25

this is a cool site. below is one of the posts from bittbox. i identify with almost all of these!

25 Reasons You Might Be A Hardcore Graphic/Web Designer
(In no particular order)

1. You’ve almost rear-ended the car in front of you because you were analyzing a font on a billboard.

2. You get pissed when a free Photoshop brush you download is less than 1000px in size.

3. You’d rather study the paisley pattern on your boyfriend/girlfriend’s shirt than listen to what he/she has to say.

4. You can use keyboard shortcuts at light speed, blindfolded, but you can’t type a paragraph of text without staring at the keyboard.

5. You’ve had “Software Nightmares,” when you’ve been working way too much.

6. You consider meals interruptions.

7. You’ve learned your lesson and stopped using the word “final” in any file name when saving.

8. You clean your keyboard more often than you wash your car.

9. You’ve intentionally given up trying to explain your projects to non-designers.

10. You see CMYK and RGB like Neo sees the Matrix.

11. You’d rather organize your desktop than your sock drawer.

12. When you heard that Adobe was acquiring Macromedia, you had a Design Orgasm.

13. When you look at Album art all you see are grunge Photoshop Brushes. (Then you see the album art a couple minutes later)

14. You’ve Photoshopped out a watermark for a comp or mock-up.

15. You’ve actually $paid for a font.

16. You’ve totally slaughtered a great design concept because the client thinks he/she knows best. (everyone thinks they are a designer)

17. The amount of words you’ve written with a sharpie labeling burned discs total more than the amount of words you’ve read in novels.

18. You’ve had to explain to a client that a layered file wasn’t part of the deal.

19. You’ve kept a ragged concert ticket just so you could scan it.

20. You’ve nicknamed the OSX spinning wheel. (and not affectionately)

21. You bookmark a resource more often than you have a fun night out on the town.

22. You’ve intentionally overbid a project because you can sniff out a bad client from a mile away.

23. You can’t go to a restaurant without secretly critiquing the menu design.

24. You have an amazingly huge font collection, and an amazingly short temper.

25. If you had a penny for every mouse click, you would have been a trillionaire 3 years ago.

cs3

i'm really excited about cs3! i can't wait to get my hands on it. which will be soon! as i was checking out the product on the adobe website, and watching their little promo video, the last part really hit me. the speaker in the short clip said:

"When we do graphic design, it is a visual communication. But it's not only about the visual. It's all about like 5 different senses. The question is thru visual means, how can we make them taste something? How can we hear something? Or like how can we feel something? Really, the bottom line is if you can touch someone's heart."

i knew right then i had to hold onto that quote as a reminder this is what i do. it's not just about the visual. it's about touching people's hearts. and with the greatest message of hope ever told.

latest

(above - my newest doodle)
so i've been contemplating creating a separate blog for my doodles and other misc. stuff i've designed....i don't know though, i'd want the blog template to be original and i'm not so sure i have the time to do that...actually i know i don't have the time for it...secretly i've been searching the web for free templates to use but i just can't bring myself to do it...i want to design one myself. speaking of which, i've been working on a new layout/design for this blog but just haven't had the time to work all the kinks out...oh well...eventually - when you're all good and tired of this one...i'll get it done and it'll be about time!

addicted

you know you're addicted to photoshop when...

You Know You're Addicted to Photoshop When...

You see the world with one eye and stock images with the other. When asked what the primary colors are, answer "RGB" You get the urge to 'fix' poor quality images. You start teaching your significant other to use this "evil" program and in the space of one afternoon convince them it's at least only quasi-evil in the face of PSP. You ramble about a breakthrough in the piece you're doing to people who have no idea in hell what you're talking about You ponder the meaning of existence without layers. You never leave the house without a digicam and notepad. You drop something and your brain tells you automatically "Ctrl-Z! Ctrl-Z!". When you realize it won't work, your brain tells you "Ctrl-Alt-Z! Ctrl-Alt-Z!" You're getting dressed for something important and you look in the mirror and realize you would look so much better if you could just tweak the levels a little and apply a slight gaussian blur. You stop on the street to rant about cheesey effects that should not be on professional posters. You scream out fonts as they appear on TV. You have dreams in "glowing edges" You're standing by the ocean and wondering who used Ocean Ripple. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends who are addicted to Photoshop.

Get Your Own Addicted Meme Here



More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

paul

here's a graphic I created for the teaching series at my church focusing on the life of the apostle paul. the photograph was taken by dking.

drowning

Well, as promised here is an example of a part of my final project for my Design Fundamentals class last quarter. :)This was the picture on the front cover of a notebook that we had to create - the contents were filled with what we had learned over the quarter.....maybe I'll post those too later.

This picture was also part of a previous assignment from the class where we were experimenting in types of texture. This is an example of visual as opposed to tactile/actual texture. I scanned in my hair, face, hands and then put them together in photoshop. :)

graphic

...here's a graphic I created for my church's weekend service where the talk was entitled "Christ in a Contrary Culture." the picture was shot by saimen.

healed anyway

as i was going through an old box i found a book, inside i found these doodles. immediately i was reminded of the group i read the book with and quickly recalled what a difficult time i was having at that point in my life...
..."difficult" in a painful, yet very beneficial way. like having a cut re-opened and washed out so that it can heal; this time so that it has a better chance at healing without infection.....



it's funny; looking at these two doodles, i immediately thought "oh look, one of these doodles looks angry and the other looks resolved and more 'happy.' i must have been a mess before and never noticed it, yet it came out in my doodles..." it was almost a "proof is in the puding" kind of thing for a moment......and then i looked at the dates. the one that appeared to be angry was drawn after the one that seemed to be 'happy.'i was happy and then i became angry? if in fact my doodling was me responding to something going on inside myself, then given the actual dates of the drawings........what did that mean? I pondered this for a moment....

then i remembered a few traits of my personality that trip me up at times. 1) i put up walls 2) i wear masks and 3) i'm forgetful about even myself...about who i really am.........then it dawned on me; the seemingly 'happy' drawing was representative of my attitude before the difficult task of examining myself started (mask and all) and the seemingly 'angry' drawing was representative of my inside unwillingness to do so during the process...

re-opening wounds is never a 'walk in the park.' nevertheless it must happen in order to find healing...these two songs are ones that communicate this to me. i play them often to remind myself of God's plan for me despite all the other competing messages thrown at me...including the ones i throw myself...

....we are a work of art and He is the ultimate restoration artist...

"Anyway"
Bless the day
This restoration is complete
Dirty dusty something must be underneath
So I scrape and I scuff
Though it's never quite enough
I'm starting to see me finally

A gallery of paintings new and paintings old
I guess it's no surprise that I'm no Michelangelo
Every layer of mine hides a lovely design
It might take a little patience
It might take a little time

But You called me beautiful
When You saw my shame
And You placed me on the wall
Anyway

You who have begun this work will someday see
A portrait of the holiness You meant for me
So I polish and shine
til it's easier to find even an outline of mine

But You called me beautiful
When you saw my shame
And You placed me on the wall
Anyway
And You placed me on the wall
Anyway
~Nichole Nordeman
Click here to listen to a clip of this song from itunes.

...what God has for us is far greater than anything we could ever imagine...

"Healed"
We stutter and we stammer til You say us
A symphony of chaos til You play us
Phrases on the pages of unknown
Til You read us into poetry and prose

We are kept and we are captive til You free us
Vaguely unimagined til You dream us
Aimlessly unguided til You lead us home

By Your voice, we speak
By Your strength, no longer weak
We are no longer weak

By Your wounds we are healed
By Your wounds we are healed

Passed over and passed by until You claim us
Orphaned and abandoned til You name us
Hidden and disclosed til You expose our hearts

By Your death we live
It is by Your gift that we might give
That we might give

By Your wounds we are healed
(Tell me what kind of love is this...)
By Your wounds we are healed

What kind of love would take your shame
And spill His blood for you
And save us by His wounds?

By Your wounds we are healed
(Tell me what kind of love is this...)
By Your wounds we are healed
~Nichole Nordeman
Click here to listen to a clip of this song from itunes.