About two months ago, I was fortunate enough to walk out of our local Apple Store (Postero) with a brand new 24″ iMac, which now does all the heavy lifting design wise. And it does it better than anything I’ve ever worked on.

The iMac

The main reason I changed to a stationary computer instead of a laptop is basically that I don’t have to be mobile, I can do everything that needs to be done from home. And if I’m not at home when something really important needs to go online fast, then that’s where my other item comes in handy.

I am - however - thinking about adding a notebook to the collection, but that is so far into the future that I almost regret mentioning it in this post.

The iPhone 3G

Besides from being a revolutionary phone in every way from application to user interface, this is also a great and trusty tool for the web. Needless to say, this is a great way to update a website or change a typo when you’re away from your ordinary workstation. Oh, and it’s also a great phone/iPod!

Loyalguard - Running From Ghosts

I have some friends playing in a band that I’ve helped out with various stuff lately. They’re called Loyalguard and they recently recorded a demo entitled Running From Ghosts that I managed to do some artwork for. It’s really a pleasure working with these guys since they’re not just good musicians but also great people.

This is actually the third thing we do together. The first thing was a cover for their first demo entitled Same Old Story, and the second was a backdrop/logo I made for them. None of the previous things managed to get archived in the portolio simply because they’re very basic stuff printed in crappy printers and on crappy paper.

So, enough about the old and more about the new. The artwork can be seen in the portfolio, in the artwork section (which is the first). I really hope you enjoy the new piece and don’t forget to listen to the band on their MySpace and visit their official site.

There are usually a couple of new features coming with a new design, but not in this case. I’ve been working on a Lifestream earlier but trashed that project temporarly, I’m planning on rebuilding the portfolio but that’s a later project since I need to get some new work posted.

So, I hope you like the new design!

All I can say is that I’ll add Loyalguard - Running From Ghosts to my portfolio soon, along with the news. The work is a cover for a friends band that really rocks (proof here).

My intention is to release a new version within a month. I feel like I’m getting there but I’m simply too self criticizing when it comes to work I do for myself, because basically, that’s work I do for everyone else. I hope to see you soon with a fresh and more suiting face.

Another thing coming up is some awesome t-shirts for my awesome friends in Loyalguard. Me and Thomas (singer/guitarist) will team up and do some killer merchandise to be released simultainiously with their second effort, which will feature artwork from yours truly.

Much going on now, and I love every second of it.

For you who are interested, here’s the specs for it; 3x HDMI, Component, 2x Scart, PC input, 8000:1 dynamic contrast, gaming mode, movie mode and some other different pre-installed settings that I don’t really remember.

I’ve watched some movies, and the result is better than I expected from an LCD (been a sucker for plasma earlier). Good picture quality and lots of inputs for anything I might buy in the future. Thank you Samsung.

I’ve got some really rad ideas on how to solve some problems I expirenced doing the current one. I’m aiming towards a little bit more personal design with some advanced layout solutions. I’m currently playing around with the layout so I don’t have a timeframe in mind as of now. But it hopefully won’t take too long.

Ps. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I prefer to stick to relevent notes here while focusing entierly on the site in general. Thanks for understanding. Ds.

I’m planning to launch joelhelin.com in the summer of 2008, wich means that I’ll start doing some layout work now. No stress there. Read more about that project here.

Hannah launched her Swedish blog using WordPress 2.5. This is her first experience with PHP and she’s doing an amazing job finding widgets and modifying the code to fit her needs. She’ll be an excellent designer some day, I’m sure.

Personal gaming rants

I preordered Grand Theft Auto IV the other day and I’m really excited. I know that it’s totally going to blow my mind and I look forward to hunting all the G’s in it.

Currently, I’m trying to finish Guitar Hero III on hard, which is just hard. All I’ve got left is Metallica - One and the last boss. 95% done and I’m stuck. Very frustrating.

I’m also enjoying Burnout Revenge for the second time. I got it back when I was playing PlayStation 2 but sold it with the console a couple of months back. I look forward to play it in HD when I get the new tv.

Just personal rants

That’s about it. This entry got a little longer than I expected, so I’m not going to rabble on much more. There might be some changes around here (small fixes) and eventually a redesign in the near future. Stay tuned.

The main reason we’ll go down there is to get some tattoos done. I will do a koi on my right upper arm which is the first step on a future sleeve - and my second tattoo in total. Hannah will ink a geisha on her back which works as a cover-up on an old tattoo she has (she has about 5-6 in total).

I’m really excited meeting up with everyone again and to spend some time away, even if it’s just for a couple of days. I’ll post some pictures from the trip when we get home.

This means that I’ll be redirecting the new domain to Heartworker for a while now, while working on the new layout. I have no plans to launch this in a near future, but I am very happy that I finally got this done even if I’m not planning on doing anything with it just yet.

I also realized that much of my ideas can be easily arranged with the new features in WordPress 2.5. And that just makes me more excited to open this sucker up.