In Which I Sell A Design. As In, Get Paid For It.

3517A.

So, some time ago, during the last year of this time of extreme dexterity, I thought that the chances of being Presidented over by one less-than-impressive Republican vs another less-than-impressive Republican meant that maybe D.F. Jones had the right idea all along, and I created a graphic.

This graphic:

Doesn't it just kind of speak to ya?

Last week, I was contacted by a representative of an organization in Seattle called Living Computers: Museum + Labs. They're doing a showing of Colossus: The Forbin Project for First Thursday and they wanted to do a limited run of stickers as giveaways to people who came. And after they checked all the stuffs to make sure everything was on the level, we came to an agreement.

There is money resting in my PayPal wallet as a payment for the use of the design for the sticker giveaway. They are also looking into using it for other things, and I will keep the errant reader posted on that.

But it's nice not only to get paid for something, but to interact with a group that understands that, if you want to use something, the first thing you do is ask. From what I'm hearing out there, that's getting rarer and rarer. So these are indeed sterling people.

If you go see Colossus at the museum in SoDo you might not meet me, but you'll meet my work. It'll be fashionable, too. Who knows where those stickers will show up?

Yeah. I'm happy here. Thanks, Living Computers!  

[net_liff] Gmail Ninja, The Infographic

2929.From designer Aleksander Tsatskin comes a pretty effective cheat-sheet for all the keyboard shortcuts that, if you take the time to learn them, should elevate your Gmail exprience.

Everyone knows what keyboard shortcuts are. Every pulldown has a staccato list of symbols to the right of the commands; these key combos connect you directly to the function without having to mouse, click, drop, click.

The problem with keyboard shortcuts is that they require discipline and practice. It also might be more comforting just to find and read the command in your pulldown menu. It takes a little courage; you have to know what you're going for. But who doesn't, if you use any Word-like program to assemble your documents, know what the key combo for Italic, Bold, or underline? It's even here in the Blogger interface, which saves a ton of time.

I first learned the mad savings in effort that keyboard shortcuts when learning QuarkXPress. There were a group my instructor called the 'Fab Four', and indeed I used them all the time. The keyboard shortcut, CMD-SHIFT-OPT < or >, for instance, increased the size of highlighted type by one point up or down respectively. Saved a lot of mousing and clicking.

The infographic delivers just what's needful, and that's why it's good. Graphic elements are greatly simplified but very recognizable, and the visual grammar translates instantly.

A very effective use of color, style, line and shape; green is the color of the keys, yellow are the simplified instructions. Simple lines and shapes tell the visual story.

Here's the whole thing, via a link; if you use Gmail as your primary email interface, as far as cheat-sheets one could very easily do worse.

(via Bit Rebels)

Bootstraps. Pulling Hard

1888. We are starting to get back to the point where the place is almost looking the way it used to. Adobe CS3 has been successfully installed (Both design premium and web premium editions).

For now, we're going to be posting blog entries from the Flock blog editor. Once you use a blog editor, you don't want to go back; just having your entries off-line and editable is worth it, 100%. The Blogger on-line editor seems more a straitjacket than a liberator.

The only thing I'm going to have problems with is, as I've said before, the leading. Let's hope that Flock can handle it now. The version is up to 2.0, so it must at least be some sort of usable.

Bootstraps

Bootstraps are a popular icon in American culture. Everyone's supposed to have 'em, and if you just pull on them hard enough, you're supposed to lift yourself up to the level you want to be at, laws of physics be damned (we in America tend to think we're above simple physical laws anyway sometimes).

Not all bootstraps are created equal, though. We like to think they are, but they aren't. My personal bootstraps are more like gift ribbons ... they'll get you up but won't take you very far.

Now, more than ever I find that we are not only equal to ourselves but also what others do with and for us. This crisis I seem to be getting through has really taught me this.

My biggest ambition in life, aside from getting a little bit famous maybe, is to have enough resources on board to help people the way I just now got helped. I want to pay my favor forward. For now, that involves retrenching and recrafting my on promotional campaign to establish a real toe-hold as a designer.

I'm working this out right now. It can be said, perhaps, that one of my problems in finding success is my model is too close to that of the underpants gnomes in South Park, which, in my case, looks like:

1. Learn Graphic Design


2. ? ? ?


3. PROFIT!

In as much as I am occasionally ground down by the vicissitudes of daily life, I tend to get distracted, so I can't really say I do anything but think what am I going to do about this? and try things others have tried.

But what I'd really like to do? Give other people better bootstraps, like a few people just gave me. That would be success, yes.

 Tags: ZehnKatzen, Samuel John Klein, graphic design, The ZehnKatzen Times, Samuel John Klein, The ZehnKatzen Times

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