What I learned in my time at Centresource
In a melodramatic attempt to close up my time here at Centresource, I figured I would reflect on some lessons learned...
As a manager, you set the weather.
A Designer's Trapper Keeper: Jason B. Jones
I Invented Pinterest When I Was 11... Sorta.
I started using the website http://pinterest.com/ a few months ago and am, quite frankly, hooked.
The site allows you to create pages of collected items that interest you by simply clicking a bookmark in your browser's bookmark bar. Upon clicking you can indicate what the item is and what "board" you'd like to add it to. You can also look at other people's boards and comment on things they think are interesting. I use mine for books and items that I want... deleting them once I purchase or acquire them. However my wife uses hers as a repository for interior design ideas and fashion trends. The design of the site is super clean, extremely scalable and does a great job of visually featuring the products.
Centresource Profiled in UK's .NET Magazine
I have a long history with .Net Magazine.
I have been reading and writing for them for years. I have been privileged to author/design articles for them on Website Makeovers, Design-Off's, Tutorials, Featured Galleries, etc. In fact, my companies have been short-listed for "Design Agency of the Year" for 2 years straight - Otterball in 2009, and Centresource in 2010.
Needless to say... I am a HUGE fan of the tireless work of Dan Oliver, Oliver Lindberg, Tom May and the rest of the team across the pond. Heck, they aren't "The World's Best-Selling Magazine for Web Designers and Developers Since 1994" for nothing!
Rockable Gets Creatives Back to 'Doing'
I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of my time "doing".
Sometimes I know what I'm "doing"... however most of the time I am learning as I go with broad conceptual understanding, while at the same time pretending to be an expert. The professional world where most of us live floats primarily in the space between urgency and emergency. I can attest that is especially true in the interactive market where specialities, languages and platforms are constantly changing. As I get older (and maybe wiser), I am continuing to realize that dedicated time set aside for learning is not only few and far between but immensely valuable to progress.
Designers: Prevent Getting Hoff'ed By Developers
My goal is to have the CS Design team look at this regularly to ensure we follow best practices, even down to our PSD's. As they say, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"... or at least a preventative measure from having your desktop background changed to a naked picture of David Hasselhoff.
Trust me, you don't want that.
A Design Job Worth Having Is One Worth Hustling For
I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan, who owns a self-titled UK agency by the name of Carsonified, at the 2009 .NET Awards in London. Not only is he a class act, but he was a great hang as well! I have closely followed him ever since and recently he posted a blog called "Think Vitamin,"-- a case study on one of his resent hires and the process of making the perfect first impression. Without prompting, his applicant went so far as to build a website specifically for the job application - stunning. My words wont do it justice... go read it below:
An Open Letter to The Gospel Music Association
I was recently invited to judge the Recorded Music Packaging category for this year's Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. I have done this for a few years now and am truly honored to review such amazing designs. I can't go into specifics on which ones I voted for, but I will say, some of this year's nominees were super inspiring!
The Gospel Music Association serves as the face and voice for the Christian/Gospel music community and is dedicated to exposing, promoting and celebrating the gospel through music of all styles including pop, rock, praise & worship, country, and many more. The GMA community consists of over 4,000 members which includes agents, artists, church leaders, radio personnel, record company executives and other industry visionaries.
Surviving Mission: Revisions
For most (okay, maybe all) designers, "revisions" is a dreaded suicide mission that often leads to creative carnage and sub-portfolio worthy work. You just invested all of your creative juices into this award-worthy project, presented to the client and now they are asking for a classier font, a warmer blue and something, you know, swooshing + guttural sound + beep, beeping across the screen. What?!? What are you talking about??? Surely some designers know how to avoid this arbitrary mine field. I mean, amazing, un-compromised websites come out all the time - how do those designers avoid revision quicksand?
An Amazing Time at the 2010 .NET Awards
Evan Owens and myself had pleasure of going to this year's 2010 .NET Magazine Awards held at London's legendary Ministry of Sound. As you might have read via our blog, our twitter feed, our website, our skywriting airplane, our fortune cookie inserts and various latte art advertisements, centresource was a finalist for "Design Agency of the Year" along with interactive rockstars Clearleft (the defending champ) and juggernaut, Happy Cog.
This was my second year to go, as my firm Otterball was nominated last year, so I was already familiar with the stiff competition. I mean, it is an honor to even be considered among industry leaders like Andy Budd, Jeremy Keith and Jeffery Zeldman. Although, we did try to intimidate them with our taunting wrestling promo: