Over the past two or three years I have wrestled through post college
struggles with career and income, identity and passion, in the worst
economic recession this country (the U.S.A.) has experienced since the
Great Depression. As I took my first steps into the sometimes hostile
professional world of graphic design what I personally found was a field
of creatives who hungered for validation via success. Success was
defined by fame, and who you knew, who your clients were, how many
followers you had on Twitter, how many friends you had on Facebook, how
many likes you had on Dribbble, who you had pictures with on Instagram.
Those who possessed such qualities had influence. I suppose it’s the
cost of living in the digital age. Personally, while others found it
intoxicating, I have found it to be suffocating.
I have been an artist since I could first hold a crayon, and most
likely have been a creative since before I had the faculties to express
my creativity. I have always known I was a bit different from the other
kids growing up. The world always seemed to be so much more rich and
colorful to me. I felt that world around me as a kid. It’s probably for
that reason I latched on so early to the output of two creatives who saw
the world in vastly different ways from most everyone else, ways that
resonated with me, that touched my creative sensibilities. Those two men
were Jim Henson and Walt Disney.
What I have come to understand about myself in the past 3 years or so
was something that I’ve always understood about myself, but never made
the connection professionally- I am functioning my best when I am doing
what I love and creating things- touching my creative intellect and
expressing myself through it, and as a result, delighting others. I
recently expressed to a friend of mine that I love delighting people. I
love seeing delight on people’s faces from something I made or did for
them, that delighting people is very deeply part of my psyche. I like to
think that Walt enjoyed what he did for the same reasons. He once said:
“Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the
children’s approach to life. They’re people who don’t give a hang what
the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They
are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a
degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn’t
much, either.”
This statement resonates deeply with me. It is probably
the reason why Disneyland is my favorite place on earth to visit. Don’t
get me wrong- there are many other places that are more exotic, more
grand, more beautiful, and maybe even more interesting than Disneyland.
But for me, Disneyland addresses so many ideals that are important to me
personally- like joy, and family, childhood, and dreams, wonder,
creativity, ingenuity, self-expression, the possibility of the
impossible! Something Walt once said that has been a banner of sorts for
me since I first read it as a teenager is “Think. Believe. Dream. Dare.” These four seemingly innocuous words have grown in personal meaning for me over the years, and carry more weight lately.
It is those four words that have inspired this blog, it’s name, and
the content and personal projects which I will be posting on it.
Imagineering is a phrase, popularized in the 1940’s, Walt used to
describe the blending of imagination and engineering, and adopted to
describe the skill set embodied by the employees of Walt Disney
Imagineering, known as Imagineers. I first saw the term Backyard Imagineer on the blog Imagineering Disney
to categorize creatives who were doing their own self-motivated and
self-initiated projects relating to the engineering of imagination. As I
venture into this new world of Imagineering through my own personal
projects I invite you along for the ride with me! I hope you’ll find
delight in my musings… thank you for taking the time to do so!
