by Matt | Mar 17, 2009 | Personal
I’ve always had a theory that if you’re trying really really hard to design something, and you’re getting “artist block” and can’t think of any good angles to come at the problem from, that you need to simply walk away from it and do something else for a little bit until you can come back to it. Talking it out with others of an artistic persuasion also helps, as does surfing for inspiring images or websites in hopes of sparking your creativity. Giving your brain a minute to cool down though, at least in my opinion, wins out above all the rest.
I’m trying to design a “tribute” ad for a guy at NASA. He’s leaving and an ad is going to get run in various aerospace publications thanking him for his great work and years of service.
I’m a total complete blank.
The first version I did looked like an obituary with dates that he served from and a nice portrait in the corner. The guy isn’t dead, he’s retiring. That simply wouldn’t do.
It’s really not that involved, or interesting, or needing to be anything special. Just a simple one pager about this guy. I just can’t seem to gear all the gears engaged in my brain today. I think a fresh start on it tomorrow might help, which is why I writing this post now. I’m killing time. That and the fact that writing always helps me think. If I can string together sentences on a page, the words come out of my brain in a more organized fashion.
There are some days where I can’t speak to save my life. I dribble words all over the place like I’m a dyslexic 6 year old. But sitting in front of a keyboard and writing my thoughts down, that I can always do. I’m not sure what it is about the medium. Maybe I was born to be a writer of some sort. Maybe that’s just the way my brain works.
I dunno. I’m just killing time until the proverbial whistle blows at the end of the day.
I’ve been considering, as I always have, actually writing something in a more formal fashion. I’ve got a few ideas for books and/or movies that I think with the right treatement, could be interesting. Some day I’d actually like to get those out and onto a page where others could see them. Of course, I say I’d like to do a lot of things that are never going to happen, but that’s a topic for another day.
by Matt | Mar 6, 2009 | Personal, Web
As you may have already figured, I’ll be installing a new WP install and new spiffy theme for LiquidIllusions this weekend. The theme is actually pretty cool. I think it’ll serve as a perfect blend of portfolio and infomative website that I can use to drum up some business. I’m downloading all my old files and backing them up since doing this will pretty much require a wipe of what’s there now. I’ll let everyone know when it’s up and running and if you have a second, I’d appreciate some feedback once it happens. I hate use the phrase but, “in these tough economic times”, it’ll be good to have a little side business to bring in a little extra money. I’ve already done an engagement portrait and I have a highschool senior portrait “on the books” for the near future. I’m not charging much for either shoot, but they’re good starting places for building my portfolio. If it all works out, this kind of thing can be the begining of my own studio.
Anyway, just wanted to spread the word that the “reboot” of sorts will be happening shortly. Stay tuned.
by Matt | Mar 5, 2009 | Personal, Web
Hey gang, I’ve got a quick opinion question for you. Due to a recent (and welcome) increase in the amount of freelance work I’ve been getting, I feel it’s probably time to update my portfolio (on LI dot net). So, my question is this.
Should it remain as Mackenzie Photography, even though it’s under the LI domain name? Or, should it be rebranded? If it’s not rebranded, does one name under a different domain name confuse anyone?
Also, given my love for WordPress, should I try and create a WordPress photo portfolio using an available theme (althought there aren’t too many that are any good) OR should I create a static web page that might be more aethestically pleasing, but be harder to maintain and update in the long run? Is there an alternative option I haven’t considered? Anyone know of any really good photo gallery software that would work well AND look professional? Or should I just stick with a regular old web page?
Thoughts?
by Matt | Feb 27, 2009 | Personal, Web
Along with my upgrades to php and mysql, I’m now able to run a few of the more recent wordpress plugins which had required the latest versions. I’ve replaced the MyGamerCard picture with a much more flexible and customizable version from Ardamis. It’s all CSS, links to the correct pages on xbox.com instead of mygamercard.com, and it’s a callable function that I can use elsewhere (like in a post for example) if I wanted to.
Also, I’m toying with LifeStream at the moment as something else to possibly add. My main issues are that I don’t “tweet” so any updates would be things like digging a story on digg, adding a photo to flickr, that sort of thing. That’s all great and wonderful but anything other than pure text (such as a tweet) adds a thumbnail to it. So, instead of:
“Matt dugg [insert story name here]”
it’s: “Matt dugg a story on Digg: [story thumbnail]”
and I think that’s kind of silly. It’s the same for Amazon, Flickr, etc. If I added an item to my Amazon Wish list it comes out as “Matt added an item at Amazon: [large photo]”. I’m trying to find a way to make it just text or just text with links. If it works I’ll let you know.
Matt out.
by Matt | Feb 26, 2009 | Personal
Just a quick heads up. I’m having my host move my account from a server with PHP and MySQL v4 to a new one with v5 of both. There won’t be any physical downtime, but it might take a little while for the DNS to point to the new server. So, if the site disappears for a little bit, it’ll be back shortly.
by Matt | Feb 11, 2009 | Aggravation, Personal, Tech, Web, Work
I know a few of you are more than familiar with the concept, but it’s aggravation is all the more real when it’s happening to you. I’m working, right this moment, on what I would consider to be my 16th design for a website. Version #1 was nearly perfect. It had all the right elements, elegant use of white space and a nice user interface. Version #2 included a few minor changes from co-workers in my department, all with quality input. By version #5, we were “showing” the design to groups outside the department. That was 4 months ago. Since then, every week, we have a “tag-up” meeting between 2 directors of different departments, the designers (me and my people), the IT guys, the programmers and backend developers and a VP.
So far we’ve been able to establish that we: like buttons, would like the afore mentioned buttons to do things, and that the logo needs to be bigger. Beyond that, all concepts of good design have left the conversation. We actually had a meeting a little while back about what the search function should LOOK like when it displays results. A full blown, hour and a half long meeting, only to establish that, yes, we should have results in some sort of list.
I know many of you sympathize with me, and reading the article on Smashing Magazine today, I know I’m not alone.
What I can say though, is that this project is facing at least 8 of the 10 “harsh truths” of corporate web design. Especially #’s 4 and 6. Holy shit are we knee-deep in 4 and 6.
“The harsh truth is that if you build a website for everyone, it will appeal to no one.”
“Where some website managers want their website to appeal to everybody, others want it to appeal to themselves and their colleagues…. Too many designs are rejected because the boss doesn’t like green.”
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