My wife and I make love every morning—with coffee.
Each morning, whichever of us prepares the coffee, or has the foresight to fix it the night before, also leaves the other a note. The notes are usually quick, collaged or drawn, or just a groggy sticky note. What it looks like is less important than what it says.
Coffee notes are small reminders to not take our love for granted. They’re also a daily practice, getting better at making statements of devotion to an audience. Here it’s an audience of one.
As commercial designers we sometimes get caught up in our love of the craft and in the myopic details of color and form. We forget that we work for a public: real human beings who are hungry for an honest, truthful voice. People who deserve our attention, our love, and our best work. Whether it’s for a worldwide campaign or an audience of one, I want all my work to be acts of devotion, like coffee notes.
