Testing Flickr-to-Wordpress photo posting on the web.

Flush.

Flush.

I needed a contrast against the transparencies to bring attention both the transparency and this new more opaque substance. I’m thinking of using a paper texture, but I’m afraid it’s too much contrast. Maybe something in between, like tracing paper or vellum? Exploration and experimentation ensue.

For the few of you who read this blog (you know, both of you), feel free to give comments and feedback on the idea.

Flush.

I have no scientific knowledge/background about this, but what if, assuming that it doesn’t blow up immediately, you throw large amount of trash into a volcano? What kind of toxic stuff would get spewed into the atmosphere, compared to what it would normally spew out anyway, and how much of the toxic stuff gets swallowed by the volcano?

Flush.

(This is the type of stuff I would have posted through Twitter if I had set it up (and in less than 133 characters).

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to keep this blog fresh, creative, and interesting. I started this blog (and naming it so) with the intent to “dump” my ideas, or, if you prefer, throw them onto the wall, and see what sticks. Between the lack of time and the growing concern to produce good, original content on this blog, I have started to regard it as a burden. Also, I started another blog, the Experiments, to actually materialize some of those ideas. So what type of content is left for this blog?

At the same time, Twitter has sprung up as what some refer to as a “micro-blogging” site, and it has worked quite well for me to quickly express my trivial thoughts, both design and non-design related.

I have been trying to figure out the best way to make Flush more interesting to read but also easier for me to update. I haven’t completely done the research on blogging using a Twitter client or Twitter client-like application, so I don’t know if it’s possible. And at the same time, I’m debating whether blogging my tweets would yield a different type and a different volume of content that may not fit this blog. I may have wanted this blog to contain both bad and good ideas, but I didn’t want it all to be bad and annoying.

I’m still looking into all of this, but I just wanted you to be aware of what’s happening with this blog.

If you have suggestions and comments for the direction of this blog, please let me know.

Flush.

Since I last updated, I have begun working on a project at Zynga as a freelance UI/UX designer. Originally, I was asked to work on only one aspect of the project, but I have since been asked to work on a second part. I am becoming more familiar with the project and am curious to how it’ll turn out in the end.

I’m not going to lie; I’ve enjoyed the work very much. I have mentioned last time that I haven’t done anything exactly like this before, so it is exciting, fascinating, and eye opening, and I’m learning a lot. I myself have started thinking of ways to further enhance the experience in future releases, if I am given the opportunity to continue.

The Team and the Integration

For the past four weeks that I’ve worked on this project, I have gotten to meet almost every member of the team. From the type of things that I hear them talk about and the type of things they’ve done on the project, I am truly impressed with what they can do and am inspired to step up my game and do my part, and do it well.

Their work has shown me mountains of stuff that I don’t know but that I want to, even though they’re not necessarily part of my job or directly related to my career.

There is a pattern when working with others that doesn’t necessarily manifest when working by yourself. The skills and knowledge you gain in a team are different from those when working solo. It’s refreshing, actually.

Another point about teams is that it takes time to integrate yourself into one. It does not occur all at once. How quickly you start speaking the lingo and communicating on the same channel and understanding one another without saying anything depends on the personalities of both parties as well as the environment you work in. For me, in the past week or so, I have been introduced to a few more members of the team and have become more aware of the team’s progress (and not just mine), so I have a better picture of what we have done so far and what more we can do in this project before the release. So hopefully, this will all lead to something that we can all be proud of in the end.

Flush.

P.S. The monthly update for November may or may not be written because I will be out of the country, in Macau, China for a few weeks. Depending on whether I have time and access over there, postings may be fewer than normal (yes, it’s possible to be fewer than this.)

I have posted two Photomerges showing minute glimpses of Macau so far. I believe there will be one more next week. Hopefully, I’ll have better stuff to show when I get back.

There is this one product called “Perpetual Calendar,” and I immediately thought of my experiment concept for a “reusable calendar.” The product ended up not being what my experiment was, but I quickly searched online for that term, especially for products with that name.

I found one product that has the same concept as mine. Here’s the link: http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=1808822 The product is a bit ugly for my taste (mainly the month part at the bottom), but it’s such a delight to see that concept out there.

Flush.

The survey asked for three things (not living objects) that I have an emotional attachment to despite their imperfections.

I sat there in my room looking around for things that I might have an emotional attachment to, but I quickly realized how I don’t really have emotional attachment to a lot of my stuff, which felt both great and disappointing. My approach to this, actually, was to pretend that there’s a fire and I can only take three things with me, no matter how heavy or long they would take. What would I really miss if I didn’t take with me? And here’s what I came up with:

• My photos, both printed and digital.
• The universe.
• All the journals that I have created throughout my life.

I know the universe isn’t a thing that I can take with me, but my mind started to wander a bit at that point. I love astronomy and the mystical properties of the universe that we don’t yet understand; it’s awesome. And I literally can’t live without it.

I look at this list, I look at my realization about not having much emotional attachment to most of my stuff, and I wonder, does this make me boring? Or is this a good thing? On the one hand, what does that say about my emotional capacity? But on the other, at least none of the three things are electronics (except that they hold the data for some of those three things).

What are your three things?

Flush.

The expression “Youth is wasted on the young.” is often mentioned to make the point that older people (whom I’ll refer to as “Wiser People”) know what life is all about (at least more so than us youngins). I, at the same time, often look back and wish I could redo some things in my teenage and college years, had I known what I know now, so no doubt the Wiser People wish they could do the same for when they were in their twenties.

At the same time, I see that the Wiser People at work, even those who are only ten years older than I, seem more confident and collected in how they carry themselves and engage in discussions. Their fears, if many, are neatly tucked away in their words and only let out in the best, most productive way possible. I would like to believe that this “talent” is a result of ten or more years of wisdom and experience that has led these Wiser People to realize that what they had feared in their twenties are pointless and silly, much like how we look back to our teen years and realize that our concerns and worries were quite trivial.

So what can these Wiser People tell us about life, work, and anything else? What advice can they give us? I’m not asking for step-by-step instructions on how to live my life, but merely a few realizations to keep an eye out for as we live our twenties.

Or is it completely useless to ask, because we won’t know until we experience it?

Flush.

Nonetheless, I will add onto the list, though since I sort of ran out of design-related tips for design students, I’m going to instead offer advice from my post-graduation experience to all students.

Never Stop Learning

I mentioned variations of this in the previous lists, but it’s important to be explicit about this one, especially since I really believe in it. Schooling may end after graduation, but you never stop learning. As a side advice, don’t assume you know everything, because you don’t. Be humble and ask the right questions when you don’t know. I’ve never actually seen recent graduates get cocky in jobs, but I’ve heard that it happens quite frequently.

Another reason to never stop learning, especially in the design profession, is that you need keep up with the culture and technology. If you have an interest in something, learn it. I currently have no use for Processing, the programming language, but I played with it this past summer just because I was intrigued by it. And because it partially resembles C and ActionScript, I may find real use for it somewhere down the road. Someday, that’ll pay off.

Be Ready for Anything

This is one of those advices that the person who gives the advice doesn’t necessarily follow it, not because I don’t believe it’s true, but because I still haven’t completely mastered it.

Personally, I’m mentally preparing myself to “be ready.” I’m currently moving along that path, but I still haven’t completely arrived. But when I do, I imagine that I would be completely open for opportunities that come my way and that I seek out.

Experience is Experience

This is similar to the “never stop learning” thing. Whether you’re doing a design project that is not exactly related to your preferred field of design, or that you’re making cappuccinos for patrons while you’re scoping out for any design gig, you build experience. Everything is experience, even doing nothing (It’s just that doing something gives you a wider, richer range of experience than doing nothing).

I would say that half the time, it’s not about the actual tasks from which you build experience; it’s the environment in which you perform these tasks. It’s about the people, the dynamic, the politics, the business side of your job. It could be answering to your customers, or to your clients, or to your superiors. There’s a special type of experience that can be learned from each of these situations. They are all valuable.

Have (Some Realistic) Dreams

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. (Or at least I hope I’m not the only one.) I believe that there’s nothing wrong with having dreams. What I’ve come to realize in the past two years, though, is that it’s important to have at least some realistic dreams.

You can dream big like “end poverty” or “stop global warming.” That’s great, but you should have some dreams that you know can be accomplished, that you have the tools for, and that all you need to do is put A, B, and C together, and voila! You’ve made your dream come true. It may not be big, but you did it.

If you want your dreams to come true (keyword “if”), whatever kinds they are, realistic or not, you need to know how you’re getting it done. If you don’t know, find out. You can dream to bring world peace, but that doesn’t mean anything unless you actually do it. To put it another way, I’d like to close out this post by quoting one of my favorite designers, essentially about the difference between what we think about and what we do with what we think about,

“The ideas themselves are nothing but thoughts brought down on paper in my sketchbook and as such of little value to me. I will only like them after their execution and publication.” —Stefan Sagmeister

Honestly, I have trouble applying this one to my life. I still have these precious ideas in my head of how things should be, in regards to design, my career, and my life. But I will never know if these are good ideas if I don’t get them out of my head and try them out. Maybe I won’t like them, and I would have wasted my time, not from executing those ideas, but from keeping those ideas in my head for so long and wasting brain-space for potentially better ideas.

Sagmeister quote (you’d have to dig through the Q & A’s): http://www.sagmeister.com/students3.html

Flush.

(“Dreamer” quote from Lennon, of course)