Tim Gruber and Jenn Ackerman use both photography and video to tell stories for editorial and commercial clients. 
Much like An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth which I’ve blogged about numerous times already. The Ten Things I Have Learned by Milton Glaser is another read that will make a healthy addition to your creative life.
Glaser’s item number six really hit home with me as it talks about style something I’ve been dealing with a lot recently in putting my print portfolio together.
6 – STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
It’s absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. I mean, after all, you have developed a vocabulary, a form that is your own. It is one of the ways that you distinguish yourself from your peers, and establish your identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. The question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn’t make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide.But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose.
A few more from the list:
8 – DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is.One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty. Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you.
9 – ON AGING.
The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last.
Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’
This a bit of wisdom that I’ve never been able to fully trust. I think it’s sneaky. Probably because it makes so much sense when you see it with your peripheral vision but seems so much less attractive when you look at it straight on, or worse, think of actually doing it.
Sometimes, when debating the existence of God, some people of faith will confess: if there is no God, how could you go on living while knowing that this is it? If it doesn’t matter — if it’s all small stuff — why push your boundaries; why explore?