Inside the mind of sheer-design.

Interviews with Dan Rubin & Keir Whitaker

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:09:48 +0000

I was lucky enough not only to be invited to FOWD through my recent placement at Carsonified (both of which were awesome, of course), but also to be able to hunt down both Keir and Dan for some interview questions.

On Industry:

Firstly, what’s the best way to market/get known as a newcomer to the industry?

Keir:

Go to local networking events outside of the web world, i.e. local business groups and become known as the local “go to” web guy/expert
Go to web meetups and networking events, the more you go to the more people will know you
Write regularly on your own site and other sites
Discover your niche, be it CSS3, working with clients, HTML5, WordPress and shout about it. It’s amazing how quickly people will associate that niche with you (Think Andy Clarke, Jeremy Keith etc)
Comment on other people’s blogs and in forums
Tweet interesting links
Put on your own free local web meetup
Write to people you admire and ask to meet them, it’s amazing how often it works and what you can learn

Dan: Participation in the community — people can tell the difference between selfish and selfless behavior, so contributing information and examples of high quality and value without expecting anything in return is the best way to get your name recognized for good things. The same goes for Twitter, etc.

If anything at all, what’s the one thing you would go back and change in your career?

Keir: I think I would have got involved in the “community” earlier. I started working in the web industry in 2000 when it was still pretty new and the bubble had yet to happen. The other thing would to have got to know more people in the field, other developers and designers etc. I only started doing this later on and although it didn’t always result in paid work I learnt a lot.

Dan: I would try to get a mentor on the business side of things — in fact, I’d almost appreciate a business mentor now, even after 15 years of working for myself.

What’s the best piece of information you know now, and wish you’d known when you started?

Keir: Networking, as horrible as it can be really does work. That said I think it’s about getting to know people in your industry in a genuine way. I often find people talking to me as they think they will get work or a speaking gig out of it. Some do but most don’t. That said if we hit it off and I know about their particular skill I often do get back in touch.

Dan: Your time is always worth more than you charge for it.

In your opinion, what’s the best way of charging for project time?

Keir: Don’t really feel I am the best person to answer this one. That said when I freelanced as a developer I definitely don’t think I got it right. I always used to charge by the job and build in a bit of slack for the negotiating period. Have faith in your rate and be prepared to justify the cost. Web design and development takes time and doing a good job should command a market rate.

Dan: I prefer larger chunks these days, over hourly fees. I tend to start with day-rates, and occasionally give fixed bids based on my own estimates, but I don’t work on an hourly basis anymore. There are certainly benefits to all methods, as long as you charge enough that you feel comfortable with the compensation for your time and knowledge.

How (assuming you’re more organised than me!) do you manage your time?

Keir: I don’t think I am the most or least organised person out there but I kind of have a system. I use a mixture of Google Calendar, reminders on my iphone (via Google Calendar) and a simple to-do list (Remember the milk). I find some tools (like Basecamp) too much of an overhead for my own projects but very useful when working in large groups.

Dan: Ha! Unfortunately, I’m one of the least organized people I know — but I’m becoming more comfortable with that over the last few years. I think we put ourselves through too much stress worrying about how different our particular process is from others, especially when it comes to to-do lists, productivity, organizational skills, etc., and we’re better off accepting our individual way of working, and using it to our advantage.

It’s not easy, but it’s better than berating yourself about not conforming to some theoretical “norm”

All that said, to try and answer your question: I use various to-do lists (I can never stick with just one), both virtual and analog (a Moleskine and a few other notebooks hold lists at any given time, and I use Things, Taskpaper, and sometimes even just Textmate to keep lists on my computer and iPhone/iPad). I might be better off using a single list, but I lack the skill to check them regularly, and tend to write things down on whatever happens to be around at the time (plus I like trying new apps, ugh).

I also use iCal and reminders *all* the time — it’s probably the most successful way I’ve found so far, though it doesn’t work for everything. Some reminders have been reset every few days for months now…

On ‘Current Trends’:

What’s your take on the ongoing IE6 kerfuffle? Should we just drop support for it already?

Keir: It’s my belief that designers should still cater for IE6 as it’s still widely in use. How they choose to do that is where I think the debate lies. Personally I don’t think sites should look the same in every version of every browser. A solution like Andy Clarke’s “Universal IE6 Stylesheet” is a great compromise. Of course if your target audience still uses IE6 (i.e. public sector) then you should definitely care. I think it’s a mixture of being pragmatic and assessing each case on it’s own merit.

Dan: I’ve spoken out about it before, but as with many of my opinions, they are all subject to change I think it’s not worth complaining about it anymore, as we’ve got so many solutions and work-arounds we can use to support it in *some* way, and if we have to support it for particular clients on a 100% level, then we should just charge them more for the extra work it will take to get it there, and continue educating clients and consumers about the downsides.

To be fair, however, the improvements in experience on the web tend to come from technologies that aren’t really negated by IE6 (Flash and Javascript, especially), so until amazing experiences start to become HTML5/CSS3-centric, I don’t think our industry has enough examples to actually argue that IE6 users get a reduced experience (moves like Google dropping support are a big step, but on the same token, should a web-based calendar or email client really *require* an advanced web browser? I think that says more about trying to mimic a desktop experience on the web, which isn’t really what the web is about…)

Along the note of standards, what do you make of the recent upheavals towards Adobe Flash?

Keir: I get it but I think I am more of a pragmatist. As web designers and developers I feel we often live in an idealistic bubble. Flash has massive adoption so why avoid developing for it. That said it’s usage on the web has changed, from full sites to specific uses like video streaming and playback where it has proved it’s worth. Whilst I believe that HTML5 will win out in time I am not sure that using Flash is a bad thing – a huge % of people use it. I am also interested to see how adoption of the iPad without Flash affects sales beyond the devotees. Essentially I think it’s all down to context, if Flash is the best current tool for the job then use it.

Dan: I think it’s amusing, but useful to some extent — the general public’s awareness of web technologies and what’s going on behind the scenes has increased as a result, and an educated public is usually a better one to design and create for.

The downside is that it really shouldn’t matter: the answer should always be “use the best technology available to solve each problem” — which means arguments such as “HTML5 vs. Flash” aren’t even worth having. There should be no such thing as “vs” on the web.

What direction do you personally see the design side of the web heading in the not too distant future?

Keir: I don’t see it changing too much. If you consider how far web design has changed in the last ten years it’s hard to see visually where it might go. I think that the new platforms such as iPad and tablets will change how people develop and design but in terms of visual design I don’t think things will change too much. We have adopted visual standards (that given the opportunity we might do differently) such as button styles, where to place certain objects, UX flows etc. There’s always a danger in doing things differently as it can confuse people.

Dan: Let’s define “design” first: I consider design to be the entire process, including business logic, marketing considerations, visual design (aesthetics), interface/interaction design and usability, information architecture, development (front-end and back-end), copywriting — we’re in the business of creating virtual products, and as such we should all consider ourselves part of the product design team.

In that vein, I’d like to see the web focusing more on functionality and creating positive experiences for users, without getting distracted by misunderstanding things like user experience for “fun” (an experience can be quite enjoyable without it even bordering on “fun”).

Visually, it shouldn’t matter which direction or style is predominant in a given period of time — just look at the history of fashion, architecture, product design, graphic design, and advertising — as long as the focus continues to be on making better products that allow users to access information or complete tasks easier, faster, and with fewer roadblocks or distractions, we’re heading in the right direction.

On a personal level:

I’m a freelance, front-end designer, being something that I’m a little but not too interested in, how far should I be looking into the development element of the web?

Keir: I think having a little knowledge can go a long way. Knowing your way around say WordPress or some of the simple PHP tools can only enhance your worth to clients.

Dan: Be interested in everything, but don’t worry about spending more of your time on whatever you are *most* excited by. I try to play with everything, and be aware of what’s happening elsewhere in this industry and others, but my focus remains on the things I love doing, even if they aren’t related to the web. If you’re interested in development, dig in, but if not, try instead to understand the differences between languages, understand what some are better at than others, which servers can run which languages, etc., so you can participate in conversations about same.

I consider the web to be just a part of what I do, and not necessarily something I’ll always be involved with to the same degree — in the future, I may move more to software design for devices (iPad/iPhone/etc.), typeface design, product design (for physical products), wayfinding, packaging design, furniture design — as long as it’s design-related, and creative, I’m interested in it and could see myself focusing entirely on it in the future, and I’m always learning from those interests.

Other than HTML5 & CSS3, what would you say are the essentials to know for the industry?

Keir: Get to know the basics of jQuery and how it can enhance the interfaces you design. Also knowing how to set up and maintain your server (although not to the point of becoming a system admin) is always useful.

Dan: That would be a long list if I made it as comprehensive as I’d like Rather than list everything I can think of, here’s a short list:

Understand how servers and browsers work and communicate with each other, including protocols, DNS, etc.
Learn a little about the command line, especially on OS X — most servers on the internet are unix-based, and being comfortable with digging around in that environment is important.
Play with Javascript — jQuery and other libraries make it easy to do, and playing is the best way to understand when a technology is appropriate.
Learn what you can about visual design, interaction design, information architecture, usability, copywriting and language, psychology — the things related to being a front-end designer, but that many designers ignore or think someone else will do for them. Even developers should learn about such things, as they are all integral parts of what we do.

Venturing Into The Funky World of Threadless

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:19:35 +0000

Submitting my first tee design to Threadless’ competition t-shirts, please, please vote me up, if I win, they’ll pay me $2,500 =)

(By the way, if you’re not in any way design-y, and are wondering what it means, it’s a play on ‘CMYK’, the abbreviation for the colours used in printing [Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Key Black] – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK)

The Road to Becoming a Morning Person Again

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:22:10 +0000

I seem to be getting quite into networking now, not that I’m not finding it daunting, believe me, I am. But I’m managing to kick myself out of bed early in the morning (very, early in the morning yesterday) to get myself out there.

Yesterday was my first BforB event at Thornbury Castle, which at 7am, coming from Bath, required a certain willpower to get out of bed – long gone are the days I used to get up at a ludicrous hour for my job in media distribution (I was a paperboy). In spite of this, I got there a little early, had a discussion with the organisers I was invited by, and settled for a tasty Full English (now that’s my idea of an event) once the rest of the group arrived. It was quite a busy morning with lots of non-member guests as well as myself, all of us were invited to spend a minute introducing ourselves – which I seem to have got better at with every event I’ve been to – and put a few of our business cards into an organiser which was handed round as the introductions were taking place. I was pleasantly surprised to find once it was passed back round to me that most of my cards were no longer there, so hello if you happen to have taken one, and stumbled upon my blog

There was a short presentation on growing one’s business, which I’m not really thinking too much about at the moment, but it was good to know the options for expansion in the future, should everything miraculously explode into dizzy heights.

During my email exchange with Rodger Scott (owner/organiser for BforB Bristol) I found they are apparently looking to set up a Bath group, which I expressed my interest in – I need to get along to the GWE Business West Bath Business Show, where they’ll have a stand to find out more.

Must dash, I have a meeting with Keir from Carsonified in a very short while about arranging a work placement. Funnily enough it’s at Starbucks, which should further enhance my being a morning person again.

Group Interview: Expert Advice For Students and Young Web Designers

Dan Sheerman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:45:05 +0000

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/02/17/group-interview-advice-for-students-and-new-designers/

Fantastic interview with:

Henry Jones (Web Design Ledger)
Wolfgang Bartelme (Bartelme.at)
Chris Coyier (CSS-Tricks)
Chris Spooner (SpoonGraphics, Line25)
Soh Tanaka
Jon Philips (Spyre Studios)
Paul Boag (Boagworld, Headscape)
David Leggett (Tutorial9, UX Booth)
Jacob Gube (Six Revisions)
Elliot Jay Stocks
Brian Hoff (The Design Cubicle)
Darren Hoyt
Walter Apai (Webdesigner Depot)
Jacob Cass (Just Creative Design)
Zach Dunn (One Mighty Roar and Build Internet)
Paul Andrew (Speckyboy Design Magazine)

Giving some insight into industry, and as the title suggests, expert advice for design students and young web designers.

BRAVE ‘Let’s Talk Starting in Business’ Seminars

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:12:54 +0000

So yesterday and Monday I ventured out to Bristol, for two seminars hosted by Justin Ricks of BRAVE, supported by Barclays bank. Over the two days I gained some really useful information, and met a few new contacts in the networking opportunities (hello if you’re reading!). I now have a much much clearer picture of what I need to get sorted to get myself setup and off the ground as a registered sole trader, and as I’ve recently started invoicing, I need to get onto Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs pretty sharpish, else I have no doubt the taxman will come-a-knocking. Best keep everything above board right from the start really. Good news is, I have up to three months to register once I’ve begun properly trading.

I’ve been in contact with Lloyds, the local SME manager should be getting back to me after a training course she’s on over this week, and I should be able to get a business bank account setup through there – I’ve been told it’s very easy as I’m already with them and have a stellar account history… *adjusts and polishes halo*

Speaking of banks, I don’t intentionally publicly go about slating anyone (honestly, I don’t), but I know Lloyds also has a really good online banking service from experience, unlike other services I’ve signed up for of late who have two very long ID strings and eight pieces of memorable information to remember. *cough, pause for clarity* Nationwide *pause for clarity, cough*.

But back on topic.

Other useful tidbits included a pretty comprehensive summary of the types of business to trade as – as mentioned, I’ll be going with sole trader for the time being – along with insurance, expenses in the context of profit and loss, and a basic guide to self assessment tax and national insurance, and more information on working from home and claiming for that on the business. I also learned I don’t have to worry about VAT until a turnover of £68k p.a. is on the cards, and I think I’ve got a little while before that’s even a possibility, though one can dream.

Marketing was covered, the importance of networking made clear again, along with having a USP (unique selling point^*1) I almost had a heart attack when I heard FABA^**2 from my old O2 sales training mentioned, at least it’s nice to know I’m already on top of that one I suppose!

LinkedIn was mentioned by a few of the people I’ve met, which kicked my behind in gear to getting it set up – I now have a profile – http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sheerman

In other very brief news, I’m still trying to get a work placement sorted at Carsonified, Performance Solutions‘ (link to existing) shiny new website (link to proposed new) is having the very last finishing touches put on it, and the Horsham Leisure Link template is coming along nicely, content to be added in the coming month(s), I’m reliably informed.

That’s all for now,
Toodlepip.

^*1Mine’s being a young designer, with enough experience to know what’s what, but still being fresh enough for all my ideas to be original and not being churned over and over for every project – and the fact I try to be available pretty much 24/7 for content management. (There’s a simple, catchy way of wording things for you)

^**2 Feature; Advantage; Benefit; Ask – If you don’t know what it is, thank the lord you’ve never sat through a training seminar about it! (Though that’s not to say it isn’t a really effective way of selling)

Software for Smooth Operation

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:24:03 +0000

This week’s guest speaker was Imogen Woodford, who came to give us advice on software and general tips to help managing a business, which really got me thinking about things.

Planning and Organisation

Something I really really should concentrate a lot harder on is general time management. Imogen suggested an application I’d previously heard mentioned; Remember the Milk. Something worth looking into due to it’s notification and syncing features, I currently use Appigo Todo, but haven’t really got the syncing with iCal set up to my satisfaction. It sort of works, as I use it mainly on my custom iPhone lockscreen (to be featured in a future post), but it sure would be nice to have a little more ‘push’ assistance to really nag me to get things done. MobileMe gets all my calendars (Work, Freelance, Uni and Personal) synced nicely across my devices, and I’ve recently started really pushing myself to use it for every little thing, I need to rule over myself a bit more to dedicate time to doing certain things, else I just won’t get them done when the work (hopefully) starts to mount up more.

Finances

This is something I mainly have under control due to Billings being absolutely fantastic. Again, I need to get round to setting the database up on the iDisk, as at the moment it’s a bit of a pain to use it on the MacBook when I’m out and about, then export all the slips back to the iMac, it sure would be nice to have it centralised in the Cloud, then I’d be much more tempted to work on the move, for the simplicity of billing my time. I can’t recommend Billings enough, especially with its minimal pricetag, the stress it’s saved me from the times I was using Office for Mac, and seeing my Excel invoices disintegrate before my eyes due to corrupted files is worth the price, and then some. In terms of separating out personal finances, I really, really, really need to get a business bank account setup now, that’s right at the top of priorities.

Security

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from doing an A-Level in Computing (Networking & Programming), it’s gotta be: backup, backup your backup, and then back that up for good measure. Mine’s taken care of by all essential data for sites being stored primarily on a local iDisk image, synced to the cloud as soon as something’s changed, so it’s constant across the iMac and MacBook (and any other devices I choose to access it from), both Macs local storage are also backed up with Time Machine to the Time Capsule automagically. It might seem excessive, and thankfully I don’t have to use it to recover things that frequently, but it’s saved me a couple of times, and you just don’t know how much you’ll value all your data being easily restorable until your iMac decides it has had it with living. If you’re looking for a bit of free online backup, you can’t go wrong with DropBox, MobileMe just happens to give me 20GB included in a package I already have. All other security issues (hardware etc.) are taken care of by Mac OS being built on Unix, nuff said.

Research & Development

Something I’ve really bought into over the past year, I’ve well and truly ‘got my RSS on’, and started following anything that’s relatively interesting or relevant to design and tech. I enjoy doing it as much as it is essential to stay current, which is pretty handy really. NetNewsWire is really easy to use, syncs with Google Reader, and is my favourite kind of price: free. MobileRSS is thus far the nicest RSS reader for iPhone I’ve found, it’s clean looking, has a nice homescreen icon (I’m picky about the apps’ icons I’ll allow), and thanks to a recent update, a ’shake to view fullscreen’ feature that really comes in handy, and puts the previous and next icons in a more comfortable place. Worth the £1.79, though there is a free, ad supported version. (There’s also a Pro version for £2.99, but all that gives you is keyword searching, and you lose the nice orange RSS logo for a blue one. As I said, I’m picky.)

Networking

As my recent blogs will hopefully prove, I’m trying really hard to get myself out there, it’s still something I need a kick to do, though I have been poking my nose into organisations that can help, and got a telephone call from a representative from BNI this week about the possibility of joining one of their chapters. Shall update as I receive news. I also still need to setup my LinkedIn profile. Add that to the long list of Todos. And then there’s writing articles that’ll hopefully get me noticed, hence the loooong blog today with lots of links, and potentially useful information. Hopefully at least some of it was helpful to someone.

PCG Networking Event

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:35:19 +0000

Hooray! My first networking event. And jolly enjoyable and informative it was too.

First of all, let me say that for a considerable amount of time one of my pet hates has been standing around at parties making small talk with people I apparently have nothing in common with. I considered it a general waste of my life, breath and energy. Networking is something I dreaded the thought of. Among friends and even slightly outside my comfort zone, I have no problem expressing my opinion (I’m sure someone anyone who knows me will testify to that), but with someone I’m meeting for the first time, I’m somewhat surprisingly reserved and bashful.

Held at the Mercure Holland House Hotel in Bristol for both newcomers and existing PCG members, the event gave a great introduction to the way networking works, how it can help freelancers, and tips on how to go about it. Featuring presentations from Kevin Brown of Business Networking International and Colin Butcher of XDelta, the speakers were easy to listen and relate to, covered a wide range of topics.

One of Kevin’s most impacting comments let me open my mind to the fact that even while it may seem to me like I have nothing in common with those I’m making small talk with, it’s still worth paying attention to what they have to say, and taking a genuine interest, as leaving a good impression is essential in order to gain access to their contacts. On average, he said, most people will have a thousand contacts. Not necessarily contacts in the sense of friends, but contacts in the sense of knowing people, who in turn know people. Thus in a room of only 20 people, meeting all of them could potentially put you in touch with anything up to 20,000 people. The chance of one’s services being desired by any of the 20 people in the room is pretty low, but the chance of one’s services being desired by at least one of 20,000 at some point in the future? Well. An eye opener to say the very least.

Getting outside the comfort zone seems to be the thing I need to accomplish, talking with people in my field is great, as it’s always good to know people that know about ‘things’, but in order to to have the need to know about ‘things’, it’s good to know people that know people.

It’s good to, when asked, be specific about what you do, but don’t go into technical details, as people will become bored. Be specific enough to be useful, and don’t be stereotyped. I shall be changing my introduction of myself to being a “Designer who specialises in web and corporate identity“, any more detail than that can then be expanded on if necessary, but that detail is key, having found people just put designers in a box marked “people who draw things”.

Colin shared a fantastic guide to the type of clients to work with in an ideal world. They come in two tiers of three mindsets. The mindsets consist of those who need something done yesterday, could need something done, and those who are in the process of deciding that it’s probably a good idea to have something done. The two tiers are based on the first question asked by the client, normally falling into “How much is it going to cost me?”, or “How can we get this done?”. The first thing to stand well clear of (in the same way you would of a nuclear war) is those in the first of both. Someone who’s in too deep, needs something done yesterday for as cheaply as possible is already in the mindset where however fast you do something, however much of a good job you do, and however you charge, it simply isn’t going to be good enough. Run, run like hell. Even someone who could need something done and wants to immediately know costs isn’t great to work with. The ideal clients are those in the last two columns of the second row; they have their priorities right, things can be thought through, the client will take advice from someone in your field (you), and the job will be beneficial to both of you. It’ll feel like you’re working with them, rather then for them.

In terms of meeting people also at the event, we didn’t do too well, we spent a little while talking to a printer, who made it very clear he didn’t like my business cards, but did at least have some useful experience from freelancing for a year; doing any job for free just doesn’t make sense. Sure, it’s okay to discount, but think of where your next work is coming from. Instead of offering to do the first job for free in promise for a second, do the first job paid, then a discount on further work.

Some other useful quick hints when talking to people included:

Ask about people, they love talking about themselves, it’s listening that makes you valuable to them.
The law of reciprocity; putting other people in contact is one of the best ways to get referrals from them.
Always leave on a good note, no matter how uninterested you are; Kevin explained how networkers really like coffee, and have terribly small bladders, because they’re always popping to the bar, and find themselves needing to leave to go to the loo. (The irony of my actually needing the loo every five minutes wasn’t at all lost of me – heheh.)

Overall a really useful experience, and a great start to introducing me to the world of meeting people. Now I just have to keep persuading myself not to be such a hermit. It’ll all become a lot easier when I go full time freelance after the uni course and I’m struggling to pay the bills. Hopefully.

Mini(ish) catchup post.

Dan Sheerman — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:26:27 +0000

Just a quick post to keep up to date on current projects, there’ll be a more detailed blog sometime this week most likely. The site I was helping out Toni with, I had to sort of take over and finish off, as the client wanted it done, presented it last Friday, all is well, he’s asked me to review and give examples of what I can do with another of his sites, and is also sending over a brief for a video project I’ll be asking another colleague (Laurie) to come in on if all takes off.

Busy Christmas, but did have the time to meet Graham, another Management-Training-Consultant-area-person who’d like his website to be overhauled. The other project for Horsham Council is well underway, proofs have been sent over, adjustments made, and coding has started. More on all happenings later, I’m busy doodling away at the moment.

Blog into Christmas

Dan Sheerman — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:20:41 +0000

Just a quick blog to revive the brief mention I gave to one of my existing clients’ interest in bringing me on board for another project. I’ve just received some more in-depth details for this, and have been given the go-ahead to start templating and wireframing ASAP. This should be another great project to develop to be a part of the portfolio.

I also met with the food-based venture, for which I’ve been asked not to disclose any specific details of for the time being, but this is also all go, need to get back to them with three mood boards by the end of January.

Have sent a two quotes for the PHP-based system for myself and Toni’s projected time spent, based on a basic layout and more in-depth (dependent on accessibility to the existing system’s code), we’re waiting to hear back for a go-code.

No rest for the wicked.

Humbug.

Festive time.

Dan Sheerman — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:18:26 +0000

Catherine has informed us we’re not allowed to do any work whatsoever over the Christmas period. So that’s nice, but it won’t happen as I’m busy as ever. No speaker this week, there’ll be a review of all my colleagues’ blogs on here in the near to distant imminent future, I will of course be very nice so as not to have tomatoes thrown at me, and with a bit of luck will give me some inspiration of even more to ramble about. I’m near the middle-ish end bit of drafting an article on the progressive uses of typography from the dawn of the webpage, which will also be posted for anyone who’s interested in that kind of gumph. *tumbleweed ensues*

Business cards need printing ready for my new-year-networking-resolution, the usual projects will of course continue, along with all the uni assignments due in January, and in addition I’ve just been called in by one colleague to assist with styling a part PHP-based system, and another to do final tweaks and complete coding for a band called The Hovercraft Pirates. I also have a meeting this friday for a corporate branding job for the launch of a mysterious new food-based venture. Sometime in the new year I shall hopefully be spending some time with the visual marketing team at O₂, so that should be something to look forward to as well – apparently my area manager is always keen to help employees advance to different sectors within the business, so that’s some potential financial security options when branching out on my own come the end of this year.

That’s a non-breaking-space tag in the title, by the way. The first rule of design club, is you do not talk about design club. The second rule of design club, is no smoking (unless you hang your head out of the window).

Merry non-breaking Christmas.