I had such grandiose plans for The Summer. I was going to finally sit down and design myself a Real Identity System™. Then, once that was complete, I was going to completely overhaul my current website with said Real Identity System™. I was going to do both The Right Way™ — tons of research and sketching for the identity system, wireframes and information architecture for the website. Treat myself like an actual client. In some ways, better than my actual clients, with the idea of then taking what I learned and treating my clients better. Unfortunately, The Summer just ain’t what it used to be.

So, here I am in the middle of August. I have a brand new logo (which you can see at the top of my site). It’s the first real logo I’ve ever had, and I’m really happy with it. Logo design is one of those sub-disciplines that some people are naturally good at. I am not naturally good at logo design. But I sketched for a solid 2 weeks, then refined for a solid 3 weeks, and I think I cracked the logo design nut. And hopefully won’t have to do so for a while again. In the few weeks since I finished it, I’ve made several attempts to design myself a new website and/or make actual letterhead/business cards. I seem to have run out of steam and summer, though.

I found myself in a familiar predicament. Do I let this new logo, that I’m happy with, sit and wait for the rest of my Real Identity System™ to catch up? I’ve been there before, and that wait can become eternal. Or, do I make the best of it, and incorporate my new logo into my current site. I obviously chose the latter. I’ll admit it’s a bit of a kludge, but it works. And hopefully, staring at the imperfectness of it for a while will get me back in the mood to tackle the rest of my plan.

On a personal note, this is something that I tend to do often — finish a task/plan/idea to the point where I feel I’ve learned enough, then move on to the next task/plan/idea. There’s so much that I want to learn and do that Finishing Something usually feels like a waste of time. My Grandfather would roll over in his grave if he knew that’s how I went through life. He was the quintessential “Do Something Right, or Don’t Do It At All” man. I wish he was still alive to help me through my “2nd-half ADD.” I’m currently at the halfway mark of this book — and this book and this book. Maybe there’s enough Summer left to finish at least one…