Happy the New Year!

Ok, you’re going to have to excuse my slackness. Seriously, you would not believe how busy it has been for the last few months. I’ve barely had to to scratch my own backside … and there are plenty out there who know how much I love to scratch myself in the most inappropriate places. Crazy busy! Busy busy bee!

Whoever thought that being a freelancer with child on the way could be so freakin’ time consuming?!?! The demands, the schedule, the changes in life and timetables has been like a whirlwind where I seem to be be swirling around like mad and everything else around me is standing still. The last few months have been fairly indicative the year. From bad news, good news, run of bad luck to the help and support and visiting  family and friends, (thanks to all of you who have been there by the way, owe you a beer or two).

By the way, if you haven’t spoken to either for awhile, best pick up the phone, dial a few numbers and get calling. That’s right, calling! This texting business is ridiculous. Firstly, there less buttons to push when dialing a number, and it’s so much more satisfying talking on the phone to someone real rather than pushing a bunch of buttons swearing at your fat clumsy useless fingers. Besides, there’s no emotion in texting.    serioulsy, that’s what some people call an emotion?  —->  o   is not an adequate symbol for wanting a little bit of action with your significant other either. Humor, laughs, sarcasim and love is seriously missing in today’s technology. No matter how much we try to make our lives easier with new gadgets, thingos and watchamacallits that we are forgetting how to relate and react to those around us. Are we going to become a society of socially inadequates? I’m surely going to try hard not to let my future children become that way.

Speaking of which, our little bundle of joy is due in less than 3 weeks and as much as my wife and I have got things as ready as we possibly can, it seems to be so much more to prep for. Like a big client meeting you know is coming, you have everything ready, you’ve prepped and rehearsed as much as you can. Even bought some new fancy toys to show off, got some new clothes, set up some new furniture. Basically got a bunch of stuff that will only last for a short time, you’ll hardly ever use but still, looks good to show off. Read all the background material on the new client, researched the hell out of it and yet still … nervous as all hell for the day of the big introductory meeting.

The New Year is here, happy times are coming, trying times are coming. It’s going to be hard and it’s going to be a bunch of fun. But I have a new client that I’ll now will be in and out of the offices for the next 18 years or so, and part of my business for the rest of our lives. Happy the New Year!

PHXDW 09 – Was Freakin’ Awesome! (I’ll give you the tip)

So this past weekend I spent in downtown Phoenix attending Phoenix Design Week 09, (PHXDW09). I have to admit that it was one hell of an event! I had such a great time meeting, greeting and listening to a large mass of creatives for two days. It was such an inspiring event. Not only did I feel part of a large community, (larger than I had originally thought), but it opened my eyes and mind to the possibilities of our creative habitat.

There’s nothing really insightful in this posting, more a large thank you to the organizers, the volunteers, the speakers and the attendees that made this such a great event for anyone who is even mildly creative. If you missed it, I’m sorry, but keep your eyes and ears peeled as I am sure that it will come around again next year, bigger and better. Hopefully the wi-fi problem will be sorted out, I found it hard not to quickly check my fantasy football team and see how they were doing. My posts on Twitter took time, as was updating “my mind” on Facebook.

The pinnacle of the event had to be Chaz Maviyane-Davies. Here’s a man who not only fought oppression in his own country with his creative voice but was black listed and forced out by doing so. His work, his thoughts and his experiences are all something that we could learn from. I urge any of you reading this to have a quick look at his work at, http://www.maviyane.com.

Attending the event made me realize though, how tribal we are as people. Let’s face it, you’re not about to find a bunch of accounting folks sitting down, listening to Debbie Millman talk about the evolution of communication and human attachment. Though some of those numbers people probably wouldn’t mind sitting in as she’s a bit of all right on the eyes. Yet, the strange thing about Phoenix, at least I think, is the fact that this city is very territorial and like a tribe defends it so. Maybe because I’m not officially a Phoenician, (is that right?) but I can’t get my head around this whole City of … deal. Help me out here but isn’t Phoenix a city, and the capital of Arizona? How is it that you have City of Phoenix, then within it, City of Tempe, City of Mesa, City of Glendale, etc., etc.? If Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the country, does it include the other cities within it or would they rather be left out because, “I’m from the City of Chandler!” I’m just putting it out there people, maybe I’m the only one who’s confused … after all, I am an Australian.

Thanks again PHXDW, and as for that little movie shown promoting “City of Phoenix” with the Australian actor … you probably could have saved some money and used another little know Aussie battler. By the way, my Tweets were updated, slowly but at regular intervals. My mind was creatively fulfilled, and Facebook was informed. And as for my Fantasy Football team, they won, convincingly so!

An egg? The chicken? Or maybe a hungry designer?

Not long ago I started designing a logo for a family friend … I know, I can here it now. “Those are the worst clients”; “They can be soooo picky”; “What the hell were you thinking” etc, etc. Believe me, once bitten twice shy, but I’ve got a little boy on the way, and I saw the best AZ Cardinals onsie the other day that has been placed on the “priority” list for baby items. Any how, where was I? Oh, yeah, design logo.

I started this project as I do with most, pen, paper, coffee and music, not necessarily in that order. I began doodling, writing relating words, looking at the people and the surroundings around me, (again @ Café Solo, Tempe). As I started to get things going and juicing on colors, shapes and formats I suddenly thought about fonts. I mean, this was a three word logo, was the element itself going to be able to cut it? I know what this person is like, I’ve got a decent idea in my head as to what sort of fonts they may like and suits the job, in fact a simple type application may be all that is needed. But is it going to work with the couple of ideas that I have down on paper?

I pushed aside the pad, jumped onto my laptop and started scouring my library of fonts and it dawned on me. Rarely do I go to the computer until I at least have three to five decent ideas worked out on the pad. Yet, I can’t ignore the simple fact that the perfect design may come to me whilst looking at fonts on screen, I could quite possibly find the perfect solution to this logo. I can’t “draw” a font to save my life, except the one I call “Romeo’s Scrawl”, that one I am great at. I was basically going against the grain of what I have been doing on most of my logo design projects. It got me thinking, though, technology is so advanced, am I going about this all old school? I’ve worked with a Wacom tablet before, (how I miss thee, kick-ass piece of technology), but I would still used my trusty pen and paper first even then.

Though I know that some would disagree, without computers, technology and sweet software, we may be nothing more than glorified advanced finger painters. Your thoughts? I already know the answer to this one from one of my old co-workers, I’m not mentioning names. They always said, if the building was burning down, forget your personals, forget the computers and even forget the beer in the fridge. Grab their sketch books, that was were all the real inspiring creativity was. As crazy as I thought it was at the time … I mean, forget the beer? Are you kidding me?!? Something about this resonates with me. I believe that as designers our optimal tool is what our imagination has put done on paper, not the computer.

So I’m curious as to what most of you designers out there do? Are the old school ones still using that pen and paper first. Does the younger generation know that pen is more than a weak paper weight? How do you go about designing? The Pen first, the Computer maybe? But I know that not everyone is a designer who reads this so I’m willing to ask a couple of other, age old, this or that questions? Honestly, your feedback and answers would be really welcome. Let’s see who is doing what, compare and debate. Just write your name and the corresponding letter to the number.

1> a: pen & paper   b: computer

2> a: scrunch toilet paper   b: fold toilet paper

3> a: floss before brushing   b: floss after brushing

4> a:socks first   b: socks last.

Romeo – 1a, 2a, 3b, 4b. Look at that, two a’s and two b’s. Best report card I think I ever got!

Thanks, and keep on creating, creatively!

My greatest client … and he isn’t even here yet!

So my wife and I finally met THE doctor. By all accounts he will be the one with his hands buried between my wife’s legs telling her to push in around four months time and it dawned on me … this could well possibly be my greatest planned design job and I’m not even sure how much work it’s really going to involve?! Well OK, I know it’s going to cry a bunch, beg for more, crap it’s pants and crave all of my attention without me getting much sleep. Basically, I think our impending arrival of drool could well be my worst client ever! Greatest design, worst client … sound familiar?

Not that I’m not looking forward to it, in fact it’s the complete opposite. I’m researching this prospective client like never before. I’ve happily walked in baby stores, baby boutiques and smiled at every baby going by, though in a couple of cases that’s brought on a bit of trouble. One piece of trouble inquired; “What are you smiling at, creep?” There’s something about this whole having a new client business that’s got me smiling like never before.

I’m going to be a Dad! That’s a pretty cool thing to say, at least I think. I will get up late during the nights, help with the feeding, the nurturing. I will happily clean up the messes, the crap and whatever else it decides to throw at me. I will do all of this with a huge smile on my face, and talk to it into submission, make it all better again and put it back to bed. By all means necessary I will make the little bugger of a client happy that he has chosen me to be it’s designer.

I will put up with whatever will be thrown my way and do it with a smile. Hell, I’ll even make the logo freakin’ bigger if need be! I will continue to do this so long as it keeps my client happy because I know the pay is so worth it. And I’m not talking about just the pooping, crying, teething jobs either. There’s going to be the initial designer/client relationship growing days. But what about all those other jobs? From the getting out of a jam, need it right now jobs. The dropping off personally jobs, and caught trying to buck the ride jobs. The plan it, organize it and get it done for free jobs, and I didn’t know it cost that much jobs. We know those jobs, the work involved, the blood, sweat, tears and lack of sleep that they can cause.

My hardest, most difficult and demanding client is coming, and I seriously can’t wait! At the end of the day, no matter how much hair we loose, weight we gain, there are just some clients we would do absolutely anything for. Why? Because we are designers and we love what we do. We create designs that work, expand and inspire! I’m not in this gig for the money, oh don’t worry though, there will be an invoice at the end of all this. I’m not asking for much, love, respect and loyalty is payment enough. I’m in this industry because of the smile it puts on my face every time I put that job to bed.

Personal social online assistant needed

Phew, I made it! I know that it’s been a while since I posted on my blog but I got a little swamped there for a bit. Also, I had to visit my very sick brother in-law who had been lying in the IC unit of St. Joes hospital here in Phoenix. Thankfully he is home now and doing much better.

It got me thinking though, on how busy we can be with work, personals and day to day errands that it suddenly becomes harder to find the time to be socially interactive online.I suddenly found myself slipping behind on the whole online social/networking scene. It was like missing an episode of “Lost”, I had no idea what was going on and needed to take out a whole bunch of time just to catch up.

Let’s face it, you’ve got your Facebook, myspace, (though I hope you don’t), Twitter, blogging, Linkedin, etc, etc! I’m sure you get the picture. All of a sudden, in this modern age of social interaction we have bombarded ourselves with more work. I always thought that as hard working individuals, we would want our lives to be easier?

Don’t mistake online social interaction as anything but work. Seriously, this is one of the largest forms of networking that we undertake. I’ll be honest, I’m doing all this so that people get to know me, see my work and possibly have the opportunity to offer me work, or direct me in the right direction where I will be able to make further contacts. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some great people along the way, made some friends and actually gone to some social events to meet people who are in the same boat as myself. Real live events, you know, where you wear the name tag, nurse that drink and actually talk to people. Not some online chat room, (which I am yet to attend). But we are all in this economic titanic together, we need to do anything possible to make sure that we are the ones noticed and get rescued.

I’m not just talking about me though, what about your significant others? Are they Facebooking, Tweeting, etc? Suddenly you find yourself spending more time with your laptop or phone clicking away rather than just having a decent conversation with each other, in person. Hands up those who sit down, late at night in front of the TV with their laptops or phones? Come on now, own up, as soon as commercials arrive, you dive for your PDA, making sure you haven’t lost touch with anyone.

My point is, it’s exhausting! Seriously, how much extra time do you have now that you find yourself socializing/networking online? Not to mention those that are also online dating!?! I’m beginning to think I need someone to help me keep up with all of these mediums of online marketing. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that some people actually have someone helping them keep updated, linked, faced, tweeting and whatever else have you. It would certainly make life a little bit easier.

freelance accounting software, please help!

Hey there everyone!

So last night I was discussing finances and accounting with my father-in-law. I know, what a blast! The great thing about him though, is that he is old school. This guy has has his complete track record written down to the last penny for the last 30 years! And it all checked out!

Of course he understands that he needs to go electronic and we began that discussion as well. The conundrum is they are on PC, I am a Mac baby, and their business is completely different to mine, (travel agent-anyone need somewhere to go let me know, I’ll hook you up), so the discussion of expenses, checks, taxes, etc. left me a little confused to say the least.

I have recently gotten myself a small business accountant, nice guy. But I am a little confused as to what accounting software I’m going to need to get to help keep everything in order. When it comes to figures and finances, I’m a little bit out of my depth.

So far I’ve heard “Billings 3″ is good out of the freelancer accounting software out there. Though the other day I  found something called, “AccountEdge 2009″. This one seems to be fairly comprehensive and is aimed at small business’s but there’s a roughly $200+ difference.

My question to you all is this, what should I really be using? What are most of you using? I would certainly appreciate any help I can get on this one.

Thanks in advance, your comments more than welcome!

First blog of an Australian Designer in Phoenix, Arizona.

So, here it is. My first blog. My first entry.

My first step into another big world of publicly getting myself out there and leaving nothing private. Funny now in the modern age of technology we feel the need to broadcast our thoughts, our feelings and our state of mind at a certain precise moment.

Nothing is private anymore.

So in an attempt to keep up with the times, though I know I am way behind in this particular foot race. I am going public, like the rest of you.

Is anyone going to read this? Is anyone going to care or comment? Who knows, but I will try to use it more as a tool to connect with fellow designers, to share my trials and tribulations as I go from full time to freelance, teaching myself web design as well as I try to prepare for my first born. Sure as s..t this is going to be one hell of a ride!

So, as I welcome myself to the wonderful world of blogging, I welcome you all to comment as you see fit. I sit back, type away at my computer, about to enter a world new to me, somehow I think of a line from Star Wars, that somehow seems strangely appropriate …

… “Punch it Chewie”.

(In no way am I leaving myself open to get sued. I typed in a thought, I did not plagiarize or use without permission)