Ahhh… the dreaded idea of getting a job. After several years of being tied to a desk, wearing a uniform and doing everything someone else’s way, I’m definitely enjoying this newfound sense of freedom that comes along with not having a job. Of course not everyone is as lucky to be able to not work, and eventually the day will come when I either have to or want to get back to the grind, but for now I’m just taking it day by day.
Of course any passionate designer would go stir crazy not working on something for this long, so in the meantime I have been filling my schedule with various student and other personal projects. Just enough to tide me over and keep me busy (when I want to be).
Since money isn’t really a driving factor for me, I do plan to do some “pro-bono” websites this summer and fall for friends and family. Once those are under my belt, along with the lessons learned from their construction, the most logical direction to go in would be to roll into freelance -- where I will most likely end up. My own hours, my own concepts, my own glory (or failure). Sounds like my kind of deal.
Pay for a freelance designer is completely based on their own drive. It’s how well they market themselves (something I will need to brush up on…) and how well they can manage their time. No more getting paid for watching YouTube videos at work…
Another advantage – you can do it from anywhere. Want to spend summers at your lake house in Wisconsin? Sure, pack up the computer and go. And there’s also the joy of avoiding the morning commute. No more rush hour traffic.
Someday I’ll get serious about working this all out, but right now just isn’t that time. It all sounds great, and it’s the direction I’m sure I’ll be going – I’m just in no rush to get there.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Firefox crowned victor in this battle.
I will admit, before I started getting too design savvy, I was one of the many people who was reluctant to try out Firefox despite the urgings of all my tech-y friends. In my mind, IE worked just fine so what was the deal? I don’t really remember what initially caused me to cross over – whether it was sheer peer pressure or IE displaying something (now not-surprisingly) wonky – but after some research I am left kinda wondering what IE is still doing out in the marketplace. According to browser usage statistics, not a whole lot anymore.
IE’s rates have dropped significantly over the past couple of years. Due to what? Probably the fact that their software is severely behind the times with current web technologies. If web designers need to code separately for their pages to display correctly within IE, that’s a sign that they either need to get with it or step out. Well, in my opinion at least.
I will say that I do still have IE installed on my laptop. Primarily to check for these discrepancies when I’m coding, but (very occasionally) I’ll sometimes pop it open if I’m in a hurry and just looking to grab something real quick. I’ll give them a small hand for their quick startup time. But that’s where it ends. Firefox has the market nailed. Not only are they current with the changing technologies, but all of their add-ons really allow users to customize their browsing experience.
Next browser trial will be Google Chrome, which is creeping up there in statistics also. While they appear to be just as good with displaying webpages (and quickly), I’m not sure on their customization – one of my favorite features of Firefox.
IE’s rates have dropped significantly over the past couple of years. Due to what? Probably the fact that their software is severely behind the times with current web technologies. If web designers need to code separately for their pages to display correctly within IE, that’s a sign that they either need to get with it or step out. Well, in my opinion at least.
I will say that I do still have IE installed on my laptop. Primarily to check for these discrepancies when I’m coding, but (very occasionally) I’ll sometimes pop it open if I’m in a hurry and just looking to grab something real quick. I’ll give them a small hand for their quick startup time. But that’s where it ends. Firefox has the market nailed. Not only are they current with the changing technologies, but all of their add-ons really allow users to customize their browsing experience.
Next browser trial will be Google Chrome, which is creeping up there in statistics also. While they appear to be just as good with displaying webpages (and quickly), I’m not sure on their customization – one of my favorite features of Firefox.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Type (in the right hands)
As a print designer at heart, I have always had a strong interest in typography. Bad font choices make me shudder. While, of course, it is definitely a subjective thing, some people can do some real damage with a long list of type options in their arsenal. There really is no need to litter your Microsoft Word documents with Comic Sans and Brush Script just because you can. It's not creative, it's just tacky. A little restraint goes a long, looong way.
However, when in the right hands, magical things can happen with type. Check out these little gems, which you can see featured along with other examples at inspiredology.com :
Options in web typography, which used to be nonexistent when browsers first debuted, are now becoming more available (or I should say, are TRYING to become more available) to designers. There are a lot of different ideas (and concerns) floating around right now. The biggest hurdle is how to make the fonts available to the designers for on-screen delivery to the viewer without being able to be downloaded, which would leave our fabulous font designers broke and living on the streets. No bueno.
There have been a couple attempts, like Microsoft's EOT, to get around this problem. But it was never fully supported by the type foundries and never picked up by the majority of browsers. On the other hand, there are some work-arounds that will allow some fonts to be used (using @font-face), which is now becoming widely supported by browsers but still leaves vulnerabilities for font pilfering.
While all this gets worked out, a handful of sites have stepped up in the interim (and I'm sure they hope to stick around a little bit longer…) to allow licensing of fonts that they host and designers can tap into using the @font-face property. The majority of them are pretty well stocked, opening tons of options for web typography. But it comes with a price. One of the most well known of the bunch, typekit.com, offers the service for between $7-$49/month depending on bandwidth usage and the number of fonts you want available. Oh, and they limit the number of sites you are able to use the fonts on, also dependent on your level of subscription.
While the lure of having these fonts at my disposal was tempting at first, in retrospect I'm glad I didn't jump the gun and pop in my credit card number (as I am often so guilty of doing…). I really think I would only would use it for decorative text, not body copy, so image replacement works fine for now in these instances until a more solid solution is worked out that doesn't require another monthly subscription. Until then, basic web safe fonts are good with me.
However, when in the right hands, magical things can happen with type. Check out these little gems, which you can see featured along with other examples at inspiredology.com :
Options in web typography, which used to be nonexistent when browsers first debuted, are now becoming more available (or I should say, are TRYING to become more available) to designers. There are a lot of different ideas (and concerns) floating around right now. The biggest hurdle is how to make the fonts available to the designers for on-screen delivery to the viewer without being able to be downloaded, which would leave our fabulous font designers broke and living on the streets. No bueno.
There have been a couple attempts, like Microsoft's EOT, to get around this problem. But it was never fully supported by the type foundries and never picked up by the majority of browsers. On the other hand, there are some work-arounds that will allow some fonts to be used (using @font-face), which is now becoming widely supported by browsers but still leaves vulnerabilities for font pilfering.
While all this gets worked out, a handful of sites have stepped up in the interim (and I'm sure they hope to stick around a little bit longer…) to allow licensing of fonts that they host and designers can tap into using the @font-face property. The majority of them are pretty well stocked, opening tons of options for web typography. But it comes with a price. One of the most well known of the bunch, typekit.com, offers the service for between $7-$49/month depending on bandwidth usage and the number of fonts you want available. Oh, and they limit the number of sites you are able to use the fonts on, also dependent on your level of subscription.
While the lure of having these fonts at my disposal was tempting at first, in retrospect I'm glad I didn't jump the gun and pop in my credit card number (as I am often so guilty of doing…). I really think I would only would use it for decorative text, not body copy, so image replacement works fine for now in these instances until a more solid solution is worked out that doesn't require another monthly subscription. Until then, basic web safe fonts are good with me.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wonderful World of Color
When used without purpose, color has the power of breaking even the best designs before the viewer even has a chance to consciously interpret the meaning of a message. However, when used with purpose, it can subconsciously tap into the viewer’s psyche and project feelings that (hopefully) reinforce your message.
Often times, color can say things that words cannot. Or at least, they can be more effective at doing so. For example, one of the best-known examples of color psychology in corporate branding is the UPS logo. Their use of the same dull brown shade for the past who-knows-how-many years isn’t an accident. It’s not a sign of a company needing to catch up with the times. It is, in fact, an intentional use of the color – they’re using the power of color psychology, knowing that brown projects feelings of reliability and stability.
Without even using statistics, customer feedback or anything else to sell themselves, simply by using the power of color they have already subconsciously positioned themselves as a reliable company that you can trust. Definitely not by accident.
UPS is by far not the only company to tap into this psychology. Warm colors have been associated with stimulating hunger. Now think about Campbell’s soup. McDonald’s. Or most Italian restaurants. Now think about day spas. Blues and greens, known as calming colors, dominate here.
Below are more feelings associated with color, some more subconsciously rooted than others:
(Blue) Sky, Sea, Water, Religious feeling, Peace, Faith, Stability, Melancholy, Trust, Loyalty, Wisdom, Tranquility, Integrity (Red) Fire, Love, Passion, Energy, Revolution, Anger, Power, Debt, Danger, Heat, Warning (Green) Money, Growth, Environmentally Friendly, Fertility, Envy, Spring, Freshness, Stability, Loyal, Healing (Yellow) Energy, Sun, Happiness, Cheery, Creativity (Orange) Joy, Sunshine, Creativity, Determination, Success, Encouragement, Energy, Autumn, Construction (Purple) Royalty, Power, Nobility, Luxury, Spirituality (Brown) Conservative, Stable, Outdoors, Fall, Earth, Organic
(Courtesy of Judy Litt, Visual Accents Design)
There are several tools available online to help designers use these ideas to their benefit. One of my favorites is COLOURLovers. There are TONS of examples of great (and some not so great) color combinations in their palettes section. Often times I am inspired just by browsing some of the examples found here. I have had varying degrees of success with their color match tool, but most often what I use is the text search. Try typing in some keywords associated with the feeling you want to convey and you are sure to come up with something that suits your needs. Since it calls on user created names, it will miss some of the more obscurely named palettes, but it is often helpful in at least generating ideas if nothing else. Think of what you would expect for the following, and then try it out to see what it comes up with: technology, winter, organic.
Often times, color can say things that words cannot. Or at least, they can be more effective at doing so. For example, one of the best-known examples of color psychology in corporate branding is the UPS logo. Their use of the same dull brown shade for the past who-knows-how-many years isn’t an accident. It’s not a sign of a company needing to catch up with the times. It is, in fact, an intentional use of the color – they’re using the power of color psychology, knowing that brown projects feelings of reliability and stability.
Without even using statistics, customer feedback or anything else to sell themselves, simply by using the power of color they have already subconsciously positioned themselves as a reliable company that you can trust. Definitely not by accident.
UPS is by far not the only company to tap into this psychology. Warm colors have been associated with stimulating hunger. Now think about Campbell’s soup. McDonald’s. Or most Italian restaurants. Now think about day spas. Blues and greens, known as calming colors, dominate here.
Below are more feelings associated with color, some more subconsciously rooted than others:
(Blue) Sky, Sea, Water, Religious feeling, Peace, Faith, Stability, Melancholy, Trust, Loyalty, Wisdom, Tranquility, Integrity (Red) Fire, Love, Passion, Energy, Revolution, Anger, Power, Debt, Danger, Heat, Warning (Green) Money, Growth, Environmentally Friendly, Fertility, Envy, Spring, Freshness, Stability, Loyal, Healing (Yellow) Energy, Sun, Happiness, Cheery, Creativity (Orange) Joy, Sunshine, Creativity, Determination, Success, Encouragement, Energy, Autumn, Construction (Purple) Royalty, Power, Nobility, Luxury, Spirituality (Brown) Conservative, Stable, Outdoors, Fall, Earth, Organic
(Courtesy of Judy Litt, Visual Accents Design)
There are several tools available online to help designers use these ideas to their benefit. One of my favorites is COLOURLovers. There are TONS of examples of great (and some not so great) color combinations in their palettes section. Often times I am inspired just by browsing some of the examples found here. I have had varying degrees of success with their color match tool, but most often what I use is the text search. Try typing in some keywords associated with the feeling you want to convey and you are sure to come up with something that suits your needs. Since it calls on user created names, it will miss some of the more obscurely named palettes, but it is often helpful in at least generating ideas if nothing else. Think of what you would expect for the following, and then try it out to see what it comes up with: technology, winter, organic.
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