Computerlove™

June 6th, 2008

Oh Mac, How We Love Thee...

Yes, another convinced Mac user living in new computer bliss. I'm not new to the mac OS or platform. Actually, my parents bought our first "home" computer and it was an Apple IIGS (Nice, hmm?). Well, that "PC" would go on to get stolen and replaced by the almighty Windows based Compaq. Computers were fast becoming the cool thing to have and no one could stop me and my 14.4 Mbps AOL account. I loved it and was truly getting a taste of the "Information Super Highway".

A good buddy of mine happened to use an Apple and I remember talking down to him because "Who uses Apples?". He wasn't a software savant in the least, but could work Syndicate The Game) like no other. Well, at this time I bought a "Multimedia Extreme" Dell loaded up on RAM & processing speed for my journey to college at The Art Institute of California, Los Angeles That would totally warp my brain for the next 3 years as I did all of my graphic design and web design projects on it. All the while living with the blue screen crashes, hidden site viruses and decent internet speed since I was one of the 1st to hook up Cable Modem through my cable company. (Thanks DMF for hooking me up w/ that nugget of info).

Well, 3 years down at school and as a graduation gift and entry into the graphics industry, I treated myself to the purchase of the almighty Apple Titanium Powerbook G4 I remember getting it and setting it on my desk and literally thinking, "When the hell am I going to use that?" Enter the mother of all hard drive crashes on my Dell and the need to have a computer working.

So, I popped open my $3200 investment into me and fell in love. No crashes, no blue screens, NO VIRUSES! It was awesome, a whole 40GB of HD memory and 1GHZ of PowerPC G4 greatness. I never looked back and have been a Mac fiend ever since.

Did I mention how sexy Mac's look? That never hurts either.

Anyhow, present day, working on my Powerbook for about 5 years now (2003-2008), 1 OS Upgrade and several headaches later due to large Photoshop files killing my now lowly BUS speed and RAM, it was time for a new Mac. I had been wanting one for a while and knew it was coming soon, but the cost was just killing me. Not to mention, good ol' Cisco needed his own computer in the office since he's been using his own laptop and tower to work the whole time he's been with SFIMG. So, I figured, what the hell... time to get him his own Mac too. Projects have been great to us this year and I had just received the end payment to a profitable project. It was time to hold on tight and spend some cash.

I opted to buy the computers out right. Apple Business leasing would have me paying $200 or so and I just didn't want to go down that route. Then, I checked out the prices on the educational Apple store since I now instruct at AICLA. I did some price comparisons and would you know I was saving about $1000 by being a teacher. So, I hooked us up and got the Apple MacBook Pro 15 for me and the Mac Pro Quad-Core with a sweet "23 Apple Cinema Display. Oh yes, we are hooked up ;) (And in case you're wondering - all of the Macs were secured and insured in the office in case the night time cleaning crew got an itch to pick up a new home computer.)

So, bliss is the only word to explain our new computing environments. I'm typing away on my lovely 15" MacBook Pro an Cisco is testing away on MOA while loving the 23" ACD in his face.

Oh Mac, How We Love Thee...

March 21st, 2008

BLOGGA PLEASE! (thanks Bill Maher)

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome baaaaaaaack. Long time no write, yet still in effect and thinking out loud. Hope you're doing well and staying as busy as we are. 2008 has been great for SFIMG thus far and we're hoping to keep the ball rolling. Tons of project work and we are starting to feel much more satisfied with the quality of development and design that is coming out of each project.

I'm currently in the midst of a mental struggle between being a "Web Producer" and continuing my love for design. I never get to design anymore because I'm always answering calls, going to meetings, running budgets, setting up project outlines and closing deals. I still love design and long for a paid sabbatical to just experiment and get up to speed with some of the great design that is going down.

Anyone else feel this way? (More so entrepreneurs than anyone else I'd imagine)

Don't get me wrong, I love running my business, it's just hard to let go of the creative area of my brain that still enjoys a juicy vector design or bitmap gradient.

Ok, back to my other thoughts, E-commerce has been focus on 2 of our last 3 site builds. We've gotten pretty handy w/ the X-cart development and good ol' Paco is knocking out some nice custom mods for us. Jacobo is in full flash effect and working towards launching our current Icelink project for April 3. We're looking good and ready to move right into MyOutdoorAdventure.com

Hmmm, on a final note, I finished my 11th week at school and the quarter is over. I had a few really ambitious students and a couple that I know I didn't get the most out of. It's frustrating because you want the best for each one and I feel my class is a pretty easy "A" as long as you do the work. I hope each of them finds their calling within IMD and those that didn't give me their 100% can turn the corner and learn that it'll be needed once they grab that diploma and start working. Good luck.

Well, happy Friday to you all and enjoy your weekend. I know I will. Peace.

May 29th, 2007

VH1 in Mexico...

Welcome back to all those who enjoyed a nice break for Memorial Day weekend. As a veteran of the military I'll be completely honest in saying that I did not reflect on my time as a droid for the government nor did I appreciate anymore that some of my buddies that I was stationed with are still stuck in a sandbox in Iraq. Rather, I prayed for their safety and all of those young men and women out there as well as their families and loved ones.

Now, what I did do was venture across the border to Rosarito, MX. My wife's family have condos in a nice lil gated community down there and if it were up to her, we'd be there every weekend. Of course technology dictates my happiness and I rather be home connected to the internet and enjoying my HDTV. But I said what the hell and headed down there for the 5th time this year. (It was good times and tons of great food which can't be beat)

I was flipping around the channels and reminded that I love watching the Mexican VH1. Has anyone seen it? Well if not, it's got the typical shows w/ Spanish subtitles and no real commercials. Kinda freaky because we're all so preconditioned to see a Mountain Dew commercial or PSP commercial. Down there though, you get a nice mix of vector graphics, 80's revitalized videos and VH1 only commercials. Like lil mini promos for 80's music mixed together w/ some simple animiation and of course the VH1 logo at the end. Now, being that VH1 and MTV are relatives, you can easily see the graphic design connections. I've always been a big fan of the design MTV puts over the airwaves. But this Mexican VH1 thing was different somehow. They must love the 80's music because they're all centered around that. 30-45 seconds of an old skool video and then some cuts to vector animations right into the logo. The colors are the cyan and magenta tones to bring to life words still in English but only found on this Mexican cable feed.

Well, it was entertaining as always and like with most things that even remotely get creative, i start getting ideas for improvements or how I'd design the commercial out. I love that because to me the design worked. It got me to think and mentally create on the spot with my bottle of DosEquis and bowl full of cachews. No one ever understands why I watch TV in Mexico when I should be pool side or out on the patio socializing with the family in a forward drunken state. To me that's all good and dandy, but I had more Mexican VH1 to socialize with. lol. Plus it didn't get sunny until Sunday down there.

May 15th, 2007

What's the "BIG" Idea...

Ah, to be trapped in a cage of creativity. I sometimes ask myself at what point do we lose it? When do we hit the end of the line, the edge of the cliff, the final turn of creative juice to pump out layouts? It's curious to think that our industry goes through fads and faves having seen so many peaks and valleys of what is cool and the length that it remains so.

Personally, I love where the web turns in regard to design. The limits almost beg for the creation and innovation of new design and it's what compels me to continue on in this industry. From breaking away from old school practices, finding out standards that actually work and implementing foundation practices that not only streamline but cut the fat off things we never really needed in the first place.

Well, to get to the core of my post title, I'd like to ask the question of what really is the "BIG" idea when it comes to design? What is it that forces the turn towards a new direction in style or practice? Why do we go from pixel fonts to large shiny buttons using Verdana or Trebuchet MS? Is there a time when paint splats just aren't practical? But finally, what is the BIG idea in regards to our future design? How can we put our hands around a passion that sometimes gets dictated by the limitations of a browser (errrr MSIE) or the user (errrrrrrr AOL users).

Just thinking out loud I suppose. In the literal sense of my question, what truly is THE BIG idea? You know that idea that millions will flock to. The one that makes you an overnight sensation and a name to be reckoned with. Does it matter? Do we really strive to achieve that? Well, to me, my BIG idea is the thousands of thoughts on business/love/war/life/death/etc that swirl in my head daily. The one that keeps me chugging as I sit in traffic on the 10 east or preoccupied to not notice I have someone sitting next to me on the metrolink ride home.

Any one have a "BIG" idea on this? Enjoy....

May 10th, 2007

Always re-building the wheel...

Just getting back from a pretty tasty lunch at the "Car Wash" taqueria. Cisco and I were talking about the oh so elusive Million Dollar idea. In doing this we always revert back to how we constantly are "re-building the wheel" (or in the normal use "re-inventing it"). Our sites are planned out and every client wants something new, something different something not in our toolbox of goodies that is exactly done, rather something different enough for us to have to tweak and customize. ARRRRRGH, "Customize"!

So we're working on a Production website model to sell to our clients. It'll utilize our pre-built modules of dynamic fun like blogs, journals, galleries, news, events, music players, etc. We've built so many of these things that having a general item for these types of functions is nice. Our goal is to have a tier of websites that acts like a pizza sale. The base package, like a cheese pizza, will be where everyone starts and from there you can add on the toppings, a blog here, a process form there, CP access, hosting, etc. The only wrench in the system is design. We're not ones for templates, but how else do we do this without killing ourselves w/ a new design for every single site. Doesn't that take away from the fact that it's a production website and not a custom 1-off?

As fellow designers, what do you think about this? I love original design. If you look at our portfolio, you don't see any 2 sites that look the same. Our clients love this and it's helped us stay in business for over 4 years now. But it will kill our plans for a production site package if we have to go through rounds of comps on lower budgets.

So, I suppose the million dollar idea is on hold for now. I just want the clients to get a quality product that they're happy to buy and I want us to feel satisfied that we provided the service and product they deserve without stressing us out 1 project at a time.

Ciao for this Thursday. See you again on Sat. I'm on my way to San Diego to be sold tomorrow and get my 4 field level dodgers tickets.

R.

May 9th, 2007

It's HOT in LA...

Plus there was a massive fire in the Hollywood Hills/Griffith Park area yesterday that only contributed more to our heat. I feel for all of those people who had to be evacuated and for anybody who experienced fire damage. I used to live a street down from Los Feliz back in 2002 and run the trails at Griffith Park. Lots of stuff that could burn, so I hope the damage isn't too extensive. Anyhow, good luck and hopefully no more fires.

On to web design talk...

So, I've always wondered how people had the time to sit down and write to/on/for a blog. Of course like most things on the web, the most popular blogs are updated daily or even more frequent throughout the course of a day. Who has time to do this? At least in my schedule, I'm going from project to project, checking emails, calling clients and trying to fit in design experimentation and the occassional ESPN.com break.

I am now planning on dedicating a few precious moments of my day to write on this blog and share my ideas on projects, web related content and general issues as a whole. I might even be able to get Jake & Cisco to contribute, but they're quite busy w/ work since I'm a slave driver of a manger!

Overall, I'm hoping that I can collect these thoughts and look back a year from now to ponder, analyze and chuckle at my old skool mind set and how I was getting things done waaaaaay back in May of 07. Only time will tell how this holds up.

Here's some stuff for 2008 Rick to remember what 2007 Rick was doing on 5/9/07
- CCC site redesign (they didn't like the new graphics Cisco did, but I have some ideas)
- ACC site redesign & redevelop (the new player rocks. The graphcis are cool, very CSS'y)
- BSC new site (I hope she likes the comps we sent out. I'm not 100% sold yet, but it's a good start)
- NVM account (WOW is all i can say for now. I hope it's not a beast ready to eat us.)
- MAR site design (will it ever end? Pick a design already...)
- S2P company and site (1 day we'll have time for it. 1 day soon i hope)
- PIC ecommerce (We need some visitor action big time. Just needs a budget for it)
- Production Sites (we're close.... oh so close.)

Personally...
- Mixed Martial Arts training rocks. I love kicking and punching away for a couple of hours. Talk about getting the aggression out. Thanks Joey.
- I really want the whole Rurals collection. They only sell it out of the UK though. I'll be on the hunt sometime soon. Nothing like smooth house to calm the nerves.
- SD on Friday. Can't wait.

That's it for now. Ciao!
R*

May 8th, 2007

CSS'ing it...

So the web world has become saturated with the words "Web 2.0" and "Standards" and we took it upon ourselves to follow suit and do as the herd does (for good reason of course). When we were in school (that would be Jacob and I), we got taught the old skool dirty HTML w/ a ton of tables and frames to make our designs come alive online. That was 2002. Come full circle here in 07 and we're pumping out a different kind of digital beast for the world to work with. The bad boy is pumped with dynamic programming (PHP/MySQL/Flash AS/XML, etc) and now improved with table-less design structure ala CSS.

Our move to CSS was for SEO reasons as well as a stronger graphic structure that met the standards of the web. Then we met a site named CSSremix.com. This site started to tickle our fancy and approach design beyond the boxed and compartmentalized gridding of the old CSS style. We likey mucho. CSS has become our new passion and we're just starting to get over the hump of initial styles and flavors. Here's a couple of quick examples of our last 2 sites: HotCreekAviation.com & AnthonyCinquini.com. They are still works in progress, but definitely all CSS styled out. (You can check it on FireFox w/ Web Developer, Macs = CMD+Shift+S PC's = Ctrl+Shift+S).

Anyways, just wanted to let the world know that we're coming and CSS'ing it all the way. Hoorah.

PEACE > R.