Adobe-wan Kenobi

JunyerBear

CreativeNinja — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:43:54 +0000

So I recently got to work and my 2.8 Ghz, dual quad core, 4GB RAM, Mac Pro was gone….and in it’s place what do I see….a dreaded PC. A new 2.27 GHZ, 6GB RAM, HP Z600 workstation. The only brightside that I could initially see was that IT named my new computer “JunyerBear”, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Initial feelings of things like “what’s this stupid control key for?” and “why is this keyboard so huge?” began to creep into my mind. I’ve always been a crossplatform kind of guy, but what is it that makes me a Mac?

As I began to reflect a little bit, I realized that it is because I was taught on one, and always used one. So really it’s all about how I’ve been “raised”. Being in the technology field, I have also been taught that things change, and I can either adapt, or be left behind. I am an advocate of change when it makes sense, and here I am pouting inside about changing computer platforms. Why? It isn’t the computer that creates my designs, it’s simply a tool that brings my visions to life. Do I really care about Operating Systems and keystrokes? Do I care about how shiny my box is, or if my Widgets are called Gadgets or my Gadgets are called Widgets? In the end the only thing I really care about is that my designs are clean, clear, and effective.

My name is Junyerbear and I’m Paul’s new PC.
My name is Paul and deep down I’m still a Mac

Nintendo Thumb

CreativeNinja — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:53:55 +0000

So recently having jumped into the world of mobile internet, I have run across a phenomenon not known to me in at least 15 years. You see back in the day, I had one of the first video game systems in our neighborhood. The other kids and I would play the original NES until the “A” and “B” buttons had put permanent imprints on our thumbs and the directional pad permanent pains in our thumb joints. We proudly called this video game injury “Nintendo Thumb.” Thinking about those days, I also remember back in the 7th grade, when Mavis Beacon typing tutor suddenly turned into Mr. McCaffery’s Typing class. I remember many kids, including myself getting yelled for “typing with one finger….looking at your hands…..” Well Mr. McCaffery, not only do I now type with one finger, but I use one thumb…not only do I look at my hands, but at the same time I look at my screen…Mr. McCaffery, here’s to technology, here’s to knowing today’s best practices will be outdated by tomorrow, and most importantly here’s to the millenial resurgance of Nintendo Thumb, brought to you not by Nintendo, but by the mobile internet and Twitter.

2019

CreativeNinja — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:05:10 +0000

I recently got an email from a co-worker who simply asked,

“If a person who has absolutely no computer knowledge decided they wanted to learn how to do web design/web programming….where would they start?”

I really struggled with a good answer and as I tried, I came to realize that it is a question that goes right to back to the basics.

I started by thinking about where I’d started my career, and how it has led to where I’ve ended up. I worked my way back through 10 years of successes and failures as a designer… What would Paul 2009 tell Paul 1999 (besides that Y2K was a bust). The conversation went something like this.

“Hey Paul, be sure to lay a strong foundation- start with the basics, and understand them. You can’t underestimate the power of design theories such as Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity, and Typography.”

“Oh and BTW, everything you do for the next 10 years will be based on this knowledge.”

“Did I mention not to get too comfortable with the Hardware and Software you’re using? Don’t get me wrong, you still have to master it, but be prepared to leave it by the wayside, along with our time, when the next thing comes out.”

“Dude and if you think that’s cool, just wait until you can make things move. not only do you get to move things along the X, Y, and Z axis’ in 3 dimensions, but you get to coordinate all of your design elements and their interactions over time. Boy I’m telling you, those foundations really do come in handy.”

“Well Paul, it’s been grand, but I’ve got to get out of here. Keep working hard for the next 10 years I really need you to come through. In the mean time, we’ve got to go learn some of these coding fundamentals. I have a feeling they may come in handy, and there’s quite a learning curve ahead of us. “

That leaves me with one last question…

I wonder what Paul 2019 will be telling Paul 2009?

Flash Catalyst – an Epic Tale

CreativeNinja — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:52:06 +0000

Usually when a Gigantic company such as Adobe starts buzz about a product, I take it with a grain of salt. Most of the time they have enough $ to buy the buzz, so it’s hard to know if it’s legit or not. Back in the Fall of 2007, Adobe started publicly talking about this project code named “Thermo.” It was the “next big thing in designer and developer workflow integration.” The demo of creating a sliding image list by clicking a few buttons was enough to get a lot of oooh’s and aaaaah’s from the design crowd, and it is pretty safe to say that everyone saw some potential.

To my disappointment throughout the rest of 2007 and into the fall of 2008, I was seeing the same demo and wondering what the heck Adobe had doing for the last year, or if the project had died. Luckily, in fall 2008, Adobe had a limited number of pre-beta releases that they handed out. Unfortunately I did not get one, nor did i see anything “new” in the “new demos” that were being featured. The worst part was that Adobe took away the cool Blue comet logo, and the “Thermo” name and called the program Flash Catalyst.

Because of the pre-beta release and re-branding of Catalyst, I knew Adobe had something going. I began impatiently anticipating the beta release for public use…Until June of 2009 when I finally got my hands in the software and could make an informed decision about this supposed game changer….over a year and a half since the “buzz” began.

After 2 months playing in the Beta, I can honestly say I haven’t been as excited about any software as I am about Flash Catalyst since…well….ever. Most of the time in my experience, beta software is good for crashing your computer while you play with mock files and pseudo-projects.

After playing with some “mock” applications (www.caspercreative.com) and getting comfortable in Catalyst, I have recently used it on an enterprise level project. Instead of presenting screen shots of my photoshop/illustrator/fireworks documents and explaining the interactions, I was able to design, animate, and present exactly what I wanted, that looked exactly how I wanted it to….in less than half the time just by clicking some buttons. Not only does the live prototype enable an easier sales pitch to management, but also gives a great way to do some usability testing with customers. No time wasted spending weeks with a programmer breaking apart assets and hooking up wire-frame prototypes. My programmer can keep concentrating on current programming tasks…weird.

Being beta software, it has it’s limits, and a mass of improvements to make, but I think my developer, Josh, put it the best when he said “Well, remember Photoshop was at version 1.0 before too. Just imagine when this thing gets to version 5, it will be amazing.” Very encouraging insight, and as far as I’m concerned Flash Catalyst and Adobe has earned every bit of the buzz so far with this one.

How Twitter saves me time…..Really

CreativeNinja — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:52:08 +0000

So I recently got an email from the marketing folks wondering what it was that made me bookmark sites, and what it was about my home page that made me set it. I had never really thought about how I used them before, I just used them.

As it turns out, most of my bookmarks are now actually “favorites” within Twitter. Twitter acts as a good filter for me because if something get’s re-tweeted a lot, I know it is most likely worthwhile to look at. That way, I don’t have to spend the time to look or browse for it myself. With the addition of applications such as TweetDeck, it is easy to search a topic and watch the feed for trends and good resources.

The current sites that I actually have bookmarked in my browser (Firefox) are mostly to the various websites that I’m building for my company, and the company blogs that go with them. Besides that I have:

Pandora.com – A guy gots-ta rock out while designing
Shutterstock.com – quick access to the image source we mostly use at my Company
Various Online Banking / Bill pay sites
And then a collection of bookmarks drilling into specific tutorials for reference on various topics including:
Flash, Action Script, Flex, After Effects, Blender, WordPress, Photoshop, Fireworks, General Design, Catalyst, iphone, etc….

If it’s a site I go to frequently, like twitter for instance, I just type “tw” in the address bar, tap down arrow once, and hit enter to get there really quickly without having to go through the dropdown heirarchy of my “favorites” like I used to do. If it’s just information I’m looking for (from sites that Iknow offer high value), rather than go direct to a website and having to navigate through all the advertisements, I just have an RSS feeds in place. I can scan the headline and decide if it’s something relevant or not.

My homepage is whatever the browser (firefox) uses as a default. Since when I’m online, I am mostly looking for specific information or specific topics, I use Google. I can just access Google right from the address bar, so I don’t even go to the google website to use it. So why even set a homepage?

The question made me recognize how much my online habits have changed in the last year, and has made me wonder about how other’s have changed as well. Is there anything different that you’re doing now? How do you organize and get through the glut of information to find what you need? Heck, is there even time to form online habits anymore?

How much is too much?

CreativeNinja — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:28:20 +0000

As I was reading a book last night, trying to unlock my inner coder, and learn some Action Script 3.0, my mind started to wander.

With the huge variety of apps in the master collection (16 according to adobe.com) along with all of the supporting technologies and apps including, Web, Interactive, Print, Video Audio, Mobile, Social Networking, Web 2.0, and “the Cloud….”, what should I focus on next?

From past experiences, I know for the most part that being a “generalist” is a valuable trait. Being flexible and capable enough to help others when called upon is never a bad thing is it?

I asked myself “How much is too much?” At what point am I over extending my capabilities as a graphic designer? This I feel, is the ever-evolving Designers Dilemma.

As I designer, I tried to draw some paralells:

Would I trust a vet to give me brain surgery – They’re doctors too…
Would I let my auto mechanic inspect the airplane engine I’m about to take to Hawaii – they’re a mechanic right…?
Would I give a contractor a blueprint to build me a House or let an engineer draw it up? I’m pretty handy…

I’m thinking no.

Thinking it through I came to the following conclusion:

I’m in the right profession. The only lives being affected are the ones that I can reach with my own creativity. The only thing that limits my own reach, is the rope that I tie myself back with. My goals are not to win awards for the “best design”, they are to push myself and to deliver my message to as many people as possible, in ways relevant to their own lives.

Will my current skills become watered down as broaden my creative scope? Maybe.
Will I lose future job opportunities because my skill set isn’t specific enough? Probably.
Will I be dissapointed in myself if I lock myself into a specific media? Definitely.

So really, how much is too much?

I’ll let you know when I get there.