Best Advise Ever (so far)

I've been thinking lately about some of the best advise or phrases I've ever received or heard in my life. They may not sound so life changing at first, but if you really think about them and remember them as things come up in your life, they actually start to sound very spot-on. Some of these make me really wish that a lot of people would remember them too as situations come up it their lives*...
*Side note- one thing to know about me is that I consider myself to be an extremely logical person. Not trying to toot my own horn, but I feel like throughout my life I've had good reason to proclaim myself as such. The fastest, most condensed way is always the most logical way, in my opinion, and contrary to most of the world "following" your heart" is not the way I like to roll ha. I believe a lot of these pieces of advise to be pretty logical. Maybe they'll be a help to you, maybe not, but whatev...

1. Honesty is the best policy.
The classic cliche phrase, but so true. This rings particularly true when it comes to relationships...just sayin...

2. If everyone would be even a little less selfish, the whole world would be better off.
And it really would. I feel confident in saying that about 98% of the worlds problems come from the selfishness of every person. Sometimes everything just isn't about you. It pains me how tough it is for that fact to sink into some people's brains. And if you are rolling your eyes at this one, you are that person.

3. Cars are the worst investment you'll ever make.
Too freakin true. The things are a money pit, you never get back what you put into it. It sucks that we live in an age where most people need one. 

anyways thats it for now. I'll update this post when I can think of more. You got any good ones to share?

Package Design

Another recent project- package design! I found this one to be quite enjoyable- more so than I thought it would be. The fun part about it was that I picked one of the most boring things one could choose to design- meat packaging. Yes, you read that right- I chose this product to design. You might be asking why I chose such a mundane subject as meat packaging? I will tell you:
For one, there is virtually no legit designs for meat packaging ANYWHERE. So my options were limitless! One might see this as even more of a challenge than, say, another product that already has a certain feel or target audience to stem from, but I saw it as an opportunity to set my own bar for a field that has (let's be honest here) not been touched. Plus, if I just create an package design that merely stems from what's been done, where is the fun or originality in that?
Secondly, even though I whole-heartedly believe that my design is both visually effective and appealing, I could have done almost anything and it would have been a step up from current meat packages- which is essentially not much at all. Am I saying that I set my standards low so as to create a good design no matter what the outcome? Absolutely not! What I am saying is that I wanted to create the standard- I wanted to be the one to set the bar for this particular packaging field. I wanted it to be the idea that other people are trying to stem from to give them a direction to go.

So, as far as the design itself goes, I wanted it to be something simple, communicative, and also visually appealing, but at the same time fun and even educational. I realized there are so many elements to consider in something like meat packaging. For one, meat is a serious thing when it comes to consumers buying it- they want to know it is a quality, fresh product. However, that doesn't mean it has to look boring. If you see my design below, I added an "animal diagram". This I felt was an important design element because, being a meat eater myself, I have often thought, "I wonder what part of the animal this came from?" Well, with this educational and fun design, the curious consumer need question no more! I believe this particular design encompasses the revitalizing look that meat packaging needs, plus provides the consumer with some educational know-how. Any thoughts? I used the pig as my design example, but other animals can also apply.

Going verbal?

To put it simply, I've decided to expand my blog to more than just design work. I'm doing this for a couple reasons: 1. my new site will be up soon which will be completely dedicated to my design work anyway, so for those that want to look at my work without being polluted with other content, they will have that option there (plus there's no point having 2 places that produce the exact same content right?)  2.Without sounding like my thoughts are worth anybody listening to, I feel like i do have some interesting things on my mind from time to time, and it would just be nice to put them on some sort of platform so i can fully collect my thoughts and also so i can remember what it is i was thinking about haha. sometimes i think i'll be on a good train of thought, and when i don't write it down i forget it. Plus, some of those thoughts are things i'm learning, some truth i may have realized, or maybe even just funny ways of looking at things. whatever the case, i'd like to remember some of those things. The final reason for me writing content is simply to build relationships with you all. I feel like even though this is a blog dedicated to my design work, that is not all i am. I am not JUST a designer. There is a person behind all the layouts and ideas, ya know? My hope through writing is that maybe i can inspire you, learn with you, and even teach you something through the things i myself am learning. And in turn, maybe what i write will help you to teach and inspire me as well.

Here's to the future of this blog. Hopefully you continue to enjoy my work, and learn to equally enjoy the other various parts of my mind.

Chameleon takes it to the next level...

I don't usually love Photoshop so this was a bit of a stretch for me, but i think it came out ok.

Website Preview...

My own website is under way! The design and look of the site is finished, so now i'm learning Dreamweaver to get it online and functional for you lovely people. This just the homepage- what do you think?

Branded

My personal brand. BOOM.

off the wall

Made this for an ad project recently. I think it came out pretty cool-looking. What do you think? The drive of the ad is to communicate that there is a pair of Vans for everyone. If you want a slip-on, laced, high-top, boat, or now even boots or dress shoes, Vans has an option for you. By now, most people know what Vans is, so the ad is not meant to promote who Vans is, but rather to expound on the versatility of the company.

 

This is the same piece as above, but when i exported it as a jpeg, it happened to to crop where the box ends, so it saved like this. i thought it looked equally as cool ha.