An old teacher of mine always said that most media critiques itself in some way. There are movies about movie-making, songs about song-writing, plays about play-writing. These different mediums reference themselves, creating unique situations and experiences for those watching, listening, or reading the work. It is in this spirit that I write this post.

When I decided that I wanted to start a blog, I was not sure what I would blog about. Would it be “design-focused”? Or maybe I would simply post links to interesting finds from the web? Either way, I was not clear of the path I wanted to take.

Currently, most of my entries are design related (see A Responsive Refresh and New Posters are Here!) But I do have a few posts that are quite short—more of an update than a full entry (Possibly a “Finder” Tee) and are not design related. Simply, my blog is all over the place. But maybe that’s a good thing. In writing a blog post about blog posts, I hope to work out my ideas and maybe get to a point where I will know where I want my blog to go.

I think what I have to do, is not think. Instead of asking myself if an idea for a post it good enough, I should just write it. I don’t have to come up with what my blog will “be”. By writing about what comes to mind, the blog will form itself.

One of my favorite blogs belongs to Trent Walton. On his site, he has two different sections to his blog. The first is titled “articles”. This section is filled with longer posts, usually on a specific topic or current issue. The second section is titled “notes”. This section is filled with shorter findings and happening from around the web. What Mr. Walton has done, is allow himself to have both full-length entries and shorter ones. By separating the different kinds of posts into different sections, there is no need to worry if a certain post “fits” with the rest of the blog.

For me, I think I will continue to have one stream of entries, varying the type of entry. I’ll mix in longer “articles” with shorter “notes” and as I build up my entries, my blog will begin to define itself. The less I think about what I should write about, the easier it will be to write, and soon, I’ll have no problem coming up with ideas for new entries.

Just seven months ago I introduced the second version of my portfolio site. Last time, I was inspired to update after reading two books, and this time is no different. After reading Dan Cederholm’s Handcrafted CSS, and Ethan Marcotte’s article, Responsive Web Design I was once again inspired to update my site. But rather than call this update a “complete over-haul”, I have refreshed the site using principles highlighted in Cederholm’s book and Marcotte’s article.

Put simply, my site is now “responsive”. The term “responsive web design” was coined by Ethan Marcotte and is all about making your site able to handle any environment it’s put in and feel as if it belonged there all along. Now, no matter the size of the browser window, or the size of a device’s screen, my site will thrive.

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Although the deal has ended, AppSumo and Sticker Mule recently teamed up for a great offer. The deal offered 50 3-inch custom stickers for an amazing price of $19. As a designer, this deal caught my attention right away. I thought to myself, “how cool would it be if I could have stickers with my logo on them!” I could then share these stickers with my friends, put them on my laptop, notebooks and the like. I can’t wait to post pictures of the stickers once the come in.

I would urge all of you to check out both AppSumo and Sticker Mule for other greats offers and products!

I recently finished two posters for Poly Prep Country Day School. The first poster is for the musical Finian’s Rainbow. In designing this poster I knew that I had the opportunity to use lots of color––but I had to be careful with that color. Rainbows have a tendency to be cliche and so I wanted to find a way for the poster to say “rainbow” without showing the typical arch.

The second poster was designed for Poly Prep’s 2011 Auction. All of the money raised at the auction goes to a benefit the school in some way. Each year, the money goes towards a different project. In years past the auctions’ posters have been crafted around the project that the money is going towards (environmental stability, athletics, performing arts, etc.) When I was asked to design a logo and poster for this year’s auction, I decided to stray from the usual practice––to create a logo that could easily be used year after year and become an icon for the Poly Prep Auction.

You can check out the posters here.

After getting positive feedback regarding the “Finder” tee, I have decided to go and add the shirt to the store. So head on over and check it out! Go to store…