• “What’s the name of this sport, again?”
• “How exactly do the rules/scoring work?”
• “Is this a qualifying heat, or the final race?”
• “Which team would the winner of this match go on to play?”
• “Which star players on the court/field should I be keeping an eye on?”
• “What other related events will this athlete be competing in?”

While a viewer could answer any of these questions by visiting websites like NBCOlympics.com or Wikipedia, this equates to lousy user experience.  Most viewers aren’t going to want to get off the couch.  Even those armed with a laptop have to take their eyes off the TV, pull up a browser, and wade through the website to find their obscure answer.  Ugh.

But there’s good news!  I would wager that by the 2012 Olympic games, viewers will be able to find answers to all of the questions above (and more) simply by using their TV’s remote control.  How?  By using TV widgets.

In the case of the Olympics, the ideal implementation of TV widgets would allow the viewer to use his/her remote to pull up instant information about the event they’re watching.  Depending on what the viewer wants to know, they would be able to navigate through some straightforward menus and find out anything they wanted to know (including answers to all questions above).

Of course, things aren’t at this level quite yet… but they’re coming.  As media futurist Gerd Leonhard recently wrote (Soon: Widgets on your TV), Samsung just announced their first series of TVs that will be connected to the internet.

On one hand, this means we’ll be able to access the internet through our TVs, which is well and good.  But taken a step further, I’m guessing widgets will be pumped out to give users info relavant to whatever show they’re watching (not just the Olympics!).  A drama or sitcom, for instance, might one day present the viewer with widgets that answer:

• What show is this?  What is it about?
• Who are the major characters?  what are the on-going plot-lines?
• What happened in last week’s episode?
• Can I watch this episode with some director’s commentary?

The possibilities are endless, indeed.  To bring this back to the Olympics, I’d say that the 2012 games are the first big opportunity for this technology to showcase its true potential.   At that time, we’ll be able to put the laptop down, stay on the sofa, and hang on to the remote.  For it may be the only tool we’ll need to find the answers we’re looking for.

In the meantime, check out Gerd Leonhard’s article on TV widgets:

• Soon: Widgets on your TV (talk about Changes for the TV Business!)

Things seem quite different as an adult, especially one living in the early 21st century. The future no longer waits quietly over the horizon, but is instead standing at the doorstep. At times, peering ahead one or two decades seems somewhat unfathomable, as our lives change so much with each passing year. How to put it all into perspective?

The solution is simple: turn to a media futurist!

Particularly, I speak of media futurists Gerd Leonhard and Glen Hiemstra, the work of whom has left me recently fascinated. It isn’t that they talk about the things that will happen, but rather the things that are happening right now in the realm of media. That is, anything and everything pertaining to the web, music, video, technology, copyright, sharing and so forth.

Life in the information age will be quite fascinating, and it is great to have thinkers like Leonhard and Hiemstra working hard to help us make sense of it all. Curious to hear what they have to say? A great introduction to both Leonhard and Hiemstra can be found in the FutureTalks series of conversations. The pair share their ideas and thoughts on several different media-related topics, as listed below. I have included links to each conversation in both video or mp3 form.

Otherwise, the blogs of both Leonhard and Hiemstra are great places for regularly updated views and news. Do yourself a favor and check them out… you will not be disappointed!

The Future of Media (Hiemstra)
54 minutes | mp3 | video

The Future of Media (Leonhard)
53 minutes | mp3 | video

The Long Tail
11 minutes | mp3 | video

The Future of Communications
14 minutes | mp3 | video

The Future of Entertainment: Music and Media
12 minutes | mp3 | video

User Generated Content
13 minutes | mp3 | video

Commercial vs. Shared Culture
13 minutes | mp3 | video

The Future of Advertising
12 minutes | mp3 | video

Beyond Web 2.0
12 minutes | mp3 | video

Technology vs. Copyright
13 minutes | mp3 | video

Media Megatrends
12 minutes | mp3 | video

More coming soon.  For now, enjoy the video!

The Past? It’s a blur…

Rewind a few months back, when a gathering forever of accumulated eye strain had finally pushed me to the limit.  I bit the bullet and went to see my opthamologist.  After a few visits, he advised I get glasses.  Fair enough!  I’d be able to see, right?

My next move was a stroll on down to a few nearby retail eyeglass shops, where I was consequently shocked.  Glasses are expensive.  Really expensive.  Even the ones on the lower end of the scale at the cheapo store.  Throw in some extra lens fees and not much help from my vision plan?  The final count was way up there.

Looked like I didn’t need glasses that bad.  And so it went, week after week of me refusing to give in so easily.  But then it happened — a happenstance reader comment at the bottom of a random blog, and my glasses life was changed forever!

But wait, there’s hope!

I had found a post titled Adventures in $40 Eyeglasses, and leaving me hugely intrigued.  I read the post, scoured the comments, followed the links, rinsed and repeated.  This was exactly what I had been looking for.

Long story short?  You can order glasses online.  The very same glasses you’d get at any of the chain/retail places.  And they’re cheaper… so much cheaper.  Reading comment after comment and post after post, I was as good as sold.  Glasses for $40, give or take?  Where do I sign up.

Too good to be true?

In actuality, this all sounded like a great idea, but part of me was hesitant.  Enough so, actually, to not jump to action for a few weeks.  The obvious drawback to ordering glasses online is not being able to hold the frames in your hand, try them on, and extending your trust to some random online store to get your prescription right.

When all was said and done, it all happened for me over the course of a wave of sudden motivation one Saturday afternoon.  I was suddenly determined to just do the thing: get online, find a pair of glasses, make the order, and let the chips fall where they may.

Placing the Order

I ended up settling on $39Glasses.com, which I chose because of a 10% off coupon (and excellent reader feedback, of course).  I dove into the glasses catalog, picked literally the first cool pair I saw, and hit check out.  I wasn’t messing around.

The first test was entering my prescription.  I wondered: would this website’s order form have all of the necessary input fields?  After all, a prescription looks kind of scary.  Bunch of strange words and degree measurements… and yet, upon loading the web form, they were all accounted for!  Good sign.  I entered my digits and proceeded.

The second trial was that of deciding upon lens quality.  It works like this: if you get the default (cheapest) lens, there is no extra fee.  Above it, there are all sorts of ways to supersize your ocular aids.  I was going to keep it simple and go with the default.  I hoped it would do.

The final trial was that of measuring the distance, in millimeters, between your pupils.  This sounds scary, easy to mess up, or otherwise a nuisance — but it was in fact the easiest trial yet.  I grabbed the ruler, put it on my forehead, and looked in the mirror.  A quick confirmation of my measurement from my wife and I was set (even alone, you really cannot mess this up).

Deliverance

That was it.  The order was placed on a Saturday afternoon.  The total cost, after saving 10% but adding on a small shipping fee, was right around $40.

The package arrived on Tuesday.  I opened it up and was at once surprised.  The glasses came with a carrying case that was not a piece of junk.  Solid, sturdy, and strong…  alright.  But what about its contents?

I opened the treasure chest to reveal my new glasses.  Upon picking them up, my first thought was wow: they actually have some weight to them!  I was half-expecting the cheapest plastic known to man, but this was certainly not the case.  I put them on and have been happy since.

Whole Lotta Recommendation

Nearly four months later, I have only good things to say.  The glasses have held up extremely well, even with the relative rough use I put them through.  Even with their plastic lenses, there are no scratches or blemishes as of yet.  All screws are still tight, nothing loose or wobbly.  In fact, I’m wearing them right now!

In the end, I would have to whole-heartedly endorse the online-glasses course of action.  Though I used 39glasses.com, countless readers elsewhere have had similarly glowing things to say about other online retailers.

So, do yourself a favor!  If you need glasses anytime soon, check out either of the links below as a starting point to locate the best retailer & product for you.  You will find plenty of links to retailers within:

• Adventures in $40 Glasses (blog post)
• Glassy Eyes (blog, forums, reviews, etc)

The point could be well argued that Scrabulous was in fact creating value for Hasbro’s product.  After all, what board game would a Scrabulous fan be eager to play when hanging out face-to-face with friends and family on vacations or during the holidays, for example?  Scrabble, of course! But this may not be the case anymore, as bad tastes can linger.

Authors Cory Doctorow and Matt Mason have scribed recent articles describing somewhat similar misplaced action taken by the record industry against potential filesharers.  Instead of working toward some sort of sane payment system or reasonable solution, the record folks have made it clear that they will fight this battle using the iron first of the law.  In doing so, they may be pushing would-be customers further away.

Hasbro’s best move may have been to approach the Scrabulous developers right away, nipping the problem in the bud.  Perhaps they could have had it taken down, or even better, worked out some sort of system for royalty payment.

Instead, they have taken the attack.  What is it that they expect out of this?  Do they really think the popularity of Scrabulous will transfer right on over to their Scrabble app?  I would not count on it. That would be mistaking shadow (the superficial aspects that make up the game Scrabble) for substance (the hip, trendy, coolness, and “it” characteristics of Scrabulous).

All of those substance adjectives are what really matter, and they will quickly be reborn somewhere else.  This move will have certainly put the nail in “cool” coffin. So, as Hasbro recovers from the hack that brought spoiled the launch of their “official” Scrabble app, many would-be users may already have hit the road on the way to whatever is next.

Having ideas rain from the sky is great, but can become problematic when you must begin developing a concrete plan for how to proceed. Suddenly, the seemingly infinite ranks of ideas begin to fight over the very finite number of chairs in the room. As such, clarity of the tool’s purpose will go out the window. Trouble!

In recently dealing with this problem, I poured over sketches and scribbles for a good while before wrestling away a working solution. It breaks down as follows.

First, approach the tool (or application or website) from the most general level possible. Stated quite simply, what is the tool’s primary function?

Second, examine the individual components that the tool is based upon. What fundamental purpose do these components serve?

Next, break the components down even further. What are the pages that constitute each component? Simply stated, what is the purpose of each page?

Once you have the basic functions of each page in place, divide the design process into iterations. What features should be implemented at each stage of the design?

With this framework in place, the previous horde of ideas has a nice hierarchy to fall into. Features can be placed into this framework accordingly, whether the ideas are general or very specific. Furthermore, the design & development cycle can be approached from the foundation on up: advanced features can happily wait in line until their more general brethren are implemented.

Putting it all together, here we have a master diagram showing the entire process. Moving from left to right, the imagined functionality moves from general to specific. I have also created a space for future ideas & visions, which serves as the “waiting room” for ideas waiting to be stirred into the mix.

Ironically, as countless as online tutorials may be in number, there are few available resources devoted to teaching designers-in-training exactly how to make the most of tutorials. The importance of this, I believe, goes beyond any individual tutorial you may stumble across. The finest tutorial in the world won’t do a thing for a student who has no desire to truly learn the subject matter.

While I make no claims to be the finest designer in the land, I do have the immediate experience of having been a devoted student of design for the past few years. I have worked through countless tutorials — some for better, others for worse — and in all my of journeys have taken away a few useful lessons.

What follows might be called a theoretical approach to making the most out of a tutorial. Depending on your relative skill level and familiarity with the tool in question, the specifics of this approach may be more useful for some than for others. However, the underlying framework remains applicable across the board, whether you are a novice or an expert, no matter what the tool in question.

Preface: Finding a good tutorial to work with

The crucial first step in tackling a tutorial is finding a good tutorial to work with. The specifics of this approach will vary depending on your tool, but there are a few important considerations that seem universally applicable.

Above all, try to find tutorial resources that are (1) maintained by a single person (or small group of people); and (2) consistent in the quality of their tutorials. Try to avoid sites that offer “hundreds of tutorials” collected from various different sources: these sites tend to lack consistency and seem stale. Sites operated by a single individual (or small group of people) usually provide quality content, as well as the opportunity for rich feedback from both the tutorial author and regular visitors to the site.

For Photoshop and Illustrator, I recommend the following tutorial resources as some of my favorite:

• PSD Tuts
• BittBox Illustrator Tutorials
• Web Design Wall :: Design Trends & Tutorials
  
• Veerle’s Blog :: Tutorials
• Computer Arts Tutorials (UK Magazine)

To go along with the steps below, I have chosen to follow a recent tutorial at PSD Tuts: creating a grunge poster. I have not had much experience with the grunge aesthetic, so I thought this might be a good example to work with.

Stage One: Follow Along Exactly

Once you find a tutorial, a good first step is to follow it exactly step-by-step. In the context of the stages I will describe later, it is important to following along and imitate exactly what the tutorial demonstrates (down to the last detail). Why? To shut off your creative mind. In this initial stage, the main objective is to go through the mechanical steps.

Don’t bring thinking into it yet. Keep it technical. This will lay the groundwork for the future stages, where the technical skills are assumed and the creative energies are beckoned forth. If you try to do both of these things too early, you risk running into more than one wall at a time, something sure to stop you in your tracks and rob you of the benefits you’d otherwise gain from completing the entire tutorial process.

Particularly in Photoshop, you will find that many tutorials ask you to apply a certain filter or layer settings. In this first stage, mimic the settings they give you straight away. Don’t worry about the “why?” or “what does this setting do?” questions just yet. The concern here is to imitate each action in a timely manner.

If you do have any questions or ideas you would like to explore further, take a moment to write them down — you’ll get to them later. This first stage is not the best time to follow every side-trail, or you will easily get knocked off your primary task and lose track of your greater objective.

You may get stuck at one or more places in the tutorial you choose. For whatever reason, you may not be able to follow along smoothly, whether it be because of your own skill level or an area where the tutorial isn’t clear. No matter what: do not get hung up over little details. The most important thing in this stage is to get through the entire process. If you messed something up, take note of it: you will have a chance to improve the next time around.

For the tutorial I have chosen to follow, the result after this first stage is below. I followed the instructions as closely as I could. While there were a few points where I wasn’t able to follow along exactly, but I stayed on target and reached the end. As you can see, things aren’t 100% identical, but for the most part I stayed on track.

Stage Two: Get Innovative

Finished working through the tutorial for the first time? Good… but don’t think you’re done, for the work has just begun. It is at this stage where amateurs will move along, leaving behind the skills and techniques they have just been introduced to. For aspiring professionals, the real work now begins.

In stage two, the primary goal is to go through the tutorial again, but this time you will deviate from the prescribed course and begin to introduce subtle changes to the exercise. Use different colors, images, brushes, and assets of all kinds. While the underlying approach to the exercise remains unchanged, you will begin to make the work your own. This is when you will take the time to explore the tangential paths that beckoned during stage one.

Unlike the first stage, it is important that you do not race through this second phase. Take some time to explore and play around with things. Ask questions about why the original tutorial makes certain choices and what purpose these choices serve. Begin to think about where you might take these techniques with your own work in the long run. If you like, you can steer yourself away from the principles that don’t seem to make sense to you, and guide yourself toward the ones that seem revelant. You are still bound to the tutorial, but you’re gaining an increasing amount of control. Continue to work through until the exercise is finished, yet again.

Below is my progress after completing stage 2. I used the same general grunge approach (along with the stripes), but mixed up the color and made the text a bit more relevent to my own website. I was sure to spend some more time with the filter settings, as well as making sure I nailed the white stained border that I missed out on in the first stage.

Stage Three: Make it Your Own

In this final stage, you will approach the blank canvas one final time. This time around, however, you are off the leash: take the techniques you have learned and fully make them your own. It is up to you: anything is possible.

By all means, do not necessarily expect your final product to resemble the original tutorial at all. Rather, this might be thought of as an ordinary graphic exercise that happens to use techniques you’ve just learned.

Perhaps the most important aspect in this final stage is to make your work relevant to you as a designer. How can these techniques be used in my everyday work? How might future projects benefit from these skills? Be sure to ask these questions, thinking long and hard about the answers. You have wrestled with and tamed the knowledge in stages one and two, and now is the time to follow through with the education process.

My result after this third stage is as follows. I have decided to build off of my result in stage 2 and build a website layout around this design aesthetic:

In the end, your design arsenal will be bolstered with yet another technique waiting to serve your needs. There will always be more to learn, but the least you can do is make sure you are retaining the techniques you’re introducing yourself to. Going through these three steps will help ensure this happens.

Conclusion: Sharing Your Work & Final Thoughts

A tremendous benefit available to all internet-equipped designers these days is the ease with which users might share their work, even from tutorial exercises. This gives you a chance to not only showcase your budding talents, but also get feedback and ideas from others who have followed the same tutorials and utilized the same techniques.

This is something I have only just started to explore, but the possibilities (with Flickr alone) seem very promising. Two of my favorite tutorial resources, BittBox and PSD Tuts, each have Flickr groups for user-submitted images. Very handy indeed!

• PSD Tuts Flickr Group
• BittBox Flickr Group

So: go forth, conquer, and share!

In the end, it seems that the most important thing to keep in mind when thinking about tutorials is that the techniques covered are ultimately meant to serve our design needs. While discovering these tutorials and techniques may be easier than ever, it is much more difficult to fully assimilate them into our design arsenal.

It did not take much searching before I stumbled upon Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.net, a “virtual museum” dedicated to sports logos & uniforms. This site has been invaluable for my research needs, as it provides quite the in-dept historical record for all teams in every sporting league you can imagine. In this post I would like to share some of my findings.

Stay with the Herd

This first batch of logos represents the more-or-less general trend of evolution over the past few decades. These changes can be summed up fairly easily: bold colors (instead of bright), simpler shapes & figures (instead of logos with hand-drawn detail), and often a slant to the logo (as if an italic font).

The group above is, for the most part, a middle-of-the-road selection. Some logos have changed much more radically over time, while others have not been altered in decades.

While I am no expert, I would not hesitate to say that the impetus behind much of the change in the past 10-15 years is the advent of computer graphics. Computers undoubtedly open up a huge window of graphical opportunity, something that turns out to be both good and bad. As we shall see, it depends on how the tool is used.

Keep it Subtle, Stupid

Given any new technology, there will always be the temptation to maximize the new capabilities it brings to the table. Even though this is the case with the redesign of many different logos, there are many designs that have kept their changes small & subtle.

These changes are by no means the most glamorous or sexy, but they do the job of quelling the desire for a radical overhaul that may not actually be needed. A slight shift in color or stroke easily maintains the existing spirit of a design while quietly keeping it in line with the stylistic trends of the day.

Incrementally Wise

The New England Patriots’ logo epitomizes the incremental evolution in logo design, doing so very well. In each of the two transitions below, only one aspect of the logo is changed: first there is a shift away from the dated hand-drawn symbol (while keeping a nearly identical pallete), followed a few years later by the subtle update to more bold colors.

The end result makes an impact with a simple yet powerfully modern design. Although the two changes were less than a decade apart, the shifts were far from drastic. The current logo seems firmly rooted in place, unlikely to find itself left behind by the trends on the horizon.

Runaway Train

On the flip-side of the Patriots’ logo is that of the Toronto Blue Jays, which has changed significantly three times in about ten years:

In this case, the changes have been both frequent and relatively drastic. The first change was off to a great start with the revamped blue jay graphic, but the maple leaf in the background created a bit too much interference. Instead of toning this down, they throw it out and move on to a new design altogether, cleanly pulling all semblance of rooted tradition out of the ground.

After one more change even still, the current logo may look pretty but seems to offer little room to grow: what does it have to offer as the decades roll on? I would be suprised if we don’t see another change in the near future. My advice: ditch the inclusion of the “Jays” text and stick to the power of memorable, simple symbols that make an impact. A simple shift to the Blue Jay head in the first iteration (without the maple leaf clash!) would have solved this problem from the outset, I am sure.

Simmer Down, Now!

This modern age we live in: expansion teams left and right, new logo opportunities abound. Many of these teams, in my opinion, have embraced logos that represent the worst of what computer graphics has made possible: unnecessary detail and flair. As a result, no core symbol stands out. There is no instant recognition.

But there is hope! In my searching I was pleased to find that various expansion teams have changed their logos since inception, the changes representing a turning-away from detail and a slight embrace of simplicity:

While I do not necessarily think that these updated designs will stick around for decades, I *do* think that their accomplishment is important: they lay groundwork in which symbollic tradition might take root. A good design doesn’t simply look good in the moment, it must also leave a lifeline that breathes life into the future. The head of both grizzly and coyote (without distraction) offer potential for this, I daresay.

There and Back Again

Expansion team logos were not the only designs seduced by the allure of overtly computer-fueled graphics. Several older teams with logos rooted in tradition explored this path as well, often leaving their rich inheritance behind. Fortunatley, several designs found their way back to their traditional roots:

In each of these cases we have a return to the simple power of the original logo, albiet each is slightly tweaked for the modern age. Quite the promising example to end on, I think!

In all, this research was quite eye-opening. Branding is what it is, whether for a sports team or a typical business. In either case, the logo is tied to both the past and the future. It would be foolish to dismiss a brand’s past inheritance and notoriety, just as it would be folly to make decisions without thought of the future. Plan accordingly!

And please, do not forget the little kid sketching his favorite logos while day-dreaming in class. If he cannot draw the logo from memory, the design could probably be better. In the meantime, head over to Chris Creamer’s SportsLogos.net and take a look for yourself.

This experience is especially true in looking back at the recent design & launch of my portfolio. Little by little, my growing design vocabulary has been able to quantify certain approaches, behaviors, and principles I employed in my quest for the perfect design. This is both for better and for worse, for there were definitely some design pitfalls I fell victim to over the past few months. At the top of this pile was my misguided approach to the design itself. The story is as follows.

Early on, I broke my design down into three general categories: layout, code, and content. The layout referred to the aesthetic look of the site, including color scheme, graphics, and typography. Content is, of course, the text that would fill up each page, from the menu elements to body copy. Code, finally, is the XHTML/CSS, PHP and eventual CMS integration that would power the site.

Having nailed down these requirements, I thought it natural to fully develop one aspect at a time. After all, wouldn’t it be easier to dive into the content after the layout was totally tweaked & polished? Wouldn’t coding be a cinch after all content was written?

I didn’t know it at the time, but this approach to the design process is known as a linear development cycle. The idea is simple: each element of the design is fully completed before the next element is started.

According to Lidwell et al, a linear model is preferred when “requirements and specifications are exact and unchanging.” Of course, this did not describe my situation. The vision of my portfolio was anything if unchanging, as I was continually taking new design ideas into account. Frequently, these new ideas would break the constraints of old ideas, forcing me to radically reshuffle or else start all over again (which I did many times).

The linear design is further called for when “the cost of iteration is prohibitive.” Was that the case in my situation? Not at all. The layout, content, and code of my website could all be tweaked at any time with utmost ease.

Luckily for me, the linear model has a counterpart: the iterative development cycle. The idea here is to develop all aspects of the design simultaneously, making a little bit of progress at a time.

Provided that the requirements of the linear design (above) are not met, an iterative approach is recommended across the board.

It didn’t take me long to realize that this was exactly the solution I was looking for. No longer would I spend 10 hours developing the perfect layout only to throw it away once I couldn’t make it fit with the content. Instead, I would spend a few hours on the layout (getting it good enough) and then flesh out the content and code to a likewise good enough level. This process would then repeat, allowing me to continually re-approach each aspect of the design already having worked with the corresponding elements.

Equipped with this priceless realization, I fully understood that my portfolio did not need to be perfect upon launch. Good enough would do for the time being, and future iterations would be follow close behind. I set for myself a deadline of one week: by that time, my website would be launched. No excuses!

I was on a mission, being spurred forward by newfound resolve and the heat of a deadline. Three things happened:

The results were immediate. Even in that first day of work, the knowledge of my impending time limit forced me to accept “good enough.” Although no aspect of the design met my ideals of perfection, I was emboldened with the knowledge that I would be returning to improve each facet of the design in short time.

The outcome was favorable. In only one week, I had slain the demon that had loomed in the shadows for far too many months. My website was finally launched. I was out there, having proudly hoisted my flag in the online design world. No longer did I wait on the sidelines, dreaming of the day when I too had a portfolio. It felt good.

The future loomed brighter than ever before. As great as I felt, there was even more to look forward to! I knew that with every week and month this general pattern would repeat itself: slight upgrades & tweaks would be made to all aspects of the design, the website’s design integrity increasing steadily all along.

Perhaps the most fundamental lesson taken away from this experience has to do with the worth of a design vocabulary. When you are able to concretely define that which is otherwise abstract, you have a semblance of control and power over the concept. You can make the concept work for you instead of the other way around. In this light, I recommend Universal Principles of Design to all. Although my reading on the topic has for the most part just begun, this is (so far) the most illuminating text I have come across.

My desire to have a portfolio goes back at least 6 months. At that time (Summer 2007) I didn’t have much to fill a portfolio with, so I started creating some website mock-ups to get the ball rolling. I figured that even if I didn’t have clients, I could at least create some dummy sites to show what I could do, right?

But then came the inevitable sidetrack — the first of my freelance gigs! An actual client! With an actual product! This raised new challenges of course, but I was more than happy to accept these. This was, after all, what I wanted: real, live experience! And of course, the end result would look great on my portfolio!

Of course this was true, but the important step was that I make the time to actually create the portfolio. I took on freelance project after freelance project (and gratefully so), but somehow found myself further and further away from getting a portfolio up and running.

As summer turned into autumn, I fell back on the mental comfort of saying I’d have my portfolio launched “by New Years, at least!” That was months away… plenty of time, right? Well, it is plenty of time — that is for sure — but it requires you make it happen. As December rolled around and started to wear thin, it became apparent to me…

…I wasn’t going to have a portfolio launched by New Years.

Alas, the disappointment! Yet who else was I to blame but myself? It was time I did some serious introspection and got down to the root of the problem.

You see, it wasn’t at all that I was swamped with work, freelance or regular-job. And it also had nothing to do with not devoting enough time to the portfolio. I had, in fact, come up with various drafts and concepts for the portfolio design, yet I lacked the fortitude to pick a design and follow through with implementing it.

That was the problem, and I finally recognized it. As stated, I would come up with a design concept and flesh it out 90% of the way… but then get swept away by the promise of an even better design. So it went… this process continued, starting itself over and over again.

I realized my problem: my intention (to launch a portfolio) was too open-ended. I was not giving myself the necessary constraints to channel my energy. Without such constraints, my intentions — however noble they might be — were wildly spraying all over the place, never fully able to coalesce and come together in a solid, cohesive form.

The solution? Quite simple, really. I needed a simple deadline. “By the end of the week,” I said to a good friend also in the design business, “I will have launched my portfolio. I will have finalized a design, created the foundational pages, and it will be up and running.” I asked that he help hold me to this promise, and the mental seed had taken root.

I was on a mission… one with a definitive due date. Finally.

That week of work will be one I shall remember for a long time. From the outset, I had to take inventory of the required tasks and manage my time effectively. More than once I flirted with the idea that plagued me so many times in the past — the “let me try this idea” reasoning that lead me down so many endless roads in search of perfection.

Yet, stray as I may have from the path, I was always brought back on course by the deadline that loomed above me. Side-quests are fine, I knew, as long as they do not detract from my ability to accomplish my primary goals. If this meant I had to leave well-enough alone with several less-than-perfect design elements, then so be it!

Time ticked; the days passed… the end of the week had arrived. I had one more day and a very clear idea of what needed to get done. I shall not lie: there is a part of me that was entirely concerned with the “imperfection” that littered the path behind me, always pleading for me to go back and make things perfect before proceeding. But I would not be tempted. This voice must be ignored for the time being, there was no question.

And by day’s end — with a few hours to spare, in fact — I had reached my objective. The portfolio was officially launched, its freshly constructed hull still raw with the sawdust from its construction. But such imperfections did not matter… for the dragon was slain. The boon was mine.

Having climbed to this vantage point, I look back at the young man I used to be who spent his countless hours pouring over diagrams and blueprints in the shipyard. So many plans, all geared toward perfection. They did him well for aspiration, to be sure, yet the weighed him down with ultimately unrealistic goals. If he was to wait until the design was perfect before commencing with construction, he would be waiting for quite a long time.

Perhaps in some other world I am still waiting in that shipyard, pouring over my would-be perfect sketches and diagrams. In this world, however, I have moved on. I have accepted good enough, if only for now, and followed through with the vision. As for the nagging whispers of “not good enough!” whisper into my ear… I cast them away without hesitation, instead looking to the horizon where future treasures may be found.

For this vessel is no static thing — it shall change. It shall undergo improvements, upgrades, and tweaks of all nature and variety. Best of all, these various tweaks will take place while I am out at sea. The foundation is sound, the vessel will allow for it. The next time I sail into port, I shall be on quite the improved ship with the experience to show for it.

So here I am, writing these happy words as I coast atop of the waters of the internet on my freshly launched vessel. The foundation is sturdy. She will be able to withstand the rigors of the journey without faltering. The improvements can wait. For now, I enjoy a victory long in the making.