iPhone photography: red berries

Something unexpected happened with my September Shift list. First I put it out there. Then you gave me wonderful feedback both in comments and email. Thank you! I can’t really express how helpful it’s been!

And then I stared at my list. And spent time with the list and my thoughts. Gradually my thoughts turned more towards the season, towards the shift and how refocusing seems to be a recurring theme both in my life in general and for my creativity. (Here’s an example of Refocusing Creative Life.)

One day everything seems to be going well, I’m satisfied with how I’m supporting myself with yoga and swimming and healthy meals, my work is going well and is full of meaning. I’m learning new things, spending time with loved ones and the items on my to-do lists are getting ticked off at a gratifying pace.

Then one day, I’m out of sync with the beautiful plan, maybe it started with a cold that set off my daily routines or perhaps I started doubting myself, or had a technical difficulty, or got swamped with work, for what ever reason though, it feels like I lost balance and I have to make an effort to get back on track. Focus and then refocus. Perhaps it’s simply a natural part of life that we’ve lost touch with?

So I thought I’d like to do this deliberately, take stock and refocus, regularly, before I lose the plot. And since it feels so appealing and natural to me to follow the seasons, why not make a shift each autumn, winter, spring and summer? Then I thought that if I find this helpful, maybe other people do too? So I’ve been carried away by a wave of creativity and inspiration, working on a set of Seasonal Shifts! I’m so excited and almost ready to release the first one!

iPhone photography: birch tree and lights

First the squirrels chase each other across the oak tree and then the pigeons arrive. It’s the acorns. It’s the end of summer. The scent of apples. A kind of clarity in the air. The last night the party lights are strung up under the birch tree. Harvest time and a shift to a different pace. 

And I’m not painting, which is what I really should be doing in my spare time. Instead I busy myself with things that seem important, or that seem fulfilling but that leave that slight feeling of unease or dissatisfaction… You know that feeling one can get after having indulged in fast food? It kind of wasn’t worth it? Busy work. The kind of work that seems productive, but actually just keeps you occupied. (Is it just me or does this happen to you too?)

So I wrote a list of what I need to balance and prioritise in the area of art and design.

• paint
• redesign my website (like disappearing down the rabbit hole?)
• design skins for iPhones and put them up for sale in my shop
• make an illustrated recipe book or perhaps prints with recipes (“Studio Cooking” perhaps? Quick, fun and easy both for a budget with the odd party thrown in. What do you think?)
• prepare some new super inspiring interviews with creatives for your reading pleasure
• open life drawing programmes start soon. I’ll be going to draw dancers in motion at the Museum of Dance and perhaps try a new one for the regular life drawing.
• website maintenance (yawn, and also another rabbit hole)
• make pixel art mini posters with Hype Hair designs
• write a micro magazine for members of Club Marmalade Moon. (The next issue will come with a pre-release of a new collection of Vintage Folder Icons)
• did I mention painting?

Lets see if writing this list puts things into perspective for me and gives you an idea of some of the things you can expect here at Marmalade Moon this autumn. What’s your autumn looking like? Got that back to school feeling of energy and clarity? Fresh beginnings? New projects on the go? Or still muddled up like me, with more ideas than time?

“Luminous: Grey” wallpaper keeps your desktop calm and focused in a neutral dark grey, discretely adding interest with texture. Perfect to use together with Luminous Greyscale Icons.

This pack of wallpaper includes versions for fullscreen and widescreen computers as well as the iPhone, iPhone 4 and iPad.

< — Save this wallpaper to your computer.

The Complete Series of Luminous Wallpapers:

Luminous Ultramarine Wallpaper
Luminous Cerulean Wallpaper
Luminous Grey Wallpaper

If you’re using Apple’s e-mail you can turn off the distractions notifications, and the problem is solved by being out of sight out of mind. Instead of knee-jerk checking your e-mail, you can check mail when you feel like it or when you have made time for it.

Here’s how to turn off notifications for Apple’s mail

Open the preferences. Change the dock unread count to none! That’s it!

While you’re at it, you can also make changes to how often you want to automatically check your e-mail, as well as change your preference to only check for mail manually. Change the sound for new e-mail or set the sound to none at all.

Now it’s up to you to check your email instead of having that “unread count” broadcast to you. A subtle shift, but one that can make a powerful difference.

Creating a desktop work flow process will help you be more efficient so you can focus on your projects rather than feel overwhelmed by desktop clutter.

Customize your folders and desktop icons helps you to quickly and easily locate your favorite applications, the projects you are working on, and your most important files and folders.

Rapidly finding and identifying the files you are looking for speeds up your work and reduces stress.

Customizing your desktop with my Workflow Collection icons can show a night and day difference

Workflow Desktop Icons

• It contains the Inbox icon (shown above) for your “collection buckets” such as your folder for downloads, your folder for brainstorming, URLs you’re saving, images and loose ideas that need to be processed.
• The TO-DO icon (a clipboard) can be used for “next actions.
• The Doing icon (a gear) for “active projects”
• The pending icon (an hourglass) for “waiting for” and
• The archive icon for “completed projects”.

This method works excellently for David Allen’s Getting Things Done (or GTD) action management method but also for personal methods of staying productive and organized in a simple way.

Not sure how to customize your icons?  Click here for a great tutorial!

More Suggestions for a Productive Desktop:

Zen .. Zen .. Where’d I put my Zen? The Beauty of an Organized Desktop
Color Code your Folders and Improve Productivity
How to Organize Your Desktop by Naturally Following Your Workflow
How to Change Your Icons

Have your ever lost yourself in what you were doing, so much so that you lost track of time? Felt challenged in a good way, and so fully engaged that time flew by? Then you’ve been in a state of Flow.

Flow is a mental state of consciousness. An effortless, automatic, ecstatic mental state when you step into an alternative reality.

You’re highly focused and concentrated on an activity when you have flow. Fully engaged and in control.

You’re so entirely absorbed in the task at hand that your sense of time is distorted, you feel part of something larger. It’s almost as if you don’t exist or as though you are one with what you are doing.

When a person is in flow, the activity, such as art, play or work, is a reward in itself. It’s worth doing for its own sake. It is its own reward. Experiencing flow makes you feel happy. Elated. Euphoric. Delighted.

“When we are involved in [creativity], we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.” –Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The term flow was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi teaches psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University, and focuses on human strengths such as optimism, motivation and responsibility. In this video Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi speaks about flow at this talk held at TED.

Which activities bring us flow? The other day my friend said “isnt’ it GREAT when you get into house cleaning flow!?” And then we laughed. But it’s true, so many different activities can give flow! What are your favorite areas for flow?

iPhone photography: Laundry

A fresh new year. Big dreams and hopes. Some people make resolutions, I make wishes and chose a theme for the year (my theme for the year is flow). But after the big splash of renewal settles down and everyday life sets in, it’s easy to lose sight of your big ideas for change. Dreams. Renewal. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the everyday bustle.

This year I’m thinking about which daily habits drained my energy in 2010 and which habits boosted my energy. Because after all, it’s in our daily life that change takes shape and dreams materialise. 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there. If we can replace energy drain with energy boost, we’d build a much more sustainable and fun daily life, right?

So, which daily habit drained my energy in 2010? Without a doubt, it was social media. It’s time to clean up my act. Simplify. Delete. Do I really need to keep that Flickr account or the showcase for my iPhone photography on Posterous that I haven’t updated since the summer? Is there a point in being on Facebook when I barely ever check in? While thinking about this, I’ve weaned myself off my favourite procrastination tool Twitter and I already feel energized.

What’s your theme for the new year? How do you deal with the stream of social media? Which daily habits drain and boost your energy?

iPhone Photography: the first winter day

Do you feel a need for reflection at this time of year? In between the energising summer and the comforting winter holidays? Before the bustle of holiday preparations and the blank page of a new year?

I do. It’s so easy to get caught up in the bustle of everyday chores, and lose sight of the big picture. This feels like a good time to assess what’s been working and what hasn’t. I’d like to let go of the baggage of the past and be ready for a new beginning. Ease myself into Christmas and find a focus for next year.

My theme for this autumn has been to reevaluate my expenses, energy and time. I seem to constantly be pruning and reinventing my digital life. Reducing stress, clutter, noise to support focus and creative space. This autumn I’ve reclaimed a surprising amount of time, focus and money by cutting back on online activities, subscriptions and participation in various online forums, challenges, blogs, e-courses, business books and so on, in favour of focusing more on being in the present, spending time with family and friends and exploring opportunities of the offline world. So far I’ve:

1. Taken a course in “Discovering and Creating Patterns” at the National Gallery of my hometown.
2. Applied for an artist’s grant to go to Paris for a month! (cross your fingers!)
3. Set aside Friday afternoons in the studio for spontaneous, playful explorations in different media with a focus on letting go of expectations. It’s been wonderful to create a space for my own creativity (aside from client work) and to treat that time with the same respect as I would if it was a course or a meeting with other people.

I thought about what I’d like to focus on during the end of the year, and jotted down my thoughts with pen and paper:

1. A time to commit to your art and illuminate the skills and resources that nurture your talents. Build a stronger foundation.
2. Inner wealth.
3. Look at different ways of generating an income.
4. Keep it simple. Sensuality. Slow life. The cozy comforts of home.
5. Bloom where you’re planted. Sink in where you are, a path to creativity.

What are your reflections for the end of winter? How has your autumn been? Do you like to refocus and reassess now and then?

Icon design process. From sketch to basic shapes

When I’m happy with the sketches for the icons, I launch Adobe Illustrator and start blocking out the icons, drawing simple, clean vector shapes using my pen tablet. I’m designing the Collection of Process Icons in the same style that was established for the first three collections of desktop icons. In this unique design project, everything from the icon concept to the simple and elegant style is based on feedback from you. The look and feel for Process Icons uses the same set of perspectives with simple, uncluttered shapes that are easy to distinguish and find on your desktop. The style is based around a rich colour palette and elegant, natural textures.

Icon design process. Adding details, colour, shading and light

Once I’ve blocked in the basic shapes, I start adding details and colours, next shading and last highlights. In this example with the alarm clock you’ll notice the same palette of reds as in the icon with the Cookery Book, the same greys as in the Gear icon and the same soft cream as in the Shoebox icon. Using the same style consistently, ensures that all the icons fit together and that you can mix and match the different collections to suit your needs.

And in case you were wondering about the dotted lines across these images, yes they are the watermarks I designed for these icon previews to at least make it more difficult for people who want to steal images. [To be continued... ]

Did you miss the other parts of this series?

• Part One: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Sketches
• Part Two: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: A Vintage Touch
• Part Three: Designing the Collection of Process Icons: Indicating Time