Housemates Adventure
An adventure with my housemates Andrew & Wade to Charlottesville is always a good time. Looking forward to it as we’re on our way now.
Thank you.
I am not a big “go all out for my birthday” person, but I am so grateful for the people who care enough to spend time with me. I love you all, thanks for caring about me so much.
In other news, Despicable Me is hilarious, go see it. Here’s a link to a little sneak peak.
Outdoor Environment Circular Plastic Apparatus Slingin’
That’s right, I Colin Harman have a not so secret kinship with disc golf. Right now you may be asking yourself why you’re continuing to read past that first sentence that is ever so riddled with loserdom, but I thank you for fighting back against your every instinct and making it to sentence two. No promises of it getting better from here.
As many of you know, I am a graphic designer and it is one of my favorite things to do. It is such huge blessing and a curse to get to do what I love to do for my everyday job. I get to come to work and do what I would probably be doing for fun anyway. How cool is that? However, the flip side of that is that when I am just ‘designing for fun’ it feels like I should be working. It’s a weird thing, I accept it.
Enter disc golf. Something that has nothing to do with design, or graphics, or computers, or technical things, or things that most people would consider fun—but I love it. I love how mindlessly focused I can be whilst chasing an injection molded piece of plastic around a field (or semi-wooded area) for fun. Sure there’s times it’s hot as the inside of a cow’s posterior (I live in VA, cow posterior is an acceptable form of thermal measurement, don’t judge me), but I love it.
What’s the draw you ask? I don’t know. I think for me it’s due in part to the fact that it’s a complete departure from my normal responsibilities and work routine. I get to be out in nature, in what God created, and just keeping score to see how I improve overtime. I know I’ll never be a pro, win tournaments, or gain sponsorship, but it’s mindless enjoyment for me.
I find that it’s a healthy thing for me, it helps me do what I should do better, because it give me a chance to walk away, to disconnect, and to have a boundary in life. To most it’s just a sport that youth pastors and the kids who play dungeons and dragons get to play to appear semi-athletic, but I love it.
So there’s a look into the behind the scenes of my brain. I am a frolfer. What do you do that helps you disconnect from life for a second on a completely human level? Do you have those places that have nothing to do with your normal routine that you can say “this is my hobby, I do it for no other reason than personal enjoyment”? I know how good it is for me, so what is that thing for you?
The Only Question Worth Asking
via Deviant Monk (Jason Watson) on Flickr
I wonder this often, it’s a question I seem to have to ask myself every month or so. I sometimes feel like I am on a short list of people who enjoy thinking ahead. Don’t get my wrong, there are some things I love just doing at spur of the moment, but those things are not related in anyway to work.
Tonight I’ll be pulling an all-nighter not necessarily because I had no other option, this one was my choice. Monday is usually my day off, but with this workload I would have normally gone in today to do some last minute work that has to get to the printer by tomorrow afternoon. However, my sister has been in town these last two weeks and today has been her last full day of time here and I didn’t want to spend that at work. I wanted to spend that time with my sister whom I don’t get to see very often (and who also will be moving to Germany by the end of the summer). I guess that’s part of being in the business of design and creativity. Sometimes you have to work ridiculous hours to get something done before the ever nearing deadline.
Living life by the deadline is kind of like the movie Saw (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7—Your choice). You know what you have to do to make “the bad thing not happen”, but no matter how hard you try it often gets to the point where at the last minute you’re finally getting the key in the proverbial lock to make it happen before your head explodes. (That was a messy example…)
All that to say, I wish I could avoid having to work such crazy hours, but when you’re the only one on the “graphics team”, you are it. It would suck if I hated what I do, because in reality I love it. I just wish sometimes there wasn’t so much to be done so I could do a few things with excellence rather than lots of things at a mediocre level. Also, I look forward to the day when God brings someone who is ridiculously talented and passionate to be a part of my team, but until then this is the life for me for this time in life.
Does your job ever put you in the place of burning the midnight oil? Do you live and die by deadlines? Do you enjoy getting ahead and knowing what you’ve got on your plate before day/week of? How do you stay organized? Let me know…
What are the benefits of graphic design, and why should you care?
I read this blog, by Ben Smith and I thought it brought some great principles to the table and emphasized the importance of graphic design in just about every environment desiring success and progress. Rather than rewrite it on my own, I’ve given you his thoughts:
If you run a business and you have any form of corporate identity then you should care very much. How you present your company to your chosen market is fundamental to its success.
The graphic design process is crucial to any business, making it stand out head and shoulders from the competition. Whether it is the design of an entire corporate campaign or the creation of a simple company logo it still has to work effectively for you.
There are four critical elements that should be seen in every logo design:
• It must be describable
• It must be memorable
• It must be effective without colour
• It must be scalable
Fairly obvious really but how does your logo stand up to these criteria? How does your company identity stand out from the competition?
Ask yourself why something is designed in a certain way. Consider why a particular colour is chosen instead of its opposite. Why use this font? Why include this particular graphic here? A good designer will think through every detail of a design and only include elements that will add to the design and re-enforce the brand.
Once your business is up and running you may think that any form of corporate identity will act to represent the company, visually creating a brand by default. Think again. If you look at the large corporations you will notice that their brand strategy stands the test of time for many years.
Many companies never change their logo design dramatically but only make the smallest of changes to keep the design looking modern and refreshed.
Benefits:
• Professional image
• Considered and long-lasting design strategy
• Make your company look bigger
• Stand out from your competition
• More effective
For one of my favorite books on logo design, check out Logology.
I look at this and realize that change for the sake of change is completely useless. You’re just becoming white noise, change with a purpose and change for the better. When you do, people will notice. Can you think of instances where graphic design has sold you on a product you didn’t think you’d normally buy? Made you smile? Influenced your thoughts? I know it’s happened to me, that’s why I buy 5 Gum, it’s just prettier and it looks like they take pride in their product so they get my business. I’d love to hear about your experiences.
