With the addition of my niece into my family, I have had a new reason to spark up my love of photography again! There is something so sweet and innocent about a baby that makes photographing them so enjoyable. Here are a few of the many I took one day. Enjoy!

I hope to continue taking more photos of this sweet little one.

As I have stated in earlier posts, I have been trying to delve into more website design work. I am quite proud of myself, as I have not only done this but I feel I have pushed myself to a new level in my website design capabilities.

A few of the websites I have created are:

• Lucinda Sajben Photography
• Pezzo Bello Interiors
• Revive2Sell
  
• Bennett Pro Sound

I have also had the opportunity to update and reconstruct a few pre-designed websites.

• Active Sports Imaging
• Splash Action Imaging
• Active Digital Imaging

Take a look and let me know what you think! If you are looking to redesign or are beginning a new website project, let me know, I would love to work with you!

Spring is finally here in Kansas City and you can tell in the mood of everyone around. It seems there are more smiles are on their faces, and happiness is everywhere. I guess that one last snow on Saturday was enough to make everyone appreciate the idea of warm weather.

With spring here, I am very excited to finally be able to work outside in the wonderful weather. There is something about sitting outside working on a project, whether it is a new logo design, business package, website, print material or photography. The inspiration you can find in the outdoors is wonderful. From the beautiful flowers to the crisp breeze. There is something for everyone. Even if I can’t get outside, just seeing the sunlight and knowing it is refreshing outside makes my creativity spark!

Thankfully this is the start of a great few months! I can feel it!

Due to the fact that a designer must be able to be creative daily without delay, it is important that designers find a way that helps them get in the creative mood. There are so many creative sparks that will work for everyone differently and some not at all. Here are some sparks I have used that seem to work well for me.

• Music
• Putting on certain kinds of music will spark the creative button in my brain after only a few minutes.
• Brainstorming
• Jotting down any idea that comes to mind, even if they are unrelated to my design will sometimes jolt an idea.
• Sketching
• Sometimes one sketch will spark ten more sketches and many times its those first few sketches that gets transformed into the design I choose to use.
• Searching the Internet
• Sometimes all I need is Google…. Looking at other creative websites especially really good designers work, reminds me of what I am striving to be and that will set off my creative fire.
• Glancing at a Design Magazine
• As with the internet search, sometimes great design is the thing to make me creative.

There are so many ways to get your creative spark flowing. These are just a few that work for me. Good luck getting into the mood.

As I do more and more design work, I realize how much I love my job. It doesn’t matter what I am designing (logos, invitations, business cards, websites, etc.). As long as I am being creative I am happy. The more I design, the happier I am. It’s so amazing to have found what I love so early in my life. I have a lot of friends who are still searching for that one thing that will make them happy and I feel very grateful that I have had the opportunity to find it so soon. Hopefully this happiness will continue with me for many years to come.

I decided not long ago that I was going to teach myself to build a fully functional and well-designed flash animation which could work as a website if needed. I got that opportunity with a TBC Video informational flash animation which is sent out to clients who would like more information and is also available on their site http://www.tbcvideo.com/FlashRevised2-15-08/TBCflashinfo2.html. This was an adventure all it’s own. I hit a lot of bumps along the road that made me turn around and start a section again, but in the end I think it turned out quite well. I am happy with it. Take a look and let me know what you think….hopefully there will be more of these opportunities in the future. It is very rewarding to know that you started from scratch with very little knowledge of how something would work and then could create a great product in the end. I guess that is why I love design in general, the end product is always worth the speed bumps you might hit along the way!

I have to admit I am new to the iTunes Store services. I do not own an IPod and, therefore, I did not think it was necessary to use the iTunes Store and its options. The only thing I had been using iTunes for was to enter my own music collection to be played through my computer. However, this week, when I received a new MacBook Pro computer from a business partner, I gave into the temptation.

As I worked my way through all the different sections of the store, I found that, in addition to the large selection of music and movies, there are quite a few very interesting podcasts that are available for free to iTunes users.

I read a lot of podcast descriptions before I found a few that I thought would be interesting to me and my business. There is one in particular that I am currently listening to, Typeradio. This station is all about type and graphic design. It is quite informative and it gives me a chance and any other listener to get inside the head of the graphic designers we strive to become as successful as.

Since I have finished my degree I have found myself with a need for more information on design. I have picked up many books and subscribed to many magazines to keep myself in a learning state of mind. But one of the most interesting things, for me, is to read and listen to the many graphic designers in the world. To look at a piece of work and say, “That is a great piece.” is a wonderful thing to a designer, but to hear why and what they did to get to the finished product is astonishing. It is a very rare occurrence that this is possible, especially for the “untouchable” designers.

Luckily, Typeradio, gives its listeners the chance to listen to many famous graphic designers from Tina Frank to Stefen Sagmeister. The interviews offer the listener a chance to get into the heads of the designers and a glimpse into their everyday lives. In addition to the interviews they also do segments on different types of typography.

For me, this channel offers a fun listening and learning experience. I have found something I can listen to daily and as I work. So now in addition to the many books and magazines I have a channel I can listen to during my normal work schedule. If this is any indication as to how the rest of the podcasts might be, I am going to have to do some more searching!

The more I design websites the more they are becoming one of my favorite things. I have been learning a lot the more I design and it is all so interesting to me. I am currently working on trying to design a Flash website just so I can learn it. Since most of the websites I have designed are html-based, this is a new area for me.

I have never been a big fan of Flash websites. Yeah, they look crisp and clean but there are so many things you cannot do with them that are “normal” actions on an html site (like hit the back button). But because a lot of people are turning to them now I think it is something I should delve into.

I am quite familiar with Flash and have done Flash work for trade shows, dvds and even parts of websites, but I have never created a whole site in Flash. This will be a challenge that I know in the end will be well worth all the extra time and work it takes on my end.

Challenges are a lot of the fun in doing graphic design work. Things are always changing and you are constantly trying to learn new things which keeps it interesting. It’s almost like being in school again, except there is no one looking over your shoulder, telling you it’s not right, because it may not have been the way they would have done it.

Gotta love the “real” world!

It seems that this year the Christmas holiday has been downgraded. In every store I have been into this year, the decorations have been reduced to what seems like a very small amount of space, at least in comparison to previous years. This is saddening to me since Christmas is my favorite time to decorate and I feel like I was jipped in my choices of product. I have searched and searched for certain things and failed to find them. I am not sure why this is, but it may be because it seems Christmas things started appearing in stores well before normal (even before Halloween). I can’t bring myself to even start looking at Christmas items before Thanksgiving even. So I suppose it’s possible everything was picked over before I got there. However, I still don’t understand why Christmas seems to stretch out over longer and longer periods of time every year. Then, by the time it is actually here it is not quite as special. I wish it would go back to the time when Christmas season started the day after Thanksgiving, it was much better then!

One way or the other we are now quickly approaching Christmas and I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope you are safe and well!

I’ve been thinking a lot about what things make my creative juices flow and why and I realized that one of the major things that works for me is being around family and friends. This might seem crazy but my family and friends are one way I get the chance to see the world from another person’s viewpoint. Sometimes they will say something that just sparks a design in my head other times they help me to brainstorm. Even more often, it is just the fact that they help me take my mind off my work for a little while and that, more times then not, sparks those fantastic ideas. So thanks to all my friends and family for helping my creativity without even realizing you are doing it!