Its time for question of the week #8! I’m going to post a short little audio clip asking you a question. Feel free to chime in and let me know what you think! I’d love to get a discussion going on in the comments!
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July 9th, 2009 at 5:02 amQuestion of the Week #8 Personal Projects…
Its time for question of the week #8! I’m going to post a short little audio clip asking you a question. Feel free to chime in and let me know what you think! I’d love to get a discussion going on in the comments!…
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Pingback from Question of the Week #8 Personal Projects | Design Newz
July 10th, 2009 at 8:31 am[...] Question of the Week #8 Personal Projects [...]
Dan Denney says:
As an employed designer, I feel that personal projects are vital to avoiding burnout. The majority of my day is “pixel pushing”, so I look forward to getting out of work and creating something that I enjoy.
Currently, my personal project is the Front-End Design Conference. It may a tad bit bigger than the standard side project, but it has opened up a whole new world to me. I have really enjoyed talking and exchanging ideas with the creatives that I look up to.
As far as the actual work goes, the best part about personal projects is that I never have to worry about what IE6 is going to do to my site…
July 8th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Jack McDade says:
If i don’t have a few personal projects in the pipe, I go crazy. I hear ya on the pixel pushing… I need to be in control of something, having the ability to make something successful rather than just following orders.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Jocelyn says:
This question really touched home for me last year in December my burn out lead me to a week stay in hospital with fluid around my heart. All I did was work and occasionally read a book( my other addiction). All the work lead to me having a crappy diet little sleep and illness that never quite went a way. I now take time for myself I try to work very little on the weekend. I make it a point to get up from my desk and connect with the world. Its harder not to over do it when what you do is what you love.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Mirko says:
As a type nuts, I try to work on some fonts but it takes shitloads of time. Most of my personal working time is spent on Designer Daily though, and creating some illustrations sometimes…
July 9th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Daan says:
I have some time reserved every week to work on my personal projects.
My top priority now is my portfolio site, but after that, there’s a creative rant blog, and a film review site
July 9th, 2009 at 5:28 am
Nick says:
I think personal projects are extremely important! As my full-time job has been picking up more corporate clients with not a lot of room for creative freedom, I need a place where I can do whatever I want.
So last year, my younger brother (who is a painter) and I started an online art collective and clothing company called One of Twenty. It has forced me to get back into painting, which I love but have neglected recently, and lets me design silly shirts and posters with no limitations.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Aaron Irizarry says:
Niki,
I would be totally stoked on that illustrator site that you mentioned. I do spend the majority of my time in photoshop, so it would be nice to polish my illustrator skillz.
I have a couple of side projects in the works (keeps me sane to have side work that isn’t related to my current job) one is a hosting company called Dwell http://www.dwellhost.com used to host clients, and help other designers we will be hosting chatcreative.com.. stuff like that. The other stuff isn’t quite formulated yet… but I love collaborating so you never know what else will come up!
~ Aaron I
July 9th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Misty Belardo says:
Hi Nikki,
I’m so eager to see the illustrator site you will be showcasing soon.. I am a digital activations director for an ad agency and i do take some time to work on personal projects that keep me sane.. I know you know what i mean. I love to write and to scribble and do hand drawn designs and i make avatars and logos for friends. You can see it here in my personal site that i am also re designing. http://digigirlmisty.blogspot.com/ and right now I am also a writer in a just launched site with 4 other designers its called bitRebels.com http://www.bitrebels.com/ its a tech,design,geek, website for inspiration and humor. Love your site and great projects you are working on.. Thank you for sharing.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Liz says:
the last 4 months ive been part of this mixed tape/cd swapping club dealy bomb and so some of the “for fun projects” ive been doing have been designing packaging for my mixes. I’m the ONLY one in the group who puts as much time into the cover as i do to the song mix, but its just so damned fun!
Been having the base for making a portfolio wordpress theme for a while now, but havent found time to work on it *sigh*
also been TALKING about a freelance/design/internet nerd podcast for a while but havent done much in the way of actually developing this idea or finding people to involve.
Just yesterday i was talking with my best friend who is a budding chef about personal branding and am planing to take her on as a pet project, she basically trusts me 100% so i can really push the design and that could be a lot of funnn
anyway, i guess thats about it.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Sabine says:
At the moment all my projects are personal. I am not yet in business really but i have created some pages for a few people. I want at the moment to sort things out for myself first. I am making a website for my domain and creating some templates that I can use and adjust for customers. I have to finish my internship first next schoolyear and then i have completed my lawstudie and I can focus on webdesigning 100%.
maybe take a course in internet marketing. I am now reading all the books I can find on the subject.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Sabine says:
to comment on your idea for an 101 illustrator site. I love that idea. I have been using photoshop for a long time (many many years). But I have learned Illustrator to at my previus education and I am just now rediscovering it and I love it
.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Ernesto says:
Hi Niki, I actually came into this business of web design as a hobby, then it became a real thing when I decided to leave my career less than a year ago and follow this hobby (freelance) into something that’s actually paying off for me. You could say that this was my side project that just became full time. But, having been involved for a little while I realized that I’d love to do something just for myself, so along with my wife, we’re creating a video podcast about the area that we live in Southern Cali. It would mainly focus on local hot spots that have nothing to do with big corporations. I thought it would be a good idea because it would actually get me out of the house and away from my Mac for at least a little while. And at the same time it would allow me to design a nice video theme (WP of course). Not to mention I already started buying new toys (Canon HV40, and a Drobo).
By the way, I’d love to see you’re work with AI, I could use the help
. Keep up the great work.
Ernesto
July 9th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Matt Barnes says:
I’ve been considering making t-shirts or starting a café press store or something like that. It would be nice to do something that is just for fun, but with the potential of making a few extra bucks.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Emily Gonsalves says:
One of my major personal projects is my vector comic series Green Corner. I try to work on that on the weekends, concentrating on client on weekdays. It gives me a chance to do some interesting things in Illustrator and stretch myself as an illustrator. I’m also challenging myself to do more interesting things with page layouts, and I’m very proud of how I’m improving.
Another personal project of mine is my “Alice Project.” It’s a condensed version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with original vector illustrations. The interiors are black and white and I use Victorian clothing for the characters. When it’s done, there will be a spread for each chapter. It’s hard to find time to work on it as I’m trying to update Green Corner more often.
I hope to get the first chapter of Green Corner and my Alice Project printed by May 2010 and start selling them at conventions. Self-publishing is different for me, but very exciting too!
I love your idea of an Illustrator 101 site. I started writing tutorials for a similar reason. Many webcomic artists use Photoshop, but I’d like to see more people consider Illustrator. My “Creating Comics in Illustrator” tutorial has received a lot of excellent feedback, and I’m very happy that people find it useful.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:51 am