So I'm Busy

Praying for freedom.














So Its been a while… If you have been wondering where the heck I've been, I must confess its been a lot of Facebook, new job and Ron Paul. By the way GOOGLE RON PAUL!!!! NOW!!

Anyways I hope to get back to posting new work soon, so please don't give up on me! I have an ipod touch which helps me get my design content down into electronic form. Regardless I must say I NEED to promote Ron Paul until the presidential race is over. If you've Googled him like I asked you, you will understand.

Honestly our internet will have taxes on it soon, we will have national ID cards WAKE UP!!! Our government will soon control us from cradle to the grave and we are moving towards a Communistic society everyday. Ron Paul believes in our preserving and reestablishing personal freedoms and privacy. Like getting rid of the the IRS… Thats right! Our framers of this great country never intended for the U.S. government to be able to access info on how much you make. The far tax lays in only a sales tax—equality for the rich and poor. No special interest groups. But we need to fight. Support Ron Paul today!

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

I got a job!!!!

I got a job at an ad agency. I will let you know how it goes!

Time to speak

The vote is coming. A great way to speak out on issues that are getting under your skin is to use your first amendment afforded to you by your constitution. You remember what that is right?

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Listen, I voted for Bush in 2001 and now I need to rectify my actions. I was wrong.

If you like check out my shop
for this artwork on clothing to make a statement yourself. Don't stay silent!

New Blog Design

Hey Blue Bikers! I had some to to redesign and wanted to know what you thought. Be cruel you know I can handle it. Especially you CVH!

New tee shirt

Here is the new tee I did for Sweet Japonic, a local band here in Grand Rapids, MI. Their music seductively mixes old funk,jazz, and blues with modern elements and lyrics that inspired this concept of a female figure mask with modern type and old amp equipment. Thoughts?

Well here we go…

I have an interview tomorrow at 8:30am. Here goes nothing, as they say…

Personal Identity Revision

Here is the revision. I find it works better because it is more simplified. I also like it better because it is more geometric. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks again.

Niagra Challenge

So I challenged you all to come up a collage for the picturess I posted. Here is mine now that I have more time to do what nobody else seems to want to do. Hope you like it.

New personal logo

A start. I need some feedback. Hit me people, hit me!

So I got layed off and bought a new Mac? So!?

Yes its true my friends, I got pink slipped my friends one week ago. So I did what any good designer would do; turn around and by a new 24" imac and loaded it up with new software. Silly you say? Maybe, but hey I need to get an updated résumé out there and I ain't going to do it on my 400 Mhz 2001 laptop!

Here is me installing software:

Just Kidding… Seriously though I need your help. I need some input on projects. Keep your eye out there is more to come very soon.

I call this one "ode to Adam Sandler":



And the ever famous three-eyed, two-mouthed man:

No time to write/post

I wish I could show you some work but there is no time for the rushed.

Vacation

So it seems I've traveled not much of anywhere in my life. For some design inspiration this is needed. So here you see me in Niagara Falls, Canada smoking a cuban in front of a wax museum dedicated to famous criminals. Yeah I had to do it. I mean, when will there be a photo-op like that again?

Speaking of photo-ops the following are some contrasts of the natural beauty and the unnatural junk that surrounds Niagara. My wife is working on a collage art piece displaying the contrast between the two. Feel free to take these pics and do something up yourself:

Freedom of Speech

As the very few of you who read this blog know I took down a post last week that pointed out questionable graphic design/computer practices. The fact is I heard some feedback and there was concern for what was posted, that it would come back to haunt me. I took it down because I really didn't think the post was worth any tension.

BUT… this does bring up a much larger issue which my Dad and my Grandfather went to face wars (Vietnam & WWII) for; our freedoms of speech granted to us by our U.S. constitution. We are truly blessed to live in a nation such as this—but we must never leave the vigil of guarding these rights. Certain organizations/people may think they have the right to silence their own fellow citizens in this country, but they are dead wrong.

As designers/visual communicators and as U.S. citizens this issue is so very important, especially in this booming information age. Imagine having this information controlled/filtered by the elite few. You may think that the media already does this filtering, which may be true, but there are many increasing ways to get information through alternative news/information/viewpoint sources such as (in a smaller extent) this blog. These venues must be bolstered with our support as citizens to send a clear message that the common citizen ideals, thoughts and ideas still makes a profound difference in this country.

Wikipedia explains freedom of speech as this:

Freedom of speech is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one's opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment. The right is preserved in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is granted formal recognition by the laws of most nations. Nonetheless the degree to which the right is upheld in practice varies greatly from one nation to another. In many nations, particularly those with relatively authoritarian forms of government, overt government censorship is enforced…

Freedom of speech is still on of the many things that makes this country great. Lets all do our part to keep it that way.

Screened Bitmaps with Gradients

I seem to be drawn to work with bitmaps with a slight gradient or color variation in the background. I'm feeling that it may be going back to the 80's or early 90's but people/clients seem to like it. Below is an web ad/banner I am doing for my company (an adoption agency). Should I continue using this technique (I don't mean all the time) or is it cliché?







Detail:



















What do you think?

Having Fun with the Forcast

Okay so it is like mid-April here in Michigan. So it snows 8 hours then it rains 8 hours then it snows again. It was 70º one day a few weeks ago, then the next day 35º. Literally the state is so confused with the weather. So what should we do? Laugh about it.


Here is a illustration of our weather (of biblical proportions) done by Chris a fellow Graphic Designer at my wife's work. It really captures a Michigan's resident's feelings of this type of freakish season we are experiencing here. If Michigan was a designer it would be the most inconsistent designer of all time.

Snow

I'm starting to hate snow. Again, just thought I'd share.

Tuesdays

I hate Tuesdays. Just thought I'd share.

To freelance, or not?

So I've come to an interesting point in my life—stressful really. I need to be creative, this is how God created me an artist through and through. I also need to provide a living.

While I've always loved the thought of freelancing; the creative freedom, setting your own hours, feeling like your work is really your own, etc… I've always have been afraid of the loss of dependable, residual income. In some ways I currently feel like a sell-out chicken, or a "life-er" if you will. I feel like I'm not being true to my calling of creativity and that my talents are being stunted. In other ways I feel like a responsible adult who is building work credibility in a real job environment. So I'm stuck in deliberation with creativity and responsibility

What are your thoughts on this?

Fun at Game night

Colleen and I belong to a boardgame club and we posed for a picture that looks like a game called Kill Docter Lucky. I'm starting to think about designing a game myself—could be fun. What do you think?

New Logo/graphic

Just been working on a new logo for my friends group.

His site is: www.boardgames.meetup.com/349/

Deceptive Wages and Quixtar

Any of you that know me know that I am thoroughly against a subsidiary company of Amway/Altecor called Quixtar. I could write all day about what is wrong with this company but I will just shorten it to the basics.

Quixtar is an online store which supposedly uses its only promotion/marketing in the form of word of mouth or personal relationships. Not the open market. When approached by one of their Independent Business Owners (IBOs) they are trying to get you to become one of them. At first people would introduce their link to Quixtar, but now they've graduated to using strange business group names that have international flair. The IBOs "market" has been saturated with the name Quixtar which in turn has created a bad name for Quixtar.

What does this have to do with design? Everything.

Quixtar IBO's have to operate under a "low radar" with their "groups" so first off they pay for low rate materials even though they are associated with a multi-billion dollar company. So bad/cheap design is prevalent. Moreover staying out of the open marketplace prevents hi end design projects to convey the value of the product. And above all that the product design can be really nothing because the consumer (the IBOs) is "forced" to by what they offer. So no product innovation (why would you?)

So the next time you are approached in a store (reliable marketplace) by a person being too friendly who invites to tell you about their "company/group" yell out SOLICITOR! and see what happens.

"The wicked man earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward."
Proverbs 11:18 (NIV)

Free stock photos

Hey I totally for got to post my favorite FREE stock photo site:

http://www.sxc.hu/

Check it out. Most pictures are license-free a few you have to get permission from the author, but its no big deal. So post, share, use to you hearts content!

Too Much Design?

I wonder how much freelance is too much? I mean, I love design and all the creative freedom freelance design. But do I do too much sometimes? Lately it has been working out with working on three projects with loose deadlines. But will it come to the point where I will be breaking deadlines because I am overloaded? Then will my clients leave because of my project tardiness?

Sometimes I lay awake thinking I could do more if the days where longer—then it dawns on me that that type of thinking can lead to workaholism. So I stay in this place of balance. Hopefully.

Quote of the week

“An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.”

—Thomas Jefferson

Riddle

I am a puzzle solver with arms/hands in an armless community. Yet the armless will not accept that I can solve the puzzles—they are nearsighted and I can see very well. Who am I?

Think about it and then check the post…

More Posters (Correction)

Chris who posted on this was right. I totally forgot to transfer these pictures to RGB format. The Posters above are how they originally looked for the client. the pictures below are an affect of having the posters in CMYK. I might have to do a post about channels and formatting (for myself). Good job Chris!




Here are two posters I recently put together for a Band. Strange thing though, when I up loaded them to blogger the jpeg's changed color. Originally the top one had a dark green color background and the red was dark blue and the second one had a blue background. Just wondering if anyone else has had color shifting like that when using jpegs. Discuss and reply.

Employee Posters

Does your company hold a special events for it's employees? If so, it is a great opportunity to show off some of your creativity without the confines of the boss restricting you. Let free those creative juices flow by doing a little work after work and show how creative you can be if you were given a little designer leeway. The posters above are some examples of funny posters I have done for different employees farewell and wedding showers. For example the center poster was for our former writer who was moving to Kentucky and she was a redhead. If you brainstorm you can find some characteristics of your fellow employees that you can illustrate in a witty way. Have fun!

Idea Recycling?

So you have a good idea for a client on a freelance project. They shoot that idea down for whatever reason. The question is can it be recycled… should it be? I mean a good idea is a good idea, right? We'll I guess I am asking all you designers out there if this is kosher. I know that rarely good design comes out this way [recycling]. But in this case of the top design migrating the idea to the design below it. Does it work. The first design was for a documentary video on a organization in Botswana, Africa. The bottom design is for a fundraising effort for Ethiopia. Ironically the hands embracing a map seems to work for both. Let me know you thoughts/concerns.

America by design

So I'm reading this book called Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib by Seymour M. Hersh and it is spot on when giving info about how bad the Iraq war is going and also how bad it has been since 9/11. I know you may be thinking "what does this have to do with design?" Well the book talks about how people who think they know what is best in a certain arena (in this case intelligence on terrorism via Donald Rumsfeld) they come into power and second guess experts and agencies who have been in the field doing the work for decades (FBI/CIA). Lets just say things get messed up beyond measure and we have the powers that be pointing fingers and claiming deniability. What I'm talking about here is SELFISH PRIDE—a effect of human frailty. Its a very ugly thing when we have control over something we know little about and we spin our agenda on what we think it should be, but sadly is not. I am not immune to this. But I do recognize I do this and that is, at the very least, what we all should do.

Personal Example: I got out of college thinking I had a good idea of what web design is—basically all flash, which is what my instructors taught me. These are the same instructors who worked nearly they're whole life in print design not web. So I get my first job and get into an argument with our web guy who shows me the world of HTML & CSS and how google driving traffic to your site is so much more important. |BLINK!| the light goes off in my head and I see a whole new perspective and I have a new respect for web programmers. The reason for this? —I listened (skeptically at first) and gained a new perspective from someone who has been doing this for longer and really knows more than me. We still debate how a web site should look overall, but that's okay, we just find a compromise because there is respect for one another.

We ALL need to ask questions and listen and trust that those who do the work really know what they are doing. And when things fail we need to listen, explore, investigate where they REALLY went wrong and work together to rectify the situation.

I was getting depressed think about all this and how things need to change when I actually heard our national play on my itunes radio. It got me to thinking about how we really all are in this together—no matter how hard-headed any of us get (including politicians) , when it looks like this country is failing, we are all in this together—we always need to remember that. As our forefathers said: "God bless America, our home, sweet home."

The iphone is coming!

I know this blog is supposed to be about design sharing, so that being said I want share with those living under the Bill Gates PC rocks out there that you need to get with the program. The right program. This little phone runs OSX (that means multipule windows), Has a touch screen (that zooms in), on-screen keyboard, and full-on rich internet (not that dinky cell phone version). WiFi (of course), when you turn the phone it changes from posrtrait to landscape, and so many other faboo features. Comes out June. CHECK IT OUT: http://www.apple.com/iphone/

So tell Gates his time is nearing an end!

As stated before:

The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring.

—PAUL RAND