Everybody, stop what you're doing and say hi to @jaco.designs! For the past few weeks, Sarah has been working on executing both print and digital projects for Northstar Fertility, River Bend Cemetery, and Van Dellen Solutions — all while getting her senior portfolio together for this week's Emerging Professionals Workshop with @aigact! She's been laser focused, as you can tell, and we're super excited to have her as our design intern this semester at Map Agency.

Somehow I knew I'd like riding even before I bought a bike. Just something about being on the open road. Maybe it was those long camping trips to Canada during my youth. Or hooking up the boat and traveling miles while watching the sun rise. The adventure has always intrigued me as much as the destination. It's the anticipation. I guess that's also why I like fishing. And drawing. And taking photographs. Anything where the process is as important as the product. Maybe that's why I'm a designer. Maybe that's why so many of the "designed things" I love somehow reveal how they were made. That's probably why I like this bike. I know it's just a late-model Sportster. While some enthusiasts will appreciate the fact that it's the last of the carbureted bikes, others will bemoan that the motor is rubber-mounted. (These are things I learned after I bought it, of course.) Before, I just dreamed about riding. After, I learned that riding is also just a part of the motorcycle journey. Tinkering in the garage while the kids play with their toys. Replacing parts. Cursing when something that's supposed to fit doesn't. Starting it up and just going vroom vroom. I still like being on the road, of course, but I've learned to enjoy the process of getting on the road too. One thing I'm not so enthusiastic about? That 883 typography on the side of the stock air intake. What the hell is that set in, Serpentine? I knew from the moment I bought my first motorcycle — if I was ever going to get on the road, that was the first thing that had to go.

As I was recently walking in the woods with my two little ones, Owen and Samantha, we stopped near a small stream where they like to skip stones. Then, they did something so humanly intuitive – they started stacking the rocks. They created cairns. Any outdoorsman might recognize these simple rock formations as blazes, often used to establish a trail for other hikers.

I thought, what a perfect symbol for 2024. On one hand, cairns offers guidance for those wandering. It’s a sign that somebody else has traveled this path before, and to come upon one means that you’re headed in the right direction. But — as my kids showed me — we also have the option to create new blazes, and forge our own paths. The journey is ours to make, as long as we keep traveling.

As many of you know, we love working with people that dare to create their own path, and we’re so thankful for the brand trailblazers we get to collaborate with every day. Thank you for your partnership, insightful feedback, and continued trust in our creative journeys. Cheers to another year of blazing new trails!

Thanks to @cindylatte and @andywollner for inviting me to speak to the Visual Communication Design majors @hartfordartschool, where I presented "Work in Progress: Some practical thoughts on navigating a career in design." What struck me the most were the thoughtful comments and purposeful questions by so many of the students. I hope I was able to provide some professional insight, but my personal takeaway was this: the future of design looks bright.