For those looking for a new source of royalty-free images and media files, Wikimedia Commons provides lots of material with very clear licensing (every file has specific terms provided from the author.)
You can see the collection at: http://commons.wikimedia.org
This post is targeted at DD04 only.
As you may or may not know Jessica Clark and I will be facilitating a workshop on Freelancing for DD04 on August 8.
We thought it would be good to get your questions about Freelancing or specific questions that you may have about options available to you, beforehand so we can address them in class.
Please post your questions or suggestions for topics you wish to see covered, as comments to this post.
Thanks
Gagan (and Jessica)
It is a re-occuring theme to lose focus and direction when working on a portfolio site; I’ve found a great example of a company who has repelled that force and has documented their approach quite well. Impact Visual Communications is a multi-media design company based out of Nanaimo BC; their approach is so simple, yet so succinct, that it leaves you wondering where the whole lot popped out of and why we haven’t heard much about them. They sandwich powerful visuals with clean design and slide a flawless interface in to hold it all together, everything is put right in front of you and can be found within seconds. So DD04 specifically, take a look at how they present themselves and try to find a synthesis like theirs in entering the design community, because this much clarity may be the thing to push your ideas right over the top.
For those who don’t know Frutiger, here’s an introduction… Everyone-Frutiger, Frutiger-Everyone. Frutiger is a san serif typeface that I simply cannot live without, it was originally drafted by Adrian Frutiger in 1968 and was formally released by Linotype in 1976. Without striking the attention of a type war, I’ve personally chosen this set above others as a reference point for a lot of designs, it’s simple, it’s interesting, and there are little cues that make it adapt to dramatically different situations. For example, it was originally invented for signage in airports in Paris, is currently used on all the traffic signs in Switzerland, and is the corporate font for Flickr, CBC, and the US National Parks Service. Give it a shot, regardless of your taste it’s bound to trigger some inspiration; whether it be application, or knowledge of the font you choose and where it came from, it all helps.
More common than not, great work comes out of the most organic processes. People who concentrate on developing a concept through detailed boards all the way to an on-time delivery often see greater results because they’ve considered and conquered all of the variables. Two specific examples of this notion are pieces by Jeff and Collin in DD05, completed last term through the T3 commercial production classes. Both have very different feels to them, but both succeed in gaining the audience interest with powerful, textured images.
In browsing through projects as they are finished I have had the pleasure of seeing tons of great work; part of my contribution to the DD blog will be to showcase exceptional work as I find it. The first example of such a piece is a 2D Graphics T2 Assignment from Eric Wada in DD06, where a simple sketch was brought to life in Illustrator.
Warning, this IS Hard core by North American standards:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jwt/scruffs_hardcore.html
Tom has been naughty and not started this thread that we talked about. So here I go, I will start it with some of my pet pains w.r.t interior design and space. Muji team (and others) please add to this thread with comments about your pain that we could try and solve. We want to have a nice long list to look at on Thursday when we meet. Also remember that we want to bring items, ideas, magazine clippings, sketches, photos–anything that will help us create a Muji store on Thursday (bring anything that you belive would ‘fit’ within a Muji store in terms of look and feel)
My Pains:
