New Year.. New Learnings

Well... 2012 is here. Each year seems to arrive faster than the last. And each tech innovation, software upgrade and learning challenge follows fast behind. Long gone are the days when Artists (Designers) could learn and hone their skills then relegate themselves into an isolated life-style of singular creativity. Sure, art for art's sake will always be the integral component for true bohemian aspirations, but for those of us who desire, or require, a bit more materialistic existence there needs to be an awareness for the constant need for learning, training and then use those abilities to stay engaged into today's fast-paced multimedia landscape.

I often think of the Ant & the Grasshopper fable about preparing for the future by Aesop. While I'm not pressing the boundaries of potential that the new-media canvass provides, I am aware of the need to seek out skills and knowledge about the new media in general. That is half the battle. It's impossible to know everything about all things. It is possible though to stay abreast of what's happening in Design, what new tech innovations are popping up and what the rest of the world is doing. Then, when an opportunity arrives to create within any new medium, you're primed to do so. Trying to avoid, or partition, certain creative challenges will only stifle your creativity and learning potential. Like the Ant... prepare for your future.

Tired Guy

Here's a little insight into the creative development process for the heck of it. This recent project was to create a logo for a new start-up company. They had initially wanted the name of the company and logo to be "ALLTIRES2U.COM", and they wanted a tire with trailing flames as a central part of the logo. After the initial design they changed the company name to "TIREGUY2U.COM" and wanted to incorporate a silhouetted person into the logo. I was now faced with having to deal with multiple items in the logo, and trying to get them to all relate to one another. The person in front of the tire seemed to be getting ran over by the tire in the existing design. Plus the flames really no longer made sense with a moving tire, but a static person in front of the tire. What to do?

I resolved the static person issue by placing him in motion, and giving him really simple features. Though the elements still didn't work together yet, it gave the client some insight as what could be done. I then moved the tire under the arm of the person, making those two elements works as a whole. The flames were still an issue, and if need be could stay or be removed depending on what the client wanted. After the 3rd take with the person holding the tire, and a wrench, and with the flames still present the call was made to get rid of the flames, and they wanted to make the person more detailed, not silhouetted and change the wrench to a more tire-based tool. OK, so this is starting to move us into a more refined stage. I was getting closer.

Moving into the final stage of the logo development the tire-iron was changed to a torque wrench (I had concerns it looked like a gun though), and speed lines were added to the person, to convey responsiveness. The final logo is quite different from where we started, but turned out excellent.

Site update

Like the changing seasons, it's time to do away with the old and usher in newness. Given that FLASH has become more of a liability, I wanted to remove most of it from my site. I also have some new portfolio samples to bring in, and older ones to get rid of. So... time for a site update. Hopefully it's well received. I particularly like the streamlined flow to this new iteration, and the general simplicity of navigating to desired sections. This will be a work-in-progress over the next few months.

iPad iLearn

I decided to finally set down and start learning about developing for iphone/ipad as these are the mediums advertisers want and need for their marketing objectives. I already have a strong web development programming background, so it shouldn't be too tough to get started. I finished the book "objective-c for absolute beginners" and I'm studying "beginning iphone 3 development" right now. I understand everything quite well, apart from a few details, but I still have to practice a lot to get the hang of it. But, I'm willing to spend all of the time needed to get it down.

I would like to develop, beside some more practical apps, multimedia rich and creative apps, for instance some original games, interactive ads, contest forms and much more. I've been using lynda.com, youtube and other various web sites to really get some spectacular training.

I've already created one sample app, and a few real iPad ads, so things are going smoothly. I'm excited about the other possibilities for multimedia projects I can do on on these platforms.

Social Studies

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.  These are a few of the more popular Social Networking sites that you have probably already heard of and may already be using.  But Social Networking platforms such as these are not just for status update, playing online social games, taking quizzes or reconnecting with friends and family.  In fact Social Networking is another way to advertise yourself and your business for free or at a very low cost. Social Networking is a very inexpensive means for advertising what your business is and does and what services and products you offer.

But there's more, and for business, this matters. In the back-and-forth of ordinary conversation, ideas pop up. They may be about your product or ways you could do things better ... or new products your customers could use if you were hearing what they had to say. The idea, of course, is that if people are talking in your presence, you're the first to hear what is being said.

Facebook is the social networking king, and here's why: "Facebook appeals to a wide range of people - all ages - because it is relatively easy-to-use with an interesting & fun variety of features for communicating with family and friends."

Facebook is human-user-friendly, in whatever language you happen to speak, rather than the computer-speak that tends to be a prerequisite for most other web applications.

While social networking, or viral marketing, can be a huge plus for branding or developing your company's image, it can also be an area that could generate negative ideas about a company or people. caution must be exercised in replies, or posts to ensure the proper message and image of your company isn't compromised.

To code, or not to code...

News update in progress..