I was reading ‘A list Apart‘ and discovered a true gem of an article called Orbital Content by Cameron Koczon. Cameron talks about content in the web today and the shift of content from being rooted into pages and discovered laptops and computers and being consumed by tablets and digital portable devices through users.

An example of this shift would be your Facebook wall. Instead of all that content which is dear to you being spattered throughout the web, its all conveniently located in one section and tied to your user account. The shift is not complete because your wall only holds links to this content. In the future this will be different.

Be the center of your content

Imagine your facebook wall, but bigger. Now imagine the links to the articles are gone, but the full article lives there instead. Don’t copy a link to that image you found moving to click back to later, just copy that entire image. Your personalized content will be centralized to you. This is the future that Cameron sees and I agree. This way you can library and consume content in your own fashion. Thats the movement of content on the web.

Content, Copyright, Compensation

The 3 killer C’s of the web. If your holding someone elses content, yet you didn’t produce the content, is that not some sort of copyright violation? Cameron brings this up in his article. In the end he concludes that it is all about compensation:

It is a question that belies a concern about something slightly different: compensation. If publishers were compensated $10 every time content was shared and $1 every time it was read on their site, they would do everything in their power to get their content shared. Copying is not the problem—compensation is.

-Cameron Koczon

After reading this the first thing that popped into my mind is Spotify. The latest and greatest for music lovers. They completely reworked the compensation model for streaming content and holy hell its paying off for them. If your not familiar with Spotify you can find out more at the Spotify Wikipedia page.

Conclusion

Overall I agree strongly with Cameron and his views on the liberation and shifting of content that will be the future of the web. So when your content is shared through some new-age app to be consumed on a different platform, don’t hate it. Embrace it.

2 weeks ago I was only focusing on my school work. Since that time I have had 3 projects come in. 2 websites as well as a complete identity design for a friends restaurant.

One project I am excited about is my good past time friend Ethan Law has requested a site update. He is a performing artist with many disciplenes ranging from acrobats to break dancing. Should be able to get some nice creative juices flowing.

I am close to completing one of my projects for a Professional Image Production company known as Best and Delicious. The name is a little odd indeed but the man who runs the company knows his shit. I thought I’d show you all the prototype that he’s agreed on so now its time to get coding. I plan on writing a PSD -> HTML on this so keep an eye out for that coming soon.

If you need a website or know someone who needs a website. Hit me up.

-Maynard Out

ANTS in my scanner > a five years time-lapse! from françois vautier on Vimeo.

This guy put an ant colony in his scanner and scanned it once a week for 5 years!

We all need to have those breakout moments as designers. You get that first big job that can either define your path for success in the future or lead you down the path of procrastination and ultimate failure.

Is this my moment? Ah, who the hell knows, but I did do a motion graphics for a legitimate company, hoping that it is not my last. I was contacted by the video department from Huck’N'Roll and they were shooting a little production about 29ers. 29ers are mountain bikes that are the new hit craze in the downhill world.

Check out the video on the huck’N'roll.

Hunk’N'Roll wanted a short animation that showed the key features of 29ers. I worked with them over a period of 2 weeks (since the deadline was sooner than later) and created a 30 second animation using After Effects and Photoshop. I wanted to tweak it more but deadlines are deadlines.

Here is my animation:

And here is the final video they made:




So I am hoping this is just the beggining of a long Motion Graphics career.

-Tyler

Did you like the video? Would you have done something different? Let me know down in the comments below.

Do you have an over sized folder for all your stock photography on your desktop? Have you created a couple of Wordpress themes that are now just sitting dormant? Are there are a handful of flash pre-loaders you have designed but aren’t being used? Start putting those small little files for work for you with some micro stock!

We as designers need to protect ourselves sometimes. We all know that cash flow coming in is hardly stable when freelancing. We can do this with micro stock. You’ve heard of it before. iStockPhoto, Flashden, Graphicriver, these are all micro stock sites; places for you to upload your work to be sold on their marketplaces and you will get a small commission from each sale.

Do work once, have it pay forever.

The beauty of these micro stock sites is that you do the work once and get paid a multitude of times. For example here is a link to my background maker on GraphicRiver.

At this time I have 228 sales over the past year. I get a 40% rip from every $4 sale which is roughly $400 over the course of the year. Now this was only 1 item. Imagine if you add 1 item every month. Before you know it you have a dozen items each bringing you in money, and you only did the work once!

Build your Micro Stock Portfolio Right

A secret I found is to try and mix your micro stock work into your design work together. For instance, a company wanted a nice web 2.0 look, so I created a background that had a web 2.0 feel in photoshop. I then used that background photoshop file and built a background maker out of it, something any designer can use and just change some colors and can bang out designs nice and quick. This way I am getting paid on a design gig PLUS I get the benefit of building another micro stock portfolio piece.

So, if you design websites, build some themes and throw them on The Theme Forrest or if you compose music throw them on Audio Jungle.

For more information on micro stock websites and using them to build a passive income check out The Residual Bacon.

So I consider myself a designer and not a photographer. Most designers enjoy photography and usually work with many photos when dealing with design, so naturally there is a fuzzy line between design and photography.

A good friend of the family has a baby a few months ago and wanted to some pictures of their newling taken for memory and announcement purposes. Now I am no professional photographer by any means, but I have myself some nice equipment and have a high interest in photography. This was a nice opportunity to take my designers eye to the back of an SLR camera and try to come up with some great photos for a friend and some experience for me.

Here are a handful of images from the mini photo shoot. I will let you be the judge. Am I a decent photographer? What could I have done to make the photos better? What did I do that you particularly like? Let me know in the comments below.

Feel free to leave any constructive criticism in the comments. You like? You don’t like? Let me know.

Process-Films wanted a website they could maintain by themselves. I created a custom Wordpress theme for them so they can update the website, add sections and all that good jazz. They wanted their latest 6 news updates on the homepage and their latest ‘Where are we now’ full article posted as well. It took me about a week to get the theme up and running and am still tweaking some minor things as well as finishing up ideas for the section breakdowns.

Also I don’t know what the deal is but I have gotten 3 new website jobs this week! Great news and will keep you posted. Check back as I will be re-designing my portfolio section and be making some navigation tweaks in the next few weeks.

I can’t really recall what I knew how to do first. Design or snowboard. I got on my first snowboard when I was probably 11 years old, but I had my first set of crayons around the age of 3 or 4. Both of these components have played key roles in my life, and have helped me become who I am today. From climbing my first hill to learn to carve, to my first actual design class where I learned about texture, value, and color.

Learning can be painful

I remember my first snowboard scorpion like I remember my first design. Downright painful. For those who don’t know a snowboard scorpion is where you tumble forward face first, your feet go up over your back and the momentum either ragdolls you forward if your lucky or the snowboard slaps you in the back of the head, OUCH! My first design was an eye soar that could have made a baby cry.

In both cases I lacked the foundation I needed in order to achieve what I wanted. I needed to study some of the basic principles that could help me grasp the larger picture. In snowboarding I needed to learn the idea of balance with motion, edge control, and the ability to stop. With design I needed to study principles of depth, line, color, texture, value. In both cases when you grasp the smaller ideas you can put them together and form a masterpiece.

Finding Your Unique Style

After spending a few(12) years of putting that rusty peice of metal to my feet I found I was capable of getting around the mountain at will, but after time I had defined my own unique style of snowboarding. I would be charging down the lifts under the chair in my incognito black gear and people would shout at me because they could tell who I was from the way I charged the powder and sent rooster tails shooting up behind me. I was almost branding myself just for being me, and that is exactly what to do with your designs.

If you look at all the big names in art and design, most have formed a unique style that let them stand out of the crowd. I believe that everyone has their own style and it comes out naturally as long as you let it. Both snowboarding and design have a flow involved, this flow may be your process of design but it will help define your own unique style. When your style is recognized you can use it to your advantage by setting yourself out from the crowd.

Don’t Hate, Be Inspired

One problem I see in both design and snowboarding is a small jealousy built towards others when they experience success or get acknowledged for doing something great. We all work hard (at least most of us) to try and be successful and when you see others succeeding where you are trying so hard it is easy to feel resentment towards their triumph. You have to take this negative and turn it to a positive. Look at how that person was successful and maybe ask them what steps they took to achieve that success. Try to determine why their unique style was successful and how you could incorporate that yourself.

With so many styles around you there should never be a lack of inspiration. In snowboarding watching others do something impressive encourages me to get out of the norm and think out of the box, do the same with design. Look at others design with hopes of learning something you can use in your own design, not with an eye of jealousy.

Progression Never Ends

The beauty of both snowboarding and design is that progression never ends. You can continue to push the envelop. The only person that is going to stop you from learning new things, tackling new challenges and expanding your ability is yourself. Good for self-motivators, bad for lazy bung-holes.

The hard part is staying focused and maintaining your skills. I noticed when I was out shredding everyday it was easy to learn more, but after the extended break between winters it would take me a little time to get back to where I left off. I see the same for design, if you don’t keep your skills sharp you may waste time relearning ability.

What I Have Learned:

So the years of both snowboarding and design have taught me a handful of valuable lessons. Here is a quick rundown:

• No pain, no gain: Learn the basics to build a foundation of skills to create a masterpiece.
• Be Unique: Everyone has a style, find yours and use it to stand out.
• Inspire and be Inspired: Look for inspiration wherver it may be hiding, and don’t be jealous of others success, learn from it.
• Stay Sharp: Don’t let your progression decay, keep your skills sharp even between projects.

What in your life has taught you about design? Where do you find inspiration? Share your thoughts below in the comments.

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Rule 1 – Prioritize!

Each day when I sit down at my desk, whether it be my at-home-office desk or my desk at my full time gig, I will make a list of current tasks that I want to accomplish. I usually have some left over from the day before so don’t forget to throw those bad boys onto your list as well. After my list has been completed, I will then go through my list and find the most important item. It may be the logo redesign for a client, or it may be some motion graphics for a commercial, whatever it is I will put a #1 next to that list item. From there I find the second most important task that I want and will put a #2 next that item, from there just continue going through your list until each item has a number. The idea here is first to get all the items down on your list, don’t worry about ordering them while creating your initial list, you may get carried away and forget some of the not so important tasks.

Another nice idea of having lists of your tasks or goals you get the gratification of crossing off items once they are completed. This puts a little more steam into your engine and it is also nice to see how productive you are. I notice my Monday lists are always the longest and have things that get pushed to lists of the next day. By Wednesday my lists are shrinking and looking back at all I have accomplished that week makes me feels all warm and fuzzy inside, well not literally, but you get the idea.

Rule 2 – Kill 2 stones with 1 bird?

Once you have all your tasks and goals down and prioritized you can group similar tasks, or certain tasks that may in close proximity to each other. For instance if rendering that 2 minute clip to get out the client is a high priority task and there that pesky call to the insurance company to figure out what stupid chrages have infiltrated your account is sitting somewhere near the bottom, I may draw a line linking that render job to that phone call with a little side note. This way while my render process begins I will remember to call the insurance company. Then when times comes to cross off the items I get to double the ante and knock off two of them and my list is that much shorter for the day.

You can also do it when your out running errands, if the print shop you work with is on the way to your daughter’s day care and you have them on your list and linked together you are less likely to space one (hopefully not your daughter) and the visual reference will keep your mind in check, and hopefully your time as well.

Rule 3 – Don’t Lie To Yourself!

One thing some designers do that can really kill them bite off more than they can chew, especially in these economic times (I hate it when poeple relate anything to the economy… but here I am doing it). Don’t get me wrong its not a bad feeling to have work lined up, some designers see lined up work as money in the bank, but remember a rooster doesn’t lay an egg only the hen, and that hen babies the sh*t out off that egg until it blossoms into a nice little chicklet. If you can’t say no to new clients your will most likely find yourself with way too much work than you have time, and your quality of work WILL SUFFER once you start getting stressed from projects. Efficiency is the key to being a successful freelancer. Be real with yourself and know your limits.

Do not be afraid to say no to clients. Be real with them. Tell them you are swamped for the next few weeks, but would love to get to their logo as soon as you finish a couple of clients that you have at the moment, be polite and let them know that its not just because you don’t want the work, its the fact that you strive to the best work you can, and though I do work well under pressure, I don’t work well when the pressure of work has be pinned to the ground. I sweat and can’t sleep at night and have nightmares of clients dog piling on me to the point I explode. Ask them if you can call them about that logo or web design once you have cleared up some breathing room in a couple of weeks. If the client isn’t in a huge rush and aren’t complete jack holes they will most likely rather work with an honest designer that knows his workload than someone who is chop shopping his stuff meet the deadline.

Rule 4 – Find Your Power Band

Another way to help you get your work done and get it done right is identifying your power band! If you know anything about engines (I don’t, that is why I got into computers) there is a point when spinning and creating torque that they become the most efficient. If you can find this point in your day and load most of your core workload into this time you will be able to crank out projects quicker without sacrificing quality. Is there a time of day you feel more creative then others? Are you a night person or a day person? When during the day do you have the most engery and the most drive? I am kind of a night owl. I find my power band is about 45 minutes after I put my daughter down to sleep. I have less distractions and I can crank my headphones up and let my creative juices flow for a few hours. I find during this time I can design faster and stronger then right as I wake up, or right as I get finished with my day job. Try to figure out your bodies power band and bust work out during it.

I hope these ideas will help you get through your deadlines with less headaches and let you embrace the beast of the designer that sits inside waiting to attack challenges and destroy time restraints. Here are a few other good links to check out.

• 
  Project Management Review by Just Creative Design
• Working in bursts to get more done!
• Dont Procastinate!

Enjoy!