Goaaaal!!!!

Since I am very busy this week, and do not have the time to come up with well thought out blog posts, I am going to just doodle in my spare time. Yet, I will doodle with a purpose. My goal is to complete one monster illustration in the next week. In order to keep myself faithful to this pledge I will post what I have on my blog this time next week, done or not. Now, time to get sketching!

What Motivates You?

www.youtube.com

My purpose for this blog was for ME to find motivation and inspiration. A place to force me to find inspiration. A friend of mine posted this on facebook and I thought it was intriguing and well made. A true combination of interesting graphics and potent information made a enjoyable experience.

Enjoying the Peace & Quiet

I know my next week at work is going to be extremely busy, so it is very likely that I will not be posting during this week. So as I face a quiet week, I am sitting and enjoying one of my favorite things: watching a movie. My favorite director happens to be Tim Burton. Currently the movie is Alice in Wonderland. One of the many things I love about Tim Burton movies is the amount of detail and concern he takes with every frame. I can watch his movies over and over again and notice another detail each time. These details just keeping adding to the story. This time I noticed the birds that held the chandelier in the Queen's Palace. Her cruelty towards other creatures has just been tipped on the scale even more. This will probably also wrap up my emphasis on details (for now).

So relax and enjoy the week.

Self Promotion

The Wichita had an interesting article this morning, about branding yourself in order to help you land that desired job. http://www.kansas.com/2011/03/31/1786918/selling-yourself-tips-on-developing.html

Brands are not just for products and companies any more. They are about making the employers feel a certain way about you. You cannot make up a person’s mind for him or her, but you can help guide their attention in the right direction. This article can help you initiate a plan for your brand and some online marketing tips for yourself. With 8-10% of the public without a job, branding could be crucial get the leg-up and land that job. You can do most of what is necessary for free, which is great if you have been out of a job for awhile. Utilizing tools that you probably already use: facebook, blogs, twitter, linkedIn (similar to facebook but more professional).

If you are going to start using social media to market yourself, make sure you clean up your act. Get rid of questionable photos or posts that might make you unpalatable to a new employer. You should do that anyway, because whether or not you are prepared for it future employers are looking at social media to find out more about you.

Blogging for Design

As a designer it is crucial to be organized and creative. Finding inspiration can be a challenge. Today I have several notable ideas that popped into my head today, after doing some web surfing:

1) Writing and drawing in journals began my freshman year of college, as a forced assignment. By junior year, instructors had moved us from making personal ideas in a written journal to publishing posts a blog that the whole class could read. New intimidation comes when you have to develop cohesive thoughts that appeal to more than just yourself. They have to be relevant and have an educational basis. Now in the ‘real’ world I welcome have a blog. I have lapsed, but we all have to fail and pick ourselves up again. I have been looking into starting a blog for the company I work for and the time and effort we would need to put into the blog, in order for it to be a successful blog. Something struck me while pouring through tens (maybe hundreds) of blogs.

LISTS.

Not everyone is using them, but they were the most appealing to sort through and read. I spent double, sometimes triple, the amount of the time on a blog that used numbered lists. Using text variation rather than large blocks of text made reading a blog that much more enjoyable.

2) Noting the importance of blogs fits into my goal for the week of details. Blogs are built on details. You MUST pay attention to the simple things such as spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and potent material. Blogging is more important than I have given it credit in the past. It can help a company relate to customers, while educating them more on subjects related to your particular field. It allows a conversation to take place; it can and should be personable.

3) Little details such as using headers, italics, and type variety can create visual interests as well as organize the information and apply a tone to the text.

4) I have focused on ways to help making content appealing and organized, but the most vital member of a blog is having content people want to read. We can make a blog as pretty as we want, but if the content is lack-luster it won’t keep our readers’ attentions. Take the time to practice and review your thoughts to make sure they are cohesive and would appeal to your audience; not just more fluff to fill the internet with. It is more than just whipping out your thesaurus for some witty words.