Responsible responding to responsize web design....

So there's this up and coming thing called responsive web design in which a website will change to suite whatever media it is being viewed on. So say you're home on your 23 inch monitor and you view a webpage. It looks great! So you pull the same webpage up on your ipad only to get the same great looking page, no need to pinch and zoom. Then, the ultimate test, you pull it up on your iphone/andriod mobile device. Boom! The website looks just as good here, no pinching, zooming, it fits perfectly! How does this magic happen you ask? Responsive web design. It's all made possible by having setting in place to tell the webpage, hey, if the browser window is between X pixels and Y pixels, you display this CSS page. However, if the browser is A pixels by B pixels, display this CSS page. The only real drawback I can think of is a little more work for the web designer in making the extra CSS pages. However, the benefits of having a single webpage be viewable on any platform far out ways the extra time spent in making the 1 or 2 extra CSS pages. Because we can never predict how the website will be most viewed, having a responsive webpage can help make viewing your webpage an easy and enjoyable experience without you having to make several iterations, or going back to the drawing board to make a mobile specific webpage for yourself or you clients.

Use Protection, especially while Designing!

Yes I said it, and yes you could imply something bad, but there's a bigger issue at stake! Many designers do not know about things even as simple as a non-disclosure agreement. If your client doesn't want you talking about the project, if the project is top secret, IF all of what you make is owned by the company, this is all information you need and needs to be discussed before you even start work on the project.  Also things like non-compete agreements which means while you work with the company/client you don't work with a competitor of theirs or work with anyone really that would pull your time away from doing their work. Before you start work with a company there's a lot of things you need to work out before hand, that way you save yourself headaches, money, time, and possibly keep yourself out of legal issues.

Typography on the Interwebs

From the times of just using...Times New Roman (yes the font that is used in this entire blog), or going with the stylish Georgia, or maybe you just want to go with a nice clean Trebuchet. Either way these fonts have been around on your system for years and have been name "Web safe" fonts. What "Web safe" means for you is they'll appear the same on any website on any computer...anywhere... In the past this was fine and dandy with some, but others wanted to push the bar a bit. With CSS2 they added in the ability to host certain fonts with the @font-face rule. The @font-face rule allowed you to host via your web hosting a font that was not normally known as a system font. The problem arose when vendors who would sell fonts realized that in hosting the font, one could simply view the source of a site using the @font-face rule and snag the unique font being hosted there. This opened up the door for piracy of the font kind. This @font-face rule was removed in CSS2.1. It was later added back in with the emergence of free fonts that could be hosted as well as services like Typekit.com which would host the fonts for you and encrypt the rule in your CSS so no one could pirate it. There are a few other providers of free fonts like Google Web Fonts or Fontsquirrel.com. By around 1999 / 2000 the @font-face rule became a known standard to most web designers. In my personal opinion, I believe the ability to host your own fonts is not only here to stay, but it will become more prominent as more and more people make the move to a web based society. So brush off your...brushes...dip that quill in that ink, and turn on that creative part of your brain, design a font, and be ready to host it for the world to see!

Protect yourself! Contracts and you!

So someone came to you and says, "I r can has interwebs site made?" To which you facepalm yourself and say, "Why yes sir or madam, I can make you a website, I'll just need some information first.  After finding out about the website and what content they want in it, you say to them, "Ok, this looks well within my capabilities, now lets talk time and money." They babble out what they think is a fair price, you correct them and inform them about how much work goes into building a website, and tell them the correct and truly fair price. After they mull it over, all the while making a face much like a chimpanzee, they agree to pay the price, but only after the work is done. WARNING... WARNING... Do NOT agree to this. Let your potential client know that you can not agree to those terms, however you are willing to write up a contract outlining not only cost, but a timeline in which phases of the project will be done and submitted to them for approval. If the client says something along the lines of, "We don't need a contract, trust me." or, "I can pays part now, then part later, with no contract yes?" Either insist on the contract or leave then and there. If a client does not want a contract in any form, odds are they have no intention of truly paying you or paying you what they think is "fair." Having a contract in place is a way to ensure not only that you get paid what you know you want and think is fair, but it'll make the client then legally obligated to the payment signed for. Also make sure to include a section regarding if the company decides to nix the deal, or fires whomever you're working with, that you'll still get paid. Contracts may seem like a big deal, but it is strictly to protect you the designer, and can also be an amazing way to educate the client about what is actually involved with making a website, logo, taking photos, filming something, whatever it is you may be doing for them.

The. web. job. out. look. blog..thing.

Having been asked to find a job, again, for my area, or as a freelancer anywhere, I have done so. If you go to the website, http://www.graphicdesignfreelancejobs.com, you can see for yourself that not only is there a demand for graphic design jobs, but an even greater demand for "Amazing Web Designers". Another site is http://www.graphicdesignfreelancejobs.com/jobs/view-todays-jobs.php, and again one can see there is a enormous need for web designers, maybe not in the local Evansville area, but in general there is work. And, if one is comfortable with it, you can work from afar to ensure you stay in business. As far as being qualified, I think for the most part if it is just building a site, yes I would be qualified. If it evolves more flash and java script than cookie monster loves cookies, then no, I am not qualified. Salaries seem to be standard for freelance work which is fine with me. Overall there is work out there if one is willing to go for it and put forth the effort.

blog 5.0 rfp

The RFP, request for proposal is a idea of holding everyone to the same standards regardless of any other bias so that everyone has a fair and equal chance at winning a bid for a job. I do not think these so much hinder the designing community as much as it hinders clientele from seeing the true potential of their prospective designing firms. I agree with A List Apart's article on RFPs in that there should be a lot more creative freedom seeing as that's what you're hiring for, a creative group for a creative goal. Don't restrict the receivers of RFPs to a specific font, spacing, and format, but rather give them guidelines on what you want to see overall. The idea of a USP is another interesting concept. The idea of an elevator pitch has been around in the "finding a job market" for years but the effectiveness is what can be drawn into question. Can someone truly sell themselves in a 20-30 second window? Can one have a two-liner that can be effective enough to capture someones attention to want more? I think it can if that is what the person is looking for. If they want that, "proficient in photoshop, aftereffects, dreamweave, illustrator and skill in logo work, and business identity" guy, then ya, your 1 line just hooked that client instantly. But if that same client is looking for someone more in web, you wasted your breath even for one sentence. As to attempt to make one for myself, I will place myself in my current home town knowing full well what the clientele will want, I would say something along the lines of, "I'm comfortable working on Website Designs, Business identities, and advertisements for your company." If that works, awesome, if not, well he wasn't looking for me anyway.

blog 4.0 ownership of materials

Licensing, the idea of you owning something, and me paying for using it for an extended period of time, or a small amount of time, or even just once. The idea of you having certain rules and regulations for your owned material, and me wanting to do whatever I want given I payed for it. Truth is, I didn't pay for it so much as I paid to have it in what I'm making, it is your work, so you should be able to set the rules. However this could lead to a creative problem. I want this image to use in my design that implies something you don't want your product implying. Creative licensing is something all designers have to get used to unless you're one of those who literally does everything themselves. If you are this designer, I tip my hat to you sir or madam, I personally am not. I will need some stock photos every now and then, or that font from that free website but comes complete with a "read me" file containing the license agreement. What I want to do with your product, and what you want to allow your product  to be used for may very well conflict. As designers we have to always be wary of licensing agreements and licensed products due to the nature of our work. If a client walks up to you and hands you a photo and says I want this on a t-shirt saying "blah blah blah", make sure you explain to them that if this photo was from the internet, that they have the permission to use it, that they know where it came from, and that they understand that this photo could very well have a license that needs to be purchased in order to be placed on this t-shirt. Also we should all be aware that there could be legal repercussions for just throwing that photo into a design for a client and having them sell it. Creative licensing is very much a part of our would and it would benefit all designers greatly to expand their knowledge on the subject and always be mindful of them.

blog 3.0 spec workx

The idea of spec work is not new to the designing industry, nor is it something only a few people are familiar with. The idea of spec work is when a client, company, agency ask a designer to do some work without pay, and that the company can keep after the work has been completed. Now that being said, is it evil? Is it bad for a designer to subject themselves to a lack of pay for the work they do? Is it bad for a designer to get their work out even with the the lack of a payment, but a flip-side gain in experience? Ah, there we go, something that doesn't seem quite so negative. Yes I do see, and for the most part agree, with the idea of spec work being a bad thing, that there is a negative impact on the designing community as a whole. The idea of having 500 random designers, or those that consider themselves designers, all work on a logo for a company, and the top one picked, doesn't get paid for that. Sure the one chosen feels better about himself, but that company got free work, 500 logos to choose from, and MAYBE a good logo. The idea of them having a mediocre logo as apposed to paying a professional to design a great logo, the company gets what they pay for... or in some cases didn't pay for. And there we have it, the idea of bad design being out in the world, and the company sporting that bad logo is none the wiser, and the people that are the clientele see from day to day have no idea that it is bad design. So through all of my ramblings I've covered some good and bad points of the spec work side. For the most part, I think everyone should be compensated for their work, good or bad, and I feel every designer should demand compensation for their work, never giving in to the demands of a company wanting a free logo. For the betterment of all our lives and incomes, do this for design community as a whole.

blog assingment dose

After having read chapter 3 from Andy Rutledge's evaluation I have some ideas for goals in my career. I'd like to start with a company / firm, however it happens I'd like it to happen. I may not necessarily want to move away, but if I really had to I would. The benefits of starting out at an agency far outweighs one covering for their own mistakes, and the experience gained will be far more beneficial than footing the bill on your own. Now that being said, I would like some side work, and some side projects that I could tinker with, even if it's personal websites, pictures, graphics ext. I would like this to be a foot hold into a personal, freelance kind of work. I'd like to build up skills not only with the designing aspect of the work, but the business side of things. The business side is a strong piece of the puzzle that a student is not normally exposed to during the learning experience and we need to know several things for a business savy. Beyond the agency part of my career I'd like to finish out doing some freelance stuff, being able to pick and choose my clients and projects that I undertake.

Preperation of Professionalism

After having read the article for design professionalism I totally agree with what is said. To elaborate, the author simply says that your education not only never stops, but it continues on well into the future. Also our education is never given to us, never "spoon-fed" to us, we have to be hungry for more. We as design students should be seeking expounding boarders for our arsenal of creative tools and thought processes. 

The author says that we as designers can not simply relay on our institutions and teachers/professors to give us all the information we need to succeed in the industry. Rather, we should go out and take what is rightfully ours, sample the boons that the world has to offer. There is information out there and sometimes better teachers than the ones we pay to listen to in class. It is our responsibility, our duty to design, to go out and "learn" ourselves what we can truly accomplish and achieve.

Art and directing it (for the web)

So in doing some initial reading I love the first lines off of the site binarymoon.co.uk which is

 "What is 'Art Direction'?
To be perfectly honest I have no idea where the phrase comes from, but I assume it's some sort of carry over from the print industry. What it means (on the web at least) is taking normal, generic, content; and then giving each page a different, more artistically/ design oriented, layout."

Directing art...sounds tricky to me, and it is. To me Art Direction on the web is how you or the designer, or you the designer in some cases, point to the direction of how things should look, the feel, the color. It's picking out the overall look and feel of a website. It's close to design, like graphic design, but for a web based media in which  most people are pulling towards. We have to make pages interactive, fun, and less text heavy. There are several different ways a web page can be viewed, and due to that there are so many ways we have to think about how to adjust our designs accordingly. I personally like the idea of the web, and I will definitely be attempting to delve into web design as much as I can and seek the possibilities.

This one is for all those hostings out there!

So I acquired a web hosting service via godaddy.com I will now answer the questions in order they where received...or read, whatever.
For my domain name I chose twintergraphics.com I did this because I've always used the identity of Tom Winter for most of my creative anything. (I used to post poems on a blog as Tom Winter when I was an English major) So the identity has kind of stuck with me and I've always been fond of it.
twinergraphics.com was the initial domain name I went with, and it worked! Hurray!
I wanted to be able to host a few websites at a time. I went with that feature because it seemed to have the best outlook for future business, assuming I have any, and I can provide the client with a web hosting service for a small fee of course.
I went with the hosting plan that I chose because... see above answer on the service I liked... is that cheating?

Goals for the future!

So for this class, this semester, I've decided I definitely want to pull as much out of this class as possible in terms of my knowledge base with Web Design. This time around the grade isn't as important, (although it is still important for graduating and job resumes ect.) as learning as much as possible for designing a website, designing in general, and having as much knowledge with CSS and web hosting. I think having this attitude and goal will help me be more successful in my school year as well as in a career. Being just a graphic designer, at least in this area, will not more than likely get you a job. However if you're a graphic designer AND can build a website / maybe do some maintenance on one you're much more likely to get hired. Also it can broaden you horizon as a designer in general making you a better prospect for a company.