Little bits of paper, stickers and ephemera that would have otherwise been lost, have a home in the journal.

Marty Gregg
Arthouse Design, Denver

I have been keeping journals since college and found it to be a perfect vault for my ideas and record of inspirations. I’m always surprised by how well the journal process (when reviewed at a later time) takes me back to exactly what I was thinking and what I was inspired by. Little bits of paper, stickers and ephemera that would have otherwise been lost, have a home in the journal.

When I was little, I was nuts about the Disney universe, and Carl Barks was my first great idol. I believe that this is why my drawing style today is closer to animation than architecture.

I belong to a generation of architects who began college drawing by hand and finished it drawing in AutoCAD.

“Sketches don't have to be perfect. They just have to get the idea across.” I sketch in meetings, at my desk and on planes. For some reason, classical and chamber music concerts really get me thinking, so I always take a few blank 3x5 cards and a pen so I can discreetly sketch if the mood strikes me.

Drawing by hand is an unmediated physical experience, a craft. It sharpens the feeling for form, it refines the judgement. Drawing is a beautiful discipline and a precise language for the designer.