Creative Role: The Contemplator

It’s been heard before because it’s easy to judge—“Don’t overthink it.” Over-thinking can lead to over-engineering. Or it can lead to over-analysis…which can lead to, y’know, paralysis of thinking. Or it can lead to insight.

One such example comes from illustrator Noma Bar whose visual compositions, striking in their stripped-down essence, are the results of thinking (lots of it). When asked by blog Grain Edit’s Dave Cuzner about any guidelines he lives by as an illustrator or can give to other artists, Bar emphasized pressing on with a steady pedal-to-the-mental approach:

“…think a lot. Think hard before you start to do something. I spend more time thinking than illustrating. I need to surprise myself with good ideas and not just illustrate beautiful pictures.”

Noma’s over-thinking is more like contemplation. It’s an exercise of reaching out for awareness of something better. It requires letting go of the viscosity of thinking. “Over-thinking” speaks to a ceiling. Contemplation has a ceiling too, and it’s low or as high as it could be. The hard part is determining the ideal height of thought, where the cut-off is not abrupt but on your own terms.

Tap into your inner contemplator.

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This is the fourth piece of a series focused on the lively cast of characters whose roles make the play of Creativity. In case you missed the previous Creative Role, meet the Blender.

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Typographic illustration, tailormade for this series, was done by Shawn Hazen. Read his Designer’s Quest(ionnaire).

Blogger’s Quest(ionnaire): Amy and Keith Sutter of Green Around The Globe

Amy and Keith distributing water filters in Cambodia

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Green Around The Globe is a consulting firm founded by Amy and Keith Sutter. The duo traveled to 18 countries on five continents, from Turkey to Australia, meeting with leaders whose approach to market success is “rooted in environmental sustainability.”

The Sutters rigorously documented their travel experiences. Their round-trip thoughts about web-based publishing may help your entrance into the blogosphere or further inform your current work in it:

Why did you create a Website of regular entries?
To document our around-the-world adventure and the businesses we found that were using sustainability as a key driver of economic growth.


Keith and Amy on the Great Wall in China

What Web-based solution did you select and why?
WordPress with the Thesis Theme because it is user-friendly, SEO optimized and rock solid stable. You don’t want your site crashing while you are on the road.

What is your definition of a good blog and what are
three good blogs that you frequently visit?
Regular postings with interesting and relevant content that comes from a clear voice or position such as The Road Forks, Springwise, and Green Building Law Update.


Keith scuba diving in Indonesia

How do you create content for your blog?
We take turns writing about our travel experiences. Often we find that reflecting on the experience after some time has passed allows us to have a better perspective when drafting a post. We also edit each other’s work.

How do you stay organized and motivated
to contribute to your blog?
While traveling, we had a goal of 2–3 posts per week; now that we are home, we have 1 post per week and alternate as authors.

For those aspiring to make a Website composed of
regular thoughts and/or images, what is your advice?
Be relevant to your readers, have a clear message, and define your voice—your point of view. Readers that share or appreciate your clearly articulated point of view are more likely to become regular readers.


Amy at a Japanese Baseball Game

What is your quest in blogging?
To share the stories of our travels and the success stories of the businesses we meet with while traveling that are utilizing environmental sustainability.

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Big thanks to Sylver Consulting’s Brianna Sylver, who participated in a Designer’s Quest(ionnaire), for making the connection with GreenAroundTheGlobe.

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Photographs courtesy of Amy and Keith Sutter.

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Read more of the Design Feast series Blogger’s Quest(ionnaire).

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Interface Details: Quipsologies, Square, Bertelli Bici, Fine Design Group

Self-expression—attitude, career, and “brand”—is a challenge through online typography, layout and writing. The following individuals and groups revealed their online selves in ways I found interesting with details which were unexpected, and sometimes blatant, in a no-frills straightforward way.

Quipsologies is the “daily stream” of found creative bits (“Quips”) within the “graphic design enterprise” known as UnderConsideration. The site was redesigned in the fall of 2010. In addition to the new typographic grid, colors—particularly the “Background Color Codes”—and the clear step-by-step form to submit Quips, a detail that grabbed my attention was the use of “chronicling”, versus curating, evident in the site’s one-line description:



Instead of using the typical Twitter button, the digital payment service and device known as Square states their Twitter handle, plain and simple, in their website navigation:



New York-based Francesco Bertelli, a designer and producer of custom bicycles, as well as a graphic designer and photographer, takes a different approach to his “About” section. He poses two contrasting lists which both speak as a concise, unified and unapologetic statement about his taste, which you’re either aligned to or not, when it comes to appreciating his bike style:



Instead of using the usual cue to “Sign up” for their newsletter, San Francisco-based design and communication firm Fine Design Group encourages people to “Befriend”:



I’m on the fence when creative license is taken to rename one’s profession. But on the promotional website for his book “A Practical Guide to Designing with Data”, Brian Suda calls himself an “informatician”: