Websites

I realized this morning that I don’t have any proof that I can design websites with, what I like to call, simple HTML. To be honest, I wish I was better at coding. The truth is, I prefer to create the content have a professional coder build the website.

I’ve been playing with HTML since I was in high school. In fact, I made a website for my senior class using Angelfire. I have since taken it down. I mean, it was ANGELFIRE. Wouldn’t you? In college, before the world was able to access Facebook, I designed and coded my own MySpace backgrounds. That’s right, MySpace.

When I worked at the Joe Crowley Student Union, I was fortunate enough to be able to design and help code the ACUI Region 15 Fall 2010 Conference website.

Another website I designed was for a make-up artist based out of Australia. I would link to her website, but she has since gone through a redesign. Fear not! I have a screen shot of the basic design!

For an art class I had in college, I designed a website called “Secret Me” that cataloged YouTube videos that focused on inner secrets. I made a choice to hand write every word on the website to match theme of the videos. Each video had hand written notes, why not make the website handwritten?

Lady Gaga and Amazon

Over 400,000 people bought Lady Gaga’s new album Born This Way for $0.99 as Amazon’s Deal of the Day on May 27. I must admit, I was one of them. I mean really, who can pass up a deal like that? Right now, the album is going for $9.99. That’s a HUGE savings. You can’t even get a single track from the album on iTunes for $0.99! So, where am I going with this?

On June 1, Ad Age published an article saying that Lady Gaga out-grouponed (yes, I just made that word up) Groupon. Technically, this isn’t true. The way Groupon works is companies agree to the offers. According to the article, it was all Amazon’s idea. Lady Gaga still received full profit. That means Amazon LOST somewhere in the $3 million range. Not only did they lose money, but their system basically crashed too! Was it worth it?

I’m not Amazon (nor do I claim to have any relation to Amazon except the fact that I can buy my favorite syrup by the case and not individually, but that’s besides the point) so I can’t say whether it was worth it or not. I know in my own little social world, everyone I had talked to that day had mentioned Amazon and their “better than Groupon” deal. I guess in the terms of social media and word-of-mouth, it was totally worth it. I bet more people are looking at their “Deal of the Day” now because of it, I know I am.

Photoshop Elements 9

For my brother’s birthday this year, I bought him Photoshop Elements 9 (and by his birthday, I mean four months later). Now before I get into why I bought him this, let me explain how he works.

A few years ago my brother bought a Nikon camera. Oh yeah, he was waaaaay into it for the first…oh…two months. He kept telling everyone how he was going to start taking awesome pictures and how I could touch them up in “Photochop.” I already owned the program, I might as well do all the work….I guess.

I would have to say since he bought the camera, he’s talked about wanting a Mac. I had to constantly hear him say how bad he wanted and needed one. Then he kept asking me what I thought and asked why I didn’t buy a Mac instead of another PC.

*Um, maybe because I was in college and couldn’t afford a computer that cost over a grand!*

I digress.

Fast forward to a few months ago, he buys himself a Mac after his PC crashed. He was running Windows XP after two other versions of Windows came out, it was bound to happen! After he started playing around on his new Mac he decided he was going to start taking pictures again, because this new computer could handle it. I question his thought process, a lot. He started taking a few pictures and got really bummed out because iPhoto wasn’t doing everything I could do on Photoshop (duh). Then he started asking me how much Photoshop (he learned how to say it after a year of me correcting him) would cost and what other photo editing programs were out there. After about an hour long discussion with him, I told him he should just get Photoshop Elements because it was cheaper and he could do most of the same stuff (including content-aware). And that, my friends, is why I bought him PE9.

Him and I are learning it together, sort of. It’s more like I’m learning it and then showing him how to do it. I’ve noticed that some of the main functions I use in Photoshop CS3 aren’t in PE9. Even the Camera Raw menu is different. For some reason, in PE9, the photo will auto-rotate. That’s really annoying and I haven’t figured out (a.) what’s causing or (b.) how to stop it. I think for him, it’s perfect. He just wants to edit photos a little bit and draw. He can do all of that in PE9 and I think once he learns how everything works, he’ll like it as much as I like Photoshop. Although, I may have to teach him everything.

Internet Explorer Has Failed Me for the Last Time

First, let me just say I have a very long post about what I’ve been doing for the past month. It included fixing up a house, desiging for a secret project, grilling hamburgers for the first time, making these and the must-haves on my fashion list for this spring. Then, out of the blue, Internet Explorer (which I’ve been using since Google Chrome decided to not save any of my settings one day) decided that it didn’t want to bring up the search function for uploading pictures and just the tab I was writing my blog in decided to not respond, crash and not save my post. Needless to say, I dislike Internet Explorer and the only part I’m going to continue with is the fashion portion.

Blame IE8.

My first must-have this spring are nude colored flats or kitten heel (high heels and I don’t get along). I was going to insert a picture of the type of flat I’m talking about but that’s when IE failed me last time. Instead, I’m just going to link to this Michael Kors flat. I have a large foot. I’m not kidding, I wear a size 11. It’s really hard to find shoes that fit, especially in the style you want. I also don’t want to spend $100 dollars on a pair of flats. That just seems wrong to me.

The second thing I want is a bright-colored sheath dress with a full covered top (think “Mad Men”). I found this one by Calvin Klein that is like the cut I want. I just need to find one that’s available in plus size! It would be great if I could find all this before my best friend graduates from college so I can wear it to her graduation!

That’s all I have for today! Well, I had more but you know the story.

Oh! One more thing! I watched the Royal Wedding yesterday! Ok, I didn’t watch it live, but I set my DVR to record it and I watched it last night. It really was a beautiful wedding and Kate looked very gorgeous in her Sarah Burton dress. The only bad thing was I had royal dreams all night! My brain became obsessed with everything royal while I was sleeping! I hope my brain decides that it’s done gushing about royalty! I don’t know if I can take too many dreams about the royal family!

How I Conquered My Résumé Problem

I finally finished re-designing my résumé!

Now, before you go off and start clicking to go check it out, I want to tell you why I did what I did. I wanted everything to be cohesive. Now, it matches my WordPress and Twitter profile. As part of my current job, I participate in education and career chats on Twitter. During one of the career chats I was in, they were talking about how résumés online should always be in PDF form and that if there were any links, they should be click-able. This sparked my interest because I have a link in my portfolio (which you will see when you check it out ). Long story short, I designed it in Photoshop and created the links in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

After staring at it for a week, I really like what I came up with. It’s definitely not as colorful as my last résumé, but it’s perfect for what I’m trying to accomplish now.

Okay, now you can look! Just go to my résumé section.

Let The Branding Begin!

Since my last post, I’ve thought of ways to brand myself and started implementing my ideas. Before I did anything, I brainstormed. I knew that I wanted to play off my name and that I love bright colors. My previous résumé and personal logo used cyan, magenta, yellow and black– so I couldn’t do that again! Then it hit me, if I’m going to play off my name and use “KiWi” I might as well use brown, green and grey (instead of black).

After that, everything else just came pretty easy. I made my logo (which you can see in the banner above) and started designing backgrounds, banners and even my résumé. Although, I’m currently stuck on my résumé. I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate the same design elements that I did for this site and my Twitter account. I’ll think of something and make it work!

Speaking of all this new design, how do you like it? Kind of a modern feel, right?

Seriously, I Should Start My Own Business

Seriously.

Isn’t that what most graphic designers do anyway? Even if they work for a company or agency, most of them do side projects as well. I’m already doing side projects, I might as well get paid for them.

I’ve made wedding invitations, graduation announcements/invitations, logos, banners, stationary, business cards, etc. Most of them I’ve done for free. Why? Because I thought I wasn’t good enough to charge people. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking otherwise.

I have a good two weeks off from my current job and I have absolutely nothing to do. I think I’m going to take that time to brand myself. I’m also going to think of some pretty awesome names for my freelance business. I’ve already looked into opening a store on Etsy, we’ll see how that goes.

Until then, I ask you… do you have any super cool names I can call my business? I’m leaning towards something to do with “kiwi,” can you figure out why?