I can now say for sure that I absolutely love this camera. Here are some pictures shot with it and totally over-processed with (the very cool) Analog app.

Boston is such a beautiful (and big) city and the architecture is amazing.

I’ve also took some time to visit the BuySellAds office in Cambridge and met with Todd and Matthew – great times.

So, I thought I’d share my thoughts in a blog post—it was just published on the BSA blog:

The important thing to remember is that no matter the technique you use to display, hide, remove or reposition ads on your responsive website, it’s not the technique that matters but the careful planning and thought that went into it.

We’re working on some exciting things at BSA and adaptive web-design is definitely a big part of this. Advertising doesn’t have to be evil and monetizing a website while still providing a great user experience is definitely something that is doable. Go read the full blog post →

I like to look back and reflect on what I actually accomplished and what happened in the past 12 months though. I generally like to just go with the flow so making New Year’s resolutions just seems silly to me.

Actually, I like the word ‘goals’ better. But then holding off until the New Year to set goals doesn’t make sense either. Anyway, 2011 has been an amazing year for me—somewhat bumpy and life-changing but definitely a great year.

2011 In Review

For me it was the year of stability and setting priorities—or at least trying to find some sort of balance. I think it went pretty well.

Professionally Speaking

While I absolutely love freelancing, am still for hire, and have a bunch of freelance projects lined-up for 2012, I realized that I was lacking stability. I guess that’s something all freelancers face at some point.

Not only that, but I’d also been wanting to work with a team for some time. Working for yourself is great, but it often means working by yourself and on your own. You can learn so much more when you work and exchange ideas with other people.

So when I heard there was an opening at BuySellAds I jumped on the opportunity. The ride has been amazing so far and I’m looking forward to what’s in store for 2012 (stuff like BSA v.3 and new Ad Packs maybe?).

In 2011 I also sold SpyreStudios—I spent about 3 years working on that site and it was time for me to move on. I then co-founded and helped launch the design resource site MediaLoot. Great times.

Creative Outlets

Twenty Eleven was also the year of finding new creative outlets. At some point I fell in love with photography. I definitely still consider myself an amateur and I don’t really aspire becoming a professional photographer, but I love it.

One of my first projects/assignments at BuySellAds was to launch a Photography Ad Pack. On December 1st it went live. It’s been great to connect with photographers and photography bloggers from all around the worlds as well as companies and advertisers in the photography niche.

The experience has made me enjoy and learn about photography even more. Hopefully 2012 gives me the chance to take even more pictures and snap some great moments.

Goodbye Recording Studio

If you’ve been following me on Twitter or have known me for a while you probably know that I’m a guitarist—I have been since 1994.

After almost 6 years, a full-length studio album, interviews, lots of friends made, a riot, over 50 shows and a cross-Canadian tour, I decided it was time to move on.

I quit my band.

I could go and make it all dramatic and say it was the hardest decision but it simply felt like the right thing to do. I wish them the best of luck and I’m looking forward to hearing the new material.

On Writing

This very blog you’re reading right now was launched in 2011. I wanted a place to write. I had no idea what to write about. I’m still not too sure. That’s totally fine.

I find writing on a regular basis to be quite the challenge. Maybe it’s because english isn’t my first language. French is. On the other hand I dislike writing in french, I much prefer the english language to express my thoughts and opinions. It’s more concise and straightforward. Actually, that’s a good idea for a future post.

Here’s an interesting fact: I have more articles saved as drafts on this blog than actual published posts.

Health

In 2011 I quit smoking. That has been the best decision I’ve made my entire life. I feel more energetic, I sleep better, I find it easier to focus and food tastes great.

A couple years ago I tried the nicotine patches and other methods to quit smoking but none of that shit really works. I’d just start smoking again after a month or so.

Cold turkey is the way to go, trust me on this. You’ll feel like crap for 3 days, sleep for 18 hours in a row, turn green-ish and have a weird taste in your mouth for about 2 weeks—but that’s it. It sounds much worse than it actually is.

Looking back I wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.

Hello Twenty Twelve

Like I said, I don’t really believe in resolutions. So instead of making empty promises I probably won’t be able to keep, I’ll just come back to this post next year and see what I’ve accomplished :)

I’ve pre-ordered the paperback edition of Jon’s new book, The Icon Handbook, and I can’t wait to read it.

Jon Hicks’ ‘The Icon Handbook’ will become the go-to book for the modern designer; for uncovering the thought processes, the skills and the reference for designing your own icons. This book is aimed at designers who already have basic vector and bitmap drawing skills. It could be that you want to create a simple, unique favicon, or perhaps you’ve been asked to work on a mobile app that requires them.

You can order it via Five Simple Steps →

Everything changes. The Internet and web design are certainly no exceptions to the rule. As we move through the days and months ahead, it’s likely that in short time we’ll find ourselves talking about new design developments that haven’t rolled across our lips or screens yet. We asked some of the leading web and user experience designers in the field for their predictions about what we might expect to see in the web design world in 2012.

Click here to read the group interview →

Oh and if you’re reading this after clicking through from WDD, make sure you grab my RSS feed, that would make me happy :)

And that has never hindered my ability to find clients, work and get paid.

Over the years I’ve read countless articles talking about the merits of a well-designed, representative and professional design portfolio—I’m sure you’ve read them all, too. Great articles, really. Actually, I think I might have written a few myself.

But none of those articles told me that when I’d take my portfolio down, I would actually start getting more inquiries from potential clients.

I’ve yet to figure this one out completely but ever since I took it down, I’ve been receiving twice as many inquiries. Weird, right?

Completely Hypothetical Explanation

Here’s my reasoning. By not having an online portfolio to showcase my skills and be found by prospective clients, I simply focussed (subconsciously most likely) on building better and more meaningful relationships with existing clients and people I meet.

Instead of letting my work do the talking, I simply went ahead and did the talking myself as well as let my existing clients vouch for me.

Of course I always keep track of the stuff I’ve worked on, but by not advertising my services publicly and by not showing people what I can do via an online portfolio, it has actually opened a lot of doors and opened new communication channels.

It’s allowed me to sell myself and my services, rather than let some static images on a web server do it for me. I’m not suggesting you take down your portfolio or anything like that. If it works for you, by all means keep doing what you’re doing.

Less Hypothetical Explanation

My point is that nowadays, clients and designers can connect in much more pleasant and meaningful ways then through a design portfolio.

A portfolio can only say so much. Sure it can tell a client or even a potential business partner what you’re good at and what your areas of expertise are but it won’t tell clients if you’re easy to work with or if you’ll understand their requests.

I’d hire a good communicator any day over a rockstar designer that has mad Photoshop skills.

Good communication wins every time for me. At least that’s something I give a shit load of bonus points for when I hire a designer or developer.

Like a lot of people I enjoy snapping pics with my iPhone, and I also own a DSLR camera. Well, now you can actually combine the two – say hello to the iPhone SLR Mount.

This case/adaptor let’s you mount your Canon EOS or Nikon SLR lenses to your iPhone 4.

I think it’s such a great idea. Let’s just hope the phone doesn’t ring in the middle of a shoot though.

If I leave my refrigerator door open for example, it will eventually beep to remind me to close it. That’s nice. The beeping sound actually serves a purpose. I wouldn’t want my milk to turn sour because I inadvertently left the door open, right?

When I leave my microwave door open though, it does the same thing—it beeps. Except in that case it will keep beeping at regular intervals until I close the damn door. It’s not like food will rot or I’ll loose money if I don’t close the door. It’s just a normal microwave packaged with very annoying notification system. If I don’t close the door, the world will keep turning.

If only there was an easy way to turn off the beeping sound. It’s useless, I don’t need it.

I wish my front door would beep or alert me via txt message if I left without locking it though. That would be sweet.

Point is, if you are designing for the web or building a web app, please think long about your notification system. I know most websites and apps need some sort of system in place to alert users about this or that. But it is possible to do it in a non-intrusive and non-annoying way.

Don’t be like my microwave door, instead take example from my fridge. Notify your users only if necessary and make it so that it doesn’t annoy the shit out of everybody. Thank you.

I believe that the work BSA does in the advertising space helps make online advertising a lot less evil—and that’s something I’m happy to associate myself with.

Some of you may know that BuySellAds also runs the Ad Packs & Yoggrt networks. Actually the banner you see in my blog’s sidebar is from the Yoggrt network.

I’m very happy to be joining the team at BSA and to get the chance to work with such talented people. I’ve accepted the position of Advertising Relations Manager and will be handling their Ad Packs and Yoggrt networks amongst other things.

Of course I’m still available for freelance design work so feel free to drop me a line :)

As far back as I can remember I’ve always preferred Fireworks over Photoshop and it was a pleasure to be interviewed on a site dedicated to my favorite tool—one that I’ve been using every single day for the past 6 or 7 years.

I’ve also enjoyed reading interviews from other designers that I respect and follow like Glenn Hitchcock and David Perel. Good stuff.