Howdy [firstname,fallback=there]! Buckle up, this one's a doozy...

Retiring Roughstock

AFTER MORE THAN FIVE YEARS of freelancing as Roughstock, I've decided to close up shop! This has been an ongoing process for me, as earlier this year I accepted a seasonal position with the nonprofit Stanford Jazz Workshop, feeling safe in the knoweldge that I'd return to freelancing after my stint was over. Serving as Interim Communications Coordinator, I helped market the 30+ show Stanford Jazz Festival over the summer — it was an intensive team effort, and it felt really good.

But as the summer went by, I wasn't sure I was ready to retire Roughstock entirely. As with most of the self-employed, my business has pretty much been my identity. How do you let go of something like that?

And then a week before my Stanford Jazz gig was to end, I was offered a permanent position as Communications Manager for Net Impact, a San Francisco-based nonprofit working to bring sustainability to the business sector through networking and information exchange. One of my primary roles there would be to support a strategic rebrand and help position the organization as a thought leader in CSR and corporate sustainability.

Given how much work I've put into Re-nourish trying to make the design industry more sustainable, it seemed like a ridiculously perfect opportunity. I'll be able to pull together all the experience I've gained working with a variety of nonprofits and for-profits, and put it to use in the movement to change the private sector — something that has to happen if our economy and culture is going have any kind of chance. So I started to reimagine myself doing something else, and I took the job.

I'm really proud of the contract work I've done as Roughstock, and the clients I've worked with over the years. Leaving the Roughstock name behind is kind of bittersweet, but I'm stoked to take the next step towards proving that business can and should be an agent of social change. I hope you'll stay tuned and stay in touch, because the future looks...pretty dang good.

Up Next...

IN OUR CURRENT AGE, when profit-driven business has seeped into every cultural crevice, and the tools of communication have altered the foundation of how we understand and shape the world we live in, I find it hard to reconcile my need to earn a living with my sometimes (dare I say it?) radical beliefs. Which is why I'll continue to try and sort it all out through my work. Iin other words, I ain't goin' nowhere...

RE-NOURISH
I'm still hard at work building Re-nourish into the best damn sustainable graphic design resource out there. We're continuing to grow, and plan to launch several large initiatives in the coming months (feel free to sign up for those semi-regular updates).

THE ROUNDUP
I'll continue to send out this semi-regular missive, but I may shake it up a little with more commentary and opinion. Y'know, to keep things interesting. It will, however, get renamed for obvious reasons.

FREELANCE PROJECTS
What I won't be doing is taking on any more freelance work under the Roughstock name. If you've got a particularly cool project or other convincing argument, I might be convinced to take up your cause. But my freelance work from hereon out will be quite selective.

That said, I always want to know what you're up to — and I'm always open to collaborative opportunities, especially those of the subversive kind.

Finally: Recent work

Published: Changing Winds for Sustainable Agriculture
The recent Sustainable Agricultural Partnerships conference in SF marked a turning point in the conversation among food growers, processors, suppliers, and retailers. But while the industry has advanced significantly since it began to heed dire warnings of population explosions, dwindling water and seafood supplies, and skyrocketing fossil fuel costs, the inertia of entrenched business practices and a chain of suppliers that have traditionally remained isolated link-by-link leave certain core problems remaining to be solved... [Read the full article]

Published: Brubeck, the Band Box, and Palo Alto
When you think of legendary pianist Dave Brubeck, you probably don't think of a struggling musician playing for peanuts in the back of a small club in Palo Alto, making up for a meager band salary by selling lunchtime sandwiches to San Francisco office workers. You probably also don't think of Brubeck and longtime musical partner Paul Desmond — the team responsible for making Take Five one of the most beloved jazz recordings of all time — riding the train to splitsville for two full years over a short-lived, $42-a-week gig. But jazz legends have to start somewhere... [Read the full article]

Designed: Everyone Likes a Good Poke
Longtime friend and acupuncturist Jennifer Ashby-Simmons asked me to work on her Mission district acupuncture clinic's brand identity, and I jumped at the chance. We've still got some exterior signage to do, but I'm itching to show off The Lotus Center's new logo and clinic brochure:

Okeydoke, then, that about does it for the last of the Roundups. The next installment will come from the same email address (though that may change in the future), but it will bear a different name. Got any ideas? Email 'em to me!

Over and out,

Jess Sand
On-to-the-Next-Adventurer