I started jotting down word combinations with a + sign when I was doing the graphic design certificate course at SAIT. I made lists and lists and lists on scraps of paper and in notebooks.
Then I tried to sit down to make those lists into a document that I could keep track of. This was the beginning of my discovery that Excel is good for things other than math. Somewhere along the way I became someone who uses excel daily, though mostly to track ideas and lists.
I’ve been slowly trying to get my stuff in order all these years. I think I finally have the tools I need to make some real progress on these ideas and projects.
I’m also trying to be flexible and to not put too much pressure on myself. I had a regimented idea of what + should be. I still think that in a world where I had way more followers some of it could make cool t-shirts and sweatshirts, but I’m not in that world.
Instead, I’m having fun using it as a way to explore type and colour on Instagram.
I’m having fun and playing around.
Thinking less about the endless lists I made and how I’ll never get through it and just posting whatever I post today if I get to that part of my menu of tasks and projects.
Whether anyone else gets + or not it’s been in my brain for a long time. It’s nice to finally see that impulse to play with words become something.
The end of the semester, especially of second year, brings a chance to reflect on how much I’ve learned and how far I’ve come. It’s really satisfying to feel those stumbles and fumbles and inklings become something that is working.