I find that certain practices help me refocus. Doing something unrelated, quick and dirty, helps me remember that, ultimately, all it’s about is creating. A thoughtful design, a piece of well crafted code, a useful jQuery script. Regardless of ones approach, it’s about creating something good, not creating something within the framework of fashionable tools.

One of the easiest ways, I find, to bring myself back to attention is to create wallpapers for my computer. Something of zero consequence, that requires only the intuitive opinion of one person. Myself.

So, I feel like posting some of my recent wallpapers. Most are sized for a 13″ Macbook Pro (1280×800), but there’s a few others in the mix.

I inadvertently melted/demolished every picture that existed on the drearlight.com. Which ain’t a big deal, ’cause there were about 5 of them. Such is life. I had to migrate thedrearlight.com into a new directory, as I get kinda compulsive with things like organization. I’ll fix it later.

-edit-

I didn’t fix it. Let’s move forward.

I’ve quickly found out how much more opportunity there is here for web development, graphic design and art. There’s so much of it everywhere; no one looks at you funny when you say “I’m a designer”. This is where things can happen.

I’m inspired by the feel of a new place, of new possibilities. And I’ve already gotten a steady job with an awesome shop called Rehab Creative. I’m pretty enthusiastic about what they expect from me. I’ll be getting real dirty with Drupal, something I haven’t had much opportunity to use in the past. It’s probably the most versatile Open Source CMS available today, and though I love WordPress and Joomla, I feel like it’s the next level.

With all this new new in my head, I did a quick redesign of thedrearlight.com. Some new color, some new font action. I like it.

Here’s a photo. Click it for the close-up.

A show like this, being “Offsider”, creates a nice opportunity to do more or less whatever I’d like to. There are 22 artists in the show, so there was no limitation really that would restrict my design to one that was primarily typographic. There’s a pool of graphic resources to draw from. Rad!

Since the show is a ways out, I decided it could definitely benefit from a presence on that hip as shit thing called The Internet. I’ve created a microsite for the show. It’s live at everydayartfluxus.com.

I’ve been itching for the chance to create a microsite, as it’s more akin to print design than a typical website, and allows for some seriously interesting graphic solutions. This is because microsites are built using static html, instead of utilizing pHp driven CMSs, such as WordPress. CMSs are generally the best solution, but not of a microsite. I think it came out nice like. For those of you who do the code thing, view the source of everydayartfluxus.com, as I’ve notated it a bit to explain how it works.

One such interesting local gallery is Rubbish Gallery. And most months, I make them a handbill for their upcoming opening. I like doing it.

As I’m creating handbills for gallery openings featuring other peoples art, the design adheres to some obvious standards. I use artwork given to me by the featured artist, which limits my design choices to mostly typography. Rad! Picking typefaces, and figuring out how to use them is a good thing for me to think about.

Here is the latest handbill, for a show that starts October 8th and features new works by Holly Conlon.

To celebrate, here is a picture of my dog.