I recently got a new laptop. It’s a 15-inch Powerbook G4 1.33Ghz, and its quite nice. I got it in my endless pursuit of comfort, and I haven’t used my new desk since I got my new laptop. Instead, I use it on the couch, in coffee shops, Panera Bread, and on the road. You’d think with all of that laptop using, I would be blogging more, but sorry. Maybe it’s because my new Powerbook came loaded with GarageBand, and now I can finally record music with my guitar. My tower didn’t even have an audio input! Maybe I’ll let you guys know if I post any music on iCompositions. Probably not.
I have been spending time on my blog, though. I’m working on a big re-design, and posting my portfolio, using Movable Type as a content management system a la Stopdesign’s Portfolio. Douglas Bowman of Stopdesign was kind enough to post how he used Movable Type to manage his portfolio, and I’ve been able to figure out alot of it, but he seems to have left some crucial information out. I can’t figure out how he managed to get going to a category to go directly to the first post of that category, rather than to an “index” page. Oh well, it will take some tinkering, but not that I haven’t already done enough with no results.
You may have noticed that I now have Google Adsense ads on my site, and, of course, I have an Amazon Associates account. Of course, the objective of this blog is not to make money. There are certainly more efficient ways to do so. I want to organize my thoughts, share them with others, exchange thoughts with others, contribute to adding semantic value to the web, and hopefully have my thoughts read again many years from now.
That said, I worry myself sometimes when I make decisions that may not provide the best and most honest content possible, in order to have the opportunity to chip a couple cents out of my hosting costs. The main place this may happen, is that when I am talking about a movie that isn’t available on DVD yet, I link to IMDB, which I consider to be the best resource on movies, however, if the movie is out on DVD, I link to that item on Amazon, through my associates account.
I promise, this is as greedy as I will get. Now if I overnight happen to become an expert on real estate (“real estate” probably being a pretty high-paying AdWord string), then you know I’ve lost it.
I hope you find my remarks on books, music, technology and whatever other artifacts that may be linked to on Amazon as relevant and interesting as my comments on anything else. As a critic of Affluenza, I couldn’t, in good conscience, push products I didn’t feel were useful. I also hope that the contents of the Google ads are relevant and unintrusive.
You may have noticed that I haven’t posted for awhile. Don’t worry, I’m not a blog abandoner, I have been investing my blogging time in transferring my blog from blogger to Movable Type, and it has been a much more involved process than I had anticipated. If you’ve been considering making the move, I suggest that if you are in fact going to do it, do it as soon as possible.
For years, my home computer setup has been in need of an ergonomic overhaul. Not able to find any computer workstations that adequately accommodated my non-traditional setup, I have been using an art table for my computer. To say that it has made computer use undesirable would be an understatement.
I spoke with Michael Braley the other day to ask him if he wanted to judge AIGA Nebraska’s awards show, which I am co-chairing this year with Donovan Beery from eleven19, but he couldn’t make it on the weekend in question. Darn. He gave an awesome presentation about his design process when I was going to Iowa State. That presentation had a strong influence on my design process, and I’d love for the design community in Nebraska to see it. Maybe I can get him to come for his very own event.
Maybe you’ve noticed that my posts have slowed down a little. It’s not that I have a shortage of things to say in this blog: I have many many ideas in my head…all that require more time and energy than I have at the moment. Work has been pretty busy lately. What do I do at work? Well, my job description, like many employees at RDG Planning & Design, is non-existent (I view that as a good thing). Over the course of my two years there, my duties have included:
Developing Flash-based interactive CDs for the various focus markets
Guiding the firm through a rebranding, and putting together the many elements that weren’t attended to by the Graphic Design firm that developed the new branding system
Managing an image library with a wonderful in theory, not so wonderful in practice, piece of software called Cumulus by Canto
Architectural graphics: coloring floor plans/site plans, touching up renderings, creating materials for 3D renderings
IT for my computer, seeing as I am fortunate enough to have the only Mac in my office
Training other people in the office on Illustrator and Photoshop, and serving as a resource for the myriad graphics related questions that come from a technologically advanced Architecture firm such as ours
Developing a color management workflow (Monaco EZ Color is a great product for this)…yes, I now understand what all those Photoshop Color Warnings are about
Creating promotional boards for showcasing completed projects, creating concept boards for competition entries
Putting together “promos” for responding to RFPs
Determining the optimum printers to have for in-house printing (the DesignJet 5500 from HP is good for the big stuff and we have a great Minolta Laser Copier/Printer/Scanner but I don’t remember the model…there are so many options), and keeping those printers running smoothly
“Scan monkey” and “print monkey” duties (“David, can you scan this/print this?”)
Designing PowerPoint presentations
Designing dedication plaques for buildings
Designing brochures
Creating exterior paint schemes for buildings
Answering the occasional computer question
Making sure various displays around the office support our brand
So, as you may have noticed, I have been almost entirely overhead for much of my days there, and that has kept me busier than your average 9-to-5-er. So far, my record is 67 hours in one week (keep in mind that I still have the book club, other AIGA stuff, and occasional AIA events, too). Well, these last couple of weeks, in addition to having these duties, I have been blessed with some clients. RDG Graphic Design is finally, as I originally intended, bringing in revenue, and as anyone would do, I will make sure that when those clients’ projects are done, there will be no second thought as to whom they will come next time they have a project. Some of the projects I have in progress, or coming up, include a booklet, promotional CD, exterior building signage application, wayfinding, museum catalog and a newsletter redesign.
Fortunately, not ALL of the above duties are still duties of mine. Many people have learned enough Illustrator and Photoshop to do alot of the coloring of floor plans, sight plans, and renderings, we hired a great marketing/writing person to concentrate on promos and color management hasn’t been an issue as of late. Some of the things will seemingly never get attended to, such as the image library (it’s never done!).
