Aaaaaaaaand...

I swear, Jonathan's work seems like one of the most awesomest places to work. They have (internal) contests and group outings and presentations and all sorts of bonding experiences. From the outside, it sounds awesome. I'm sure that someone on the inside could comment, but really, it's a place I believe I'd like to work.

This week's internal project for the design team is to create an ampersand. You know, something like this:

I watched Jonathan work on his last night, and was completely fascinated by the way he works. He, as is typical of most designers/developers, used his computer to design his ampersand. It was delightfully stylized and fun to watch.

I commented, though, that I would probably use pen and paper, possibly pencil and paper, to draw mine, then scan it in and redo the character in some program, photoshop, illustrator or, in Jonathan's case, fireworks. Part of the reason to use pen and paper is simply that I'm more efficient with pen and paper when drawing, and part of it is because I prefer the medium.

So, I drew my ampersand and showed it to Jonathan.

He looked at it and said, "That's your ampersand?"

Indeed it is. It's a stylized & that I picked up from Martha Meyers back in the 8th grade.

Small things can have big impacts in ways we never realize. I'd be surprised if Martha knew the influence she had on me.