Back to the Drawing Board/Artist Alley is the NEW Newsstand

Well this is just irksome. With overwhelming votes towards it being the next subject of my UnConventional series, I was ready to blaze a trail on the subject of Artist Alley being the NEW Newsstand. Faces were going to melt. Minds split open in adoration and emulation!

The game was gonna be changed.

But when the time came to make it work...I couldn't stick the landing. Or rather, find the hook that truly made it work writing. See, a big part of me writing this series is not just to say something, but to genuinely have something to say. A thought provoking perspective that maybe recontextualizes the way we work, produce, buy, etc.

And this time...I failed. There wasn't a grand goal that I was writing towards, just kinda ticking off checkmarks of observed ideas.

Here's how the concept even came about -- I was thinking about the design of artist alley (a premiere comic convention company had approached me about being a consultant for how to better AA at their shows), considering my YEARS of experiences as an exhibitor and just as in the con space in general and it struck me that each table works just like the old school newsstands.

• Independently run

• Great way to introduced to new works and creators

• Featured at prominent/busy traffic centers

• Minimal space requires innovative/vertical design

I hoped there was an encouraging thread here, especially as financial hurt continues to shutter comic shops across the country. But, as I tried to work out the purpose of it, things just kind of settled in the idea of what it is and not driving to where it COULD be. More observation than inspiration.

Maybe something bigger will spark in the future, but I've resigned myself to letting this trail go and picking another topic whose outcomes are a bit brighter at the end of the tunnel!