I Design

These past few days, I've been given more and more liberty (and responsibility) to handle the complex design aspects of the company's website and everything else in between. At first I was really ecstatic about the prospect of having this much legroom to stretch out my ideas, but soon enough, reality started sinking in and I began to worry about what to do — second guessing is a big creative no-no, especially during crunch time.

So short of panicking and jumping off a cliff in a desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable, I commenced going through the virtual list in my head of what I needed to get done. And in the process of doing self inventory and soul searching for design ideas and inspirational articles, I came across this one article about Steve Jobs' thought process on designing the next big thing:

We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do. "So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, 'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse." ' " (CNNMoney.com)

The man is right. No, the man is a genius! Before you can go out and please everyone, you have to please yourself first. From that moment on, I decided that every project I take on would have my own personal stamp of approval on it. It would include things that reflects my vision, what aesthetically pleases me as an individual, while incorporating the fact that it is for the company.

If I'm not making any sense, let me put it this way, I'll take the company's ideas and philosophies as my very own, and once I take ownership of it, it will be easier for me to express my creativity — be it in layout, brochure or a simple copywritten tagline — since it is my own. And if I can come up with solutions that I think would bring a creative difference to the project, something I as a consumer would want to see and use, tackling it would be a lot easier as opposed to designing to accomodate someone else's taste first.

Ideas come from a collective pool of thought by everyone in this world, and I think it is the designer's job to step into that pool, tap into it's resources, and then bring back that one elusive idea into this realm. Huh? Ok, a client somehow knows what they want, they just can't put their finger on it. Once a designer learns to hone onto this, to focus on that broad, free floating thought, and be able to put it in a tangible form like a logo, or a layout, or to be able to express those thoughts into words, then their job is done. I may be oversimplifying things, but this rationale always gets me through even the most difficult brainstorming droughts.

One design element at a time I suppose.

posted at 7:49 AM |  | 1 Comment

 Design Is Cheap

I'm usually not a picky graphic designer when it comes to accepting side work. If I have the free time I'll do it, even if it doesn't really amount to much. But as of late, I have been rethinking my freelance methods and have started to weed out more and more jobs and take the time to separate the duds from a true worthwhile project. And the criteria I mostly base whether I should take the project or not is on what the client is willing to invest in the job (time, thought and effort, not just money, but money is also good).

And speaking of 'working for shits and giggles' and the cheapening of what was once considered as top-pay labor, I'm glad someone (graphicpush) finally had the balls and call it out.

Hmm. Yes, by all means, we want to avoid the time and consideration professional designers offer and go right to the lowest common denominator of grade-school dropouts whose portfolio’s crown jewel is a logo for their dad’s wholesale llama manure clearing house. We definitely do not want any in-depth communication. We do not want any understanding of the company, the brand, or the direction and aspirations of the organization. We definitely do not want any long-term working relationships or any real investment in the single most important public-facing piece of design a company owns. We just want a fucking logo for $250.

I for one is a bit frustrated these days how the design process is being reduced to some fastfood type menu where everything is under a buck (and oh, on tuesdays you get three designs for the price of none). Guess what? It doesn't work that way! You ALWAYS get what you pay for, especially in design.

Read the entire article here.

posted at 5:01 PM |  | 2 Comments

 Are We There Yet?

At long last, Friday has arrived and I couldn't be more elated! For starters, this has definitely been a rough week (read: crapshit days), with a very shorthanded staff plugging away at what could only be described as mountains of work that just keeps growing, the weekend is a welcome refuge for this weary web monkey (and everyone else in our team). Additionally, my folks are in town for the weekend, and as infantile as it might sound (frankly I don't give a rat's ass), I miss my mommy! That's right I said it, I miss my mom's company, and this weekend will be a nice way for us and the rest of my folks (dad and sis) to catch up on things. But first things first, me and my wife are planning to start our little weekend R&R this very evening by maybe finding a good movie to watch and then a relaxing late dinner somewhere in the Summerlin/Boca Park area where restaurants offering some of the best dining experiences are just itching to be discovered. After which as a night cap, maybe a quiet evening stroll down at the Town Square Apple Store.

Mmm... A-p-p-l-e...

posted at 7:10 AM |  |

 Pollen Hate

Over the past week or so, the air in Las Vegas has not been too kind to allergy sufferers, what with the weather being so dry and the trees injecting pollen throughout the city, it's getting really rough out there. On a recent trip outside the safe confines of our home, I noticed upon returning to the car that it was covered in an almost imperceptible blanket of fine yellow dust. And as soon as I came near to open the door, the settled dust came into action and flogged the surrounding area with pollen cloud.

Shit.

That's all it took for me to start coughing and wheezing like a maniac for what seemed like eternity. Stupid sniper pollen! (Although I understand that it's nothing personal and that it's nature, must you really proliferate so much? Why not do the deed in privacy like the rest of us, eh?) Stupid horny plants.

So back to my hack attacks, when the onslaught of what I call rapid-fire coughing does occur (accompanied by itchy watery eyes and stuffy nostrils no less), the only thing my hapless wife could do is to pound my back and chest with multiple karate chop-like massages and watch in horrified pity as I go through the motions of coughing up a lung (or what's left of it). Gah!

I'm really hoping for a heavy downpour one of these days so that all this crap gets washed out before summer hits. I'm also seriously thinking about purchasing one of those Oreck Professional Air Purifiers (is there a cheaper, amature alternative?) for the house, but until then, Clarinex is my best friend.

posted at 5:55 PM |  | 2 Comments

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