inspiring mom

Please read this very exciting interview and be inspired!

I wish the story were more exciting. :)  I'm a graphic designer and a mother, and both of those titles seem to influence each other in my daily life.  I make decisions as a mother based on my design training and experience.  And the fact that I am a mother affects how and when I can be a design professional, so the title "Design Mom" seemed to make sense.  My intention, as I started , was to keep a record of how motherhood looks to me as viewed through a design filter -- or the intersection of Motherhood and Design.

I had read blogs for a couple of years -- mostly personal-essay type blogs.  I'd even attempted to

start my own, but found that writing personal essays, no matter how short or light, was terribly time-consuming and challenging for me.  Plus it totally stressed me out.  Then my sister Jordan started her blog, O Happy day.   It was (and still is) mostly photos, with a sentence of two underneath.  A lightbulb went off in my head -- I could write a couple of sentences without stressing.

The timing was perfect, my baby number 5 was 2 months old, and I was looking or a creative outlet that I could do at odd hours -- or in my pajamas.  Something that would help me ward off post-partum depression (which by baby number 5, I knew was prone to) and would be less stressful than taking on more freelance design clients.  Blogging was the perfect fit.

Oh man, it's always hard to name names.  

In the Graphic Design/ Textile world:

The art directors at Martha Stewart  (especially whoever did the now defunct Kids Magazine)

and a million more. . .

In the Design Blogging World:

and a million more. . .

Good Question.  I have no idea when but I do know I'd loe to Right now, I'm more interested in collaborating with an exciting line than start from scratch.  We'll see what I come up with.

It has been so much fun and gives me a daily creative fix.  Plus it's led to lots of cool opportunities.  For example, without blogging,  I would have never started sk*rt and I can hardly imagine my life without sk*rt.

Additionally, I think blogging has done an amazing job of connecting mothers.  Blogging, especially as a new mother, is such a brilliant way to help you through those months where all your hard work and learning and struggle is not being recognized.  A new mother knows what a challenge it can e to get through a list as simple as:

give a baby a bath, make a bed, eat a decent meal, get showered and dressed.

With a newborn, a list like that is a major accomplishment.

Now, with blogging, you can write a quick post about the baby's schedule.  Or how you had a marathon laundry day.  Or your errand to pick out a new baby blanket.  Or whatever.  And suddenly it seems like a valid and worthy way to spend the day, but blogging makes it recognizably so.)

As far as affecting my role as a MOM goes, it has for sure affected my daily schedule.  As my blog morphs into a business, I have brought in a babysitter a few mornings a week so that I can have some dedicated time to work on Design Mom and sk*rt.  And when my kids make something cool, they always ask me if I'm going to blog about it!