On The Firefly

Studio practice, news, writings, found things.
By designer and artist James T. Green.

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  “So What Does On The Firefly Mean Anyway”

  Surprisingly no one has asked me that until recently and it got my brain a turning. Why have I never explained it, is it some kind of big secret? No not really actually, but it means a lot to me and has some personal depth to it.

  On The Firefly developed just as many of my previous online monikers. My last one, mixedupmemory, was derived from a Kate Nash lyric in “Mouthwash.” It was roughly 3 years ago when On The Firefly was born from the digital nursery. I was revamping my Twitter page, realizing that it was no longer a toy. It was a tool that can be used for not only sharing cool shit, but networking and expressing my thoughts in art and design. I wanted to revamp everything all together. At that time, I was obsessed with Owl City, yeah the guy who sings the syrupy bedroom pop. Before his big claim to radio friendly and elevator muzak fame, he was a relatively unknown guy with music cruising through the blogosphere. It was a rough spot during my life at the time with personal problems and issues, and those dang happy songs did nothing but made me smile. My favorite songs at the time from his mix tapes were On The Wing and Fireflies.

  I bet you can put the two together. Yahtzee! @onthefirefly was born! Hooray.

  So I bet you are wondering, why are those tattoos pictured above this post. Well here’s why, because those tattoos are the basis of the new logo for On The Firefly.

  When I created this blog, I was looking for an outlet to all the cool things I find interesting, as well as a space to dump my writing journals, digitally; basically my all seeing eye of the world of art and design. I created a semi-literal interpretation of a firefly with the single eye, representing the purpose of this space, my single view into this world I’m living through and my journey into creative self-studies. The transparent nature of the firefly reflects my openness and vulnerability in the blog, no holds bar, bad grammar filled, insertion into my mind and soul.

  If you look at my tattoos on my right hand wrist above, you’ll notice the indian arrow closest to my thumb. The first tattoo I inked, I purposely wanted it to be a spot that I could not hide, as I wanted to screw myself over, never being able to have a traditional 9-5 job at a desk, settling my life away from my passions. The indian arrow also represents direction, pointing to my dominate art hand. I got this ink when I finally realized that I wanted to pursue art as my official career (and pssst, actually make money doing it). 

  Check out the logo up close. The antenna of the firefly are actually the indian arrows from my tattoo. Full circle, ohhhh.

  Anyway, I have been incredibly happy with this identity so far representing my online and creative life. There are plenty of projects underneath the name of On The Firefly (shhhh, secret!) in the near future. Once they come into fruition, I will be sure to share them. Until then, I think I will be keeping On The Firefly alive for quite some time.

  -James

  9 May 2012