Tell you

This is the part where you open up a book and watch the eyes of little children light up as you show them an interactive and engaging tale painted perfectly on a slightly large and high-glossed page.

This is the part where you sit down with your pen and write the failing, the circumstantial, and the victorious tales of the unknown, unthought of, and the inconceivable pattern of a persons life in a completely different light.

This is the part where you take your pen tool and sketch the impossible, the impeccable, and the substantial dreams of your childhood, all mastered and detailed onto a page that words could never describe, yet, it speaks louder than any word ever given.

…this is the part where you share… you.

…over a cup of coffee, over a cup of tea, over a glass of wine…

Try telling yourself like never before. Your life isn’t boring.

Your words make your story listenable. If the definition of life is what it is, then life is wonderful. It’s your perception and it’s your words that define how you live.

Welcome people into your colourful world.

Tell a story.

Community

If there’s one thing I could say about working in the creative field it’s don’t be alone. When you’re the only graphic designer among many accountants and customer service reps, don’t isolate yourself. It will be hard because you can get lost between the seemingly greater importance of numbers, dollar signs, and meetings. However, do your best to find a community of inspiration and connect with people. Find others above you and aspire to be like them. Then, find others like you to inspire you to move further. As a creative person, spend time with other designers and get connected for your own good. Show your work and glean advice from those above you.

You might be a beginner designer that your mom and dad thought was great for their business and put you in charge of everything. You don’t have anyone else that critiques your work but… them. You may or may not think you need to grow. That’s a very dangerous place. Isolation is the worst thing to happen for you as a creative person, because you’ll never grow.

Find people like you who inspire you to move forward.

Find people above you who you aspire to be like.

Now, create, connect and cultivate that community.

Influence

It’s in your DNA to influence your sphere.

• Who is in your sphere of influence?
• How seriously do you take your sphere of influence?

It’s in your DNA to be influenced by your sphere.

• Who is in your sphere of influence?
• How seriously do you take your sphere of influence?

Loathe.

“All typefaces weren’t born evil.” - Jason Santa Maria

… there are just some that end up as… victims of crime. Some fonts are actually completely innocent. It’s the people who they work for. Poor typefaces.

Above all my rants and raves about fonts, I’ve decided to compile together a list of a few typefaces that I… well… loathe. Every week, for five weeks, I will go over one typeface and explain my feelings.

Font of the week:

You guessed it.

It’s possible that every time it is used, a kitten dies.

Why? First of all, this fonts is often overused and used inappropriately, but I’d just like to say, God bless the designer of this font and their creativity.
However, Papyrus has been overused causing it to be highly insulting to the core. When it first was made, the world lovingly embraced it as a “natural” looking, textured font, using it to compel the hearts of people to embark on this middle-eastern adventure. It became the “popular” font for churches. It was on books and albums covers, movies and bulletins, slideshows and teaching series, curriculums and headings… and the highly overused and embraced font has now become a rejected one. If I was the creator of this font and knew how often people talked bad about it, I would be highly offended. But I’m sure if I saw the usage of it, I would probably be even more offended knowing how disgusting of people to use this artwork in such a way, causing my created pieces that I put together, as inappropriate, overused normality. Stripping the dear thing of all creativity and beauty. Now, in the designers world, we see Papyrus as grotesque and an inappropriate typeface for all things. I would say, yes, this is true, but… Papyrus had it’s days. At least, I think it did.

I will never ever use the typeface because I do loathe it. However, I do respect the creator of it.

» Read about the history of Papyrus here.

What do you think about Papyrus?

Have you ever seen it used properly?

Let me hear your thoughts…

Honor.

I have a few words I’d like to allocate to whoever reads this.

τιμή. לכבד. honor.

Something so many people crave, but not many give.

Some of us are very fortunate indeed to have both parents, let alone one parent, to raise us to become who we are today. I don’t know if I know you if you are reading this, but to whoever gives honor, honor is due them. I suspect that many of us don’t honor the people enough who gave us life, raised us, fed and clothed us, and changed our nasty diapers. One day, and maybe already have, you will do the same.

Growing up in my household wasn’t the easiest, but really, what is easy these days? My parents raised me, took care of me, and, yes, went out of their way to love me by putting a roof over my head, to say the least. I have life and safety to be thankful for and I have two people due the honor. Regardless, if I want honor, I must honor. It all starts at home.

I challenge you to find the definition of the word honor. Not the definition by tradition or by the culture that we live by today, the original, raw and unabridged definition of honor.

Generals.org

Well, it is finally here… Finally.

Months have taken place of designing, editing, and moving content over. I created this, with my ever patient boss, Jeremy, (Twitter: @jgreenawalt) with Typo3 as the CMS. However… It is here. Yes… the all new www.generals.org.

Enjoy.

www.generals.org

Menu Bar

I created this in CSS with three types of image slices with a different gradient on each for: current, hover, and active “a” tags in the css.

Wallpapers & Headaches.

Firstly. I’d like to point out that I’m not one to lean towards a serif font. I’m more inclined to the sans-serif or even a slab serif. But just plain regular serif fonts mostly make me gag. So why is my page’s headers all decked out in a plain regular serif? I’m still uncertain as to why. However, I have a major headache and just wanted to share with you my latest designed wallpaper work of art… It doesn’t really do anything, but if you’re a developer or designer, you may or may not enjoy it.

And here it is:

Comments & Suggestions are always welcome.

The Reason I Love Fonts.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/687456?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

iPhone 4 Fund Campaign

Description:
I don’t have an iPhone. I have never had one. I’ve been patiently waiting until January when my Sprint contract ends and get rid of this replacement device (named a phone, not worthy of it though) that I have that has minimal capabilities in texting or calling. I’d really enjoy and appreciate a working, steady, and stable phone to access the internet for my business transactions, testing capabilities for my websites created, not to mention, enjoyment and merry-ness for my humanity and my heart, altogether a better disposition for the people and I work with and see everyday, and finally, less disturbing and animus looks when someone pulls out their iPhone 4 to show me an “awesome picture” using instagram or an “awesome video” they took using their HD Camera on their iPhone 4. Ultimately, I will be a better person.

*Disclaimer:…..

I will grant to anyone who donates:

$10 – One free poker game.
$20 – A dozen of mint chocolate chip cookies.
$50 – A conversation at Starbucks (and free coffee).
$100 – **One song personally written and sung for you.
$200 – All of the above!

**First person who gives $100 will be given a song: personally written for them and sung to them by myself.

Email: bethanyiphone4fund@gmail.com
Tweet: #bethanyiphone4fund

If you’d like to donate, please email me, or reply via this post. I would love for your help!