STEPHEN • CREATES

robot-heart:

a smile (by amanda oaks)

Generally I try to keep things pretty “designery” around here, but this past week has been a nightmare in the personal life department. This lifted me up just a hair, as repayment it deserves a reblog.

tearriffic:

Pantone Chair

Love this.

I got a daily feature on Flavors.me for my new site flavors design!

Apparently I will NOT be doing work today according to the “boss”

jennilee:

to watch before bed

from halfdecent

Delightfully beautiful.

sirmitchell:

I thought it would be fun to draw one of my childhood heroes, Darkwing Duck! 

“I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am Darkwing Duck”

Fantastic, just fantastic! (If you don’t get this image, then you are dead on the inside)

Hello Tumblr!

If you enjoy me & my work then by all means please give me a recommendation on 

Tumblr & OneThing

Every time you give me a recommendation a designer gets his wings. ;D

Release Me by *parablev on deviantART (via Release Me by *parablev on deviantART)

Just a quick look at what I’ve been working on today. It’s one piece of a bigger project. I’ll post the rest when the project is finished.

I want my entire apartment to be furnished with these.

I decided to create a photo blog because of several reasons, the main being I love mixing analog with digital and I wanted somewhere to have fun creatively outside the world of design.

If you like polaroids, photography, digital analog, or just want to check it out then by all means please do so.

I’ll try to keep it fresh as both inspiration, time, and images present their respective selves.

My girlfriend has been trying to introduce me to the band The American Dollar. Today I finally listened to them, and she shared this video with me. I honestly don’t have words for it right now, but it made my day.

I will definitely be trying one of these out.

robot-heart:

Under The Bridge (by Carlo Guina)

Gorgeous. Surreal.

I spent a great deal of time on this one, and at the moment I’m not sure I can narrow it down to just one.

So, ask me again in ten years and we’ll see where I’m at then ;D

In the meantime, I’ll keep thinking about.

tearriffic:

internerd:

(via apeculiarsprezzatura)

Holy shit I want this watch

If my religious preferences included the worship of machinery, this would be my god and I would wear it on my person without interruption.

Oh beautiful, multicolored heaven!

life:

The Space Shuttle Atlantis appears almost infinitesimally small photographed in silhouette during a solar transit — in other words, when passing between the sun and the Earth — on May 12, 2009. Beyond the sheer scale of what we’re seeing (and it’s worth remembering that somewhere around 1,000,000 Earths would fit inside our sun), this picture is just eerily beautiful.

Looking Into the Sun

This is just a beautiful image, hands down.

GPOYW

tearriffic:

theblastedspace:

I absolutely love this guy’s work.

Wonderful.

Snagged this the other day on the iPhone, love the Polaroid-esque feel it has. I’m really impressed at the iPhone 4’s photographic potential.

Designer: Craig Redman

I really love the bold look of his work.

Well that was most certainly fast ;D

The portfolio site is now sporting a new look that I think better reflects my personality and style. I went farther than merely a redesign, the entire thing got better, more personal branding as well as a new addy. I spent most of the day today stomping out IE bugs.

The blog got a temp update as well. I grabbed a theme that “matched” the new direction a bit more accurately until I have a moment to code out a new tumblr theme.

I’d love to hear everyone’s opinion :D.

[For a lengthier explanation of the changes, you can view this blog post.]

wasabisunshine:

Invading your sofa

Beautiful, Geeky, Awesome!

Really bad Photoshop job.

austinkleon:

xkcd: University Website

Don’t miss the alt text.

via mlarson > funnelthru

Oh too familiar…

9-bits:

Loving this concept for a digital Holga.

I love this!

GPOYW

Prologue

Dear kind reader, below holds the account of an enumerable amount of things that need saying. I ask that you either kindly read it all or none at all, or the entire point will be missed.

Chapter 1 — Failure

In December of last year (2009) I decided that my quick run through with my portfolio design I had done previously before needed to be addressed in a more time-intensive and thoughtful manner. It began like any other design project — UTTER NOTHINGNESS.

It stayed that way for a while. I let it sit and simmer. I didn’t have a definitive due date, and I was working on other paying projects at the same time. I decided since it was MY site I’d be a little more “free” with how I handled it. I’d let inspiration come to me as it willed and I’d go from there as the universe threw stuff at me. In other words, I already had enough on my plate already and I hoped that some brilliant idea would land in my lap regarding a realignment of my portfolio site, because I didn’t have adequate time to devote to it.

That was the first of many mistakes.

Before continuing I should probably go over the first portfolio design, the one I was then plotting a coo against. 

It was something done as quickly, and in my mind as simply as possible. I was completely loaded down with stuff, but needed the site up and running and didn’t have time to adequately devote to a full-on approach. It failed in a lot of ways, and because of that I knew it needed to be readdressed later. In fact, the entire point of the site was to be a temporary “solution” until I could come back to it later.

Never, if it can be helped in any way at all, do something with the sole intention of redoing it again. Do it once, do it correctly, or pay for it later.

This was a fact I was well aware of, but I decided to bite the bullet this time. 

So now it is December, I’m unhappy with the site (of course) and I’m telling my brain, “hey brain put this project on the back-burner and let me know what you or the universe comes up with”.

That was a mistake and also something I knew better about.

Over the next few weeks I spent a great deal of time bouncing between paying projects and trying to form a new direction for my portfolio site.

At some point in January I found a direction and began exploring it. 

In May I finished and launched the site.

What could I say, I was excited. I had revamped the site and headed in a better direction.

There was one problem though. I had failed.

Chapter 2 — Reality Check

It was an attractive site, and for the most part it served its purpose. But it fell short in actually being both a usable and functional design. 

It didn’t start bothering me until about a month after launch, when I was adding blog posts. The design cut the titles too short to be readable or interesting on the frontpage. I failed to use any sort of grid system on the site. Usability had tons of holes, and I tricked myself into believing the site was scalable. The navigation had room for the four present links and no more. What if I needed to expand the site, add another blog, a merchandise section? I had backed myself into a very well decorated corner.

In the end that is all the site was, lovely decoration. 

This was the hard part, actually admitting how terribly I had failed.

So I began to make a list.

• The frontpage had tons of usability problems, and didn’t help lead people deeper into the site as well as I liked.
• Blog titles were cut off.
• There was no grid system, so some of the items lined up just a wee bit “off”.
• The color scheme and design took precedence over the content. The design didn’t present the content and let it take dominance.
• The work page had several alignment issues.
• The about page had too little information.
• The contact page also lacked a great deal of helpful information.
• The navigation did not allow for future growth.
• The entire site was not flexible.
• The design wasn’t really a design as much as it was decoration.
• etc.

I think the biggest issue I created for myself was this.

Version 1.0 had been built in Drupal, largely due to the fact that I used the experience to experiment further with Drupal. Keeping in line with that I kept Version 2.0 in Drupal, but I moved the blog to Tumblr. Having done that, there was no logical reason to need a CMS to maintain my little site. The maintenance, security updates, and time it took to hook the design into Drupal took longer than any amount of time it might have saved me in the long run. This was a lesson I learned well over the next few months after launch. (Don’t get me wrong, I love Drupal and CMSs in general, but they have a purpose, and my site didn’t require a CMS.)

Chapter 3 — Regroup

I guess third time’s a charm. I decided it was necessary to do the site again, and this time do it right. I don’t quite know why it was so hard to design for myself. I know better, I do better for other projects, but for some reason I just missed all the marks with my own site.

I went back to ground zero and started from scratch with the whole thing, even the branding.

This time around I treated it like a client. I approached it as an actual design, not attractive decoration. I tried to correct all my previous mistakes and make a site that was forward thinking.

I even decided to move the whole thing in a more personal direction. Before things were branded as my pseudonym poxmedia, but it created a certain amount of distance between who I am and what that name says. If I was going to build things back from the ground up I was going to address every flaw, not just the one’s presently starting at me in the current site design. Poxmedia was something I went with a long time ago, when I knew less, and handled my online presence completely differently.

This time I was going to start the thing over, piece by piece, until it was a machine I could continually tweak to my liking, not something that is created and then sits the way it is until it has to be replaced.

Chapter 4 — From the Ashes

The point I’m trying to illustrate is that I failed, not once, but twice. I don’t look at it as weakness, and I think it really was necessary to get to where I’m at right now.

After all that I’ve come to a place I can confidently say I am happy with, and it wasn’t just the design that got a makeover. I’ve rebranded the entire thing as stephencreates. I feel it offers a more personal feel, and the new design offers a style that is more in-tune with my current design philosophies as well as functioning effectively as a design.

Along that line of being personal, I also intend to treat this blog more differently. I’ll be blogging here a lot more and not just about cool design things I’ve found. I want a nice balance between work and play here. So expect to see more of me, and not just more of my blog, but more of me as a person and a designer. I have a personality and it’s high time this blog adopts one as well.

The process isn’t finished, and I don’t intend for it to be. This blog, for example, still needs a good retheming when I get the time to match it to the new more exciting direction I’m heading in, and there are all sorts of other fun surprises I’m cooking up that I’ll be blogging about in the weeks to come. It will be a journey, and I hope you will all come along. I’m not sure where exactly I’ll end up, but I have a feeling it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

Epilogue

I’m excited! You should be too. Now get out there and start failing!

tearriffic:

Darcy and I were looking at tiny homes by Jay Shafer. This one costs 23,000 to build yourself. Darcy said he’d totally do it and we’d travel all around the U.S. together. Everywhere would be our home. Lol of course he also had to find one that was tall enough for a 6ft something guy. But these houses are sooo cute lol. But he said we’d have to paint it funky colors and draw all over it haha.

Me and my g/f are now hooked! These things are amazing, beautiful, and I love the fact that you can never really be “tied down” to any one place.

No idea with passion behind it is completely ridiculous. At times half ridiculous, but never completely.

I’m good as can be expected.

Work is moving along. I’ve got some updates I plan on posting sometime soon ;D.

At the moment I’m working on a printed poster series, some new surprises and having a blast with all of it.

I just finished up reading “The Laws of Simplicity” by John Maeda again, I’d say it’s brought a great deal of inspiration both recently and in the past. You should definitely give it a look-see.

tearriffic:

Arrange the hues in order. A lower score is a better score. 0 is a perfect score. I did this pretty quickly. I got a 37, which is pretty decent. It’s on the higher end of the scale for my age group and gender. I had the hardest time seeing greens and blues. Interesting?

Something fun to try out. I got a 33. My problem was in certain shades of blue and purple, but I’ve always had problems with certain hues of those groups so not surprising.

There ARE universal truths.

Childhood curiosity most likely.

Yes and no.

Let me explain.

As a child I would take my dad’s business cards, grab a bottle of whiteout and redo the logos and the layout by hand. At the time I thought it was just fun, I didn’t really know what I was doing, I just did it.

Skip ahead through several years, after going through several dreams, plans, and various art forms (drawing, painting, etc.), I rediscovered what I really had a passion for was design, but through web design.

I had gotten involved in game development and no one within any of the circles I worked with knew web design, so someone had to do it. I think web design really reignited my realization that design was my passion.

In the end I made a circle and ended up back in design, but all the paths along the way involved some form of art or another, which I think ultimately helped me out in the end.

A sample, from a new print series I’m working on ;D. Please share!

I’ll put a few more up here as things progress further.

curvedwhite:

“Stick With Me Baby” designed by Herraiz Soto & Co

…a family of stickers to personalize the Apple logo on the MacBook

A hybrid of cute and kick ass.

Cartooning a bit. Personally I favor the professor.

Sometimes the most obvious things seem to elude the most capable people.

In that case, maybe sometimes you should think like a less capable person. 

After all, the less capable are the people that will be using, interacting with, and living with your design.

tearriffic:

mallorylucille:

wolffangs:

astronautz:

good movie poster is good.

enjoy this. a lot.

This is just beautiful!

Another illustration in my Oil Spill series. At this point I’m just goofing off.

Brion Gysin (via austinkleon)

I disagree. As long as you have enough hammers, and enjoy all the nails you are hammering, I see no reason to not pursue multiple “nails” at once. Focus is one thing, but it runs the risk of isolation, regret, and failure through narrow success.

viafrank:

There’s a good story a friend of mine has a hard time telling. A few years ago she was asked to work on the website of a large, public institution, and they approached her to see if she could come up with something that would last the organization 2 to 3 years. The budget was $7,000 dollars. She scoffed at the budget, but saw the opportunity of the project, and managed to negotiate a higher price of $10,000. Fair enough. The work went as planned, the site launched on time to the delight of the client, and everyone was happy. The new site was revealed in correspondence with a fancy, black-tie event, which my friend was dutifully invited to attend as a thanks for her work.

Sitting in the middle of the banquet hall was a giant ice sculpture. Marveling, she walked up to get a closer look. “Amazing, isn’t it?” asked the man next to her. “It’s hard to believe they could spend $15,000 on an ice sculpture just for this little party for us. I wonder what they’ll do with it once it’s almost melted at the end of the night.”

Read More

Too true. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying you’re not alone.

(via simplypi)

I love these.

psql:

I hate negativity but:

Hey you piece of poop. Come out and surrender all of your crap. Ripping off my darn good pal Johnny is effing terrible. 

I hope you get clawed by some wild alley cats in the eye-sockets.

Luckily this turd sandwich hasn’t ripped off any work I’ve made for Johnny yet. - Otherwise he’d have a boomerang to the throat before he could say BENNY FRYING PAN.

Read about this con-artist who’s ripping of Johnny and spread the word.

Because I hate this as much as any creative person.

Working away from the office today with only the essentials.

1. GTD Moleskine
2. Black Grid Moleskine
3. “The Laws of Simplicity” — John Maeda
4. Brown Moleskine Sketchbook
5. 2B Sketch Pencil
6. Uni-ball Black Ink Pen
7. Collapsible Ruler
8. Camelbak Water Container (bpa free :D)

Apple iPad Finger Painting from David Kassan

Truly inspiring.

brocatus:

Improved handling of kerning pairs and ligatures in modern browsers using the declaration

text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;

The declaration is currently supported by: Safari, The Webkit Nightlies & Chrome. Firefox already uses optimizeLegibility by default.

See/ read more

For web designers and typophiles alike this is great, unless you’re still living in IE land.

austinkleon:

John Martz posted this as part of his post on why he doesn’t have Disqus comments enabled on his Tumblr.

The wonderful thing about the web is that anyone can contribute to it. If you have something to say, there are plenty of places to say it. But your right to post to someone else’s site rests with that someone else.

This is so painfully obvious, anyone who doesn’t get it must simply have an axe to grind. It’s like assuming you have the right to go inside any house you can see from the street, and pee on the carpet.

This is exactly my philosophy when it comes to trollish comments on my blog: if you shit in my living room, get the hell out of my house, and take your turd with you.

Lately I’ve been wondering whether comments are valuable at all, that is, when I’m not actively seeking feedback for my work/thoughts. I like how John puts it:

Enabling comments is ostensibly the same thing as inviting comments. Without comments, a blog is more of a collection of thoughts and images, and no longer a venue in which the author is asking, “what do you think of this?”

That empty box at the bottom of your post is an invitation.

I wonder, too, if that box isn’t there, if people are more inclined to take their thoughts about the work elsewhere: to twitter, facebook, etc.

(I could see replacing the comment box with “Talk about this on Twitter” or Facebook “like” buttons.)

This seems to me to be way more desirable than getting a blog comment on my own site: the reader is bringing the work to their own audience, saying what they want to in their own space, and maybe, just maybe, driving some of those audience eyeballs towards the work.

I’ve thought about this for a while and I’m beginning to lean more towards the “let people talk about it elsewhere”. It really is the equivalent of people talking about the coffee they got at Starbuck’s over at their friends house, rather than pasting “This coffee is horrible” on the wall right behind the register.

Comments on your post end the success of the social sharing of your blog post. In many cases commenters are writing exclusively about the post, but to only those that have seen the post. Trollers and “first” posters aside, it is the equivalent of passing around a book and everyone writing their thoughts inside the back cover. The only people that will ever see any of the meaningful comments are those that read that particular book. If you push people to discuss the book elsewhere, twitter, facebook, digg, those environments are talking about an enumerable amount of things and allow people to stumble into conversations and to socially discover your post whether they are a regular follower of your blog or not. Allowing the discussion to be off-site lets people voice their feedback/opinion/thoughts AND at the same time share your post with all their social circles.

It is a simple as looking at how “commenting” in every day life works. Most people don’t fill out the comment cards at restaurants, they reserve their comments for their friends, family, etc and in many cases their sole purpose being to share that item they are commenting about in the first place. If that is the social behavior people are following in the analog world, why not adapt it to the digital environment? Isn’t putting comments on your blog just restricting you and your readers?