same grounds, new aroma

After having my creative attention and resources spread fairly thin over the last few months, I've decided to consolidate my personal creative efforts so that I can enjoy what's most important in life while still being creative.

In addition to "ink snacks", I have several other ideas for zines but do not have the time to develop content and design/produce all of them. When I looked at the foundation of my abstractLatte endeavor in relation to my need to simplify my efforts, I decided to consolidate my ideas into one main zine; its name will follow the endeavor that started it all...abstractLatte. It's an unfortunate situation to not have time to do everything you want to do. And with my list of ideas beginning to collect dust, I knew I needed to make a change. The only casualty in this decision is the zine "ink snacks"; I will discontinue development of this zine after the January 2009 edition is sold out. I will develop specialty zines from time to time but 90% of my efforts will go towards the blog and the new zine.

How will the content of the zine differ from the content of the blog?

The blog will maintain its coffee shop/bookstore vibe, continuing to display articles and resources as well as creative experiments. I'd like to start workshops at some point in the future, a sort of DIY effort to help others give their creativity a tangible home, but that is not in the near future; those will be accessed through the blog. The zine will focus more on creative communication around concepts (to include the same types of content contained in "ink snacks"); look for art and function in equal measure.

As for the baristas and displayed artwork, don't expect any immediate changes but I do have ideas on how I'd like to make adjustments to the barista concept in order to include more people, in a more casual manner. And the artwork? Well, I've never been to a coffee shop (or bookstore) that didn't have art on display so that's not going anywhere!

As usual, check the blog and Twitter for updates on the new zine. I'll post preview images when available.