MARCH IS HERE! I hope you did something great with your extra 24 hours! I'm back from my hiatus and its time that I shift gears: creating and making more.
Just Say, "NO".
"Say no to many things, so that you have room and the opportunity to say yes to great things." - Sean McCabe
Perhaps you can relate when I say it's difficult to say no to people. It's especially challenging to say no to the ones you love, family, friends, or significant others.
I have a lofty goal of getting out of debt.
Most of my debt is from student loans. There are so many things I wish I knew ahead of time and there are so many things I wish I did differently, but rather than continuing to reminisce over past times I am making the changes now.
“I can’t keep telling myself that I am going to get out of debt,
yet all my actions point to me carelessly spending the money I do have.”
I need to commit to getting out of debt by being wiser in my spending habits - and to do that I have to say no to the little things that add up.
I am learning how to invest, save, pay down my debt and have the courage to say no to the things I simply cannot afford.
In the past two months, I was approached by a few people to design a logo. There are several reasons I turned down the requests that came my way.
The Reasons of Why I recently Said No
- I am still in the early stages of hand lettering. I have yet to explore varying styles and I am in the process of building my work and my portfolio, I want to be sure that I am the right person for my future clients.
- I am building credibility. By writing and documenting my process, my future clients and collaboration partners will know what to expect from me.
- Saying no allows for the time I need to keep practicing. When I say yes to something I want to commit to it whole-heartedly. I want my yes to hold weight and meaning.
- I want to be sure that I am saying yes to the right client.
Consider this:
No is a complete sentence. You don't owe anyone an explanation. Know your values, and be sure they are uncompromising. When saying no, the other person may not feel your reasons are justified - especially when you offer up an explanation.
Work on consciously saying NO.
Never say maybe when you want to say no. You'll mislead others and give them a false sense of hope. Learn to say no when you mean no and say yes when you mean yes.
Remember your goals!
I can't stress this enough. I entered youngyetwise roth ira challenge for 2016. I also have my goals for my design studio, and simply being debt free. When I was working for a bank, I shared my goal of wanting to be debt free. Out of a branch of about 13 women (myself included) there were only about 3 people that believed me when I said I wanted and will be debt free. They believed that debt is inevitable, unavoidable, and a part of life. I believe that debt happens because we aren't educated on finances and the way money works. I made a mindset change a long time ago. Now I am taking the steps necessary to reach that goal.
Why We Say Yes
We say yes because have a sense of obligation, we owe someone. Sometimes we feel indebted to someone because of what they've done for us. Saying no comes off as being mean and you don't want to disappoint people.
Ask Yourself This Question:
“Do you want to disappoint other people or do you want to disappoint the future version of yourself? Either way you’ll disappoint someone. ”
Say no to the wrong clients.
Say no to the wrong ideas.
Say no to the wrong opportunities.
Say no to the wrong circumstances - even if they are willing to pay you money. By saying yes you give up that time.
By saying no to these things you'll make room to say yes to the right things like trips, conferences, spending time with your loved ones and saying yes to the right clients.
Analyze By Asking These Questions:
Is this working?
Is the way the relationship set up and
is the amount I'm getting paid worth it?
Is the process the way I want it to work? If not, is there room to make that relationship an ideal?
Ask yourself:
- Am I spending enough time to be healthy as a person (physically, mentally, spiritually)?
- Am I giving myself enough margin?
- Am I spending enough time with my family, spouse, kids?
Other people won't be aware of where you want to go and what your goals are. You have to know when to say, "No Thank you".
Why You Say No:
It's your tool for creating time.
It gives you credits for being able to say yes.
We say no to make room to say yes to the things that are important.
What To Say Yes To
The takeaway from this is not just why to say no or how to say no, it’s about setting up your ability to say yes. Start with the important things first and then work backwards:
- What do you want to say yes to?
- What are the things you can’t say yes to right now that you want to say yes to?
- What do you need to say no to first in order to enable to your yes?
- How much do you care about the quality of your yes?
I suggest taking the time out and answering these questions honestly for yourself. Choose one thing to focus on, learn to say no to the things that are eating up your time. Get rid of the time wasters so you can say yes to the important things.
What are you saying, "NO" to this week?
Terminologies in Hand Lettering Part 1
When starting anything new its import to first learn the basics. I've shared with you many other experiences that I've learned since starting this blog, like what tools to use. While I am still in the learning stages of lettering, It's important to share with you some basic knowledge when it comes to hand lettering.
Common Terms Used in Hand Lettering
Often times we get terminologies mixed up. We interchangeably use Typography, Hand Lettering, Calligraphy, Font - however they are all different.
Typography is a noun: it is
1. The style and appearance of printed matter.
2. The art or procedure of arranging type or processing data and printing from it.
Calligraphy is writing of letters - often in script.
Hand Lettering - is drawn or to print by hand (or digitally). Can't get any simpler than that!
Calligraphy - is written and often considered to be a form of penmanship. You use a nib and ink to write.
A font - is a part of a set of type. It is a set of printable or displayable text characters in a specific style and size. The type design for a set of fonts is the typeface and variations of this design form the typeface family. Example: Helvetica is a typeface family, Helvetica italic is a typeface, and Helvetica italic 10-point is a font.
Text (Noun): is the main body of a book or other piece of writing, as distinct from other material such as notes, appendices, and illustrations.
Additional terms:
Majuscules also known as capitals are large lettering, either capital or uncial, in which all the letters are usually the same height.
a large letter.
Miniscule also known as lowercase are:
extremely small; tiny.
of or in lowercase letters, as distinct from capitals or uncials.
For the past few months I've dedicated time working on deliberately practicing Roman capitals in the style of Garamond. Here's a mini history on the letter garamond:
Claude Garamond cut types for Parisian scholar-printer Robert Estienne.
He died in 1561.
- His work mistaken with Jean Jannon (1580–1635)
- His work disappeared for nearly two hundred years!
- With many changes it has distinctive representations of French Renaissance style.
- Garamond - though many variations - is easily recognizable by their elegance and readability.
You can learn more about Garamond and see the evolution of it by visiting this site.
I am working on a post for the anatomy of type. You'll learn even more terminologies and have illustrations to go with them. Stay Tuned!
"Hand Lettering is a form of drawing.
You can't get any simpler than that! "
What do you want to do with Hand Lettering?
Before I answer this question, I want to spend more time fleshing out my answer. However, I am curious. Why would you pursue hand lettering? What would you want to come out of it? Are you wasting your time? I will share my fleshed out answer next week. Until then, here are some of my practiced lettering pieces.
What is Hand Lettering?
Last week we learned very few terminologies used in hand lettering. This we will learn a bit more about the history, definitions and differences of lettering vs typography.
Hand-Lettering can be simply defined as “the art of drawing letters”. Whereas typography is a craft that has been practiced since the Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type. Typography is the skill of setting type. According to the latest Encyclopedia Britannica core definition of typography is that ‘typography is concerned with the determination of the appearance of the printed page’.
When Johannes Gutenberg built his printing press around 1439, the concept of typography, which had been developing slowly, was revolutionized. The moveable type system, metal alloy and casting methods gave the world a practical solution to printing. This gave rise to the discipline of typography as we know it, with kerning, leading and the terms we still use today. Each letter had its own type block on which it sat, and typesetters would arrange the type character by character.
Lettering is often hand drawn, but now with the modern age we use CAD programs such as Adobe Illustrator to convert these drawings into digital pieces.
Due to the increase of digital age, there has been an increasing amount of confusion between lettering and typography, especially since the are often created using the same programs. No longer are we using a brush or letterpress machine or a drafting table and linotype metrics. Lettering and typography are two very different skills and it is important that we as designers know the difference between the two. Understanding the complexities, similarities and differences is what will help us to continue to be great designers in a rapidly changing world.
shifting the focus back to learning lettering and chronicling my journey while providing value
Many of my previous posts revolved around me, and I've recently come to the conclusion, "what am I offering you? What are you able to take away from what I have shared with you in my previous posts?" I decided to go back to the very beginning by practicing a new style of font. I must admit, that I am well aware that I am not known as a hand lettering artist, and I realize that people may feel that I don’t have enough credibility. Even though I am working to build that; often times I do wonder what to share, what it is you want to know, and if what I am sharing is helpful. So, why should people listen to me if I'm just a beginner? Well I believe that going back to the beginning puts me in a prime position where I can ask some of the same questions that you may be having as you start out practicing hand-lettering. It has helped me to go back and put myself in the right mindset asking myself the right questions. What kind of questions am I asking as I start to learn hand lettering?…... -What type face should I study? -After choosing a type face, how do I know where the thick and thin lines will fall in a particular letter? -Should I practice my letters in any particular order?
Sharing our journeys, our stories from the very beginning, as students allow for honesty, growth in education and also allows us to record our growth. I’m learning that even as a beginner there are problems I CAN solve, like helping someone who is also getting started. Everyone doesn't have the funds to start with higher priced courses, and all free resources don't offer the minor details that may be missed. Everyone doesn't learn the same way, people speak different languages and consume information differently.
I am compelled to say however, that although there is a lot you CAN do even as a beginner to help others, you don’t want to act like an expert when you are not. This is where your honesty comes in. Before jumping ahead and attempting to do client work you want to know the basics and be sure that you are approaching your work with professionalism. I will be sure to elaborate on the case of professionalism in more detail in a later blog post.
Today, here's what you need to know. Terminologies.
- Kerning - the adjusted space between two letter pairs.
- Cap Height - the height of a letter from the base line.
- X-Height - sometimes referred as median line, the line lower case letters are based upon the height of lower case "x".
- Baseline - the (invisible) line your letters rest upon.
- Negative Space - the space that is not your subject. (the space surrounding your letters).
- Contrast - light and dark, or thick and thin in reference to letters.
As I continue to chronicle my journey, you will gain knowledge on how to become a better hand-lettering artist and designer. But before I leave, I encourage you to start your journey to hand-lettering also, and if you have any questions be sure to ask!
As you start your hand-lettering journey, what are you struggling with as as a beginner?What specific things would you like to learn?