Profile
I am a freelance designer with over 14 years experience within the graphic design industry.
Awesomely Simple
I call myself a graphic designer first and foremost, if only to impress the girls, yet I have skills and passions in many areas of computing, internet, programming, design, usability and troubleshooting. Okay, I lied a little. I'm not passionate about troubleshooting but I seem to have a mind that's tuned to that sort of thing. The bit about impressing girls is true though. It happened once.
I have been called a pragmatist and while that might sound boring, I like to make all my designs as simple, practical and logical as possible and if I manage to make them look great too then I feel I've succeeded. I'm really not a 'wow' kinda guy, but I do create stuff that works nicely and looks good. To quote Charles Mingus, "Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity".
When I'm not working
I'll be honest here, I love computers and the internet. I spend a good portion of my day in front of the screen, designing, researching and sometimes just mucking about. Ever since I was 11 and I was given an Atari 2600 gaming machine I've been glued to the screen. Dick Smith VZ-200 > Commodore 64 > various Amiga's > various PCs (Windows) > MacBook Pro. Oh mighty MacBook Pro, how I fancy thee.
But, aside from the geek stuff I do allow myself to get out and about too. I like walking around, exploring and taking photos. I'm definitely just an enthusiast photographer as you can see from my photos on Flickr. Music, hanging out with my mates, drinking and eating, watching movies, learning Chinese and traveling pretty much sums up the remainder of my time.
Curriculum Vitae
In My Bookmarks
OMG Posters! - too many great art prints and not enough wall-space. Curses! Also check out Tiny Showcase.
Super cute illustrations and stuff over at Nut and Bee - nice one Annette!
NetVibes - I have my To-Do lists, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter feeds, Chinese lessons, delicious links, calendar and weather all tightly bundled as my start page and it all works so nicely!
Popurls is an irresistible daily fix.
BoingBoing is my favourite all-round blog with all that's weird, wonderful and messed up in the world.
Neil Swabb is one sick man, which makes his comics some of the best you'll ever find. Be sure to read Mr.Wiggles from #1.
It's not always easy being a freelancer but I've garnered plenty of useful tips from Freelance Switch. I'm particularly fond of this post on great business card designs :P
Quick Links
Why Most Designers Will Be Freelancers Within 20 Years - An interesting and valid thought. I totally agree that it makes sense for many companies whose design requirements may not demand full-time staff to simply outsource their work to freelancers such as me. Does that sound like the position your company is in? Don’t wait 20 years, hire me today.
The Interpreter - If you have a mild interest in languages and linguistics then I'm sure you'll find this article on the language of the Brazilian Pirahã tribe fascinating.
18 Mistakes That Kill Startups - Thinking about starting up your own web company? Read this first and then decide if it's worth it.
10 Tips for Moving From Programmer to Entrepreneur - These are great tips and I recommend any programmers to give it a read. Believe me, you need 'em!
So you want to be an Interaction Designer? - Dan Saffer from Adaptive Path has an interesting article on what he sees are the three keys traits on what it takes to be an Interaction Designer these days: temperament, training, and experience.