If you’ve been following this blog then you probably noticed a considerable slow-down in activity. In between trying to launch a new business and make another profitable I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how to maintain this blog in its present form and have an outlet for broader discussions. Ultimately it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to inject a more personal strain of posting into the stream of skateboarding, music and art that this site has been about since I started it last year. I love writing about those passions of mine but having this internal conflict left me at an impasse as to how to proceed.

Enter Critical Studies Magazine.

Its clearly not up and running yet but its on the move. I’ve wanted to start a magazine for awhile, well, forever and this looks like the answer. My writing on art, design, music and of course skateboarding will now happen there but it will also feature the talents of other reporters and place more of an emphasis on editorial development.

In the meantime jnamdevhardisty.com will begin to reflect more of my everyday concerns which is basically the art of making things and making a life from those things. If you’re still interested I’m glad to have you on board.

I once worked for a guy who had no shortage of ways to dismiss your work and make you feel really small. But he had one line that I always loved and I’ve tried to remember to use it on my own work ever since.

“Too tricky.”

That was all he said and all he needed to say. I don’t know if I’ve used that line with any of my students yet but I can imagine it. “So I’m going to make a book, the whole thing will be screenprinted on canvas and each number of the edition will be a different color and the color corresponds to a date in my journal thats been converted to a hexidecimal color and I’m going to design a new typeface based on my experiences as a—”

“Stop. Too tricky.”