Bitten By Design » News

Sneak Peek: The upcoming new site design for BittenByDesign.com!

Nick — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 03:36:21 +0000

Over the last six months, I have been working on a new updated look and feel to the website. It is slowly coming together, and as the saying goes ‘the cobblers children are the last to get shoes’ it is very much the case for designers who do additional work after hours and have children.

As you can see in the sneak peek poster, it is a big departure from the gloomy greys of the current site and although I had hoped to run a May Reboot about it, I was swamped with work and the May Reboot passed me by. It didn’t help matters that I am determined to run the site with some custom plugins, and not having the time to build the plugins has meant that it has gone on the backburner whilst other paid projects have taken the limelight.

My intention is to include an improved look to ease reading, to incorporate social media better, and to have some dynamic elements scattered through the site so as to keep the viewers attention for that much longer.

Of course once the site is chopped and coded, I will have no excuse to not work on the ebook I have been slowly working on for more than a year and a half. I may get another designer in to lay it out and save myself for the final revisions and actually have a weekend without working for once!

Any feedback or initial comments would be appreciated, as this has been my little project for far too long and needs a fresh set of eyes to look over it to see where it could be improved.

If it turns out to be popular, I may even be willing to give away a slightly more basic version to people via this website or through smashingmagazine.com. Check back in future to see if it gets enough response to elevate it to a public release!

A Random Selection of Posts from the site

iPhone Wallpapers!

Nick — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:35:24 +0000

Okay, recently I have begun adding copies of all the various wallpapers to the bittenbydesign facebook page and to flickr.

There are new ones being added all the time, I will add samples of them here, but for the whole set make sure you visit the bittenbydesign locations on facebook and flickr which are linked above.

A Random Selection of Posts from the site

Pull up desk display banners.

Nick — Tue, 17 May 2011 05:03:26 +0000

Just picked up the A4 and A3 sized desk display banners for the Simplicity prepaid campaign. Very neat and great for looking very up-market with point of sale material.

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Semipermanent Sydney 2011

Nick — Fri, 13 May 2011 00:25:13 +0000

In the words of Justin Timberlake: YEAH BITCHES!

This is looking like it’s going to be another good year for the event!

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Business motto in Latin.

Nick — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:35:41 +0000

What better motto than ‘when pigs fly’ so you are always aiming for the impossible!

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Bitten By Design is giving away extra free iPhone wallpapers on facebook!

Nick — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:18:49 +0000

I intend on inserting the badge for the facebook page for BittenByDesign into the menu options on the side, but for now, here is the link.

Drop by and check out all the freebies and other goodies on there. Eventually all the iPhone wallpapers will be loaded to this site as well, for now it is a reward for checking out the facebook page!

A Random Selection of Posts from the site

BittenByDesign is listed in the Create09 directory!

Nick — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:34:18 +0000

Yes, you can find us appearing in the Create09 directory released by Gekko Images.

It was nice to see the details listed alongside other designers and photographers. Pity there wasn’t a bigger push to get the directory out into the design community. I always like seeing the business name in print, but these days not that many people use printed directories, it is more a case of go to google first, rather than flip through a book that may be on the shelf behind you.

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More appearances in print!

Nick — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:18:55 +0000

Earlier this year my wife saw one of the copies of desktop come in the mail, she asked if I had anything in that particular issue. I didn’t think so, but upon opening it up, right at the front was one of my comment responses from the desktop magazine website! An awesome surprise for me, and something else to add to my scrapbook.

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Recent interview with Bitten By Design – 5 questions

Nick — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 02:30:58 +0000

Recently I was interviewed by a website and from that I wanted to share the following five questions I was asked.

1. What got you into design in the first place?

Ever since I can remember I have been drawing or painting. There has always been a need to draw and even to this day I carry a sketchbook around with me so I have something to draw with if I have a spare moment.

2. If you hadn’t gotten into design what would you have done?

The plan was to go to Art School and do the Graphic Investigation course in Canberra, or if I didn’t get that placement at University it was to do a acting course at University, which not only covered acting but the production side of things for TV, Film and Stage as well. Fortunately for me as it turns out both places were highly contested, and I ended up short listed for both. (coming fifth out of over 500 applicants for Graphic Investigation was pretty impressive, the only problem was that there was only three places on offer!)

3. Out of TAFE, Uni or on the job practical experience which do you think is the most useful in increasing your employability?

You need to be grounded and have the basic skills to build on before you can go out and break all the rules of design. Practical experience is by far the biggest component of a job these days, especially as the industry shifts so quickly. When I was at TAFE, there wasn’t any design courses covering the internet, these days it is expected a designer will have the skills required to design websites. If you weren’t taught it during one of your courses during your time at TAFE/University you are normally required to self train to get up to speed so that if you ever want to switch roles or increase your earning capacity you have the opportunity to do so.

4. Where do you see design headed in the next five years?

It is going to be more focussed on the web, mobile devices (like iPhones and iPads) and animated point of sale/banners. The animated banners instore are becoming more common as new NAB bank branches have video screens much like the Apple store does to display animated banners in their windows rather than just having a static printed poster stuck in the window. The need to think about creating engaging experiences is becoming the top priority rather than just making a pretty poster to print out.

5. Where do you see yourself headed in the next five years? Is there something you are going to focus on, i.e. in emerging technology, or is there a particular project you are looking at working on?

As I mentioned above, embracing the new direction design seems to be taking is challenging but also much more interesting as you are no longer tied to a particular static space, which means I am going to need to look at the specifics of designing for each of the new display formats and look a the limits of what they can do. Possibly even looking at my copywriting skills to help enhance the brand or message that the client is wanting to communicate. There is always something new to learn, and I am definitely going to be looking into how to develop ebooks so clients have the opportunity to not only sell physical books but books in the ePub format for the Apple bookstore or through Amazon as digital books.

6. Ninja or Pirate?

Okay that was a sixth question, but the last one I added in to lighten the mood of the article a little bit. (and I always pick Godjira in response to that question!)

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Bitten By Design in the press again!

Nick — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:04:45 +0000

Yesterday on break I stopped by the local newsagent and had a quick flick through the latest Desktop magazine.
Imagine my surprise to find another one of my comments in print! Seems like it is becoming a bit of a habit for me.