Identity Design - Banana Thursday

I recently finished this identity design for Banana Thursday. I had a lot of fun working on this project because I got to let my personal design style shine through. Banana Thursday is an electronic dance music fan group. Members dress up like bananas and rock out. I've learned that dressing in a banana suit in a large crowd makes it rather easy to find your friends. Check out their Facebook page, which I also designed.

Looking Forward to 2013 and a Look Back

Starting off the new year right is important to me. I've read a few different people's approaches to setting goals and resolutions and I've taken advice from a few different people I admire. Step one was to look at 2012 and see what I've accomplished. I called out 4 important things i did each month.

It's important to look at all you've accomplished before setting goals for the new year because it's positive reinforcement for yourself. Lets be honest, when do you really give yourself much praise? Last year my main accomplishments included starting to date my wonderful boyfriend and moving in with him, completing over 30 freelance design projects and getting a new full time job. I traveled to Crested Butte, CO, Las Vegas, NV, Tahoe, Maui, Hawaii, Santa Barbra, CA, Portland, OR, Lyndon Center, VT and Yosemite National Park. I sold my first 2 greeting cards! I learned how to wakeboard and started running.

I need to cut out some of the things in my life that are taking up my time that I don't enjoy or feel obligated to do. The biggest thing in my life that I can think of is my freelance work. From this point forward I am not taking on any freelance work because it's "extra money." I don't need the money, I have a full time job. I will only take on freelance work if it will be an asset to my portfolio in my quest to become an art director. Or if I truly enjoy the work and client. Other things that take up my time that I don't like doing are laundry, fixing/setting up computers, going to the post office, writing contracts and invoicing.

2012 was full of fun relationship things, it's been awesome. In 2013 I want to reintroduce more of the things I love into my life while still doing fun relationship things. I want to attend art shows and museum exhibits, I will run a half marathon in September. I also want to travel internationally this year.

My main goals for 2013 are:
- Save for a downpayment on a house
- Create and sell more greeting card designs
- Extend my brand and work towards becoming an art director

 My phrase for 2013 is "Spend less, Create more."

30 Day Challenge - Day 9

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.

9. How important you think education is


Matt Stevenson and I in front of our alma mater 10 years after we first met here

I started my education in pre-school at age 4, then grade school, high school, and art college. After college I continued taking classes but only classes I really wanted to take. I've taken multiple computer program classes, typography at CCA. I'm taking a Designing for Mobile class this week. I have a list of other classes I want to take and when I have time I check them off the list.

I want to take French classes and go to Paris. I want to take cooking classes, and hoop dancing class.

I think it's very important to keep learning no matter what stage of life you are in. I love learning new things and surrounding my self with other people who know more then me about things I'm interested in. Learning keeps you young and can actually help fight Alzheimer's Disease.

In a study presented at the American Academy of Neurology, researchers found that people who kept active physically or mentally through hobbies such as gardening, exercise, reading, painting, or playing board games were less likely to develop AD later in life than those who engaged in "passive" activities, like watching television.

30 Day Challenge - Day 8

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.


8. What you ate today

This is everything I ate today. I'm on a gluten free diet becasue I have celiac disease. All of this food is gluten free. gluten free bread, gluten free cereal. It's a challenge to eat gluten free but I've been doing it for about two years. This is why I bake gluten free goodies and write about it on my blog. I'm getting better at gluten free cooking but it was tough at first and I've made a lot of mistakes that have resulted in me getting really sick. It's pretty surprising how many different foods have wheat, barley and or rye in them. A few surprising items I have found to contain gluten are: soy sauce, fish sauce, soup base, bullion, rice crispies, cold cuts, malt balls, and malt liquor (what's the word? Thunderbird). 

Electronic Awakening Film Debut in San Francisco

I am very excited about this event! Music inspires every angle of my art work and life and I have loved electronic music for years! This movie is going to be off the hook! You can get tickets here. The facebook event is here. This event starts at 7:30 at Temple Night Club in San Francisco. This is a VERY cool venue. There will be speakers and DJ's. Come Join me for an amazing night of music!

How to fix Fuzzy Headers in Blogger

Hi Everyone, I hope you are having a good Friday. I wanted to share a little trick I learned today. Blogger for some reason displays their banners really fuzzy. As a designer this has driven me crazy for a LONG time. But I've figured out how to fix it. I am now changing my blog header every season. Happy first day of Fall. Can you believe it?

Upload your photo/header to Photobucket. If you don't have an account, set up one it's totally free. You need this to obtain a direct link (an html address) for your photo. Click on your Image and then click on "see more" under "share this image." Next, click on the "Get Link Code" tab and copy paste the "Direct link for layout pages" code. Now you might think you can do this through sites such as flickr, etc. But it doesn't seem to work. Photobucket is the answer.


Go back to blogger, and when uploading your header, paste the direct link in the "from the web" box, instead of uploading "from my computer". Wait for the image thumbnail to load, hit Save, and your banner will no longer look like it has five day stubble.

 

This blog post took care of #27 on my Ninja List

30 Day Challenge - Day 7

I'm doing a 30 day challenge where I do a blog post each day for 30 days based on this 30 Day Challenge List. Feel free to do the same and send me a link to your challenge.


7. Five pet peeves

1. Messes, clutter, not replacing toilet paper on the little holder, people that don't do their dishes {punch in face}


2. When people use Papyrus and/or Comic Sans on every 5th print piece I see {fail}


3. When people show up to my Zumba class late and then stand right in the front and crowd me. To top it off they don't even know the steps even though they attend this class twice a week. 


4. When non-designers try to tell me how to do my job {make it bigger and spray pain it gold!} How about, not so much. 


5. People that dress their dogs up in clothes


Ha, this list is ridiculous. I like to think of my self as a tolerant person, but I think we all have things that rub us the wrong way. Any readers have weird pet peeves they want to share? Feel free to leave a comment.