Feb 16 2012
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internet, social media, social network, trends, web

A new year, a new approach.

A little late, aren’t I?

A new year equals a new outlook and a clean slate. Recently I’ve been reading some posts over at JCD (fast becoming one of my go-to sites for some motivation and business inspiration). Some recent posts have gotten the cogs turning and I’m keen to start fresh.

Since December of last year I have been working at a call centre in South Melbourne. I have worked in this field briefly before and while it isn’t my ideal industry, it has really helped me grown my interpersonal interaction skills. I enjoy learning about the psychology behind sales and social interaction. I have also spent a large amount of spare time researching and learning about the nitty gritty of social media. What I find interesting, and I have spent time writing about, is how these traditional communication techniques can better translate and be integrated into this new media. There is a lot of potential.

What’s your view on Social Media and Social Networking?

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Nov 10 2011
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art, blogs, business, design, experiment, illustration, inspiration, job, life, positive posters, university

Things can only get better!

As I’ve been raving on about, the Positive Posters exhibition/party and winner announcement was last night. It was a great night – sweet venue, good company and some amazing work talking about some really important issues. I’m extremely proud and honoured I could be a part of it! I didn’t win or place – which is a shame – but I cannot even fathom being disappointed as I was lucky enough to be a part of the Top Thirty. That alone is an achievement I am beyond proud of – and to think there was work by Yoko Ono at the show? Me, a group show with the likes of Yoko Ono? Wow.

There is a lot to be said about the aura of an artwork – I believe completely in the notion. I had seen work by one of my favourite artists (Artemisia Gentileschi) before – in books and online, but seeing her work in the flesh in Melbourne and Florence was incredibly moving. Maybe I suffer from Stendhal syndrome - who knows! Being surrounded by those posters at the Positive Posters exhibition was an exciting, moving and quite emotional experience for me. What made them more special, I believe, is not just the fact that there was such good work and amazingly talented people surrounding me, but also the fact that these posters were designed to highlight global issues. These posters were, in a way, semi-selfless (it was a competition, y’know) acts of designers who wanted to better humanity. That is a beautiful thing!

The winners can be seen currently on the front page of the PP website, but they are also below. They are thoughtful, witty and clever – well deserving winners. Quite proud to see a Pole in there too! ;) Congratulations!!

  

In other news: had a great job interview yesterday so fingers crossed for that. Got along extremely well with the woman who would be managing me so I am feeling quite hopeful. Today, however, is set aside purely for freelance work. I’m doing some work for a client whose customers are Universal Studios in Singapore. That… is pretty damn sweet.

Over and out!

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Oct 22 2011
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design, electronic design, experiment, inspiration, internet, internetting, rant, social media, trends, web

Soak up the information – don’t stop learning.

Having been using the internet since 1995, I’ve done my fair share of trolling and spent many hours being an absolute idiot. I used to think the internet was the Yahoo homepage and the Yahoo game lobbies. Following that, I was caught up with online journals and MSN chatrooms and MSN chat. Like many, my first foray into web design (at least HTML and CSS) was when I endlessly changed my Myspace profile.

Now, having done my degree and a Certificate IV in design, it’s hard to know how much knowledge I do or do not have when it comes to web design and development. I can certainly code a simple website; splashing around with HTML, CSS and jQuery. I immerse myself in web and tech related publications online and offline. I spend a large amount of my time being an insatiable autodidact – trying to soak up any information I can in the impossible hope of one day… knowing everything.

I’ve been a Reddit kid for a while now – lurking in the shadows. A few months ago I discovered uReddit - or the University of Reddit. Basically a bunch of people who are knowledgable in a particular area will set up free short courses in a variety of subjects. I’ve had a look into some and found a few good resources and little tidbits of information. I thought I would compile a list of sites I use as inspiration and information when it comes to design and web related shenanigans. Some of these have been discovered via uReddit!

Little Big Details – UI inspiration
ILoveTypography // Web type – A neat little explanation of type for the web. Very important as type comes across different on the screen as opposed to the page.
Design Fridge – A collection of snippets of nice design.
Kuler - Adobe based colour palette inspiration source and tool.
Pattern tap – Similar to Design Fridge.
Smashing Magazine –  A community and site that posts design and tech inspiration and information.

Anyway – those a just a few that come to mind. I really urge anyone in the field of design or development to look into uReddit as a place to start learning, rekindle some passion or just refresh the ol’ memory.

I also post a lot of these kinds of links on my Tumblr page (as well as miscellaneous images of inspiration) so do check it out from time to time. I mainly do it for myself, as a way of remembering things – but it’s a valuable collection of resources.

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Aug 27 2011
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blogs, design, inspiration, internet, internetting, rant

Good design advice.

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Aug 26 2011
4 Comments
art, blogs, design, drawing, electronic design, illustration, inspiration, internet, positive posters

Sex, Drugs & Helvetica.

 

Yesterday I went to a conference set up by the good people at Positive Posters with the most wonderful title: Sex, Drugs and Helvetica. It was set up to inspire and help design students with how to go about getting into the industry once they’re done with Uni. Though I’m already part of the industry, I am still a student and will take any advice I can get. There was a great line up including: Simon Mundy, Vali Valibhoy, Studio Motherbird, Mr. Singh, K. W. Doggett, EMK lawyers. Even Nick Hallam had a little ramble at the end.

All the speakers were incredible, but one in particular stood out to me and that was illustrator Karan Singh from Wake Up Mr. Singh. Sure, his story runs like a Hollywood movie. Struggle to find who he was, reach success, became very ill, clawed his way back and is currently kicking ass. But that’s beside the point.

He touched on a couple of points that I completely agree with and am so glad that someone else – especially someone so talented and successful –  feels the same way. The thing hooked into me most, though, was finding inspiration in every single thing around you. Take a moment and you are really able to see the beauty in everything you see, and you can take from that.

Check out Karan Singh‘s work. It’s seriously not to be missed.

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