The coolest annual report I've ever seen

Source: Eye Magazine

I've started listening to Design Matters podcasts at painting class every week.  It's one of my better habits (the worst being successive cookie eating every afternoon, which leads to a sugar-induced coma at my desk).

This Sunday, I was introduced to Marion Deuchars (podcast here).  Besides having a lovely accent, I really liked two parts:

1. She made an annual report that looked like this.  Awesome.

 2. She wrote a series of books called "Let's Make Some Great Art".  

She has a theory that kids love art until around the age 10.  At that point, if their drawings look realistic, they continue on with art.  If not, they move on to soccer or dance or whatever the new replacement for pogs is.  They start believing that they are not creative, which schools and the world continue to reinforce (for more on that, check out this TED talk by Ken Robinson)

As a child, I was naturally drawn to art.  I entered all of the elementary school poster contests, which were always on fire safety (I wonder if that still exists) and even sold drawings of cats to unexpecting guests in hotels lobbies (much to my parents' dismay).

Then, Kevin Pender was named the best drawer in my 4th grade class.  He dethroned me.  

At that point, I considered myself an average drawer.  Not much has changed.  I took one mandatory art class in high school and decided that basketball and student council were "my things."

Maybe things would be different if Marion's books were around then.... 

PS - One of her sons briefly joined the podcast and boasted about turning the Mona Lisa exercise into the "Man-a" Lisa.  It was adorable.

The Man Behind Kottke.org

From photopin.com

Kottke.org is a staple in the blogosphere, especially in the nerd(ish) category.

I read it sometimes.  
My boyfriend reads it all the time.  
It's an impressive, go-to place for interestingness.

Well, today I listened to the Design Matters podcast with Jason Kottke (see previous blog here) and learned a bit more about the man behind the words.  He seems like a really cool and down-to-earth guy.

Here's a few things I didn't know:

1. He's been blogging since 1998 (he's like a grandfather in internet years... it's like the same as dog years, basically).  He's written 21,000 posts to-date -- that's an average of 4 posts per day over 15 years.  Talk about dedication
2. He's married to Meg Hourihan who co-founded Blogger with Ev Williams, Twitter co-founder.  They met on a panel talking about blogging at South x Southwest (Note: I had no idea one of the co-founders of blogger was a chick.  awesome).
3. He founded Stellar, which helps curate awesomeness for you

But, this is what I found the most interesting -- here's his very first blog post. 

Why?  MAR 14I decided I needed to start writing things down. Because I forget. Because I think better and feel better when I write. I used to write often but got away from it. So here it is again. But you ask: "Jason, why not keep a private diary?" Because I'd never keep up a private diary...I need to force myself to write this. So, I made it into content. Since it's content, I feel obligated to keep it up-to-date.See these games I have to play with myself?

It's amazing how a little side project to keep himself accountable turned into the Kottke.org we know today.

What do you think your side projects could turn into?  It's always fun to daydream...