new york

/ Don

AIGA New York – ERA404 gets a new barker!

Fig. 01: AIGA barker on the ERA404 site

A little while back, Tina Roth-Eisenberg (known far and wide under the blog moniker “SwissMiss”) tweeted about an extra ticket to see the AIGA NY event with Ji Lee speaking about inspiration and the nexxus between gratification from work and gratification from personal projects.  For those that don’t know, Ji is one of a dozen or so creative directors at Google Creative Labs and the father of The Bubble Project.

The ticket, provided by the generous and inimitable Cameron Koczon, of Fictive Kin, opened up a world of creative thinkers, social drinkers and networking opportunities for design and development. We’ve had the honor of working with Ms. Roth-Eisenberg on various projects, including the MoMA staff site and I’ve followed SwissMiss‘s career for a half decade now, as well as the guest speaker and other participants in the event. And while many in the audience appeared to be students or those embarking on new careers, it was refreshing to see so many people passionate about design. Working in the vacuum that is ERA404 can sometimes feel devoid of creative ideas, especially when members of a project are on the other side of the globe.

So, part of this year’s resolution was to create a stronger bond with members of the creative community in NYC and, with four days to spare, we joined the AIGA. The last professional organization I’ve been a part of was back in college (the American Center for Design‘s “Students in Design” and our chapter’s “Design Works” student organization) as well as participating in the Grand Rapids Area Advertising Foundation (GRAAF)’s annual “Addy Awards“, in which a colleague and I won a Citation of Excellence.

It is my secondary hope that, just as being members of NYPHP as brought us design opportunities among the developer network, being a member of the AIGA will bring us development opportunities among the designer network. First and foremost, however, we’re glad to be part of such a prestigious and reputable organization that shares membership with some of my greatest heroes in the design world: Paula Scher, Michael Beirut, Stefan Sagmeister, to name a few.

What are your experiences with the AIGA, or other professional organizations? I’d love to hear your thoughts as well!

/ Don

[d]online Up[d]ates

Two quick things in reference to my new [d]online typeface.

1. American Typographers: According to this site, put together by Luc Devroye, of the School of Computer Science at the esteemed McGill University in Montreal, I’m part of the American Type Scene and featured (less than prominently) on his New York City page:
devroye(by the way, the French example translates to “On the lap of the sorceress”)

2. MyFonts: I’m now listed on myfonts.com:

/ Don

Strange Cargo

When I travel to far-off lands, I’m bemused by the oddity, the other-worldliness of ordinary grocery market shelves, where indigenous patrons must think I’m insane. I remember quite distinctly a flock (troupe? herd?) of Swiss interns—colleagues at my first dot-com gig out of college—marveling over an entire aisle of white bread. Personally, I thought they were verrückt. However when I spent a vacation in Bërn, I clearly couldn’t find one loaf of wonder bread at the nearest Coop or Migros. Read more

/ Don

tweet//404

twitI know how excited you have been to read my sparse @citarella twitter tweets. AND how you’ve reveled in finding ERA404’s quarterly newsletter in your inbox, too. So have I got a surprise for all the [d]online readers. Now you can get ERA404 news, product and project information served directly to your browser and mobile devices more than four times a year. That’s right! ERA404 is now on twitter (as if you couldn’t tell by the post title.

Add us here: http://www.twitter.com/era404

/ Don

The Complex

This is a novel I wrote when I moved to New York City. As with all hobby-novelists, its only in its second draft and far from being complete. All of the characters in this manuscript are fictional (though some of the names are close to friends of mine). If anything, the central character is loosely based on my dealings with relationships from high school to the time I met my girlfriend. In fact, unknown to her, she changed me so much that she actually changed the ending.

The Premise
A Midwesterner leaves her family and friends to try to find love in the Big Apple. She finds herself managing a three-story-building, a coffee house and a crisis of feelings, all of which she struggles to understand.

Download The Complex (PDF)
Includes: PDF of The Complex, a novel by Don Citarella.