Doonesbury part III

Now, this has happened to customers of mine. Truly. At least, when a date or location has changed and there's no time to reprint all the stationery. But now I know the beauty of titling an insert card "errata"!

Thanks you Doonesbury for so many decades or inconceivably relevant humor.

Doonesbury part II

And you thought you had problems with deciding on wording for your invitations....

Again via Doonesbury comic site

Doonesbury 1981 (bear with me, it's relevant)

From the era when proofing your invitations was a whole lot harder

From the Doonesbury site, pointed out to me by my beloved dad

Why the customer is always right

Or perhaps it should in particular be "Why the bride- or groom-to-be is always right". This is not some catch-phrase built to avoid issues or make sales—it has a reason. They are always right because they are spending their hard-earned money on something that is important to them. You may believe that it is important to you, but if you are putting it out there to be sold, hopefully you are doing so because you want others to love it. And if you want them to love it, you should expect anxiety over it.

Now, what I'm talking about is a customer of a product. That is not the same thing as a "client". A client, whether of a law firm or design firm or any kind of what-have-you firm, they can indeed be wrong. They are not bringing their expertise to the table, they are hiring you because they want YOU to tell them what to love. Clients can be wrong. And you should find either the kindest way to explain it to them, or not work with them.

But customers, they are always right. It is important for me, for any of us in the mercantile world, to remember. We've already made our design and put it out there into the world, for others to appreciate. And weddings are an incredibly stressful time, and everything one buys is suppose to symbolize, to positively REEK of love. How can one stand straight underneath that weight?

So, dear anyone, have pity for customers. Have pity for all of us who must bear the burden of anyone thinking we're crazy during wedding planning time. When we fall in love with something we may behave wrongly but our hearts are right.

Numbers book

So it has been pretty much impossible for me to start on my number 4 daily resolution, "Just start on it". Meaning, just start a personal project, any project. Stream of consciousness writing is nice and all and good for getting chops, but it is not an end goal. Common Core may be fraught with tremendous issues but I'll agree with it on that point.

Long story.

But here is something I hope to work on, with the impetus of one of my best friend's impending (or arrived??) baby girl.

The first "books" for infants are simply high contrast shapes, that you point to again and again and repeat what they are. It is intensely boring. So I've been thinking for a long time about a numbers book that has writing for adults within it. I got so exhausted trying to talk to August as a baby while showing him a book. Sleep deprivation is a murderer of imagination, an executioner in full mask and leather body suit.

At first I imagined it with classic text in it: maybe some Jane Austen, maybe some Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But now I think it should be funny. The number one is easy and I'm not sure about the flow of the others, but I know by 7 one should be allowed to bemoan how boring reading to a baby can be.

I hope I can continue and not get frustrated and give it up. I don't want to be that. I wish I were a genius who could do naught but express/enable/pass on what comes through my mind. There's a better word. Something midwives do...