This is such a powerful message. How we spend our time is crucial. Life’s projects and goals need extensive time management. I find myself tuning in weekly to Chris Croft’s Success Habits weekly and Dave Crenshaw’s Time Management weekly courses, both on Lynda.com/LinkedInlearning in order to master how to manage my time.
I do struggle with time especially when prioritizing on things essential and least essential. Numerous time I look back and think “what did I really do with my time today?” — ‘day’s gone, and I’ve accomplished nada!’ Time seem to go by so quickly, or so it seems.
Like the author has eluded to, it’s terrible practice comparing oneself to others. We each have our unique gifts and talents, and we run our individual race. “Comparison is the thief of joy” says Theodore Roosevelt.
Comparison leads to pain and misery. Making optimal usage of time in our hands leads to a much fulfilled life I would say.
Let’s make the most of our time. Come on now, we can all do this!
Design, Art direction, Post
By Philip Abang
Credit: Anonymous
“You should bring something into the world that wasn’t in the world before. It doesn’t matter what that is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a table or a film or gardening—everyone should create. You should do something, then sit back and say ‘I did that.'” _Ricky Gervais
I believe one of the best things about managing people is that we can influence lives in a positive way. That’s basically what a manager is about. When I can do that, I am very happy. _Arsene Wenger
I want to cease this opportunity to wish Arsene Wenger a happy birthday. You have been one of the greatest managers the English Premier League has ever seen. You helped change it’s history and arguably the way modern football is perceived and played. You are one of the greatest Arsenal manager of all time, and many will agree that you are the greatest. You made history going an entire season with a team that was unbeaten thus garnering worldwide recognition and tagged The Invincibles.
I have been a huge admirer of your works, your ethos, and how you exude class. Your quotes are gold especially for me being a sucker for one. How about this for a start…
“A football team is like a beautiful woman. When you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful.”
Your sense of humour is epic. There is no denying that the English media miss all that you brought to the table, your constant battle zipping your elongated and oversized coat at most match days thus giving the viewers a bucket full of laughter, montages of gold footage, your press conferences, your banter with other rival managers but above all your incredible intelligence of the ‘beautiful game’ and life itself.
Dear ZedTears, Not Just a Pretty Face #2 By Tambu Geeray
There he stood, looking at her
In ways she’s never been looked at
There was a lot to say
To give peace to her troubled soul
But the words wouldn’t come out
He feared the outcome of his eventual outpouring may spell doom
“Hold your tongue man,” he said to himself.
Still he held her so tight and gently placed his lips
On her left ear
Like he had found that perfect diction
Again, the words failed to come to fruition.
In his frustration, he reluctantly took another deep look in her eyes
As dark clouds gathered therein
In a whisper, slowly he said her name
Then hesitantly walked away
Doing all he could to stifle the tears from trickling down
Denying her the luxury of his weakness.
She didn’t want him to leave
But made no effort at holding him back
She had felt his heartbeat the whole time in that bitter-sweet embrace
Wishing he said something, anything
Even a true lie wouldn’t hurt now
But suffice beautifully
The spasmodic rhythm on his chest was too much to bear
There was more to this than mere words
Of that she was sure
She knew him so well to understand that right there
That heartbeat was that of a bird
Like Big bird in sesame street
In dire need to flap her wings and touch the sky.
With sad eyes she let him leave
She watched him close the door
And with parted lips, she knew he loved her
But something was missing.
Gretchen Rubin is a Four-time New York Times bestselling author, speaker and podcaster. She is the creator of the Four Tendencies framework, exploring happiness and good habits.
Hello ZedTears. Thank you from the bottom of my heart
Corita Kent. Corita 100. mock up
I haven’t been as active posting blogs or wonderful quotes on my site lately. I am in the process of moving home so it is physically tasking coupled with work and family activities. Although, I still do come across many inspiring quotes that I would have loved to design and post here but obviously things get overtaken by events.
I will love to share in depth why I do what I do, why I love to design quotes and why I use a degree of expressive typography in a subsequent post. But for now let me share my process of how I come across quotes. Leonardo Da Vinci once said that “learning never exhaust the mind”. My approach to learning lead to my path in Graphic Design. The first day I heard of the term ‘Graphic Design’ was the day I pick up the phone and called a few universities if they had vacancy so I could enrol. Thanks to my business partner at the time who mentioned it in conversation and thanks to UEL that had vacancy for me to start a new chapter in my life’s storybook. Learning is never too much in my opinion, we’ll keep learning and discovering new things until we cease to exist.
I try to pay attention to things that I read, watch or listen to. This approach often or most time lead to discovery and a wealth of knowledge. The quotes I post have come as a result. Some quotes posted have also come from some blogs read and from some amazing bloggers on this platform. I wasn’t aware of this platform until I shared my first post. By this I mean a channel where a community of great minds and awesome individuals shared great posts and contents. Sincerely speaking, when I shared my first post it was at the beginning of March 2018. My intention was to have a portfolio website displaying some of the works I had done and something extra that I could share my thoughts and my design process.
Enough of the blah blah blah! Not so long ago, I designed and posted a series of quotes on Corita Kent when she was mentioned in a YouTube video I was watching. I did a research on her and was blown away by this incredible woman, her works, her powerful and inspirational words. I was truly inspired. I could see why Brian Collins mentioned her in that video and why she is an inspiration to many designers, artists, painters, writers, you name it.
Recently, I have started posting on instagram, and shared these quote series there. The quotes had many likes and some comments too to my astonishment. I was discovering another world. The quotes were liked by Designspiration, Corita Art Center and more.
Last week I had a direct message from Corita Art Center based in Los Angeles, CA. saying how they loved my artwork and will like me to submit the artwork as they were celebrating Corita’s 100th birthday anniversary. The artwork is considered for the #coritaartcontest #coritainspired, #corita100. Needless to say how humbled I was by this very kind gesture and for the work to be recognized. This is an indication that some things we put out or share could mean a great deal to others.
I wanted to share why I do what I do in a subsequent post but I might as well spill the beans on why I design quotes. I design quotes because I am inspired by the powerful words (I hope someone else shares my sentiment). I also design quotes because it lets me experiment with type and typography (as a graphic designer). I see typeface(s) as image(s). I design quote because it gives me so much joy in doing so. I design quotes as it has become somewhat of a hobby. I design quotes because I love quotes period.
The reason for the Corita Kent’s quotes was not to gain praises or recognition, it was for the reasons stated above. Words cannot fully express how grateful I am for the likes and recognition though, for the readers of my blogs and for the followers too. Without you I wouldn’t be wholeheartedly enjoying this process, and wanting to post more content.
I will be sharing my design process on how I created the Corita Kent artwork in a later post.
I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to Corita Art Center, and to the wonderful community of readers and followers of creatives.
Design, Art/Creative direction, Illustration, Mock up, Post
By Philip Abang
Philip Abang 