Quick Tip: Using Placeholders in Firefox Browsers

As I was working on stylesheet for a upcoming site release at my day job, I ran across the following. As of the Firefox 19 release, Mozilla has changed the CSS placeholder attribute, :-moz-placeholder.

Electrolux Vacuums: Decent On Carpets, Horrible on User Experience

Electrolux Commercial Vacuum

At work the other day, I had the opportunity to try a commercial Electrolux vacuum. My students decided to go crazy with the glitter during a craft project. Two- and three-year-olds unsupervised with a glitter jar is just an accident waiting to happen. In our case, it actually did. After journeying to a dank supply closet, full of dusty appliances, I retrieved a Electrolux Sanitaire Commercial Bagstyle Upright Vac.

At first glance, the vacuum looked like a simple, dated appliance. I figured that it would help me get the job done quickly and efficiently. Boy, I was in for a surprise. After plugging the appliance into an outlet, I began my endeavor to find the power button.

Don’t just read it, visualize the letters: Keira Rathbone

Close up of typerwriter art

There is a British artist by the name of Keira Rathbone that likes to use typography but in a different manner than most people. She uses a vintage typewriter to create her works of art. Believe or not the following pieces of art that were created with letters.

Not Just A Box of Crayons: Christian Faur

Blue Boy (Crayon Series)

Christian Faur is an artist that specializes in taking the simple and making it extraordinary. When you were younger, did you ever open a box of crayons and were mesmerized by arrangement of the beautiful colors?  Did you felt like there was something more there than a box of wax?

Awaiting a response…

A few weeks ago, I got the bright idea to apply to graduate school. I decided on Savannah College of Art and Design. Actually, I’ve been wanting to go to SCAD since my junior year of high school. I just didn’t have the guts or the funds. At this point, I have the guts, just not the funds. I took a chance and applied anyway. I came up with 17 portfolio pieces in the matter of 8 weeks. It doesn’t seem like much but when you’re consistently going through health problems and family business, it can seem like an eternity. When I turned it in, I was so ecstatic I could’ve done flips. Now two weeks later, I’m stressed to the max. Wondering if I got in or if I’m waiting for a skinny rejection letter? It feels like an edge of your seat, reality nail-biting thriller. Or maybe, I’m just making it that way. My admissions counselor said that we should know by the end of this week.

What’s new?

Wow. Can we say neglect? I haven’t on this blog in such a long time. I’m not going to lie; I’m a serial blogger that tends to start blogs and neglects to update them. Bad me, bad, bad me. So let’s give this another whirl.

Recently, I’ve been working on a number of projects to try to get myself into graduate school. I’m shooting for SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design). Yeah, let’s see how far this gets me. As of yet, I haven’t stopped looking for a graphic design job. In fact, I seem to be trying to go about different avenues of attaining such a goal. You very well can’t just walk up to someone and say,”Hey, can I design your business cards? Or what about your kid’s birthday invitations?” Slowly, I’m trying to approach family and friends with a web presence, but not before I design a few mockups for their websites.

Also, I’m pretty happy with myself. I actually designed my first coming soon page for my portfolio website. If you’d like to check it out click here. Along the way, I’ve picked up some jQuery skills. I’m hoping to soon incorporate some new effects soon. Next up, I’m going to try to learn CMS again (so that I can change some things around here. Or Drupal? I haven’t decided what will come first as of yet.

And as for the portfolio website, it’s in the works so stay tuned. I’m try to return with more design news the next time around.

Adobe Creative Suite 5

I wasn’t sure when this moment would arrive …but what do you know? It’s finally here. Adobe has decided to give us their newest edition of Creative Suite 5. I could just do cartwheels.

Okay, I’ll compose myself. There are number of new additions to the suite but don’t take my word for it, check out the Adobe website. They have tons of videos that you can watch and whet your appetite.

Price of Good Labor?

In an economy as such the last thing that you can even consider doing is working for free, correct? Yeah, it can be sort of a hard pill to swallow but it’s definitely not something that should not be reconsidered. Think of all the possibilities? I know that you may feel as though you’re being used, but at the same time, you’re using them as well.

Why isn’t Web Design taken seriously academically?

During my undergraduate studies, I supposably attended one of the best schools for journalism. Yet while the other newspapers and magazines were closing down due to a diminishing readership or switching to an online presence, my journalism curriculum continued to emphasize print design. Why not slowly incorporate web design courses? Now I’m not suggesting that print design is not important, in fact it’s one of my specialties. In fact it influences web design in many cases. At the same time I believe that it is irresponsible to ignore the breakthroughs in the field and continue to prepare students for an obsolete job position. Professors suggested that their students take web classes but never brought the idea before the dean. Many grads are walking out of alma maters with little or no knowledge of the web.

Something’s A Brewin’: Inspirational Sites

Many times designers, we tend to only look at other’s designers within our emphasis. Sometimes that can be a good idea and other times it’s a good idea to go to other designers (product, fashion, etc.) find inspiration. Honestly, can you continually look at the same photo/website/print item and be inspired? Probably not. In this post, I’ve included just a few of the websites that I peruse for inspiration.