I just launched a new blog called Design & Things over at ThomasBishop.me, where I will be focusing more closely on blogging in the coming weeks and months. Mainly, I’ll be covering my thoughts and experiences on design, product and ux and potentially interviewing other designers that are doing great work.

If you’re subscribed to the feed here, please kindly head over to the new blog and subscribe via RSS or email. Thank you!

If you can’t take a step back and learn from your users, you’re not a good designer, no matter how polished your pixels are. The right decision isn’t always the best-looking.

— Tim Van Damme via The Industry

I recently launched a new venture, called UI Details! Simply put, it’s an inspiration gallery for UI/UX nerds & pixel addicts.

Check it out!

To say that 2011 has been a busy year is an understatement. I have had a blast working with some awesome clients, and the outlook for my business Bishop Creative could not be better. As I plan for 2012, I can’t help but look back and feel extremely lucky to have worked on some killer projects with some creative and progressive folks.

With that being said, I’ve put together some highlights from some projects that I had the pleasure to be a part of this year…

Affinity Health – Blog Development

One of the premier healthcare providers in the area, Affinity Health System called upon me to do the web development for their Blog, which they use to provide health-focused articles, let people learn about Affinity Medical Home, connect with real patients’ stories and even request an appointment.

Visit Affinity Health Blog

Electroline, Inc. – Website Design & Build

I had the pleasure of re-designing the entire Electroline website, from design to front-end development and a Content Management System.

Visit Electroline Site

David E Jackson – Website/Portfolio Design & Build

My good friend, photographer Dave Jackson entrusted me with the re-design of his website/portfolio. You will check out his work, and be stunned

Visit David E Jackson Site

ThemeRefresh

ThemeRefresh is a new venture that I started with my colleague Pete Bernardo. We are designing and selling beautiful WordPress themes (and soon Tumblr themes, as well!) that make it easy for you to get up and running quickly.

Visit ThemeRefresh

Unveiled Portraits – Website Design & Build

The fine folks over at Ardent Photography approached me asking if I would design and build two sites for their businesses, Unveiled Portraits boudoir photography and Ardent Photo wedding photography. I recently launched Unveiled Portraits’ site, and will be launching Ardent’s new site in early 2012!

Visit Unveiled Site

Midwest Senior Living – Network of Sites

I re-designed and built a network of websites for Midwest Senior Living. This includes one main “hub” site, as well as a site for each of their 4 communities in Appleton WI, Colby WI, Neillsville WI and Mendota IL.

Visit Midwest Senior Living

The Fire – Web Design and Build

I’m in the middle of re-designing and building a new site (coming in early 2012) for one of Appleton’s most creative and awesome shops, The Fire. I’m extremely excited to launch this site, so I figured why not put it on the list

To 2012…

I have a number of other sites in the works, so if you’re interested in taking a peek, please subscribe to the RSS feed!

If you’ve got an idea for a site, app or anything, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Get in touch

Visit the Bishop Creative site →

Go to the Site!

Forrst not only enables you to, like Dribbble, share snapshots of what you’re working on, but also pose questions, show code examples and links. This combined with an engaging community makes it possible for designers & developers to get helpful (and if you’re lucky, candid) feedback on what you’re working on. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference this makes as a freelancer (especially to a freelancer who sits at home all day long talking to myself …themselves).

But enough chatter! Here are some examples of some talented folks doing awesome things!

"Wirehive Branding" by Harry Ford

"I've Got the Magic" by Allison Grayce Nold

Doodle by Allison Grayce Nold

"Save the Date Postcards" by Angie Strickland

"Ze ozer robot" by Catalin Boroi

"Untitled" by Luke Beard

"Louisville Hardcore Poster" by Chris Pfaffinger

"Forefathers" by Portland

"When I Get Sad" by Luke Beard

"'"Get Out' running-theme poster series" by Truen

Infographic by Benjamin Dauer

"The White Tree of Gondor" by Peter Burdette

"Old Book" by Ovidiu Alexandrescu

Falanx by Thomas Bossée

"Final Show Poster" by Luke Beard

"3D iPhone Icon" by JonathanfromUPR

"Shark Week" by Christopher Wilson

Darth Vader by El Ducko

Changing sides

It wasn’t until early 2008 that I started to second-guess Firefox’s superiority. When web design started turning into more than a hobby, I really noticing the differences between web browsers. I was hesitant to completely jump to a new platform, and when Firefox started crashing, running slow and being buggy at times, I told myself “oh, it’s probably just a bug that they’ll iron out.” It got to the point where I’d click on the icon to launch Firefox, and it would take 15-30 seconds just to launch the application. That’s marked the first time I seriously considered jumping ship, and I did.

Enter WebKit

Right around the time Chrome was coming out of beta, I had decided it was time to really dig in and see what the fuss about Webkit was. I had been hearing a lot of buzz about it in the web community, so I did a “test run” of each Safari and Chrome, one whole week of using each browser and none other. After doing this, I couldn’t convince myself to go back to Firefox; I would choose between Safari and Chrome.

To this day, I still go back and forth between Safari and Chrome, although Chrome is most of the time my browser of choice, because it seems to be a bit snappier than Safari, although the speed differences are nearly unnoticeable. The main point is that I’ve settled on one platform, WebKit, and here’s why I think it’s the best:

Speed

Chrome and Safari (in my experiences) have been consistently faster, both to launch and to run than Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc. Speed is the most noticeable aspect of using a web browser.

Intuitive UI

To me, the next most important aspect of a browser is it’s User Interface. Chrome and Safari seem to have the most intuitive UI’s in the gang (minus a couple very small annoyances with Safari, notably the Refresh button being on the far side of the Address bar). Although both have their own feel and color schemes, etc., they both maintain simplicity and clarity, only displaying the most necessary elements while still maintaining a very robust application.

CSS3 Support

Being a web designer first and developer second, my priority is beautiful CSS which brings our markup to life. In my opinion, WebKit is ahead of the curve in terms of CSS3 support, which plays a HUGE role in making a beautiful website just that much better. Examples of this would be text-shadow, box-shadow, transitions, transformations and keyframe animations, which are partially supported in some browsers and totally ignored in others. Some of these properties make elements look more realistic, some add flare to the User Experience, but one thing’s for sure; they help make the web a more interactive and beautiful place for users and WebKit’s got just about all of them.

HTML5 Support

HTML5 is one of those technologies that is changing so much, you can hardly keep track. I am no HTML5 expert, but I can say that Chrome consistently ranks up near or at the top in terms of support for HTML5 elements and properties. If Chrome doesn’t support something, it’s a good bet that they very soon will. If you’re interested in testing your browser for HTML5 support, check out HTML5test.com or FindMeByIP.

The Web is all about choice

I should point out that this article only presents my opinion, and I take no offense if you don’t agree. In fact, the web is all about choice, so I commend you for using the browser you have the most faith in! I’d love to hear your stories and opinions, so please feel free to comment away!

(follow Conan on Twitter – @ConanOBrien and @TeamCoco)

When I started working with beautiful folks over at Logic By Design, they came to me with an idea of what would become a very special project. Over the past few months, we have been hard at work on a special project, dubbed Theme Refresh.

Theme Refresh is a Premium WordPress theme shop, built specifically for other Web Professionals.

“Our goal is to provide a solid foundation for your next project, because of that our themes come with everything you will need to get your project started right.”

We are putting the final touches on three initial themes, all of which will be chock-full of goodies. In the meantime, if you’re interested in following our launch, releases and all things Theme Refresh, please sign up for notifications or follow us on Twitter @ThemeRefresh!

Just a quick note. You now have the option to comment on blog posts via your Twitter account, or normally via the Comment form. If you want to comment via Twitter, just click the Sign in with Twitter button below the Comment form.

Here are a list of my favorite and most-trusted sources for articles, tutorials and inspiration:

A List Apart

A List Apart Magazine  explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.

Visit the Site / Subscribe via RSS

Abduzeedo

Abduzeedo is a collection of visual inspiration and useful tutorials.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Clients From Hell

A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

CSS-Tricks

A Web Design Community curated by Chris Coyier.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

David E. Jackson

One of my favorite photographers, David Jackson creates some of the most inspiring photos you’ll ever come across.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Engadget

Although not a Design-focused site, being up-to-date on devices, platforms and tech news is also very handy. Engadget is one of my favorite sites for this type of news.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Freelance Switch

FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Fuel Network

The Fuel Brand Network is a group of sites dedicated to all things related to creative development.

Visit Fuel Your Coding / Fuel Your Creativity / Fuel Your Interface / Subscribe via RSS

Jeffrey Zeldman

Jeffrey Zeldman Presents is the personal site of designer, writer, and publisher Jeffrey Zeldman.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Mashable

Founded in 2005, Mashable is the top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

NetTuts+

Nettuts+ is a site aimed at web developers and designers offering tutorials and articles on technologies, skills and techniques to improve how you design and build websites.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

PSDTuts+

Psdtuts+ is a blog/Photoshop site made to house and showcase some of the best Photoshop tutorials around.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Seth Godin

The blog of best-selling author Seth Godin. He writes some of the most brilliant words you will ever read.

Visit The Site / Subscribe via RSS

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers.

Visit the Site / Subscribe via RSS

Speckyboy

Speckyboy offers insightful tutorials, time-saving techniques, fresh and useful resources and inspirational art, covering web design and development, graphic design, advertising, mobile applications and even, the occasional Lego post.

Visit the Site / Subscribe via RSS

Web Design Ledger

The Web Design Ledger is a publication written by web designers for web designers. The primary purpose of this site is to act as a platform for sharing web design related knowledge and resources.

Visit the Site / Subscribe via RSS

Web Designer Wall

Web Designer Wall is designed and maintained by Nick La, who also runsN.Design Studio and Best Web Gallery.

Visit the Site / Subscribe via RSS

Woork Up

Woork Up is a blog that provides fresh news and useful stuff for webaddict people and internet lovers.

Visit the Site / Subsribe via RSS

First of all I want to thank everyone who’s checked out my new site over the past month or so since I launched in late-June! I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had a lot of time to blog, but I’m thinking about starting a Tutorial Series on my blog. That’s where you guys come in!

As I embark on the Tutorial journey, I am wondering what kinds of Tutorials (written or screencast) you guys would like to see? If you guys have anything in particular that you’d like to see, or even suggestions for things I could be doing better, please don’t hesitate to leave a Comment below, drop me an E-mail or message me on Twitter!

Make it as simple as possible. But no simpler.

— Albert Einstein via Brian Hoff

After weeks of some intense games and battles at the 2010 World Cup, a victor has prevailed. Although I had hoped the brave US team would’ve made it further into the tournament, and ultimately had to watch my second-favorite Germany get knocked out late, Spain versus the Netherlands was a messy but brilliant way to top off an already-brilliant tournament.

Congratulations to any and all Spain fans for winning the Cup, and to the fans of Netherlands for making the tournament that much more exciting to witness.  I will really miss watching matches, and look forward to 2014 in Brazil!

Typography exists to honor content.

— Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

So the World Cup is down to the final 8 teams (sadly, no USA) and that has me wondering…Who is your pick?

Will your country emerge victorious and win the World Cup?

My picks are Brazil and Germany, with Brazil winning 2-1 in the Final.

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.”

– Jamie Paolinett

As you can see, I’ve not only got a new look, but things are a bit more stripped down to the necessities. I hope you enjoy it. Much more to come!

If you’d like to stay in the loop with what’s going on in my world, don’t forget to Subscribe to the RSS Feed for the absolute latest, delivered however you like it!

Note: This site is in Spanish, but translatable via Google Translate.

Today is a big day, a day I’ve been waiting a long time for.  If you’ve been following me for any extended period of time, some of this may not surprise you, but some of what I’m writing is brand new information.

In early November 2009, I wrote about my decision to go full-time as a freelance designer and developer.  Just before the holidays (December 22nd, 2009 to be exact), I quit my job at Starbucks and started preparing for the new year.  I had a lot to do, and am still, into the new year, getting things ready and lined up for the rest of the year.

But with that being said, as of today, January 1st, 2010, my design and development company, Bishop Creative LLC is official. I’m armed with a MacBook, Wacom tablet and ready to take on the world.  I have so much planned, and have so many goals for the future.  At this point, I don’t feel like there’s anything I can’t accomplish in the design and development world.  I’m not really sure what the future will bring, but I can guarantee that I’ll do everything I can to keep learning and growing as a designer.

Freelancing

I will still be operating and branded as myself, Thomas Bishop – Freelance Creative Design & Development, and will offer the same great design and development services I’ve offered over the past nearly 2 years, but I will now be available full time, so I’ll be able to focus 100% of my time to building websites and designing whatever it is that comes across my path.

Other Projects

In addition to my freelancing services, I am also involved in on-going projects like Flipicz, which is a Facebook application I built with my partner Simeon Dorsey, currently in Beta and will be fully-launched early in 2010, and StageBloc, a great new platform for bands, artists, labels and basically everyone in the music industry!

My vision for the next year is to build even more of a solid client base, developing great connections with all of my clients and growing as a designer, developer and business man.

I’m going to eventually partner with a fellow developer and form a small boutique agency, which I will have more information on as we start planning.

The Future

I couldn’t be more excited about my future than I am right now, as I venture out on my own into the business world.  I’m extremely lucky to have all the love and support I have from my girlfriend Nicholle, family, friends, loved ones and clients. I have a great feeling about the coming months and remain motivated and passionate about design.  So, with all of that being said, here’s to the new year!  Here’s to a successful year and one full of memories, relationships and growth.  Best of luck to all of you in all of your endeavors!

So the time has finally come where we can say we have officially launched Flipicz to the world! As of about 10pm eastern time last night (Friday the 13th of November), we pushed the website to a completely live environment! We were both on the road the night of launch, however were able to set it free to the wild without hitch thanks to the all-wonderful technology we are lucky enough to have access to.

We want to take the time to thank all of our private Beta testers. We are extremely grateful for all of those who helped us test, find and squash some bugs that we wouldn’t otherwise have found. Although we are fully-launched, we realize that websites and applications are never complete. The best websites around adapt to the times and adjust to fit the best mold of what the application can be. As a Facebook application, we also have that element to keep an eye on. Because Facebook is one of the most dynamic websites around, their system is changing continuously and will affect some aspects of our application, so if you find anything weird, please submit it as a bug, and we will be on it as quickly as possible.

Upcoming Features

As we roll out the site, we are adding a couple new features that make the Application even more fun to play with. A couple of these features include:

• Friend Tagging: tag your friends so they can start using Flipicz too, making sharing your photos super simple.
• Music Player/Auto-sync: you can choose from a list of recommended songs, which when selected make your Flipicz dance to the beat of the music.
• Enhanced Search: you’ll be able to choose what categories of the site you’d like to search.

That is all…Now go play!

“A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence.”

Making the Leap

When Ivory decided to part ways about 2 years ago, I was forced to buckle down and find a “real” job.  I was very lucky to find a job at Starbucks, who really take great care of their employees, especially for how gigantic their company is.  I have had the pleasure of working with and meeting some of the most honest, hardworking people I know (most of which became friends of mine).  Although I love my job and the people at Starbucks and very much appreciate how well I am taken care of, I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like my design and development skills are being hindered by the time I spend not focusing on being creative.

I’ve spent the last 6 months pondering what it would take for me to go into business on my own, waiting for the perfect opportunity or the perfect scenario, and everyone knows the “perfect” scenario just doesn’t usually happen like one would hope.

With that being said, I’ve decided I’m going to finally take the big jump into full-time self-employment.  Instead of waiting around for the perfect opportunity and waiting for work to come to me, I’m going to spend my days going after opportunities and determining my own success.

As of Friday, January 1st, 2010, I will be on my own, designing full-time out of my office.  It makes me so happy to be at the point where I’m confident enough to put my skills on the line and go for it.

If you know me, you know I have a huge appreciation for design and art.  I have spent almost all of my free time over the last two years dedicated to learning as much as I can about it and in the back of my mind, I’ve always been hopeful that I would be able to someday be my own boss, designing all day every day.  It’s the best feeling ever knowing that day is fast-approaching.

Wish me luck…Here goes nothing!

We will be sending out invitations for those who are interested in testing out Flipicz Beta tomorrow, Friday, October 30th. We are looking for people to test Flipicz privately before we launch to the general public later in November, so if you’re interested in getting a sneak peak before the general public gets to see it, or helping us test and get all of the bugs out, please leave a comment or send us an e-mail at flipicz[at]gmail.com and provide your First Name, Last Name and E-mail address so we can send you an invitation!

Flipicz is an addictive photo-sharing web application built for Facebook. It empowers users to connect directly to their Facebook account with one single-click and create interactive photo pairings, called Flipicz.

We will be launching as a Beta because we will still be working out some of the kinks, however it will be fully-functional and ready for public viewing by release by the 13th of November.  We will be sending out invitations for a Private Beta testing on Friday, October 30th, so if you’d like to get an early look at the App, please leave a comment or e-mail us.  If you’ve been lucky enough to get a preview of the App already, please let us know what you thought of it and what features or fixes you’d like to see!

Flipicz

Flipicz is something I’m very, very excited about. A few months back, a good friend of mine, Simeon Dorsey told me about this idea he had for a Facebook application, and asked if I’d want to partner up and handle all design and front-end development. Given his past success with Facebook apps, I was more than happy to give it a shot and see where it took us.  Flipicz is about halfway through the development phase, so I can’t reveal much, but simply put, it will be an addictive way to share your photos with the world and your Facebook friends. Even Sim and I have to hold ourselves back from playing around with the Flipicz, and that’s a good sign that it might catch on.

We should be releasing the Beta version sometime in November 2009, and the full-featured version shortly after that, so keep an eye out!

StageBloc

Over the past couple months, I’ve begun work at a great new company called StageBloc, Inc.. I am lucky enough to be a part of the early stages of the company, in which I can lend my skills to help the company grow. StageBloc has built a complete internet platform for the music industry (naturally called “The StageBloc System“) which allows bands/managers/labels/etc to develop, integrate, and maintain their entire online presence from one central location. This is a really exciting product that I think will take the music industry by storm, making it extremely easy for bands to control everything they need to from one place.

Clients will be able to update their own websites with such content as Shows, Journal/Blog, Music/Video Playlists, Fan Sites, Social Networking Status (and much more) from one place, and then watch it automatically sync that information across all of their associated sites. Artists will no longer have to log into 7 different Social Networking sites, just to copy and paste a status update, a blog or even worse a long list of shows! Artists will also have powerful filtering/search of all content and data which provides advanced control over all their information. The possibilities with StageBloc are endless.

With all of that being said, StageBloc also offers custom Web Design and Development services such as Websites, Myspace Layouts, etc. Our in-house team is able to tackle any challenge that arises. Our first design & development client is Smartpunk.com, which just recently launched.

StageBloc officially launches October 5th, 2009.

And finally…

On top of all that, I also work part-time at Starbucks and doing some freelancing, as well as working on some WordPress themes…So as you can see, I’ve been keeping busy.  There is also a job I am hoping to get.  I can’t say much about it, but IF I do get this job, I will be working full-time as a designer and will be able to travel, get more creative and live life a little more comfortably.  Like I said, I can’t say much, but I’m crossing my fingers.  You will hear a lot more about this if I get the job.

But I’ve come to offer you a hand, in the form of some friendly advice from another creative professional who has been in that position more than enough times.  My hope is that at least one of these steps will work for you and get your creative juices flowing, so you can continue on with your day productively.

Step 1: Get out while you can!

The second you start sensing a creative block coming on, my advice to you (if possible) is to get the hell out of your office!  Because I work from my home office, this usually means getting out of the apartment and either going for a run (personal favorite, gets ideas flowing 99% of the time), getting some fresh air, taking a shower, or even just getting up and walking around for a bit.  The point is to do anything that lets you relax for a moment and get your mind off of what you’re doing, even for just a few minutes.  This might feel like you’re wasting time, but in actuality getting mad and spinning your wheels is doing nothing but wasting time.  Another good idea is to get a snack and/or some sort of drink to re-fuel and re-energize.

Step 2: No pressure

After you’ve relaxed and re-fueled, it’s time to get focused.  Even if you’re on a tight deadline and need to wrap your project up by yesterday, worrying and putting pressure on yourself isn’t going to get it done any faster.  Just relax and remember, you’re in the driver’s seat.

Step 3: Stay organized and comfortable

Chances are you’re hitting your creative blocks mid-project, but it’s never too late to get organized and keep things simple.  After I’ve made my way through the first two steps, I usually like to clean my workspace and get comfortable.  Even if you’re not aware of it, desk-clutter can surely translate directly to mind-clutter.  Getting your tools together, cleaning up your files, papers, and even changing into comfortable attire can really make a difference when you’re having a hard time getting into a flow.

Step 4: Build on simplicity, don’t get ahead of yourself

Regardless of where you are in your project, I’ve found keeping things simple as possible is always a good habit to get into.  Keeping things simple throughout a project can really help the flow of a project, because you don’t seem to get caught up on ideas as often.  You will notice if you are keeping things simplistic, you’ll have more ideas in the end and you’ll have a better plan of attack.

Step 5: Don’t get too creative

That might sound a little weird to you, but getting too creative is another big contributor to creative block.  Our creativity will naturally blossom with experience, and although it is smart to push ourselves, it’s not always good to expand yourself too far beyond your boundaries.  Similar to Step 4, the idea behind not getting too creative is to do what you know how to do and do it well.  There will be time to learn new things and expand even more, but when you’re going through a creative block is not the time to push yourself too far.  This is also an easy time to start panicking and looking around for inspiration, but I recommend not going down that road, because when you’re not in a creative mindset, that just adds to the feeling of being lost and idea-less.

Step 6: Get feedback

If you’re still not feeling the creative vibes, it’s best to bounce ideas off of your friends, family or best of all, other Freelancers or artists.  This can really help get an outside perspective on the project and gives you ideas that you would’ve never thought about.  You have to be careful not to rip off other’s ideas if they aren’t yours, but it usually sprouts new ideas of your own and allows you to visualize a new approach to the project.

In conclusion

If these steps haven’t worked for you, I would then recommend to try Step 1 (“Get out while you can!”) again.  The main focus on killing creative block is to take a big step back, relax and then figure out your plan of attack.  Obviously this is my own pattern that I follow when I sense an oncoming block, but I’m confident this will work for just about any other creative professional battling with block.

With that being said, I decided after about 6 months of having that site online that I desperately needed to re-design, re-brand and re-organize.  I spent a good deal of time studying websites I loved and why I loved them.  I then went through about 10 ideas and 1000 sketches before even jumping into the project, which was extremely helpful in the long run.  I hadn’t handled it that way with the previous design, and it ended up pretty chaotic.

With this design I also opted to go almost 100% CMS.  This means just about every aspect of my site is controlled by a CMS (Content Management System), which I was able to create with the help of a great WordPress plugin called Flutter, which allows you to create custom write panels and makes just about anything possible as far as making a basic CMS in the WordPress environment.  Setting up the site and the system it runs on took a good amount of time, but later on when I’m in full swing, it will be saving me a lot of time, because I won’t have to hand-code anything at all.  If you’re new to the world of CMS, you know how much of a relief this can be to finally figure it out.

Shifting to the design of the site, my number one hope for this site was that it would be very clean, organized and content-driven.  I also wanted it to be a little darker, sleeker and have good use of subtle lighting effects, all of which I feel I’ve accomplished here.  I know I’ll eventually hate this design, because that’s just how it goes.  It has always been that way, whether I’m playing music or designing websites; the “old stuff” is never as good as the “new stuff”.  But for now, I’m very happy with how this design turned out.

Feel free to take a look around, drop a comment or Contact Me to say “hi”.  If you would like to follow what I’ve got going on, feel free to Subscribe to the RSS Feeds or Download My Dashboard Widget (Mac)!  Also, if you like any of my blog entries, please share them with the world by clicking the Share This Post banner at the bottom of each post!

Although we recorded enough music for 2 full-length records and 2 EP’s, only 1 EP got officially released to the public, mainly because of legal troubles with record labels we were involved with… With that being said, we finally all got in touch and are gearing up to release 1 of the 2 full-lenghts that we recorded.  We started writing these songs in late-2005 and into early-2006, so the songs are more than 3 years old.

I can still remember some of the good times we had during this period, and putting our lives and souls into the record that we are about to release.  I haven’t ever been one to listen to ANY of my own music after they’re recorded and done, but I am quite proud of what we accomplished on this record.  It’s slated for release on iTunes only, June 30th, 2009.  I hope you will go pick it up, and like it.  And if not, no big deal.

Switching gears, to my other passion in life, art. I’ve been busy wrapping up a few big websites, one of which I just handed off to the client yesterday, another that’s been in development for a while and is basically waiting to pounce.  I am also very pleased that I’ve been able to do almost all of Ivory’s graphic and web work over the years, and this new record is no exception.  I designed some quick cover art and am in Development on a Myspace layout promoting the release. This along with a couple potentially-exciting partnerships with some new friends and companies.

My design skills are growing every day, and I’m confident in saying I can and want to take on any challenge when it comes to Design and Development. And that’s not all…

I’ve also been pondering re-designing my website/portfolio.  I love the feel of the site, however I’m not satisfied with the strategy and marketing side of how I present myself.  This is another side of design that I’m just beginning to learn, so bear with me.  One thing I feel I want to do with a re-design is make my website way simpler and more user-friendly.  I’d love for you all to give me feedback about what you think works, and what doesn’t work about my website, from the perspective of a potential client and/or browser.  Any and all feedback would be much appreciated.

I’m hoping it’s going to be a busy summer, so I can keep learning continuously and start establishing myself as a solid designer & developer.  Like I said, there are already a few other projects that will be wrapping up shortly, and a few that are coming after that…so keep an eye out!

IE6, we’ve held your hand through your life, but it’s now time to say “goodbye”. At least for my website.

Note: If you visit my website using Internet Explorer 6 or earlier, you will receive a message which says “It seems you are using an ancient Web Browser (Internet Explorer 6 or earlier). Please update your browser to the latest version. Thank you!”

Link: AppStorm.net

via Webdesigner Depot

Link: Emily Elbert

You’re so needy.  You were cool back in the day, but it’s just not working anymore.  Apparently I’m not alone.

(If you have are one of the few who still use Internet Explorer 6…you need to upgrade…it’s just…ancient.)

Found via CSSGlobe