Turns out, I’ve been a pretty busy dude. Fact is, my blog has never had a direction or readers* so I got lazy (ponders “direction=readers”…). I’d recently decided I would show my portfolio on the front page as the date on my latest blog post makes this site look pretty abandoned… but I have yet to make that happen either. Here are some of the things I’ve been doing when not working my full-time design job at Design the Planet.

Streamlining

So, for starters, I purchased a new iMac, desk and chair at the end of last year. The 8 year old G4 I used in college was no longer efficient so I finally made the upgrade and cleaned up my workspace.

Contributing

I’ve been posting to Minilistic, a blog showcasing minimal design, furniture, packaging, typography, and the likes. Ron Domingue asked if I’d contribute and I’m really glad I decided to. It’s a great resource and I now have a better understanding of what makes minimal design so great.

Screen Printing

I’m taking a screen printing class again with my friend Heather at The New Orleans Glassworks and Printmaking Studio. I’m really hoping to beef up my knowledge of screen printing and eventually buy the materials to screen print in my own studio (shed). I started off a little anxious and overly ambitious the first two classes, but the next class, I got lots of work done. Hoping to pull these Johnny Cash screen prints together for the final class.

Donating

A recent non-profit client I’ve taken on is almost wrapped up! Camp Tiger is a five-day camp organized and run by medical students for mentally and/or physically disabled children. Camp Tiger has benefited over 1,500 children from the Greater New Orleans area and attendance is free due to extensive fund raising efforts by first-year medical students. Camp Tiger celebrates its 25th anniversary of service to the New Orleans community and I was asked to create a logo, invitation card, interior banners for NOMA (New Orleans Museum of Art) and various branded print materials. It’s been a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to attending the event this weekend.

Learning

Here are a few things I’ve been reading:
Brewing Made Easy – Fisher & Fisher
The Designer’s Guide to Business and Careers – Peg Faimon
Print Liberation – The Screen Printing Primer – Nick Paparone & Jamie Dillon
The Associated Press Stylebook – bought for $1.99 for reference!
Wired Magazine

Reading

And more for fun (comics):
Transmetropolitan #1
100 Bullets #1
Fables #1
Criminal: The Sinners Part 2 #2
Green Lantern Rebirth #1
Irredeemable #5
The Walking Dead #2

Et cetera

Other than all of those things, I’ve been watching lots of TED talks for inspiration, playing some Quake Live for fun, and steady writing in my 3 Moleskine books I bring everywhere.

What about you?

Well, I feel better knowing about what I’ve been doing with my time, I just need to post more often (this could have easily been 5 posts). So what have you been doing with your time lately?? Drop me a comment on what’s been going on with you!

*Fun Fact: If you search Google for ‘how to make a DEVO hat‘, guess what comes up first… that’s right – my blog. Pretty bizarre, but true nonetheless. I was pretty pumped the day I decided to make my own DEVO hat after seeing there were no helpful links on the subject. Now, if I could only get some comments or pictures of people with their well-made energy domes!