Welcome back to Facing Sideways
Facing Sideway was a blog that I established in 2007 that ran periodically through to 2018. Then it stopped when life had some other ideas on how I should be spending my time.
It had always intended to get back to it, I just didn’t realise how long it would take for me to be able to do that. One of the last articles I published on the old Facing Sideways blog outlined, more or less, what I was going through at the time. Needless to say, a combination of a relationship breakdown, the loss of some close friends, work issues (and eventual work dismissal) all culminated in knocking me for a bit of a loop. At the best of times, I’ve always suffered from extreme imposter syndrome in regards to my work as a graphic designer. In times of crisis, it is often the things you love the most that take the greatest beating. It doesn’t help when you are in a work situation, dealing with personal issues already, being told that your work isn’t any good on a daily basis, and then suddenly things get even worse, you really begin to believe what you’ve always suspected.
When it came to Facing Sideways, the blog was always a reflection of my personal views and opinions. That became difficult to reconcile with me thinking, what right do I have to express those views and opinions if those very foundations are from someone who has no idea of what he is talking about to begin with? So that’s where I stood in 2018. It takes a certain amount of confidence in ones abilities to put yourself out there, and my confidence at the time was just gone.
It’s taken me awhile to get back on track in all those aspects of my life, and thankfully, my passion and interest in design returned sufficiently that I could start thinking about getting back to Facing Sideways. The blog was originally pretty parochial when it came to covering the graphic design scene in South Australia. That came from a view that what little coverage of graphic design that happened in this country, concentrated mostly on the eastern states.
It was also a great forum (and excuse) for me to meet and talk with some of my design idols here, nationally, and in particular, during my many visits to New York. I’ve started copying some of those interviews onto this new site with more to follow.
I can’t say I have an exact vision on how this new site will progress, my mind doesn’t really plan that way. I’m hoping to do more interviews, both locally, nationally and internationally - so if you’re an established designer that would like to take part, please reach out. I’ll be writing more articles expressing some of my opinions and views, talking a bit more about dealing with mental health in the profession, working life as a freelancer and pointing out some really good design and designers that may not have received the recognition they deserve. Hopefully I’ll also get back to some of the more popular features of the old site, the yearly review of the AGDA awards, a round up of some of the best designed album covers of the year, and lots of design related book reviews.
What the site won’t be is just a collection design work, there’s already plenty of better sites that already accommodate that. More importantly, the site won’t feature much of my own work, I don’t want it to be about me in that regard. Occasionally I might put something up on the Facing Sideways instagram as I have been doing, and I have some ideas for some printed publishing pieces that will fall under Facing Sideways and be featured when and if they happen. If you are at all interested in seeing my work, I put out a newsletter periodically of some of my recent projects, drop me a message or email if you are interested in joining the mailing list, especially if you think you might like to work with me!
Finally, thanks for taking the time to stop by and take a look, hopefully the site will grow organically as more articles will be added weekly. And please, don’t be afraid to email or leave a message on what you think, a lot of the incentive on working on Facing Sideways comes from the knowledge that at least a few people are reading it! As mentioned above, I’m interested in hearing from established designers who would like to be interviewed, anyone who might like to contribute an article and anyone who might have an interesting project or product that might fit the general remit of the site (such as it is). I hope to hear from you.