The things kids teach us.
In 1989, an unscheduled project taught me to see differently. I was designing a small (3.75" x 5.5") book for a client and due to print production requirements, we had another book available on the press sheet. I only learned this two days before going to press. In the next two evenings I would experiment with a self-imposed assignment to come up with twenty-eight images to fill the 56-page booklet. My immediate fret came from the number of images I needed to produce in the limited time allotted. It needed to be simple and quick—and at the very least—interesting. So the prompt I gave myself was to use a 1½-inch piece of black masking tape to create a critter. The only rule was that I had to use every piece of the tape—the hole that might make an eye might result in an ear. Limitations made for opportunity.
My kids were one and four years old at the time and I had paid particular attention to their drawings. What was present in both of them was an innocence and fearlessness that showed itself in drawings with great energy and the fewest of strokes—the ability to capture the essence of something. This was a guiding influence that informed a new way of approaching each piece of tape. I became less intentional and let the illustrations become a cut-and-respond sort of play. It was a far more careless approach to than I was used to—both reckless and intuitive. It didn’t hurt that there was no client, to communications objective, and no expectation for what this would become. I did have a deadline and that served well to discourage overthinking or overworking of the illustrations.
I made twenty-six ‘tape critters’ by the deadline and were bound in books the next week!
Not only was the project fun but rewarding. We turned the little book into a promotion for the printer (Watermark Press, SF) and my design firm. As what appeared to be a frivolous, fun promotion, rendered benefits far beyond our expectations. People loved the carefree book of tape critters which surprisingly turned into real business on several occasions such as designing a typeface for Adobe called Critter.
We learned three lessons: 1) don’t try too hard, 2) don’t have unreasonably high expectations, and 3) share the fun you had with others.
In the next year, I went on to produce two more books and a total of eighty-four tape critters. People smiled and new doors opened. No kidding.
