Once you have one way of doing things it's so easy to just stick with it. Times change, fashions come and go, but you're not letting go of your process.
Change is hard, right? We also would have to face up to the fact that we were doing it wrong all the time. We're always afraid that we're doing everything wrong anyway so why start to pull everything apart?
So let me tell you about software. Graphic software. Graphic software created by the Adobe corporation.
I'm sure you're aware of Photoshop. It's how we talk about how every image is manipulated. It's moved on over to being a verb despite Adobe telling everyone it's inappropriate.
Another bit of software that Adobe makes is Illustrator. I LOVE Illustrator. For years it was my go-to program for creating any image. You can create wonderful pictures that are built with vectors.
As a result, those pictures can scale as big as you want. Want a one-inch button? There you go. Want to wrap a building? You're already done.
Want to export the file to a laser cutter so that you can cut those shapes out of wood or acrylic? You can do that!
I love this program so much that when it came time to make my own calendar I naturally used it. I used it for years. It was used for every different variation.
Then my computer exploded!
My computer didn't really explode. The battery inside decided it would have enough and one of the traditional funerals for a lithium battery is to slowly expand. Unfortunately this one expanded inside my laptop, breaking everything else along the way.
My purchased copy of Illustrator went right along with it. So I had to get an Adobe Cloud account. Which is when I remembered something about InDesign, an Adobe program for laying out stuff for print.
I opened it up and started messing around to see how it worked. Within about ten minutes or so I realized I was an idiot. This is the program I should have been using all these years.
I was wrong. I wasted so much time. I made so many useless mistakes along the way that InDesign would have prevented. I should've done the research.
I should've asked my wife for advice since she's a graphic designer. That one embarrassed both of us quite a bit.
That's OK. It's always about starting from now. I could've done it better before, but so what? It doesn't change my life now. My life has improved. My workflow has improved.
I have a new tool and I love it.
When I want to dive back into playing with vectors to make some new images I will be sure to play some music and get lost in Illustrator.
I have more options now and that's how it should be.