September 27th, 2010
A few months ago I started writing for a few magazines and websites. Never expecting it to be more than a few articles here and there, it soon became more like proper writing and no longer an occasional foray into journalism. It is amazing to me to find my opinion pieces and reviews bringing in so much email to me.
I had not expected to be contacted by publishers about my reviews of their books, let alone be afforded the chance to look at some of the new ones they are releasing. Recently I was given the opportunity to attend a launch event in my capacity as a writer for Desktop Magazine. For those who know me, the tag of Writer is not one they would associate with me. I have always been a visual person, illustrating and designing over any verbose writing.
In a career as long and varied as mine, I guess I have built up a level of knowledge and skill that just wants to be let out. For most people they can see their career path mapped out in front of them, I certainly thought that was the case for myself. This emerging opportunity has me rethinking about the roles that could be better suited to me, rather than just a creative design based role I am thinking an Art direction role or something that holds a component of writing in addition to design may suit me just as well.
Anyone else found a new career path for themselves through a hobby or something that just happened to them due to them being in the right place at the right time?
Of course they do say everyone has a novel within them, and with the digital publishing market set to expand exponentially in the coming years, you won’t even need a publishing or distribution deal to get your book out there. Self publishing a digital book through amazon means you can get a book out by yourself and take the lions share of the royalties for yourself. I am thinking this will be the best way to get the ebook I am writing on graphic design out into the market.
My best tip for writing is to use your downtime to get your writing done. Like using the notes app on your iPhone to write everything down as and when you think of it. (like I am doing right now for this post in fact!)
Anyone have other tips on writing that they can share?
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September 26th, 2010
These days pretty much everyone and their dog has a twitter account. As a designer, I am often asked to design something that matches in with the clients online brand. But what about all those people who have just a personal account and want Twitter designs a bit different to the default options given by twitter? One of the places I found to point people towards that does personalized twitter backgrounds, is twitrbackgrounds.com they have a nice selection of free and custom twitter backgrounds and it helps get people started without them feeling stuck with the limited choice given by twitter.
Even if you don’t intend to tweet about your life, following your favourite musicians or actors can give you an insight into their lives and personalities that you would never see through the gossip mags. So it is interesting to just sign up and follow a few famous people, but if you are like me and become addicted to social networking, you will want a distinct look for your twitter page.
Switching the background is as simple as popping over to twitter backgrounds, choosing one of the designs you like, download the image, and then head back to your twitter profile settings, and choose your own background (the one that you just downloaded to your computer), save the new settings and you are done! It is pretty easy to do and you can change the background to suit the season, holiday or an event whenever you feel like it.
You can even follow them on twitter to keep updated on the latest additions and updates to the selections.
Oh, and while you are at it, you can follow me on twitter via @bittenbydesign
Share your twitter usernames and your favourite tweeters in the comments so we can all check them out.
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September 13th, 2010
The game apps now available on iPhone hark back to my youth, they are literally ports of games that I grew up playing. Games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom broke the ground for all the first person shooters that followed.
Sim city, Civilization, Bomberman and many others just scratch the surface.
Strategy games like Command and Conquer take a bit of getting used to on the small screen (but would be very impressive on the iPads big screen), for fans of the genre it is more than enough to have their old favourites accessible in their pocket at any time.
Fighting games like Blades of Fury can keep you busy for your full commute to work, and are handy for those long waits at the Doctors office.
True, playing games is not the most productive use of your time as there are plenty of business apps for the iPhone you could be using to increase your productivity. Without a break to relax every now and then, as the saying goes ‘all work and no play make Jack a dull boy’.
Take a trip down memory lane of old arcade and PC games and see what you can find. I am currently hooked AGAIN on Civilization, and if they ever release Fallout or UFO: Enemy Unknown on the iPhone, well I am sure to be busy on every commute to work!
Searching through your iPhones app store link just isn’t as effective as searching through the iTunes store on your computer. The search is way better through your computer and you also see proper reviews of the games at the same time. Top ten lists give you a good idea of what’s available and in some cases games that are to be released in the coming months.
Share the best games you have found for the iPhone so we all can experience the best of the apps on offer!
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The new potential career path.
