Change is Good

“Marines, the only constant is change.”
That’s the one thing I remembered as I ‘processed out’ of the Marine Corps, Uncle Sam’s misguided child returning to civilian life. The quote was one of many during the process. It didn’t mean anything to me then. That was 1994. But it stuck in my crawlspace, and it taps my skull often. Like today.

I’ve been working with BibleProject.com for one year. My role there has shifted, a return to making over managing. My days focus on illustration, lettering and design (often in that order). Like the job change a year ago, this role change was unexpected. And the process through it has been hard. But through pain comes change—if we’re willing— and I’m grateful to work for a company that is open to change and generous with grace. Best of all, change is good. I just finished drawing a coloring book kind-of-good. I can’t share that yet (Janet on a jetpack!) but I can share this:

ABOVE: hand lettered and drawn card designs for BibleProject.com.

The Christmas card shown above was a learning experience, from “Wait, angels don’t have wings?” to learning how to say “God Arrives” in other languages. We didn’t plan for a version beyond English. But the global teams were stoked by the original design and requested language-specific versions.

Another change: A return to traditional materials. While this was done in Procreate, I’ve been inspired by fellow BibleProject illustrator, Rachel, to use old school tools again: pen and ink, raw textures, watercolors. My plan is to show more of that work soon, but through a new site I’m creating… more on that later.

Last change (and so good): Letting go of social media for Menges Design. I confirmed that decision recently after reading Stolen Focus by Johann Hari.