#77 Seek & Find
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Someone dear & close to me inspired the title Seek & Find for this New Year’s AmperArt.
2014 was a tough year for many of us. Loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, loss of property.
I was even at a loss of how to turn the numerals 2 – 0‑1 – 5 into an ampersand, a tradition for every New Year’s AmperArt rendering so far. Absolutely nothing came to mind, so I simply decided to skip this year’s endeavor & issue a non-new-year piece instead.
But then I got some shocking news. A very close, very dear person in my life – I’ll call him Mr. A – someone who has intelligence & wisdom & integrity that is unsurpassed – was laid off earlier this year. He has tried relentlessly to find another job, & is now even surviving on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches; in fact, now just peanut butter since he ran out of jelly. This is someone who is responsible about time and money, and who is not lazy about sending out resumes. And he will even settle for work that is below his multiple degree level. Still, no nibbles. My heart goes out to Mr. A, a person deserving of so much. Yet his humility, perseverence and strong faith keeps him going, seeking work until he finds something.
“The New Year, Twenty-Fifteen, will bring a change; it has to.” I didn’t say that; Mr. A did. Right then I told him he inspired me to design a 2015 New Year’s AmperArt afterall, no matter how hard I had to seek & find something relevant & maybe even clever.
The words were right in front of me: seek employment, find a job. Seek & find. Or as the bible says,
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you…”
—Matthew 7:7 (King James Version)
To my dear Mr. A, may you seek & find the position that fulfills not only your financial needs but also your passion for creative problem-solving & rewarding work.
To my family & friends & readers, may you seek & find success & prosperity in 2015. May you seek & find health & happiness. May you seek & find joy & wonder.
For those of you in a position like Mr. A, may you seek & find your dream job early in the coming year.
& to all ampersand fans, I hope you seek & find the perfect ampersand in 2015.
The font for Seek & Find was chosen for its classic proportions & round elements to complement the style of the numerals & ampersand. Obviously, a designer does not choose a typestyle based on its name, but after Seek & Find was finished I realized I coincidentally did seek & find an appropriately-named font for the new year: Futura.
For those of you who can’t find the ampersand in this edition, just seek & find a little further: it’s the “plus” sign inside the zero. (That big round circle is a zero, you know. It’s part of the abstract “2015” that makes this a new year’s piece just for this new year.) The “plus” sign is “shorthand” for the ampersand (which is shorthand for “et” or “and”). You can see how that works here:
Seek & find more interesting facts about the ampersand here.
Production notes for #77 Seek & Find:
Original size: 20x30 inches
Program: Illustrator
Font: Futura
Ampersand & numerals: drawn in Illustrator by Chaz DeSimone
Reference:
Phrases: The Phrase Finder — phrases.org.uk
For professional graphic design, please visit Desimone Design.
How is Mr a doing
This is a beautiful piece, Chaz. The design is very clever and this verse is one of my favorites.
My heart goes out to Mr. A…I can empathize and I will be praying for him.
May all who are seeking find all they need in Christ this new year.
Many, many blessings to you, my dear friend, always.
Prayers for your friend- and for your radiant spirit.
The purity of the design + layers of meaning are a delight to contemplate- even the tiny breaks at the 9 & 12 o’clock within the zero are perfectly composed, the rhyming of the 2 & 5 arcs and their acute angles are resolved by the zero becoming the whole… and on and on. An elegant proof for a calculus of form: a formula for joy.
Wow — that is articulation at its most observant and refined level! Your wording is like poetry. Even a plus sign ampersand. Thank you!
(I wish my clients could perceive the strategy and detail I put into their logos and layouts like you do.)
Happy New Year. And thank you for subscribing (I assume you did).
Hi Chaz,
Your Amperart today is my favorite one ever! I especially liked the demonstration you gave of the progression of the & into a +. Genius! Truly beautiful!
Everyone will be praying for your friend too. I know I was as soon as I heard his story.
Do you remember the famous explorer who many years ago traveled through the San Francisco Bay up to Sacramento? He was lost. He was seeking. Thankfully, he found his way! He was named Humphrey, the Humpedback whale! It was a scary journey away from home and his loved ones, but ultimately he found his way back with the kindness and blessings from strangers everywhere. I hope his wayward whale of a story gives hope to your friend.
Hi Chaz! May the creative output of yours help bring in abundance for you and Mr. A. Love what you do.…
Leslie
Love the reference to the Bible verse! May God bless you in the new year with abundant creativity and prosperity.
Hi Chaz,
The way you come up with your designes always has your heart into it 100%.
Always makes my day when it comes out. Your compassion for your fellow man makes me proud to call you my Friend. Mr. A will make it with I’m sure the knowledge and Friendship in knowing you. I’ll still add him to my Prayers. God Bless Chaz and Happy New Year!!
I sympathize with Mr. A and wish him and others in similar situations to be blessed with all of the real treasures that are in store and yet to be revealed.
Your latest AmperArt is very interesting as I first saw “crosshairs” with the circle and the “+” sign inside of it.….that is not representative of simply seeking; rather it is sniper-like focused targeting with precision accuracy! Perhaps that’s what it takes to really find what one seeks.
Thank you for your compassionate, insightful, articulate reply (& the first!).
This design was a tough one. This is pretty much the original concept, and when I saw the crosshairs myself I named the piece “Aim & Fire,” “Seek & Find” (without the “and ye shall’), even “Seek & Destroy.” All cross-hair-related stuff. Too harsh for a new year’s message, until I came across http://www.phrases.org.uk/ and was reminded of the entire biblical phrase. That made all the difference, and if anyone sees the crosshairs like you did, especially attributing it to pin-point accuracy, that’s a bonus.
I stayed up all night designing this piece, and your immediate comment, AD, made it worthwhile. But now I’m going to crash & zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz