Complicated Design

Hello! Its been awhile, but life is complicated which is why I love complicated design. Different styles of design resonates with different folks. Some like things clean and simple. A cool blue complimenting its darker relative. Or an array of warm hues butting up to one another while interrupted by a bright green. Although, for me, life is never that well defined. Here are some examples of what I like to consider "complicated design". Different patterns collide, a lone orange is uncalled for and unexpected, but it works. You might find yourself wondering if the design was actually thought out or accidental. Personally I find this design to be much more difficult to achieve. It pushes oneself out of the safeness of balance and into something inconsistent yet still harmonious.

Self Portrait

I receive Allure magazine in the mail, although I don't remember ever subscribing to it. Anyway, I just recycled them for a long time, but lately I have made it a goal to read everything and anything to do with design. This includes fashion magazines, well because they speak about the current generation and it is important to be up on such things. So I was flipping through the latest Allure when I came across an article by Augusten Burroughs. I was immediately happy about the goal I set for myself. I would have never read the piece had I not committed myself.

The article is titled "Snap Judgment" and talks about the truth in self portrait photography. Burroughs expresses himself as an unsure man confused when it comes to his feelings. He has development an artistic method of discovering his emotions. Augusten takes photo after photo of himself to look at them and solidify what he is actually feeling.

He writes, "I blow past the shots with the fake smiles, raised eyebrows, or any other kind of bullshit pose. And there, among the rejects, will be one shot that captures in 40 megabytes what it is I am feeling but cannot name: terrified, lonely confused, excited, bored."

I loved this confession. Working with photography myself, I know the exact feeling when scrolling through thumbnails and I see "the one". When this technique is applied to something even greater, like the human condition, imagine the power.

Augusten also comments on how we, as human beings, do this self seeking on a daily basis even without lens and shutter:

When you check your hair or makeup in the mirror, is that all you do? Are you focused entirely and exclusively on disobedient strands, or the tiny tributaries of lipstick that have formed at the corners of your mouth and must be dabbed away? Or, if truth be told, do you also search your own eyes, your parted lips for meaning? Is it not oddly reassuring to see your own reflection? To know for a fact that you are, indeed, still real?

I really love Augusten Burroughs' work and I just wanted to share this piece. I thought we could all relate.

Tables to Divs

I have gotten so comfortable with using tables over the past few years, but I know I have got to keep up. My site currently is created with tables and styled with CSS, but I need to switch the tables over. In the coming months I plan to revamp my portfolio site, eliminating all tables and replacing them with lovely div containers :)

I Smell Spring!

Us poor Michigan folk. This past Winter has been gloomier than normal. We are in definite need of some sunshine. Every day the snow melts a little bit more. Soon the Diag will be moving with frisbee and picnics. I cannot wait!

Design Jobs

I realize how hard it is out there so I thought I would help my fellow designers. I will try and post design positions in the Michigan area. Here are two recent postings I found. Good luck!

Senior Graphic Designer - Web Sites
Niche Retail, a fast-moving, team-oriented, and environmentally-conscious company, is seeking a full-time Senior Graphic Designer to join our team. The Senior Graphic Designer will be responsible for conceptualizing and delivering digital graphic designs for eCommerce websites. Read more.

Entry Level Graphic Illustrator/Designer – Temporary
A full-service engineering supplier headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Livonia, Michigan, Roush has over 2000 employees in more than 40 facilities across the United States and interests around the world. Widely recognized for providing engineering, testing, prototype development, and manufacturing services to the transportation industry, Roush also provides significant support to the automotive aftermarket, electronics, consumer product, and motorsports industries. Read more.

The Grace of Great Things

What liberates the imagination is the sense that work in its theory and practice holds aesthetic possibilities, that jobs can be elegantly conceived and gracefully done. This sense of beauty unlocks feelings of pleasure and love that break down the barrier between worker and work and commit to work not merely the "thinking" consciousness but the full resources of mind.

- Robert Grudin

Augusten Burroughs

Flash

I am diving into Flash now. This program has had a love/hate or rather love/fear resolve with me. In one hand the timeline reminds me of Final Cut Pro, which I used often once upon a time. However the program offers layers upon layers of timelines and can be confusing. On the main timeline we hold the scene, which holds the animations or what have you. However, you can also click on the objects on the screen and they each have their own timeline, which looks similar to the main timeline. If I had one suggestion for Adobe, it would be to make it easier to tell the difference between timelines, but that is simply my opinion.

I have been researching avenues to learn Flash when I stumbled upon the site LearnFlash.com. Once I signed up for their weekly e-mails, I began getting free small tutorials on animations. For instance I recieved an online lesson to create a foggy effect and a venetian blinds sort of transition. After a couple of these lessons I was drawn in and actually browsed their products. They offer bundles, which includes an array of lessons or in my case I bought a single lesson. Normally I have paid $130 for 24 hours worth of lessons, where I paid only $36 through this site. I would recommend them to anyone longing to learn web-site design or Flash.

Poker Pedal Run

Check JimmyRigged.com for details.

Homeless Dave has Found a Home

Ann Arbor is the kind of city that I consider to be tightly woven, where individuals know one another and care. However, the city is still big enough that you might not know everyone or be able to reach its social boundary on each and every side. Homeless Dave seems to have been able to stretch himself far enough to not only come in contact with the circumference of our city, but to nestle in every aspect of it. Dave has a sincere interest in our city. He takes the time to visit, report, support, converse and even teeter (or totter) with all of us.

I originally met Dave in light of my husband's involvement in the cycling community here in Ann Arbor. Dave would come out to his events, volunteer as well as broadcast the happenings. Dave would also pop up at art shows, council meetings, the streets of downtown and any where people of this city gather to create and promote. He shares his participation in The Ann Arbor Chronicle which describes itself as a "daily news site that reflects and embraces the energy, oddities, and character of our community."

Dave also notices and interviews select citizens of Ann Arbor by sharing a ride with them on his teeter totter. At Homeless Dave Teeter Talk. The interviews are casual and fun, which often involve a dialogue about the teeter totter itself.

I wanted to write this in honor of Dave. In response to all the time and energy Dave has spent connecting his city and shining light on its heroes, he too has become one. Thank you Homeless Dave for all your dedication and talent you have shared with us. You are a valuable token to Ann Arbor, and we are lucky that you call this city home.

Time Magazine Article on Facebook

Here is an article Time Magazine wrote on "Why Facebook is for Old Fogies." I think this is hilarious, and I now officially feel like and Old Fogie.

"Facebook is five. Maybe you didn't get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:

1. Facebook is about finding people you've lost track of. And, son, we've lost track of more people than you've ever met. Remember who you went to prom with junior year? See, we don't. We've gone through multiple schools, jobs and marriages. Each one of those came with a complete cast of characters, most of whom we have forgotten existed. But Facebook never forgets. (See the best social-networking applications.)

2. We're no longer bitter about high school. You're probably still hung up on any number of petty slights, but when that person who used to call us that thing we're not going to mention here, because it really stuck, asks us to be friends on Facebook, we happily friend that person. Because we're all grown up now. We're bigger than that. Or some of us are, anyway. We're in therapy, and it's going really well. These are just broad generalizations. Next reason.

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions. We wish we still did that. But we don't.

4. Facebook isn't just a social network; it's a business network. And unlike, say, college students, we actually have jobs. What's the point of networking with people who can't hire you? Not that we'd want to work with anyone your age anyway. Given the recession — and the amount of time we spend on Facebook — a bunch of hungry, motivated young guns is the last thing we need around here.

5. We're lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age, we don't want to do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it. Which is what news feeds are for.

6. We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us. These days, the only way to identify us is with Facebook tags.

7. We have children. There is very little that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children. Facebook is the most efficient engine ever devised for this.

8. We're too old to remember e-mail addresses. You have to understand: we have spent decades drinking diet soda out of aluminum cans. That stuff catches up with you. We can't remember friends' e-mail addresses. We can barely remember their names.

9. We don't understand Twitter. Literally. It makes no sense to us.

10. We're not cool, and we don't care. There was a time when it was cool to be on Facebook. That time has passed. Facebook now has 150 million members, and its fastest-growing demographic is 30 and up. At this point, it's way cooler not to be on Facebook. We've ruined it for good, just like we ruined Twilight and skateboarding. So git! And while you're at it, you damn kids better get off our lawn too."