Dan Burgess Design

Finally, from Massimo I learned never to give up. He was able to bring enthusiasm, joy and intensity to the smallest design challenge. Even after fifty years, he could delight in designing something like a business card as if he had never done one before. It was Massimo who taught me one of the simplest things in the world: that if you do good work, you get more good work to do, and conversely bad work brings more bad work. It sounds simple, but it’s remarkable, over the course of a lifetime of pragmatism and compromise, how easy it is to forget: the only way to do good work is simply to do good work. Massimo did good work.

Firewords Quarterly

This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

I’m trying to spend less time stuck indoors staring into the aluminium-framed abyss. I want to use my Mac as a tool for the final execution of an idea, not the exploration. As someone who came into the industry after the X-Actos and Cow Gum had already been tidied away to the big studio stockroom in the sky, it’s good to keep reminding myself that design is at its best when it’s a physical act, more than a mere click-and drag. As Paul Rand told his students: “It is important to use your hands, this is what distinguishes you from a cow or a computer operator.” So I’ve been spending more time drawing and sketching and doodling (trust me, there are subtle but significant differences), and rediscovering life away from the cursor. More photography, less Photoshop – that sort of thing. I'm covered in inky stains and papercuts and a look of shame brought on by catching sight of my own moronic handwriting, but creating without a screen has been eye-opening and revitalising. I’m one frantic creative episode away from being that guy with a stubby pencil permanently tucked behind his ear.

New Year, New Blog

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