Release the Technorati spiders!

In my effort to get the ol' self promotion machine rolling full steam, I decided to become a member of Technorati which means that I need to post this little link which will in turn um...release the spiders... Technorati Profile

We return you to your regularly scheduled web log.

The Holiday Swear Word

image courtesy of stencilwithstyle

Perhaps it's just me, but I miss the days when I can walk up to a person and gleefully wish them a Merry Christmas...or Hanukkah. Folks understood the message behind the greeting. It was one filled with goodwill and at least for the time being, the expectation of sharing a cup of joyful cheer with your friends, loved ones or heck, even yourself. These days the very notion of uttering a heart felt "Merry Christmas!" seems to bring immediate feelings of dread of being perceived as self absorbed and insensitive to another's beliefs.

Where did we take that wrong turn at Alberquerque? When did "Merry Christmas" become a holiday profanity? Has this society become so obsessed with being politically correct that we've forgotten why we uttered these words in the first place? In so far as can be told, they were never meant to be used as a means to peddle one's belief's on another person or to rub it in. Yet somehow that became the perception. If someone were to wish me a Happy Hanukkah I wouldn't recoil simply because I wasn't Jewish. I wouldn't turn my nose in disgust should a passerby jubilantly wish me a Happy Kwanzaa or even a Happy Lunar New Year. If anything, I'd be rather flattered that they were kind enough to wish me well, regardless if I followed the tradition or not. Because quite simply, it feels good to be considered rather than not be thought of at all.

This push for generic holiday well wishing has also evolved with how we send gifts to one another, especially clients. There was a time it was more than acceptable to send out christmas cards, or if you were a dutiful designer and did your research, send hanukkah cards with a nice personalized gift to the principals. Now the trend is to err on the side of caution and simply send generic season's greetings cards with a sizable enough gift package for the entire office.

I sort of long for the bygone days where I can send a Merry Christmas greeting. For me it epitomized all of those good intentions that I held dear. It was as though I could magically project this positivity simply by uttering them. It had to be so, the smiles and pleasant nods or replies indicated as much. Back then regardless of faith or lack thereof, folks understood the kind gesture behind those words, normally evoking a similar response in kind. Somehow in the pursuit of being "more sensitive," it's quite ironically become more impersonal. Generic greetings, like generic gifts, lack warmth because the associations with those words are lost. Branding 101.

So what's the alternative? The answer is not a simple one anymore. You can't go back to the way it was now that the associations have become convoluted. And it would appear that there is a growing number of folks who are getting tired of trading a heartfelt greeting for a staid, yet socially sensitive one. Perhaps it just means we have to work harder to evoke the warmth that was somehow snuffed out.

For example, I now find myself researching for gifts more than I used to. I ask questions, sometimes personal ones regarding color preferences and other tastes to evoke that once magical feeling I was able to do by mentioning two simple words. I may as well develop an informative brief just for the occassion. If I can't wish the office a Merry Christmas, I'll instead project my warm intentions through my gifts. I'll send along a little gift package of assorted goodies (must be assorted to satisfy everyone's palettes) and as a special touch, send the principals a thoughtfully prepared gift tailored just for them. My Merry Christmas greetings are now projected in my carefully prepared packages. And to combat the stigma of this holiday swear word, I have now begun to punctuate my card with, "Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings." Baby steps.

It's not as it used to be and perhaps it never quite will. But perhaps we can work towards a day when a heartfelt Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa will once again be met with magical smiles of understanding and good cheer.

Is it May Yet?

It's only "The" place for Design Industry Creatives and all Production Folks therein to be in 2007.

It's not quite the Cannes...although it's receiving much fanfare.

It's not exactly a convention...despite that there will be plenty of good ones scheduled throughout the year.

Not a velvet rope event...although with the list of Creatives attending, you'll feel like a V.I.P.

No newletters or notices were sent...however a special site was created for anyone who's interested in keeping updated or better yet, attending.

No need for tags and cards...well, except perhaps BYOTDA (that's Bring Your Own Theme Designed Accessory)

Not really an event...more like the swingingest graphic industry party you'll ever attend!

It was conceived by some members of the HOW forum, About Graphic Design forum and Creative Latitude. It was a bit too long to call it the HOW, About Graphic Design and Creative Latitude Creative Communications Industry Meet and Greet, so it was decided to name it simply, HOW-About-CL '07. Rolls off the tongue quite nicely and pretty catchy to boot.

Now gather around my design children, to hear the amazing tale of this fantastic event's origins.

It all began long long ago in an exotic land far far away. Our story's design damsel Catherine Morley from Katz-i Design had planned a somewhat spur of the moment trip in 2006 to Seattle to visit relatives. Now, Thailand isn't exactly a hop, skip and a jump away—it wasn't often she could make such a journey.

Who's Catherine Morley, you ask? For those of you who don't know, kindly stick out your hands while I pull out my trusted wooden ruler.

She was a founding member and active participant of such recognized industry organizations as Creative Latitude, NO!SPEC and Designers Who Blog; as well as a celebrated entrepreneur with Katz-i Design. Her portfolio of credentials and influence extends far longer than this, but I think you get the idea. Cat's our Creative Joan of Arc...sans martyrdom...and a right good designer.

Now where was I...? Ah yes.

After the flight plans were arranged she decided to post about her imminent arrival, with the expectation to meet some of the area's forum locals with whom she had grown to know and work with over the years. No one expected the overwhelming response Stateside from people as far as Florida who jumped at the opportunity to meet her in person. In retrospect it surprised everyone and in the blink of an eye...or a day...what started as a call for "maybe lunch" with some local designers turned into a last minute clarion call for a multi-day shindig.

In short, the humble encounter of a dozen or so visual communicators, dubbed "The Seattle Meet Up" was a raging success. So much so that many were left either wanting for more time or remorseful that they didn't attend.

To make a pretty long story short, Cat was unexpectedly presented with another opportunity to return to Seattle in 2007. The immediate flood of responses from hopeful attendees was even more astounding than the first. Before anyone could refresh their pages, names were pouring in as either "definites" or "penciled in." And unlike the last encounter, there was plenty of advance notice to budget for the trip.

Somewhere in the midst of making arrangments, the topic of "theme wear" came up. After all, many were known mainly by their screen names, how would we know who was whom? Rather than do the old "event t-shirt" using one prevailing image we thought outside the proverbial box. I mean, this is a rather casual reunion of Creatives, right? So let them contribute their own unique designs—let them print it on a cap, a mug, a badge, a shoe or what-have-you and attend donning their own signature piece instead. Brilliance.

So, for those of you who are starting to salivate at the second in a lifetime opportunity to hobnob with some of our industry's finest in the relaxed, friendly and picturesque backdrop that is Seattle, here are the details.

Event: HOW-About-CL '07
Location: Seattle
Dates: May 25-28, 2007
Accommodations: Contact via the site for arrangements

Details will be updated through their web site periodically. Banners designed by attendees will also be prominently rotated as well. Travel bar is optional. The promise of a rip-snorting good time is undeniably in the air.

Hey...Is it May Yet?

One Man's Courage

Many of you have likely been following the sad news regarding James Kim, Senior Editor for CNET. In case you've been hiding under the covers somewhere here's a little exerpt from the memorial page posted there in honor of his life, achievements, and valor.

Those who knew him say they aren't surprised that Kim, in the last act of his life, demonstrated the ultimate expression of devotion to his wife and daughters.

The body of the 35-year-old Kim was discovered Wednesday in a rugged wilderness area in southern Oregon. He had set out across snow and ice with only tennis shoes to protect his feet. He had eaten little in the seven days since his car got stuck.

"Anyone that knows James will tell you that he would do anything to protect his family," said Jason Zemlicka, a friend of 10 years and former co-worker. "I know him and he must have believed he was going to get somewhere."

Friends and co-workers now mourn Kim, but say they will celebrate his success at helping to accomplish his most important goal during that desperate week in the woods: the rescue of his wife, Kati Kim, and the couple's two daughters, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, seven months.

Greg Sandoval
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: December 6, 2006, 6:04 PM PST

I was rooting for him. Man was I praying for a christmas miracle. And when it was half fulfilled I felt as though I were hit in the gut, square on. So much so I turned away from my display. I stopped watching the news or thinking about it so that it wouldn't ruin the end of my day. It didn't work.

How can one story about veritable strangers invoke such a strong emotional reaction in a person? Having loved ones and a vivid imagination helps. Witnessing a year of a seemingly inordinate amount of media personality deaths doesn't hurt, either. And of course my own personal trials and tribulations, but I digress.

Picture this...you take a wrong turn, end up with your car stuck in the snow in the middle of nowhere for days on end. The area is bereft of any civilization for miles during the onset of the winter season with very little provisions. Now picture your spouse and young children, your very world, trapped alongside you. It's the sort of stuff movies are made of...or nightmares.

I'm sure in the days to come they'll criticize his decision to set out as well as applaud his courageous tenacity to save his family, first by working with his wife to ration provisions enough to last nine days, then by attempting to bring attention to their location by setting fire to the automobile tires. Finally when all options were exhausted, making the painful decision to leave his family and trek out on foot to seek help. Details are still coming in, but they say that it was his tracks in the snow that led the helicopter hired by his family to the car and then, to his wife and kids, who also decided days after his absence to trek out in search of him and salvation.

So you can say that in the end, he accomplished what he set out to do. The fact that he bartered his life for theirs might've been a small price to pay for him. I have to wonder if someone out there feels differently.

I know this isn't exactly design related, although I can certainly go on about his many contributions to the industry as a tech specialist. It does grant the opportunity however to remind you to offer your loved ones a kind word or other small gesture of affection. Because brothers and sisters, if there was ever a moment to count your blessings, this would be it.

R.I.P. James Kim
Husband, Father and Hero

To Blog, or Not to Blog...

From a recent post I made at the HOWdesign forum

To One and All:

For a loooong, long time I held the same reservations as you likely do regarding the benefits of starting a blog, that's why I took as long as I did to finally commit to one. Would I be able to keep it going without getting bored with it, can I dedicate my time to consistently post little nuggets of general interest, will it benefit my business or personal endeavors and most important...will I even know how to set one up at all.

Although it's been only a day, Blogspot.com has been great so far (although it doesn't have many templates to choose from, boo). The overall design and interface makes it fun to poke around, but I digress. I originally was only looking to research the subject not sign up. The power of marketing I tell you. I'm rather impressed that it baited me this quickly. After a few minutes of browsing I was convinced to give it a try. I figured if I couldn't upkeep it I'd just delete it or start over later, and in fact that's what I did the very first time out.

My forum moniker is Seapony, derived from my previous design biz incarnation of Seahorse Productions. I originally decided to test this new venture with the name "See Blogger" as a recognizable play on that name. After I started writing my first post however (that eventually ended up here) I realized that I was missing out on the opportunity to plug my business. For shame, Pony. So I deleted that account right away and started Arche-BLogGER.

There's a reason why I wrote it that way, too. I noticed it emphasized the word "Log" rather than "Blog." Frankly, I never really liked that term so it was a nice psychological compromise.

Anyhoo guys, try it out. At worst it'll just languish into obscurity if you don't maintain it, but at best it can market your endeavors in ways you can't even imagine. And signing up really is easy. Five minutes of easy. I don't have the hang of the settings and goodies yet but that will come with time.

So This is What it Feels Like

My first blog. I almost feel as though I've been given the key to the virtual executive washroom. But I'm getting ahead of myself already aren't I? Steady on girl, steady.

Introductions are in order I should think.

I am a graphic designer (visual communicator, et al) by trade, who started out in the prepress production biz, by blind luck. I say that because unfortunately I managed to graduate cum laude and amazingly underqualified to enter the creative professional arena. Six months of fruitless interviews later however landed me the opportunity that would complete my training and pay me to boot.

Commence flashback...I was at a prepress bureau printing up my stationery system and some new portfolio additions. One of the owners was rather impressed with my business cards (though in retrospect I can't fathom why anymore) and invited me to the production area to show the cards around to the other owners. During our brief conversation I explained that they were a part of a promotional campaign for my next wave of interviews and bada-bing! By the end of the day I was hired as their staff designer and production technician.

Let me just say that my tenure there was an eye opener for me. Why wasn't I taught this at university? I mean—I was taught how to properly preflight a file and they did touch on the basic forms of print output, but the lectures weren't what I would call very descript. In the end I knew more about the Gutenberg Press than I did a Linotronic imagesetter. Maybe they thought there was still a chance I would end up printing a job from the former.

In any case, I learned a great deal more about production than I ever could in school or even an ad firm. I dare say that it's so essential for every designer to gain an understanding of it that an internship should've been a requirement for graduation.

During my time there I also made another interesting little discovery—many successful designers were either genuinely clueless or largely ambivalent about preflighting their work. One thing was certain, it would've minimized the total meltdowns and scape goating during "zero-hour" deadlines. The names I could drop would simply boggle the mind—I know it boggles mine to this day.

These are the very same folks who would inexplicably come in all a fluster because their deadline was imminent and their job wasn't ready. Hm...could it be that you created 89,000 vector points in your illustration, then hid some of the layers that you didn't even need in your final, expecting the RIP (Raster Image Processor) to "overlook" them just because it wasn't visible to the naked eye? Could it be that this same file "inexplicably" kept crashing the RIP servers preventing your job from outputting? And the stark "why is my freakin' job still not done" stares we received after explaining the situation over and over? Golden. Ah, good times, I say, gooood times. From this I concluded that an educated client equates to a relatively pleasant production experience. This ideology was absorbed into my design work ethic with very good results.

At some point in my career I had gained a couple of loyal clients and decided to branch out on my own. However the university failed to prepare me for yet another very important aspect of this industry, running my own business. Other than the general economics and writing class, there was little else that was available to teach me to market, negotiate and protect my work within my field. By some miracle I had the sense to get a business certificate and find a few valuable contract forms and resources through the Graphic Artists Guild. But many other entrepreneurial lessons, quite regrettably, were taught through the school of hard knocks. Let's just say I'm still recuperating from the blows.

A few years ago, blind luck struck once again when I stumbled into the wonderful world of design forums whilst browsing around for something unrelated. They opened yet another portal into a whole new world, introducing me to fellow designers from all walks and experiences. So rich was this find that they continue to enlighten me to this day. I simply can't promote them enough or with enough eloquent justice.

For those of you who seek to expand your design education as I did, you'll be warmly welcomed in such forums as

HOW Design
About Graphic Design
About Desktop Publishing
The Graphic Design Forum

...to name a few. I should also duly note that I've made many great funny and funky friends. Hopefully long enough to last a designer's lifetime.

So that's pretty much the slightly long abridged flashback to the present day, give or take. Here's to the beginning of a beautiful blogship.