YOU Can Help Save the Internet!
Resource: American Censorship Day Non-Profit
Resource: Online Privacy Act, Explained (Wikipedia)
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R.3261, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011 by Representative Lamar Smith [R-TX] and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The aim of the bill is to help U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders fight online transmission of restricted intellectual property. Introduced by the House Judiciary Committee as building on similar legislation, the PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the Senate's Protect IP Act of 2011, this bill "modernizes [United States] criminal and civil statutes to meet new IP enforcement challenges and protect American jobs."
The bill is divided into two Titles with the first focusing on combating "foreign rogue sites", websites outside U.S. jurisdiction that enable or facilitate copyright infringement, and the second focusing on increased penalties to combat intellectual property theft via digital means. The House Judiciary Committee had scheduled a hearing on SOPA for November 16, 2011.
Yesterday, Aperture Creative Development approved and displayed the "STOP CENSORSHIP" banner in front of it's logo to help support and make aware it's interest and stance on this highly controversal issue. I urge all of you to get involved, write your congressmen, and stop this ridiculous bill from gaining ground. Please click HERE where you can find more information and fill out a 30 second form which will be mailed to your local representative. There is no excuse for not helping, and we thank you for your support.
This is How to Promote a Video Game
Racing simulation games, akin to Forza, Gran Turismo, and Need for Speed (okay, that last one shouldn't be there, the NFS franchise fails any time it attempts to make a simulation rather than an arcade style game) all share a common theme when releasing a promotional video. While I agree that fast cars, hairpin turns, and thumping techno music usually pulls the heartstrings of high-octane racing game enthusiasts, there is something to be said about being different, especially when it goes against all conventional material. The "norm", in both the below video and design in general, tends to get ignored by most. It creates a "ho-hum" attitude because it's been done a thousand times before. But once in awhile, designers or developers go against the grain to create something beautiful, uplifing, and inspirational. This trailer for the upcoming Forza 4 is all those things, and while I don't normally enjoy such games, it makes me want to buy it because it gives the impression (true or not) that this game was made lovingly by its creators.
So what has this taught me personally about design? It is elegant, creative, and goes against everything the rest of the industry is doing, and that makes it special. It shows that taking chances and doing something new and innovative creates wonderful things.
Credits: YouTube, Microsoft Game Studio
Studio: Turn 10
Narrated By: Jeremy Clarkson
Titled: Forza 4 "Endangered Species"
Skittles Candy has Marketing Geniuses
I'm going to be honest here. I'm not sure what the intent was or is for this blog. I initially assumed it would be a place to share some insight into what I'm up to, what I'm learning, and the things I find interesting. This, as you'll see, is interesting. Some part of me wants to think the marketing team at Skittles simply takes some sort of narcotic, writes down what happened during their hallucination, then promptly makes a commercial. The other more rational part of me simply believes that they are marketing geniuses. Ever since their "Cakes and pies!" commercial a few years back, they have effectively created stunningly awkward commercials. This one is by far the best yet. I laughed, I felt squeamish, and then promptly sent it to everyone I know. You know, which is the point of advertising. Good job, Skittles.
The "Resist" Series
The "Resist" series of prints is well on it's way, and off to a great start. You can buy the first three now, two more are to follow sometime in the near future which will complete the series. Number four should be released within the next couple weeks, as I'll have more time to dedicate to them. I received such a favorable response on the first two, where they were originally posted on Reddit, that I decided to create the series in a full five-image set. I'm not a political person by any means, but I can't deny they have a very political influence. People have referred to them as "leftist", but I in no way intended for them to be targeted to any specific group or ideology.
I don't intend this to be a huge advertisement to buy my prints. Obviously it'd be pretty awesome if people did, but I'm really doing these works for my own personal benefit. I love the style, the process to create them, and honing a skill and style that I've never worked with before. Obviously these have heavy influences from famous street artists like Banksy, Space Invader, and Shepard Fairey.
Why "Price, Quality, Speed. Pick Two" is Dead
In one form or another, the "Price, Quality, Speed. Pick Two." ideology has been around for years in not only the design industry, but in most facets of project management. We're all going to have to admit at this point that this portrayal to customers is, without any doubt, dead. It simply is no longer a viable sort of project starting point for clients, unless you don't like your clients, work, and money. Let me explain further.
In the modern boom of the Internet, back in the early to mid-nineties, successful designers relied mostly on traditional techniques of page layout and composition. It was still primarily done by hand for arrangement and initial composition. If it was done on the computer, it was minimalistic and was purely for final element placement rather than from-scratch design. Designers, good ones anyway, were a niche market, and good design was not yet cheapened by so-and-so's grandson who was a "web expert" on weekends.
Things changed.
It seemed that almost everyone knew a computer and web expert later in the century, yet those people never studied the fundamentals of design, layout, hierarchy and meaningful composition. Copies upon copies of the boring old websites and adverts were pasted on the web and in print.
I don't mean to use the above as any sort of filler, but it's important to get an idea of the value of good designers. Of those who pushed the envelope, who went outside the box, even if it was ungodly ugly and failed as a project. It's important because the market was so over-saturated with those who called themselves designers that it cheapened the industry as a whole and gave false pretension to clients. Now, the adage is dead for another reason, and that is that the industry is bouncing back.
This is in part because people became wiser about good and bad designers, novices and professionals. They became self-aware that good design sells, and bad design receives ridicule by anyone with any sort of fundamental knowledge or insight to design. Even more than that, people know better than to apply a handful of Photoshop effects to text and think it looks good.
Let's get back to basics and wrap this up.
The fact of the matter is, if you cannot give your client a good price, a quality project, and meet a reasonable deadline, they are going to go elsewhere. It's not enough anymore to ask them to pick two. They expect all three, and by all rights they should expect all three, especially from an up-and-coming designer. If the client has the budget to hire a huge agency to do work, they already have that relationship, and they will probably get all three anyway. Realistically, clients wanting all three points on the project pyramid is an excellent transition. By doing so, it will push you, albeit violently, to be a better designer, work smarter, and keep yourself grounded to what is really important- your client.
Up and Away
If you're reading this, it means the new site is up and running. It's pretty exciting actually, as I've been working at ungodly hours finishing things up, getting the code tidy, and stress testing the whole thing. I'll post here as time allows, though with work, school, and freelance projects, time is tight. Nevertheless, I'm hoping to keep this area as a type of personal design journal, discussing trends and topics, as well as keeping those informed about what's happening in the life of Tyler.
Unfortunately, while I fully intended to have this section be a self-hosted CMS integration, it looks like, at least for now, it will be all self-managed. That's good, in a way, because it ensures I don't have back-end management and SQL databases running, but because of that, it doesn't allow me the opportunity to do "quick and dirty" posts where I input some text, add a picture, and have the site do the rest. It also forces me to be more selective about what I have here. Perhaps I'll integrate Wordpress or Concrete5 into the mix at some point, but priority is given to the rest of the site for now.
If time allows, I'll move it over to something more conventional.
