Back on Solid Ground

Back on Solid Ground

Blogs are always rinsing and falling on the internet, am I right?
Thankfully mine stayed neutral. 
Success.

With this being the final post of this very short blogging segment, it's time to reflect on the overall experience:

I'll start by saying that I'm not opposed to blogging or sharing my opinions, it's just that it's not for me personally. Like I said back at the very beginning, I was raked over the coals in my previous blogging endeavour, and don't care to ever really try again. Although I enjoy reading other people's blogs and views, I'd prefer to keep mine to myself, or at the very most, within my immediate group of friends. 

My current social media presence is very indicative of this belief. As an example: I was recently and candidly, photographed and posted on the Vancouver Instagram feed known as "Man Bun Mondays" (make of that what you will), and due to this posting, my Instagram and Twitter feeds exploded with follow requests. I was averaging around 4 requests an hour for the next week or so; none of which I accepted. 

The reason I have any social media presence at all, is again, to primarily share things with my friends and family. I'm not in it for the "follows" or "likes", and I'm sure not about to accept any follows from randoms. This attitude spilled over into this blogging exercise, and clashed somewhat with the purpose, which was to share as much as possible and get engagement from the posts. Is there anything wrong with not wanting a huge internet following?

At the end of the day, even if no one read these Design Life & Struggle based posts, these blogs did help me to solidify and refresh my own personal love for graphic design and the web, so I'd say "job well done". 

Until next time (which there won't be),
All the best.



—tom

Welcome to January and... the rest of your life?

Welcome to January and... the rest of your life?

New year. New career?
It seems that with each passing year, I re-evaluate my life and second guess the career path that I'm on. Am I doing the right thing? Do I even like it? What else might I be interested in? What do I do?

All these questions usually drive me wonky and, until this year, I've always ended up completely switched my focus. On the bright side, being interested in so many subjects is never a bad thing, or at least that's what I tell myself. The realization though, is that until someone offers me a job as a professional career switcher, I have a feeling I'll have a bad time. 

This past holiday season was especially rocky with major family changes, and heaps of external stress; all perfect conditions for a "life re-think". Surprisingly though, the 2014 to 2015 career blues never came, and for once I actually felt good about where I was headed. Obviously the stress of finding work after school is still lingering...hard, but that being said, I have no plans to change my focus anytime soon. Web design and development is still the game for me.

I also realize that this post is a purely selfish one, and offers no advice what-so-ever, but I guess that's just how it is this time. If there's anything can be taken away from this, it's this: If you're trying to make it in an overly saturated career field, with heaps of tough competition, long hours, little pay, and that requires a small amount of luck; and you aren't having second thoughts, you must be crazy... but you also must be doing something that you love, so it's 100% worth sticking it out.


Happy new year.

—tom

Drop Dead-lines

Drop Dead-lines

Missed the post for last week... which ends up being a perfect segue into this(last) week's topic: Deadlines

Everyone endures deadlines. Whether it's with school, work, your taxes, even library books have them, but following them perfectly, that's a whole other story. We all miss the occasional one, and usually it's not a big deal; but what about those rare times when it is a big deal? 


Step 1: Own up to it.

No one cares about the miraculous chain of events that occurred, causing you to hand in your work late. Excuses sound like just that: Excuses. Own up to your error. Admitting your own mistakes will be a far better representation of character than any crazy situation you were involved in.


Step 2: Fix It.

Take the necessary steps to complete/submit the project. Whether it's asking for additional time, skipping other engagements, or pulling all-nighters, you need to finish and submit the project quickly. 


Step 3: Plan more effectively.

Take more time in the future when planning your schedule. Whether it's being more realistic with your time-estimates, taking on less work, or sacrificing your social life, your schedule is everything. A hectic schedule is far more prone to missed deadlines than an organized one. If you haven't already, try employing the calendar trick mentioned back in blog #2.


At the end of the day, procrastination is a punk and being able to hit deadlines will either make you or break you in the creative industry. No one hires anyone who, 60% of the time, delivers on time. 


—tom

When Creativity Flatlines

When Creativity Flatlines

Stoked! 3 views last week (instructor, mom, and me). And the show goes on...

This week: How to stay inspired. 

Amid your busy schedule, it is essential to keep the creativity flowing; a feat much easier said than done. When you're constantly designing, the "well" has a tendency to sometimes slow to a trickle, if not dry up completely. Fear not. Here are two of my favourite ways to hit refresh and escape a creative drought.

Pocket Pics.
These days, everyone has a camera in their pockets and it's time you took advantage of it. Use your phone to take quick pictures of anything and everything you find interesting. Like the pattern on your take-out box? Snap it. How about the graffiti scribbled on the side of the bus, or the design of that old sewing machine? Snap those things too. So many of my design ideas come from my phone's camera gallery. I scroll through it from time to time and find all sorts of cool things I've taken pictures of. I recently used a colour scheme that I had seen on a can of peaches, ages ago.

Become a Card Collector.
So much good design can be found on other people's business cards, and usually goes unnoticed. Mind you there's heaps of bad design too, but that's the beauty of business cards. I find myself keeping any cards that intrigue me, even if I don't know why, and I file them away for later. Looking back over your collection can help you identify styles or trends that you didn't know you like(d) or realize that you actually don't like a certain style. Either way, the card comparisons can provide a starting point for a project that you may have never even considered. 

Basically, just try to analyze everything you look at or interact with. Take that extra second to make a mental note on why you like it, or what you like about it. Chances are that, if you put the effort into thinking about it in the first place, somewhere down the line, the thought will pop back into your head when you need it, thus saving the day. Theoretically of course. 


—tom

Portfolio Templates

I thought I was close to finishing my portfolio project but apparently I need to start over.  I got a feedback from our instructor and what he said to me made sense.  When he browse through my portfolio page layout, he thought he didn't know which one to click on first (out of the six icons).   He recommended that I should put my most important piece or the best work I've done first.  My layout right now have three columns in round shapes and all six are equally sized but I explained to him that all my work - in terms of quality - they are equally the same.  I am still unsure of which direction I would like to concentrate on whether web design or print design, etc.  He said I could explain this in class during our presentation but now he made me think of changing my website altogether.  I don't have enough time but we'll see if I can tackle it in a few days...worst comes to worst I'll just have to present the original version.

I looked through this 200 best web design templates and now there's so many to choose from.
http://designm.ag/designer-showcase/200-portfolio-sites-webdesign-inspiration/

Planning For Chaos

Planning For Chaos

One week later: Still floating.

Now, as anyone in my class will know, this past week was ridiculously tight on time in regards to school. Mid-terms, big projects, presentation prep... even the Tim Horton's lines were longer. Add to that, 2 part-time jobs, several freelance projects, and moving; and now you have my past week. This crunch on time though, is a good lesson to anyone starting out in the graphic/web industry. 

Anyone getting into the field has to first learn how to manage what limited time they have appropriately. Example: I have several projects that I'm super keen to work on and develop, but I also have some far less "fun" projects to complete for school... blah. How do I complete everything on top of working 2 jobs? Simple, I don't. I look at everything on my plate to get a sense of what's there, then I work as hard as a can, as fast as I can, and not worry about the rest. Everything that slips through, means that it isn't crucial at that point in time, and just gets pushed onto next week's plate; then just work from week-to week. 

This is all fine in theory, but putting it into practice is another thing. This is where, if you're into graphics, you can have a bit of fun. Design yourself a personalized schedule or calendar and live by it. Whether it's on your phone, or on your fridge, a list will help you to separate those "must-do"s from the "want-to"s and provide a good look at the weeks ahead. 

I know this sounds like something your parents might have told you when you were younger, but contrary to what you may have thought, your parents weren't full of shit and they ACTUALLY knew what they were talking about. Calendars work, and you should try them.


—tom

Second Post - yay!

This was my mail out flyer project that I created in my Illustrator class in term 2 that I will be including in my portfolio website.  I used all sorts of tools and different typography with different colour scheme that matches with my coffee logo.  There was a 3-d building poster that came with this but I am still revising it.

The stripe orange/white canopy, I used the pathfinder "minus" tool as I needed to make them even on the edge. I also included some vector images (on right) including the vintage background to give it a rustic style.

Afloat Once Again

Afloat Once Again.

Hello blogosphere; my old nemesis. It’s been years since my last visit, and for good reason too. Last time around you chewed me up, spat me out, and left me for dead after only a month of what was supposed to be “fun”.  Alas, it seems that I’m now back, reluctantly, for another round of punishment. So, without further ado, let the “Blog Experiment 2.0” begin… 

I’ve learned from my failed past, and this time around you wont see generic photos with attempts at wit slapped on them, but rather just…me. Cliché I know, but in the few short entries to follow, I’ll try and share my own trials and tribulations as an aspiring new graphic designer/web developer. 

Follow along if you wish, or happily choose to never read again. Either way it doesn’t really matter. I’ll still live. If you’re a classmate of mine then I feel your pain and just remember, we’re all on this same blogging-boat together, and there’s only 8 more weeks of paddling.


—tom