Designers Who Blog: Design, Illustration, Photography, Web, Advertising, Branding …

Women Learn Thai

I’m a workaholic by nature, so when I got into the design industry, I was well suited for the multi-tasking ahead.

Coming in from the arts, I had to learn industry standard software, bookkeeping, client juggling, and the dealing of difficult and sometimes errant printers. All while learning design.

Hours were often long, 12-14 and up. Weekends off were few. Holidays were spent passed out, with the scenery a blur.

(I still need to see Bali again… for the first time).

It wasn’t unheard of for my system to crash after a large project.

Feast. Crash. Famine. Recover.

And a given, it was during the Feast, Feast, Feast times where I suffered the most.

Blurry eyed and soggy brained, I’d make decisions impacting the success of a project. And unknown to me at the time, they also impacted my future reputation.

And that’s how I learned an important lesson the hard way (quoted in Jeff Fisher’s must have book for budding designers, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success).

Get a life, preferably your own!

I was lucky in that it only cost me Singapore $800 to fix that snafu. But, my reputation with that one client was forever changed.

Which brings me to the reason for this post… forever changing.

When I moved to Thailand (needing a change), I went into a sort of semi-retirement from design. But not from all things design. I just moved my interests sideways.

But not sideways enough as I managed to forget my hard-earned get a life lesson.

Sliding into total burnout, my design brain was in fear of a total blackout.

And I guess the combination of the tsunami, then the coup, then the bombs (and now the Yellow Shirts taking over the airport) haven’t helped.

Catching myself, I searched for a non-design outlet.

And face it. Designers don’t just design. Or talk about design. Or eat, sleep, weep design (even though at times it feels we do).

Designers write. They travel. They have wonderful babies and make incredible parents.

And yes, designers learn Thai too…

Women Learn Thai is where I try out my writing skills and photography skills, with a wee bit of Thai thrown in. Oh, and a smattering of design… there’s always that.

And just to show you that I haven’t lost my competitive streak through all this, Women Learn Thai has been put forward for voting at Thai-stars.com

(yes, you can vote too!)

Ps: and now back to DWB’s regular schedule of fabulous design blogs…

And THAT’S a promise :-)

WordPress Template Tags Reference Guide

Every so often I receive resources through DWBs contact page.

And for today, the WordPress Template Tags Reference Guide is it. A big it.

We created this quick reference guide to expedite our WordPress theme development, and we found it so useful that we would like to share it with you.

The content was reformatted for quick reference from the Template Tag section of the WordPress.org Codex, a relative encyclopedia to WordPress theming, and great reference for your WordPress questions.

Please enjoy. I know Jay will.

I’m fond of blogging for many reasons. Meeting interesting, creative people is one of them. Interesting people like the lovely Jack Yan of Jack Yan & Associates, The Medinge Group, Lucire, and now Jack Yan on Vox.

Today, after being tardy with most addictions internet related (checking stats, chirping on twitter, checking stats), I logged in to a sweet surprise. Yes, I’ve been gifted the Arte y pico award by dear Jack. Thanks Jack!

If you don’t know about the Arte y pico award, here are the rules:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog.
3. Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
4. Link to the Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. Show these rules.

Hmmm, there are so many great blogs out there … decisions … decisions … and I can only choose five … hmmm … difficult …

• Joanna Young at Confident Writing (and Powerful Web Content)
• Kyle Meyer at Typesites (and Astheria)
• David Airey at Logo Design Love (and David Airey)
• Emily Chang at Emily Chang Strategic Designer (and eHub)
• Roy Peter Clark at Poynter Online – Writing Tools

All are worthy of the Arte y pico. All are worthy of a visit and more.

Please enjoy (I know I do).

The Big Word Project

• An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person’s upbringing or legal residence.

• Those who add new material to a blog.

• To change in form or nature: transform
• To render into another language, style, or manner of expression: translate
• To transfer from one place or period to another: shift
• To change the relative place or normal order of: alter the sequence of
  

Expatriated bloggers transpose. So true.

So, can something this brief be considered Powerful writing in under 30 words or less? Yes? No? Perhaps?

Ask Paddy Donnelly and Lee Munroe (?) …

… two Masters students from Northern Ireland, who are exploring what different words mean to different people … The project is aimed at changing definitions and creating a new tapestry of words, meaning altogether different things.

No surprise, they and their powerful words can be found at The Big Word Project.

(Twitter, eat your heart out :-D

searchme

As a blogging designer, a visual person who spends majority time researching attractive blogs to feature, searchme is a Saturday morning wow.

Will I use it? Sure I will. Especially after finding a site I forgot I’d lost. Design Interviews. A keeper.

Searchme lets you see what you’re searching for. As you start typing, categories appear that relate to your query. Choose a category, and you’ll see pictures of web pages that answer your search. You can review these pages quickly to find just the information you’re looking for, before you click through.

[... Continue reading ... searchme: designers who blog

Web Business with North x East

I’m a sucker for a well written blog. Throw in a well written blog by a designer blogging about blogging and the business of design, and I’m hooked. [... Continue reading ... Web Business with North x East

MyBlogLog Top 50

Nice. I’m getting bigger.

This past week, Designers who Blog reached the Top 50 on MyBlogLog. I didn’t mention it because DWB had the smallest available font size. Also, I figured the one DWB nudged off would come back in push DWB off.
[... Continue reading ... Designers who Blog on MyBlogLog’s Top 50 Communities

cat’s MyBlogLog

Andy Beard started a MyBlogLog meme. I discovered it at PurpleWren, Sandra Renshaw’s blog. Sandra compiled Andy’s along with Mike Sansone’s and added her own choices from her MyBlogLog community.

As a member and regular user of MyBlogLog, I’m coming in with my own list (added to the bottom).
[... Continue reading ... MyBlogLog meme

And being back is half the battle …

WHEW! I’m finally back from the UK. ‘Being’ isn’t a bother, but the travel time is. Getting up at 4.30am for the 4 hour ride between Devon and London, then the 12+ hours in the air, each both ways, is tiring. I’m shagged. Totally. [... Continue reading ... Cat’s back | the ‘Z’ List meme

Yesterday I was contacted by a student going for her master’s degree in Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology. At the research phase of her project, she’s looking for a response from creative pros using blogging in their businesses.
[... Continue reading ... Research paper: “Blogging for Creative Professionals”