Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Must have: The Best Part Blog by Jason Dean "Art is my zen"


Jason Dean: http://thebestpart.myshopify.com/

It's like a big box full of artsy treasures: "The Best Part" is a daily commentary by artist, designer and blogger Jason Dean from Orlando, Florida.  With tradeyourtalent he speaks about looking at thousand of art images every day, taking chances and why he loves his job.


When did you start your design blog?

Technically I started it in 2008, but what I didn't realize at the time was that I've essentially been doing this my whole life. Even before the blog, I compulsively collected anything I found inspiring. I copied images from magazines and books, and downloaded imagery I came across from the web. Today the blog still follows this format, a collection of things I find inspiring.

Why "The Best Part"?"

The name basically refers to the idea that I'm collecting and publishing "The Best Parts" of what's out there on the internet. I look through thousands of images daily to find the things I find to be the most impressive. That's the concept anyway. The truth is that I hijacked the name from an album by one of my favorite hip-hop artists, New York's J-Live.

Do you have favorite designers?

Of course! I really admire people like James Victore and Stefan Sagmeister for having balls and taking chances. They could easily play it safe and make a living, but instead they consistently push the envelope. I'm also a huge fan of Josef Muller-Brockmann, his sense of composition and scale is just impeccable.

Where do you find "the best parts"?

Google Reader (and the RSS feed) is a godsend for me. Before that, I would individually visit between 50-100 blogs every day. At this point, I'm lucky enough to get quite a few amazing submissions. But I still spend an hour at the very least every single day going through my reader to find possible posts. It's my favorite part of what I do, simply looking at tons of work and finding inspiration. Looking at art is my zen, I guess.

What do you do besides blogging?

When I'm not working on the blog, I'm normally creating prints that I sell in my online shop (at thebestpart.myshopify.com). That's about it. It's probably a good thing that I have no children and my wife travels a lot for work, because they would probably feel a bit neglected. When I'm focused on my work I can be difficult to be around. It's like nothing else exists in the world. But I guess that's why I love what I do, I wish everyone could have that feeling about their job. The world would be amazing!



Jason Dean: http://thebestpart.myshopify.com/


Jason Dean: http://thebestpart.myshopify.com/

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