05.22.08 2:00 AM

Lets try this another way.

If at first you don't succeed…

…give up and try it another way. I'm going to try using Twitter to speed up my postings. They should appear either to the right, or the very bottom of the home page (depending on your window width). I'll probably put larger posts in this main section, but the Twitter feed is a little easier to access when I'm away from my computer.

I swear I'm going to get some new photos of the family up on my Family website (.Mac button in the left menu.) If not, and you're a member of the family, don't forget www.geni.com may have some photos. I'm loving geni.com and hope you give it a try. If only the other social networking sites would take look at the simplicity and functionality of that site.

07.14.07 2:00 AM

Fear not, mine site ist not abandoned. I'm just busy.

It's called having a newborn and a two-year old.

The new job is going quite well. Things going good. More to come….

05.11.07 6:00 PM

Cutting Ties

New employment

Farewell alma mater, you will be missed. Today was my final day at NKU. It’s been my home away from 7 years. First as my educator, then as my employer. It’s a little odd leaving a place that’s become a large portion of your daily life, leaving behind slice of your routine. Although tough, I think this is a good thing. A little destruction can lead to building some wonderful new possibilities.

Even more news… I now have a beautiful new daughter. Here name is Lily, and she is a wonderful gift. I always manage to cram a lot of change into short periods of time. It must be a special talent of mine.

02.25.07 6:15 PM

Workflow

Water doesn’t flow uphill

Having worked in the IT environment for a number of years, I’ve found the transition to a design and printing world to be oddly at ends with my previous experience. I entered into computers primarily because I felt it was a valuable expenditure of my energy learning to use one of the primary tools of modern design. What I hadn’t fully accounted for was that I would learn so much about the business of computers. Primarily, the exponential growth factor of technology and its equally exponential value in the business world. The factors of exponential growth hit me the hardest due to one of the unfortunate natures of the printing industry. Printing exists in the twilight zone between digital technology and manufacturing. With computers, it has become cheaper and cheaper to produce equivalent technologies, but it’s still a bold move for a printer to replace a press.

One of the hailed saviors of modern printing, CMS and DTP systems, which tie directly into the digital end of the workflow, are still wrought with hidden traps. While these valuable advancements take strides in speeding the print industry into the future, they also run the risk of chaining the rest of the design process into the sluggish nature of the hardware replacement cycle.

The saving factor in much of this is the inclusion of open standards like PDF and XML, which by their nature are highly adaptive. As long as these systems are incorporated correctly, many systems should remain relevant far into the future. The task set before the printing industry is to educate themselves in the nature of this brave new world of rapid advancement and dynamic footholds. One of the things I learned in IT was that if you stand still too long, you’ll quickly find yourself sinking. Technology waits for no one. The printing industry must grow and adapt to the technology built into its core. At one time, Gutenberg was an innovator of not just printing, but of communication as a whole. Since then, we have evolved into a world of digital communication. Essentially, it would seem that printing needs to learn to pickup the pace, or pass the baton.

01.05.07 1:17 AM

Work Them Teeth

Smile for the camera

crazy grin

It’s important not to be too serious. I’ve made a personal resolution for 2007 to avoid a particular pitfall of being a professional designer, the dulling hum of productivity. One of the most serious hurdles for a new graphic designer is maintaining the fast pace of the medium. Far from the churning halls of the design classroom, the speed of the outside world can be a daunting foe.

The thirst of my college years is still very vivid in my mind. Vivid,… a powerful word in the mind’s eye of the artisan. Visual design’s primary goal is to focus the eye, to make our message vivid amongst the hum of the marketing machine of the information age. A particular saving grace of mine is my 2 year old son. Guiltily I’ve had to admit to my wife that he has been born with my adolescent hyperactivity, and borderline crazy/odd sense of humor. Just today, while sitting down to have a supposedly peaceful dinner, I estimate half of the meal pertained primarily of me and my son making odd faces and possibly some of the most annoying sounds we know how to make. My wife might claim disapproval, but I could see her in the corner of my eyes grinning, I could hear her chuckling against her better judgment. And there it hit me, in the midst of this pointless exchange of snorts and giggles, my son and I had a riveted audience. Despite all the stress and toils of the day, this fresh lack of seriousness stood vivid against the background of our busy, serious, run of the mill day.

I think this is a clue to something necessary for good graphic design. Seriousness and the hair pulling details have their place, but I think maybe only as a canvas for the contrast of the truly vivid message. The jaw dropper. The milky-out-the-nose squirter. Good design.

A perspective on graphic design

Graphic design is expendable

Most designers won’t admit it, but it’s true, graphic design is an expendable resource. When budgets get crunched and the belts need tightening, the design budget is usually the first cut. This seems to be the nature of the modern business world. Unfortunately, it’s completely absurd.

Graphic design is an important part of the modern world’s information roadway. If the internet is the digital highway, graphic design is the road signs, painted lines, and traffic lights. It’s true you don’t need any of these things to move, but they’re imperative if you want to reach your destination quickly and intact. Whether it’s digital or tactile, visual design shapes the path of information in the modern world.