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Posted to {% if post %} {% assign categories = post.categories %} {% else %} {% assign categories = page.categories %} {% endif %} {% for category in categories %} + {{category}}{% unless forloop.last %}, {% endunless %}{% endfor %} in {{ page.date | date: "%Y"}}.
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-
If you're a designer and love your job, stop reading now. This article is not for you.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/11/26/20121126how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer/ +excerpt: "If you're a designer and love your job, stop reading now. This article is not for you. But if being a graphic designer is getting you down, you need to do something about it."layout: post permalink: /how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer/ -structured_content: - - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' categories: - - Graphic Design - - Popular - - Undesign -tags: - - design - - graphicdesign + - graphic-design - popular + - careers --- If you're a designer and love your job, stop reading now. This article is not for you. Graphic design can be a noble profession and I can count many of my heroes amongst its members. diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-12-its-not-just-what-you-do-its-what-you-dont-do.md b/_posts/2012-12-12-its-not-just-what-you-do-its-what-you-dont-do.md index 4710f2a..45852e2 100644 --- a/_posts/2012-12-12-its-not-just-what-you-do-its-what-you-dont-do.md +++ b/_posts/2012-12-12-its-not-just-what-you-do-its-what-you-dont-do.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 82 title: 'It’s not just what you do, it’s what you don’t' date: 2012-12-12T09:16:19+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/12/201212its-not-just-what-you-do-its-what-you-dont-do/ permalink: /its-not-just-what-you-do-its-what-you-dont-do/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, I became a news junkie, compulsively devouring two or even three news websites on a daily basis. It was an itch I could scratch, and for almost a decade was part of my online routine.
A daily side of news isn't going to kill you, but it's part of a larger problem, accurately described as The 'Busy' Trap by author Tim Kreider — the cacophony of emails, messages, obligations, lists and scheduling which threaten to overwhelm us:
"It’s not as if any of us wants to live like this; it’s something we collectively force one another to do."
With these seemingly unavoidable mantras woven into the fabric of modern day life, it's no wonder that people talk of "not having time" to do the things that they want to.
But that statement is a misdemeanour in itself. You don't just "have" time — you make time.
Stop doing crap that doesn't matter, and do stuff that does.
- Don't read or watch the news (Tim Ferriss calls this a "news fast" and recommends an initial diet of 10 days)
- Don't read your email willy-nilly (I still struggle to avoid this. Blocking apps like Self Control can help)
- Don't make excuses. (No-one gives you permission in life)
- Don't do time management (Instead, identify the most 1-3 tasks each day and do them first)
- Don't do meetings (This of course, is easier if you don't have a boss, and is something on my growing list of reasons to be your own)
- Don't make goals (Focus on the present, not the future, and do something which excites you now)
What things can you stop doing, and what will you do instead?
Recommended reading:
- Leo Babauta on Achieving Without Goals
- The 4-Hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss (and his Not-To-Do list)
- Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity, David Allen
- The Magic of Thinking Big, David J. Schwartz
- The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less, Richard Koch
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, I became a news junkie, compulsively devouring two or even three news websites on a daily basis. It was an itch I could scratch, and for almost a decade was part of my online routine.
A daily side of news isn't going to kill you, but it's part of a larger problem, accurately described as The 'Busy' Trap by author Tim Kreider — the cacophony of emails, messages, obligations, lists and scheduling which threaten to overwhelm us:
"It’s not as if any of us wants to live like this; it’s something we collectively force one another to do."
With these seemingly unavoidable mantras woven into the fabric of modern day life, it's no wonder that people talk of "not having time" to do the things that they want to.
But that statement is a misdemeanour in itself. You don't just "have" time — you make time.
Stop doing crap that doesn't matter, and do stuff that does.
- Don't read or watch the news (Tim Ferriss calls this a "news fast" and recommends an initial diet of 10 days)
- Don't read your email willy-nilly (I still struggle to avoid this. Blocking apps like Self Control can help)
- Don't make excuses. (No-one gives you permission in life)
- Don't do time management (Instead, identify the most 1-3 tasks each day and do them first)
- Don't do meetings (This of course, is easier if you don't have a boss, and is something on my growing list of reasons to be your own)
- Don't make goals (Focus on the present, not the future, and do something which excites you now)
What things can you stop doing, and what will you do instead?
Recommended reading:
- Leo Babauta on Achieving Without Goals
- The 4-Hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss (and his Not-To-Do list)
- Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity, David Allen
- The Magic of Thinking Big, David J. Schwartz
- The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less, Richard Koch
Working as a digital designer (and amateur programmer) in Scotland I was briefly exposed (1) to the software development methodology of 'extreme programming', whose creator Kent Beck advocated coding first, and optimising last.
His aim was to allow for more iterations in the development cycle of a piece of software, thus creating the most opportunities for feedback and improvement. Tellingly perhaps, his third book on the subject was called "Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change".
By swapping out the 'coding' for 'doing', his approach can be used to engineer greater, and faster, change in your own personal development.
Do first, optimise last (and embrace the change).
(1) Hat tip to my former, and slightly maverick, boss Hoss Gifford. I still the remember the day our team got a bollocking for animating a 'wrong password' shake on the login screen of our fledging email newsletter system, whilst the rest of it remained completely unbuilt (which is how it remains to this day).
\ No newline at end of file +Working as a digital designer (and amateur programmer) in Scotland I was briefly exposed (1) to the software development methodology of 'extreme programming', whose creator Kent Beck advocated coding first, and optimising last.
His aim was to allow for more iterations in the development cycle of a piece of software, thus creating the most opportunities for feedback and improvement. Tellingly perhaps, his third book on the subject was called "Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change".
By swapping out the 'coding' for 'doing', his approach can be used to engineer greater, and faster, change in your own personal development.
Do first, optimise last (and embrace the change).
(1) Hat tip to my former, and slightly maverick, boss Hoss Gifford. I still the remember the day our team got a bollocking for animating a 'wrong password' shake on the login screen of our fledging email newsletter system, whilst the rest of it remained completely unbuilt (which is how it remains to this day).
diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-27-ed-templeton-professional-skateboarder-turned-artist.md b/_posts/2012-12-27-ed-templeton-professional-skateboarder-turned-artist.md deleted file mode 100644 index 9a1e56d..0000000 --- a/_posts/2012-12-27-ed-templeton-professional-skateboarder-turned-artist.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 140 -title: 'Ed Templeton: Professional Skateboarder Turned Artist' -date: 2012-12-27T10:24:31+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/27/201212ed-templeton-professional-skateboarder-turned-artist/ -permalink: /ed-templeton-professional-skateboarder-turned-artist/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- - \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-27-if-its-waking-you-up-try-writing-it-down.md b/_posts/2012-12-27-if-its-waking-you-up-try-writing-it-down.md index 6095fcb..867db6a 100644 --- a/_posts/2012-12-27-if-its-waking-you-up-try-writing-it-down.md +++ b/_posts/2012-12-27-if-its-waking-you-up-try-writing-it-down.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 119 title: 'If it’s waking you up, try writing it down' date: 2012-12-27T19:53:27+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/27/201212if-its-waking-you-up-try-writing-it-down/ permalink: /if-its-waking-you-up-try-writing-it-down/ categories: - - Writing + - writing --- -If you're losing sleep because you can't stop thinking about something, here's a disarmingly simple tip from Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity and The $100 Startup.
I kept waking up at night with more ideas. If I didn’t write them down, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I learned a while back that when you wake up feeling excited about an idea and can’t shake it, there’s usually a reason for it. It’s a good idea to pay attention to what you’re being told by the universe.
On a slight tangent, I believe there's an interesting parallel here with lucid dreaming.
Why?
In short: because keeping a dream journal is one of the most cited methods of improving your recall of REM sleep (the still-mysterious phase of reduced consciousness when dreams happen).
During REM sleep, the activity of your brain's neurons is most similar to that during waking hours, so it follows that anything which is waking you up, might be doing so for a reason.
Next time something wakes you up, try writing it down... or even drawing it, something I always do after a particularly vivid dream.
\ No newline at end of file +If you're losing sleep because you can't stop thinking about something, here's a disarmingly simple tip from Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity and The $100 Startup.
I kept waking up at night with more ideas. If I didn’t write them down, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I learned a while back that when you wake up feeling excited about an idea and can’t shake it, there’s usually a reason for it. It’s a good idea to pay attention to what you’re being told by the universe.
On a slight tangent, I believe there's an interesting parallel here with lucid dreaming.
Why?
In short: because keeping a dream journal is one of the most cited methods of improving your recall of REM sleep (the still-mysterious phase of reduced consciousness when dreams happen).
During REM sleep, the activity of your brain's neurons is most similar to that during waking hours, so it follows that anything which is waking you up, might be doing so for a reason.
Next time something wakes you up, try writing it down... or even drawing it, something I always do after a particularly vivid dream.
diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-28-ever-read-the-manual-for-an-apple-device.md b/_posts/2012-12-28-ever-read-the-manual-for-an-apple-device.md deleted file mode 100644 index 84a107e..0000000 --- a/_posts/2012-12-28-ever-read-the-manual-for-an-apple-device.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 139 -title: Ever read the manual for an Apple device? -date: 2012-12-28T16:21:00+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/28/201212ever-read-the-manual-for-an-apple-device/ -permalink: /ever-read-the-manual-for-an-apple-device/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -Me neither.
(On which note: the latest iPads are shipping without any instruction manual, something which is probably not ideal for some new/older users)
But there is a crucial difference between minimalism and reductionism — one that is highlighted by the recent trend for gesture driven apps like Clear, Rise and Solar:
These apps have chosen to reduce details to achieve a minimal UI, but in the process the UI has also become harder to use. Unfortunately a UI walkthrough is quite an inelegant way to explain the core functionality of an app. It can be a frustrating obstacle before you can dive into an app, and you have to remember all of those new ways of using it once you get in. A good rule of thumb is that the user should be able to figure out how to use an app just by looking at it.
If You See a UI Walkthrough, They Blew It via Daring Fireball
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-28-scott-schumann-aka-the-sartorialist-on-the-benefits-of-not-knowing.md b/_posts/2012-12-28-scott-schumann-aka-the-sartorialist-on-the-benefits-of-not-knowing.md deleted file mode 100644 index 48fd174..0000000 --- a/_posts/2012-12-28-scott-schumann-aka-the-sartorialist-on-the-benefits-of-not-knowing.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 131 -title: Scott Schumann, aka The Sartorialist, on the benefits of not knowing -date: 2012-12-28T23:08:27+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/28/201212scott-schumann-aka-the-sartorialist-on-the-benefits-of-not-knowing/ -permalink: /scott-schumann-aka-the-sartorialist-on-the-benefits-of-not-knowing/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -How did someone with "a degree in apparel merchandising and a minor in costume construction" become one of the internet's most famous fashion photographers, selling hundreds of thousands of books in the process?
I'm not sure either, but one thing the man behind the lens of The Sartorialist has said on record, is that his lack of photography training was a help, not a hindrance:
"My lack of knowledge in the beginning really helped, and made me refine what little I knew to make it work. If you ask any other person who does a creative thing, they probably goes to a school and learn all these different things, and as they get better, it just narrows and narrows..."- - \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-29-take-your-rubber-duck-debugging-up-a-notch.md b/_posts/2012-12-29-take-your-rubber-duck-debugging-up-a-notch.md index 9c727cc..e1f5fbc 100644 --- a/_posts/2012-12-29-take-your-rubber-duck-debugging-up-a-notch.md +++ b/_posts/2012-12-29-take-your-rubber-duck-debugging-up-a-notch.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 56 title: 'Take your rubber duck debugging up a notch: use it on someone you admire' date: 2012-12-29T09:52:16+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/29/201212take-your-rubber-duck-debugging-up-a-notch/ permalink: /take-your-rubber-duck-debugging-up-a-notch/ categories: - - Life + - life ---
@@ -29,4 +26,4 @@ When you're done, you might find yourself closer to an answer than you thought.
-Also see: How to Get George Bush or the CEO of Google on the Phone \ No newline at end of file +Also see: How to Get George Bush or the CEO of Google on the Phone diff --git a/_posts/2012-12-30-things-i-learnt-about-blogging-in-2012.md b/_posts/2012-12-30-things-i-learnt-about-blogging-in-2012.md index bb86faf..7813ad1 100644 --- a/_posts/2012-12-30-things-i-learnt-about-blogging-in-2012.md +++ b/_posts/2012-12-30-things-i-learnt-about-blogging-in-2012.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 179 title: 23 things I learnt about blogging in 2012 date: 2012-12-30T13:10:40+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2012/12/30/1223-things-i-learnt-about-blogging-in-2012/ permalink: /things-i-learnt-about-blogging-in-2012/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - writing --- With CycleLove approaching its first birthday (and no doubt some teething pains and temper tantrums imminent), it seemed like a sensible time to recap on lessons learned over the course of this year. @@ -15,4 +12,4 @@ I'm not claiming to be a pro-blogger by any means, but I do feel like my bloggin Polite notice: if there's a product link below, it most likely heads to Amazon. -
- Choose your topic carefully.
In the past I've had a few blogs, but never gotten close to getting them off the ground. Either I blogged in such a scattergun manner that only a handful of readers came back regularly, or focused on such a narrow topic (like my own music) that I had nothing to say. If you can't think of 20 potential items for blog posts right off the bat, you need to reconsider your topic. Check out the excellent TentBlogger series of tips on pro-blogging for more advice on this. - I've said it before, and I'll say it again, content is king, not design.
This may be a harder pill to swallow if like me, you're a graphic designer. Don't worry about how it looks — worry about what you're saying. If you have a fledgling blog, consider using a simple, readymade theme to begin with. Once you have 3-6 months of content in place, you'll have a much better idea of how you want it to look. If you do it the other way around you'll be working blind. - Concentrate on finding great stories and people.
Not on SEO or any other marketing mumbo-jumbo. If it has an acronym, chances are you don't need to worry about it for now. - Words are your best friend. Learn how to use them.
Start with Writing That Works: How to Communicate Effectively in Business and then keep reading, and writing, as much as possible. Deconstruct the output of writers you admire. Then reconstruct it in your own voice. The fabulous Brain Pickings also posts a lot of great advice on writing, like these 10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy - Images are your second best friend.
They like to hang out with words, too. Use the highest quality images possible. Although having no image is usually better than having a ropey one. Also, remember that people like big pictures. See the cunningly named The Big Picture for a fine example of this. - 'Write Epic Shit'
This tip comes from Corbett Barr on ThinkTraffic: "Write things that make people think. Inspire people. Change lives. Create value. Blow people away with your usefulness." I took this a step further for CycleLove, and decided to 'do epic shit'. It worked, and the article has gone on to become one of the most shared on the site. - SLR users, take that camera off auto!
Experiment with using aperture priority mode. You don't have to become a manual ninja overnight. Start by taking a few shots where you are making the decisions, not the camera, and slowly wean yourself off auto. Trust me, it's worth the effort. - If your camera came with a kit lens, consider upgrading it. Switching my Canon 400D to a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens have made a world of difference to my photos. I can't believer that I used my previous (film) camera for nearly ten years without using a proper lens on it. Shame on me.
- The Voice Memo app on the iPhone is more than adequate as dictaphone.
I've used it to do record interviews in all kinds of noisy environments, like coffee shops and street corners, without any problems. Just be sure to place your phone as close as possible to your interviewee. - If you do interviews, keep them short. Every minute of audio takes around five minutes to transcribe. Which means that teeny ten minute interview you just did might take an hour to write out.
- Sometimes the most effective way to engage your audience is to ask a question. The most commented article on CycleLove this year was, quite simply, "What bike do you ride?". In retrospect it's an obvious topic, but it took me nine months to get round to asking it.
- People like free stuff. Therefore free stuff makes for great marketing. Run competitions. Buy small prizes yourself if you don't have the leverage yet to wangle freebies from other companies. Use your freebies like a carrot on a stick to draw in new readers.
- Reliable hosting is worth the investment. I switched CycleLove to the specialist Wordpress hosting company WP-Engine and have enjoyed flawless uptime ever since, despite several huge traffic spikes caused by mentions on Hacker News and from high-profile Tweeters. If the site had still been running on a budget hosting package, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people would have seen error pages instead of my website. That would have sucked.
- Your newsletter subscribers are an invisible, but highly precious, resource.
Don't neglect the people who have trusted you with the key to their inbox. Even if you only have a tiny mailing list, give it plenty of love. The people on your list are your early adopters. The ones who care enough to fill in a stupid form on your website to sign up. And the ones who are most likely to be sharing your blog with their friends. - The subject line of your newsletter matters. More than you might think.
You can increase both the number of people who read your email, *and* the number of people who click on the links inside, just by tweaking your subject line copy. If you're using a newsletter system like MailChimp, make use of A/B split testing to run some experiments on your subject lines. In general, I've found that not following the usual advice on subject lines has been most effective. - Get familiar with what Eric Ries calls 'vanity metrics', then ignore them
Because if you concentrate on numbers, say hits to your website or how many Facebook likes an article has, it means you are forgetting about people. - There are more direct ways to measure the impact of your site, like 'the inconvenience test'
Again, this tip came via the always-excellent ThinkTraffic blog: "Put simply, the test of inconvenience is an informal analysis of whether you have readers that are willing to go through hoops to interact with you, or to achieve your call to action, or to just generally spend extra time interfacing with your content, products, or services." Has someone emailed you personally to thank/praise you about your blog? Written an epic comment which is paragraphs long? Or spent 10-15 minutes reading your site? Then congratulations, you are passing the convenience test. - Social buttons have to be social to work (duh!)
This tip is courtesy of Joanna at CopyHackers who gave me some incredibly helpful feedback on the first iteration of CycleLove. One of her suggesionts was that I remove the commenting, tweeting and like options. "Those are all critical parts of social proof, but the only thing low tweets and zero comments proves is that very few people are actually visiting your site or that, when they come, they're not engaged enough to talk and share. Once you build up an active following, throw the social buttons back on there. Easy." - Build your mailing list by getting more aggressive.
Again, this advice came from Joanna: "You don't have to be super-aggressive. But you may want to add a HelloBar or ViperChill Bar that invites people to sign-up. I do this on my site, and it works just as well as the really ugly ones and the annoying pop-ups" - Use Qualaroo to ask people what they most like about your site or what they most want from your site
One last tip from Joanna at CopyHackers. A Qualaroo widget can sit very unobtrusively in the corner of your site, waiting to collect responses from your readers. You might be surprised by their answers! - Try extending your blog into the physical world
It's a great way to put faces to what would otherwise be just names on Twitter or Facebook. With CycleLove, that meant hosting a launch party and film screening. If you do organise an event, keep it simple, and focus on something that will closely align with the ethos of your blog. - Buddy up with blogs or brands at a similar stage in the journey to you
Everything is easier if you have some friends on board to watch out for you, or to tap for advice. - Don't give up!
It sounds to me like most blogs take a year to really kick in. If you're not getting much traffic at first, be patient, and keep creating good content. The eyeballs will come.
What would you add to the list?
PS. I missed a few things out on the first sweep.
- Working standing up is easier than it sounds. I tried it for a week (using a tall chest of drawers as a temporary 'desk') and found myself more focused, and much straighter, into the bargain. Ever since I've been hugely aware of my bad posture and ever-so-slight hunchback. Read more about the health benefits of working standing.
- Squarespace (used to power this site) makes a very refreshing change from Wordpress as a blogging platform. The drag and drop post editor means you can create interesting, multi-columned posts very fast; escaping the tired text-with-interspersed-images look of many blogs.
- Writing blogs posts first thing in the morning (I'm talking before breakfast) was the single greatest productivity booster for me in 2012. If getting up early is hard for you, read Joel Gascoigne on "Two important and often overlooked aspects of creating a lasting morning routine" (He knows a thing or two on this subject, being the founder of Buffer).
- Choose your topic carefully.
In the past I've had a few blogs, but never gotten close to getting them off the ground. Either I blogged in such a scattergun manner that only a handful of readers came back regularly, or focused on such a narrow topic (like my own music) that I had nothing to say. If you can't think of 20 potential items for blog posts right off the bat, you need to reconsider your topic. Check out the excellent TentBlogger series of tips on pro-blogging for more advice on this. - I've said it before, and I'll say it again, content is king, not design.
This may be a harder pill to swallow if like me, you're a graphic designer. Don't worry about how it looks — worry about what you're saying. If you have a fledgling blog, consider using a simple, readymade theme to begin with. Once you have 3-6 months of content in place, you'll have a much better idea of how you want it to look. If you do it the other way around you'll be working blind. - Concentrate on finding great stories and people.
Not on SEO or any other marketing mumbo-jumbo. If it has an acronym, chances are you don't need to worry about it for now. - Words are your best friend. Learn how to use them.
Start with Writing That Works: How to Communicate Effectively in Business and then keep reading, and writing, as much as possible. Deconstruct the output of writers you admire. Then reconstruct it in your own voice. The fabulous Brain Pickings also posts a lot of great advice on writing, like these 10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy - Images are your second best friend.
They like to hang out with words, too. Use the highest quality images possible. Although having no image is usually better than having a ropey one. Also, remember that people like big pictures. See the cunningly named The Big Picture for a fine example of this. - 'Write Epic Shit'
This tip comes from Corbett Barr on ThinkTraffic: "Write things that make people think. Inspire people. Change lives. Create value. Blow people away with your usefulness." I took this a step further for CycleLove, and decided to 'do epic shit'. It worked, and the article has gone on to become one of the most shared on the site. - SLR users, take that camera off auto!
Experiment with using aperture priority mode. You don't have to become a manual ninja overnight. Start by taking a few shots where you are making the decisions, not the camera, and slowly wean yourself off auto. Trust me, it's worth the effort. - If your camera came with a kit lens, consider upgrading it. Switching my Canon 400D to a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens have made a world of difference to my photos. I can't believer that I used my previous (film) camera for nearly ten years without using a proper lens on it. Shame on me.
- The Voice Memo app on the iPhone is more than adequate as dictaphone.
I've used it to do record interviews in all kinds of noisy environments, like coffee shops and street corners, without any problems. Just be sure to place your phone as close as possible to your interviewee. - If you do interviews, keep them short. Every minute of audio takes around five minutes to transcribe. Which means that teeny ten minute interview you just did might take an hour to write out.
- Sometimes the most effective way to engage your audience is to ask a question. The most commented article on CycleLove this year was, quite simply, "What bike do you ride?". In retrospect it's an obvious topic, but it took me nine months to get round to asking it.
- People like free stuff. Therefore free stuff makes for great marketing. Run competitions. Buy small prizes yourself if you don't have the leverage yet to wangle freebies from other companies. Use your freebies like a carrot on a stick to draw in new readers.
- Reliable hosting is worth the investment. I switched CycleLove to the specialist Wordpress hosting company WP-Engine and have enjoyed flawless uptime ever since, despite several huge traffic spikes caused by mentions on Hacker News and from high-profile Tweeters. If the site had still been running on a budget hosting package, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people would have seen error pages instead of my website. That would have sucked.
- Your newsletter subscribers are an invisible, but highly precious, resource.
Don't neglect the people who have trusted you with the key to their inbox. Even if you only have a tiny mailing list, give it plenty of love. The people on your list are your early adopters. The ones who care enough to fill in a stupid form on your website to sign up. And the ones who are most likely to be sharing your blog with their friends. - The subject line of your newsletter matters. More than you might think.
You can increase both the number of people who read your email, *and* the number of people who click on the links inside, just by tweaking your subject line copy. If you're using a newsletter system like MailChimp, make use of A/B split testing to run some experiments on your subject lines. In general, I've found that not following the usual advice on subject lines has been most effective. - Get familiar with what Eric Ries calls 'vanity metrics', then ignore them
Because if you concentrate on numbers, say hits to your website or how many Facebook likes an article has, it means you are forgetting about people. - There are more direct ways to measure the impact of your site, like 'the inconvenience test'
Again, this tip came via the always-excellent ThinkTraffic blog: "Put simply, the test of inconvenience is an informal analysis of whether you have readers that are willing to go through hoops to interact with you, or to achieve your call to action, or to just generally spend extra time interfacing with your content, products, or services." Has someone emailed you personally to thank/praise you about your blog? Written an epic comment which is paragraphs long? Or spent 10-15 minutes reading your site? Then congratulations, you are passing the convenience test. - Social buttons have to be social to work (duh!)
This tip is courtesy of Joanna at CopyHackers who gave me some incredibly helpful feedback on the first iteration of CycleLove. One of her suggesionts was that I remove the commenting, tweeting and like options. "Those are all critical parts of social proof, but the only thing low tweets and zero comments proves is that very few people are actually visiting your site or that, when they come, they're not engaged enough to talk and share. Once you build up an active following, throw the social buttons back on there. Easy." - Build your mailing list by getting more aggressive.
Again, this advice came from Joanna: "You don't have to be super-aggressive. But you may want to add a HelloBar or ViperChill Bar that invites people to sign-up. I do this on my site, and it works just as well as the really ugly ones and the annoying pop-ups" - Use Qualaroo to ask people what they most like about your site or what they most want from your site
One last tip from Joanna at CopyHackers. A Qualaroo widget can sit very unobtrusively in the corner of your site, waiting to collect responses from your readers. You might be surprised by their answers! - Try extending your blog into the physical world
It's a great way to put faces to what would otherwise be just names on Twitter or Facebook. With CycleLove, that meant hosting a launch party and film screening. If you do organise an event, keep it simple, and focus on something that will closely align with the ethos of your blog. - Buddy up with blogs or brands at a similar stage in the journey to you
Everything is easier if you have some friends on board to watch out for you, or to tap for advice. - Don't give up!
It sounds to me like most blogs take a year to really kick in. If you're not getting much traffic at first, be patient, and keep creating good content. The eyeballs will come.
What would you add to the list?
PS. I missed a few things out on the first sweep.
- Working standing up is easier than it sounds. I tried it for a week (using a tall chest of drawers as a temporary 'desk') and found myself more focused, and much straighter, into the bargain. Ever since I've been hugely aware of my bad posture and ever-so-slight hunchback. Read more about the health benefits of working standing.
- Squarespace (used to power this site) makes a very refreshing change from Wordpress as a blogging platform. The drag and drop post editor means you can create interesting, multi-columned posts very fast; escaping the tired text-with-interspersed-images look of many blogs.
- Writing blogs posts first thing in the morning (I'm talking before breakfast) was the single greatest productivity booster for me in 2012. If getting up early is hard for you, read Joel Gascoigne on "Two important and often overlooked aspects of creating a lasting morning routine" (He knows a thing or two on this subject, being the founder of Buffer).
This has to be the most painful realisation of 2012 for me.
What was yours?
[Update: lots of eye-opening responses on Hacker News]
\ No newline at end of file +This has to be the most painful realisation of 2012 for me.
What was yours?
[Update: lots of eye-opening responses on Hacker News]
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-01-everything-popular-is-wrong.md b/_posts/2013-01-01-everything-popular-is-wrong.md deleted file mode 100644 index 5787c77..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-01-01-everything-popular-is-wrong.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 50 -title: Everything popular is wrong -date: 2013-01-01T13:09:06+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/01/20131everything-popular-is-wrong/ -permalink: /everything-popular-is-wrong/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -New Year's resolutions.
Sitting down to work.
Margarine.
The 'news'.
Gym memberships.
Television.
Meetings.
[to be continued]
(written sitting down)
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-02-what-does-a-hacker-news-traffic-spike-look-like.md b/_posts/2013-01-02-what-does-a-hacker-news-traffic-spike-look-like.md index cfe5ade..e99c981 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-02-what-does-a-hacker-news-traffic-spike-look-like.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-02-what-does-a-hacker-news-traffic-spike-look-like.md @@ -1,13 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 94 title: What does a Hacker News traffic spike look like? date: 2013-01-02T16:44:08+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/02/20131what-does-a-hacker-news-traffic-spike-look-like/ permalink: /what-does-a-hacker-news-traffic-spike-look-like/ categories: - - CycleLove + - meta + - writing --- It's only recently that I've discovered the wealth of articles and discussions on Hacker News, the social news forum of the Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator.So when I posted my "100 mile bike courier" story to the site back in November, I didn't give it much thought.
Looking at the stats again now, I'm so glad that I took the decision to upgrade my hosting from Dreamhost (cheap, slow, slightly ropey) to WP-Engine (moderately priced, fast, reliable), whose managed Wordpress hosting performed flawlessly.
Granted — 7,000 uniques in a day isn't a huge number for an established site, but for CycleLove it represented a quantum leap in traffic — of almost 7,000%.
@@ -15,4 +13,4 @@ It's only recently that I've discovered the wealth of articles and discussions oSo, if you're serious about blogging, I'd strongly recommend you spend some time on Hacker News.
To begin with, simply lurk on the site. Read the trending articles. Try too get a feel for which stories are popular... and then try submitting your own.
This seems to be something of a black art — this tool might help you work out the best time to make your post — which, as with most things online, requires you to work with the flow of US internet usage and time zones.
Also see: Lessons learned from a Hacker News spike
On a slight tangent I also wanted to share a couple of tweets with you from 'power' users on Twitter, each with a following equivalent to a large city.
Erik Spikermann is a renowned typographer/designer (and cyclist) with around 244K followers. I'm not sure how he heard about CycleLove, but nevertheless he did, even posting a photo of bis Berlin bike collection to the site.
If you love cycles, as I do, you’ll love cyclelove.cc
— erik spiekermann (@espiekermann) December 14, 2012
High-street fashion retailers Topshop have a staggering 492K followers on Twitter, and posted this tweet about the Christmas Style Selection which blogger Lady Velo compiled for CycleLove
-Christmas cycle style! We love it @cyclelovehq bit.ly/Wu8uMK
— Topshop (@Topshop) December 21, 2012
It's harder to asses the impact of these tweets as they happened right after the relaunch of the CycleLove site, but I can tell you that Erik's tweet in particular resulted in an instantaneous burst of sales on the CycleLove shop.
PS. Wondering how I got Topshop to tweet about CycleLove? I built their blog for them, a job which involved migrating 1,200 posts from TypePad to Wordpress. Not something I'd like to do again in a hurry (the migration process, that is).
\ No newline at end of file +It's harder to asses the impact of these tweets as they happened right after the relaunch of the CycleLove site, but I can tell you that Erik's tweet in particular resulted in an instantaneous burst of sales on the CycleLove shop.
PS. Wondering how I got Topshop to tweet about CycleLove? I built their blog for them, a job which involved migrating 1,200 posts from TypePad to Wordpress. Not something I'd like to do again in a hurry (the migration process, that is).
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-05-olivia-laing-on-loneliness-in-new-york.md b/_posts/2013-01-05-olivia-laing-on-loneliness-in-new-york.md index 9630dd8..c85eea5 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-05-olivia-laing-on-loneliness-in-new-york.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-05-olivia-laing-on-loneliness-in-new-york.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 121 title: 'Me, myself and I: Olivia Laing on loneliness in New York' date: 2013-01-05T18:52:18+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/05/20131olivia-laing-on-loneliness-in-new-york/ permalink: /olivia-laing-on-loneliness-in-new-york/ -passthrough_url: - - http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/olivia-laing-me-lonely-in-manhattan/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -This hauntingly beautiful article by Olivia Laing for Aeon Magazine stopped me dead in my tracks last night, and has forced a re-evaluation of the fortnight I spent alone, and similarly withdrawn, in Brooklyn last summer:
I wasn’t supposed to be in New York, or not like this, anyway. I’d met someone in America and then lost them almost instantly, but the future we’d dreamed up together retained its magnetism, and so I moved alone to the city I’d expected to become my home. I had friends there, but none of the ordinary duties and habits that comprise a life. I’d severed all those small, sustaining cords, and, as such, it wasn’t surprising that I experienced a loneliness more paralysing than anything I’d encountered in more than a decade of living alone.\ No newline at end of file +
What did it feel like? It felt like being hungry, I suppose, in a place where being hungry is shameful, and where one has no money and everyone else is full.
This hauntingly beautiful article by Olivia Laing for Aeon Magazine stopped me dead in my tracks last night, and has forced a re-evaluation of the fortnight I spent alone, and similarly withdrawn, in Brooklyn last summer:
I wasn’t supposed to be in New York, or not like this, anyway. I’d met someone in America and then lost them almost instantly, but the future we’d dreamed up together retained its magnetism, and so I moved alone to the city I’d expected to become my home. I had friends there, but none of the ordinary duties and habits that comprise a life. I’d severed all those small, sustaining cords, and, as such, it wasn’t surprising that I experienced a loneliness more paralysing than anything I’d encountered in more than a decade of living alone.diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-06-ditch-photoshop-and-illustrator.md b/_posts/2013-01-06-ditch-photoshop-and-illustrator.md index cb6595a..0917417 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-06-ditch-photoshop-and-illustrator.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-06-ditch-photoshop-and-illustrator.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 130 title: Daniel Howells on lessons learned from redesigning and redeveloping siteInspire date: 2013-01-06T19:22:47+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/06/20131ditch-photoshop-and-illustrator/ permalink: /ditch-photoshop-and-illustrator/ -passthrough_url: - - http://howells.ws/posts/view/169/a-few-things-i-learned-from-redesigning-and-redeveloping-siteinspire categories: - - Uncategorised + - graphic-design --- -
What did it feel like? It felt like being hungry, I suppose, in a place where being hungry is shameful, and where one has no money and everyone else is full.
Try and ditch Photoshop and Illustrator if you’re making a web app. siteInspire is hardly a complex design but I didn’t touch either once apart from creating assets. Having no training in design, they feel like such old fashioned tools to me, and there’s a lot to be said for just diving in and creating everything in HTML and CSS from the outset.
Having been through a similarly exhausting redesign of CycleLove recently, I'd go a step further, and apply this principle to the design of pretty much any website.
Which reminds me of Jason Fried's number one reason to skip Photoshop:
You can’t click a Photoshop mockup. They aren’t real. Paper isn’t real either, but paper doesn’t have that expectation. A Photoshop mockup is on your screen. If it’s on your screen it should work. You can’t pull down menus in a Photoshop mockup, you can’t enter text into a field in a Photoshop mockup, you can’t click a link in a Photoshop mockup. HTML/CSS, on the other hand, is the real experience.
Try and ditch Photoshop and Illustrator if you’re making a web app. siteInspire is hardly a complex design but I didn’t touch either once apart from creating assets. Having no training in design, they feel like such old fashioned tools to me, and there’s a lot to be said for just diving in and creating everything in HTML and CSS from the outset.
Having been through a similarly exhausting redesign of CycleLove recently, I'd go a step further, and apply this principle to the design of pretty much any website.
Which reminds me of Jason Fried's number one reason to skip Photoshop:
You can’t click a Photoshop mockup. They aren’t real. Paper isn’t real either, but paper doesn’t have that expectation. A Photoshop mockup is on your screen. If it’s on your screen it should work. You can’t pull down menus in a Photoshop mockup, you can’t enter text into a field in a Photoshop mockup, you can’t click a link in a Photoshop mockup. HTML/CSS, on the other hand, is the real experience.
Last year I didn't set myself any goals, and achieved (almost) everything I put my mind to, so I figured that it's time to up the ante.
This decision was partly inspired by Nathan Barry's Web App Challenge — and everyone else on the web who is holding themselves accountable in public. I salute your bravery.
Restricting my resolutions to a tweet seemed like a sensible precaution.
Here's what I ended up with:
-2013 objectives: write #howtostopbeingagraphicdesigner book, release @_yakushima EP, blog daily, monetise @cyclelovehq. Hold me accountable!
— James Greig (@j_greig) January 5, 2013
To stay updated on my "How to Stop Being A Graphic Designer" book, join my mailing list.
And for some rather more unusual/interesting resolutions, see Brain Pickings' Four Famous New Year's Resolutions . You might also want to sign up for their newsletter, which is possibly the finest in the world.
\ No newline at end of file +To stay updated on my "How to Stop Being A Graphic Designer" book, join my mailing list.
And for some rather more unusual/interesting resolutions, see Brain Pickings' Four Famous New Year's Resolutions . You might also want to sign up for their newsletter, which is possibly the finest in the world.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-07-what-job-do-people-hire-a-milkshake-to-do-for-them.md b/_posts/2013-01-07-what-job-do-people-hire-a-milkshake-to-do-for-them.md deleted file mode 100644 index b3b0d9b..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-01-07-what-job-do-people-hire-a-milkshake-to-do-for-them.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 49 -title: What job do people hire a milkshake to do for them? -date: 2013-01-07T20:13:25+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/07/20131what-job-do-people-hire-a-milkshake-to-do-for-them/ -permalink: /what-job-do-people-hire-a-milkshake-to-do-for-them/ -passthrough_url: - - http://danshipper.com/heres-what-i-learned-hanging-out-with-jason-fried -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -Dan Shipper (Firefly) on hanging out with Jason Fried, and building/marketing/selling online services.
Which are all one and the same thing, according to Dan:
A great product comes from the same understanding. When you know what your customer needs emotionally you can build something simple that fits those needs exactly.
When you understand what each UI element in your product means to your customer’s life, you’ll understand how to sell it better. What your product is and the way it is sold are completely symbiotic. And both depend on detailed understanding.
This realization is both simple and beautiful.
Join the discussion on Hacker News.
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-09-you-should-probably-send-more-email-than-you-do.md b/_posts/2013-01-09-you-should-probably-send-more-email-than-you-do.md index a8a1b6e..dd9b79e 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-09-you-should-probably-send-more-email-than-you-do.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-09-you-should-probably-send-more-email-than-you-do.md @@ -1,18 +1,15 @@ --- -id: 132 title: You should probably send more email than you do date: 2013-01-09T19:32:10+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/09/20131you-should-probably-send-more-email-than-you-do/ permalink: /you-should-probably-send-more-email-than-you-do/ passthrough_url: - You Should Probably Send More Email Than You Do categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- Patrick McKenzie on why "email is the best broadcast channel ever invented for business purposes". For anyone on the receiving end of too many emails (I know, I know... that's everyone), Swiss Miss has some helpful tips from her users on handling communication overload. And you should also have a gander at The Email Charter by TED curator Chris Anderson. -Bonus: if you want to know what a great email auto-responder looks like, email the most popular blogger you can think of, and see what comes back. \ No newline at end of file +Bonus: if you want to know what a great email auto-responder looks like, email the most popular blogger you can think of, and see what comes back. diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-10-dont-make-it-perfect-just-make-it-now.md b/_posts/2013-01-10-dont-make-it-perfect-just-make-it-now.md index 353cdee..e80426a 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-10-dont-make-it-perfect-just-make-it-now.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-10-dont-make-it-perfect-just-make-it-now.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 41 title: 'Don’t make it perfect. Just make it, now.' date: 2013-01-10T10:49:53+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/10/20131dont-make-it-perfect-just-make-it-now/ permalink: /dont-make-it-perfect-just-make-it-now/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -The pursuit of perfection is an unnecessary 'designer' habit that I'm trying to unlearn.
I've found that asking "What's the fastest solution to this problem?" instead of "What's the best solution to this problem?" often helps.
\ No newline at end of file +The pursuit of perfection is an unnecessary 'designer' habit that I'm trying to unlearn.
I've found that asking "What's the fastest solution to this problem?" instead of "What's the best solution to this problem?" often helps.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-11-the-type-of-person-who-takes-random-things-on-the-internet-personally.md b/_posts/2013-01-11-the-type-of-person-who-takes-random-things-on-the-internet-personally.md index 9c0cae8..34c67c2 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-11-the-type-of-person-who-takes-random-things-on-the-internet-personally.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-11-the-type-of-person-who-takes-random-things-on-the-internet-personally.md @@ -1,14 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 152 title: The type of person who takes random things on the internet personally date: 2013-01-11T13:18:50+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/11/20131the-type-of-person-who-takes-random-things-on-the-internet-personally/ permalink: /the-type-of-person-who-takes-random-things-on-the-internet-personally/ passthrough_url: - http://karol.gajda.com/personally/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -Karol Gajda's lucid article on the benefits of emoting your emotions reminds me of a certain kind of television viewer... the kind who complains viciously about a program, as if the option to stop watching it doesn't exist.
\ No newline at end of file +Karol Gajda's lucid article on the benefits of emoting your emotions reminds me of a certain kind of television viewer... the kind who complains viciously about a program, as if the option to stop watching it doesn't exist.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-14-the-opposite-of-a-4-hour-workweek.md b/_posts/2013-01-14-the-opposite-of-a-4-hour-workweek.md index 7b2d7d3..df775da 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-14-the-opposite-of-a-4-hour-workweek.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-14-the-opposite-of-a-4-hour-workweek.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 157 title: The opposite of a 4-hour workweek date: 2013-01-14T23:39:49+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/14/20131the-opposite-of-a-4-hour-workweek/ permalink: /the-opposite-of-a-4-hour-workweek/ categories: - - CycleLove + - life --- -In the past few weeks, work seems to have taken over, and the boundary between my professional and personal life has blurred to a mere smudge.
Any freelance design projects are now being squeezed into the gaps left after blogging, so I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get in the right mindset to tackle client work.
On top of that, the thought of 'monetising' CycleLove is freaking me out a little.
I've worked hard for a year on the blog and I don't want to piss off my users by slapping adverts onto the site. But equally, if I can't make a living from CycleLove, the project isn't going to ever be more than a hobby.
I need to have a workspace that isn't my bedroom. (And a laptop).
And for the first time, I'm really missing having co-workers. Someone to bounce ideas at, or chew the fat with.
If you're self-employed, how do you keep things in balance?
\ No newline at end of file +In the past few weeks, work seems to have taken over, and the boundary between my professional and personal life has blurred to a mere smudge.
Any freelance design projects are now being squeezed into the gaps left after blogging, so I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get in the right mindset to tackle client work.
On top of that, the thought of 'monetising' CycleLove is freaking me out a little.
I've worked hard for a year on the blog and I don't want to piss off my users by slapping adverts onto the site. But equally, if I can't make a living from CycleLove, the project isn't going to ever be more than a hobby.
I need to have a workspace that isn't my bedroom. (And a laptop).
And for the first time, I'm really missing having co-workers. Someone to bounce ideas at, or chew the fat with.
If you're self-employed, how do you keep things in balance?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-15-making-the-transition-from-clients-to-customers.md b/_posts/2013-01-15-making-the-transition-from-clients-to-customers.md deleted file mode 100644 index d5b8aca..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-01-15-making-the-transition-from-clients-to-customers.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 42 -title: Making the Transition from Clients to Customers -date: 2013-01-15T09:32:00+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/15/20131making-the-transition-from-clients-to-customers/ -permalink: /making-the-transition-from-clients-to-customers/ -passthrough_url: - - http://janelleallen.com/tgl/james-greig-cyclelove/ -categories: - - CycleLove ---- -My first ever interview about CycleLove (and how I fell out of love with being a graphic designer), courtesy of Janelle Allan's blog, The Grand Life.
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-16-how-to-write-an-opening-sentence.md b/_posts/2013-01-16-how-to-write-an-opening-sentence.md index 1b86da9..52245e8 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-16-how-to-write-an-opening-sentence.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-16-how-to-write-an-opening-sentence.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 156 title: How to write an opening sentence date: 2013-01-16T21:31:32+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/16/20131how-to-write-an-opening-sentence/ permalink: /how-to-write-an-opening-sentence/ -passthrough_url: - - http://asserttrue.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/how-to-write-opening-sentence.html categories: - - Uncategorised + - writing --- -If you over-think your article's headline, there's a danger you might forget the importance of what comes next — the opening sentence. (Note to self: you need to brush up on this also).
Thankfully Kat Thomas has compiled a useful list of ways to avoid entrapment in cliche:
- Simply tell the reader what the subject is.
- Make a blunt statement.
- Cite a statistic.
- Tell a first-person anecdote that's relevant to the subject.
- Tell a third-person anecdote.
- Put up a straw man, then knock it down.
- Summarize a current state of affairs (or the conventional wisdom), then tell what's changed.
- Summarize previous research, then tell what new research has found.
- Involve the reader in a bit of conjecture.
- Start with a quotation from a famous figure. (But beware of triteness.)
- Commit an egregious exaggeration. Then explain what the (less extreme) reality is.
If you over-think your article's headline, there's a danger you might forget the importance of what comes next — the opening sentence. (Note to self: you need to brush up on this also).
Thankfully Kat Thomas has compiled a useful list of ways to avoid entrapment in cliche:
- Simply tell the reader what the subject is.
- Make a blunt statement.
- Cite a statistic.
- Tell a first-person anecdote that's relevant to the subject.
- Tell a third-person anecdote.
- Put up a straw man, then knock it down.
- Summarize a current state of affairs (or the conventional wisdom), then tell what's changed.
- Summarize previous research, then tell what new research has found.
- Involve the reader in a bit of conjecture.
- Start with a quotation from a famous figure. (But beware of triteness.)
- Commit an egregious exaggeration. Then explain what the (less extreme) reality is.
-There's no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.
— Erik Christian (@SimplyAfterDark) January 15, 2013
This struck a chord because my therapist (yes, I have one, and no longer give a shit what people think about it) is trying to persuade me that I should get out in the world and talk about my 'undesign' journey.
My response (excuse) was that I'm not ready yet, because I don't have any answers.
Maybe it's better to start a conversation, not knowing where it will go, than to remain stum in fear of awkward silences?
Conversely on Zen Habits: You're already perfect
\ No newline at end of file +This struck a chord because my therapist (yes, I have one, and no longer give a shit what people think about it) is trying to persuade me that I should get out in the world and talk about my 'undesign' journey.
My response (excuse) was that I'm not ready yet, because I don't have any answers.
Maybe it's better to start a conversation, not knowing where it will go, than to remain stum in fear of awkward silences?
Conversely on Zen Habits: You're already perfect
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-18-two-people-you-might-need-in-your-professional-life.md b/_posts/2013-01-18-two-people-you-might-need-in-your-professional-life.md deleted file mode 100644 index c49d788..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-01-18-two-people-you-might-need-in-your-professional-life.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 174 -title: Two people you might need in your professional life -date: 2013-01-18T22:00:00+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/18/20131two-people-you-might-need-in-your-professional-life/ -permalink: /two-people-you-might-need-in-your-professional-life/ -passthrough_url: - - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/01/two-people-you-might-need-in-your-professional-life.html -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -An agonist. While an antagonist blocks an action, the agonist causes it to happen. Even more than a muse, a professional agonist might be exactly what you need to provoke your best work.
And of course, a procrastinatrix. Someone who's only job is to hold you accountable for getting it done, now, not later.
Another nugget of wisdom from Seth Godin for anyone flying solo, which immediately brought to mind Maneesh Sethi's Why I Hired A Girl On Craigslist to Slap Me In The Face; And How It Quadrupled My Productivity.
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-24-almost-flat-design.md b/_posts/2013-01-24-almost-flat-design.md deleted file mode 100644 index 2059399..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-01-24-almost-flat-design.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 67 -title: Almost flat design -date: 2013-01-24T06:57:24+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/24/20131almost-flat-design/ -permalink: /almost-flat-design/ -passthrough_url: - - http://www.matthewmooredesign.com/almost-flat-design/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -Matthew Moore takes a rational look at the flat design trend in relation to usability, gradients and drop-shadow. And doesn't mention 'skeumorphic' once, thankfully:
Flat design is beautiful and refreshing. It’s also generally faster to design and easier to make responsive. If it was a graphic design trend, it’d be well received. Unfortunately, us web designers have that pesky ‘usability’ thing always looming large. We cannot ignore the user experience with our work, so because of that, flat design is inherently flawed.\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-27-elizabeth-gilbert-your-elusive-creative-genius.md b/_posts/2013-01-27-elizabeth-gilbert-your-elusive-creative-genius.md deleted file mode 100644 index ae0bc1f..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-01-27-elizabeth-gilbert-your-elusive-creative-genius.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 122 -title: Your elusive creative genius -date: 2013-01-27T21:00:43+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/27/20131elizabeth-gilbert-your-elusive-creative-genius/ -permalink: /elizabeth-gilbert-your-elusive-creative-genius/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -
A surprisingly funny TED Talk by writer Elizabeth Gilbert, on the idea that instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius.
- - \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-28-how-to-have-a-year-that-matters.md b/_posts/2013-01-28-how-to-have-a-year-that-matters.md index d5b5834..e70c51c 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-28-how-to-have-a-year-that-matters.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-28-how-to-have-a-year-that-matters.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 93 title: How to have a year that matters date: 2013-01-28T22:00:53+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/28/20131how-to-have-a-year-that-matters/ permalink: /how-to-have-a-year-that-matters/ -passthrough_url: - - http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2013/01/how_to_have_a_year_that_matter.html categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -Let's cut the crap. Life is short, you have less time than you think, and there are no baby unicorns coming to save you.
So rather than doling out craptastic advice to you about Making!! It!! To!! The!! Top!!™, let me humbly ask: do you want to have a year that matters — or do you want to spend another year starring-slash-wallowing in the lowest-common-denominator reality show-slash-whiny soap opera of your own inescapable mediocrity-slash-self-imposed tragedy?
\ No newline at end of file +Let's cut the crap. Life is short, you have less time than you think, and there are no baby unicorns coming to save you.
So rather than doling out craptastic advice to you about Making!! It!! To!! The!! Top!!™, let me humbly ask: do you want to have a year that matters — or do you want to spend another year starring-slash-wallowing in the lowest-common-denominator reality show-slash-whiny soap opera of your own inescapable mediocrity-slash-self-imposed tragedy?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-01-29-eike-knig-on-horts-studio-culture-and-the-importance-of-fun-in-design.md b/_posts/2013-01-29-eike-knig-on-horts-studio-culture-and-the-importance-of-fun-in-design.md index abef864..63e6b1f 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-01-29-eike-knig-on-horts-studio-culture-and-the-importance-of-fun-in-design.md +++ b/_posts/2013-01-29-eike-knig-on-horts-studio-culture-and-the-importance-of-fun-in-design.md @@ -1,14 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 135 title: Eike König on the importance of fun in design date: 2013-01-29T10:56:10+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/01/29/20131eike-knig-on-horts-studio-culture-and-the-importance-of-fun-in-design/ permalink: /eike-knig-on-horts-studio-culture-and-the-importance-of-fun-in-design/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - graphic-design ---Without a doubt, this was the most energising design talk I saw last year, courtesy of Berlin-based studio HORT and the creative conference 'Here' organised by creativity uber-blog It's Nice That.
- - \ No newline at end of file + + diff --git a/_posts/2013-02-11-what-do-you-want-to-not-be-afraid-of.md b/_posts/2013-02-11-what-do-you-want-to-not-be-afraid-of.md index 1011207..633afa0 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-02-11-what-do-you-want-to-not-be-afraid-of.md +++ b/_posts/2013-02-11-what-do-you-want-to-not-be-afraid-of.md @@ -1,17 +1,14 @@ --- -id: 91 title: 'What do you want to *not* be afraid of?' date: 2013-02-11T15:38:20+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/02/11/what-do-you-want-to-not-be-afraid-of/ permalink: /what-do-you-want-to-not-be-afraid-of/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life ---“We’re in the richest, best educated, most spectacular moment in the history of the world and we’ve got nothing to be afraid of. There are no saber tooth tigers left. I mean one day the world is going to melt and that’s not going to matter. Between now and tomorrow, the question is where is your fear and how are you going to use it as opposed to hide from it.”
Since making some pretty radical New Year's resolutions last month, I feel like I've stalled with progress on my objectives.
I haven't written anything for my ebook. I haven't finished any of the tracks for my EP. I haven't blogged on a daily basis.
But beating yourself up about broken resolutions doesn't help — otherwise we would all be get-shit-done superheroes already.
Watching Seth Godin being interviewed on The Eventual Millionaire today, I realised he's right — the first step to making the big things you have planned happen is to put a finger on the fears that are holding you back, and write them down.
So, here goes...
I'm afraid of publishing my music, and performing in public. I don't like the sound of my own voice. I've spent over a decade producing music but somehow that has made me even more reluctant to release my songs into the world. Which, it goes without saying, is pretty fucking stupid.
I'm afraid of interviewing the people I have lined up for my ebook. What if I ask them dumb questions? What if the interview goes down like a lead balloon?
I'm uneasy about broadcasting my most honest of opinions on the internet. Probably because I've labelled myself as the 'shy' type for much of my life. (I'm working on this).
I'm most definitely afraid of speaking in public (although I did recently speak to a room full of people using a microphone for the first time).
What do you want to *not* be afraid of?
\ No newline at end of file +Since making some pretty radical New Year's resolutions last month, I feel like I've stalled with progress on my objectives.
I haven't written anything for my ebook. I haven't finished any of the tracks for my EP. I haven't blogged on a daily basis.
But beating yourself up about broken resolutions doesn't help — otherwise we would all be get-shit-done superheroes already.
Watching Seth Godin being interviewed on The Eventual Millionaire today, I realised he's right — the first step to making the big things you have planned happen is to put a finger on the fears that are holding you back, and write them down.
So, here goes...
I'm afraid of publishing my music, and performing in public. I don't like the sound of my own voice. I've spent over a decade producing music but somehow that has made me even more reluctant to release my songs into the world. Which, it goes without saying, is pretty fucking stupid.
I'm afraid of interviewing the people I have lined up for my ebook. What if I ask them dumb questions? What if the interview goes down like a lead balloon?
I'm uneasy about broadcasting my most honest of opinions on the internet. Probably because I've labelled myself as the 'shy' type for much of my life. (I'm working on this).
I'm most definitely afraid of speaking in public (although I did recently speak to a room full of people using a microphone for the first time).
What do you want to *not* be afraid of?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-02-12-the-benefits-of-not-finding-a-mentor.md b/_posts/2013-02-12-the-benefits-of-not-finding-a-mentor.md index 288102c..588e64f 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-02-12-the-benefits-of-not-finding-a-mentor.md +++ b/_posts/2013-02-12-the-benefits-of-not-finding-a-mentor.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 35 title: 'The benefits of (not) finding a mentor…' date: 2013-02-12T19:00:27+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/02/12/20132the-benefits-of-not-finding-a-mentor/ permalink: /the-benefits-of-not-finding-a-mentor/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life, careers ---Reading this insanely long article on how to find a mentor, I felt bamboozled by the variety of possible ways to reach out to people.
So instead, I decided to email the expert team of bloggers at Fizzle (Caleb Wojcik, Corbett Barr and Chase Reeves) for their thoughts on finding "the one".
Here's what they came back with:
@@ -24,4 +21,4 @@ categories: “ I think there are 3 kinds of people you need to be around:
1) People further along
2) People on your level (this would be the small circle or “mastermind group” idea)
3) People where you used to be (these people will usually find you)”
Ah, ok, I see where this is going now.
Helping other people can help me too?
That makes sense.
In fact, Caleb's advice has already had me rethinking my inbox karma.
I've been receiving a handful of emails each week via CycleLove, from people in search of advice on their design or blogging projects.
Most of which I have ignored, or written terse replies to.
D'oh.
Rest assured, I will be making a conscious effort to respond more helpfully to these kinds of enquiries from now on. (This is something which startup founders like Joel Gascoigne make a point of time-tabling into their weekly routine).
Corbett's email went on to explain that most of the successful people he knows had "informal connections with several people who were further along in the journey".
This seems like a great tip too — why have a single source of advice when you can have several?
Corbett also pointed out that "asking someone outright to be your mentor might work, or it could be awkward".
But fear not... because Chase suggested a subtle way around this, namely to "ask for a 20m conversation or two a month" instead of a full-on mentorship.
At this point, pause for a moment, and put yourself in the shoes position of the guru you'd been thinking of approaching.
This dude, or dudette, will undoubtably be even busier than you are (but hopefully also be smart enough not to describe themselves as busy).
Will said potential mentor want to commit to a long-term relationship with someone who's just pinged them an overly eager email?
Probably not, is the likely answer.
Chase's advice already had this covered though.
"At first you may want to just have one conversation where you have a specific question or two. Then end that with: 'Would you mind if I called you in a month or so to go over what i've done about this stuff?'".
This sounds a lot more palatable for the mentor in question. And it would give you a chance to establish a genuine rapport before getting serious about the relationship.
So, do you really need a mentor?
I'm starting to think the answer is... perhaps not.
\ No newline at end of file +Ah, ok, I see where this is going now.
Helping other people can help me too?
That makes sense.
In fact, Caleb's advice has already had me rethinking my inbox karma.
I've been receiving a handful of emails each week via CycleLove, from people in search of advice on their design or blogging projects.
Most of which I have ignored, or written terse replies to.
D'oh.
Rest assured, I will be making a conscious effort to respond more helpfully to these kinds of enquiries from now on. (This is something which startup founders like Joel Gascoigne make a point of time-tabling into their weekly routine).
Corbett's email went on to explain that most of the successful people he knows had "informal connections with several people who were further along in the journey".
This seems like a great tip too — why have a single source of advice when you can have several?
Corbett also pointed out that "asking someone outright to be your mentor might work, or it could be awkward".
But fear not... because Chase suggested a subtle way around this, namely to "ask for a 20m conversation or two a month" instead of a full-on mentorship.
At this point, pause for a moment, and put yourself in the shoes position of the guru you'd been thinking of approaching.
This dude, or dudette, will undoubtably be even busier than you are (but hopefully also be smart enough not to describe themselves as busy).
Will said potential mentor want to commit to a long-term relationship with someone who's just pinged them an overly eager email?
Probably not, is the likely answer.
Chase's advice already had this covered though.
"At first you may want to just have one conversation where you have a specific question or two. Then end that with: 'Would you mind if I called you in a month or so to go over what i've done about this stuff?'".
This sounds a lot more palatable for the mentor in question. And it would give you a chance to establish a genuine rapport before getting serious about the relationship.
So, do you really need a mentor?
I'm starting to think the answer is... perhaps not.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-02-20-kind.md b/_posts/2013-02-20-kind.md index 4c8a9c0..c886632 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-02-20-kind.md +++ b/_posts/2013-02-20-kind.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 36 title: Be kind to yourself date: 2013-02-20T22:30:44+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/02/20/kind/ permalink: /kind/ -structured_content: - - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -You are not a hypocrite.
The world is a complicated place and you are doing your best to make sense of it.
You haven't sold out, you're just being pragmatic.
All things considered, you've turned out pretty darn well.
You're a good person.
So be kind to yourself.
It's the very least your you deserves.
\ No newline at end of file +You are not a hypocrite.
The world is a complicated place and you are doing your best to make sense of it.
You haven't sold out, you're just being pragmatic.
All things considered, you've turned out pretty darn well.
You're a good person.
So be kind to yourself.
It's the very least your you deserves.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-02-28-ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success.md b/_posts/2013-02-28-ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success.md index ec428ee..7bf88e6 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-02-28-ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success.md +++ b/_posts/2013-02-28-ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 153 title: Ang Lee and the uncertainty of success date: 2013-02-28T12:46:54+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/02/28/20132ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success/ permalink: /ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success/ -passthrough_url: - - http://jeffjlin.com/2013/02/23/ang-lee-and-the-uncertainty-of-success/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -The story of director Ang Lee's six year struggle to make it in the movie business serves as an inspirational reminder to any aspiring creative or startup founder of the importance of (a) hanging on in there (b) doing something that you love.
Much is made of genius and talent, but the foundation of any life where you get to realize your ambitions is simply being able to out-last everyone through the tough, crappy times — whether through sheer determination, a strong support network, or simply a lack of options.\ No newline at end of file +
The story of director Ang Lee's six year struggle to make it in the movie business serves as an inspirational reminder to any aspiring creative or startup founder of the importance of (a) hanging on in there (b) doing something that you love.
Much is made of genius and talent, but the foundation of any life where you get to realize your ambitions is simply being able to out-last everyone through the tough, crappy times — whether through sheer determination, a strong support network, or simply a lack of options.diff --git a/_posts/2013-03-16-free-design-advice-for-your-brand-or-blog.md b/_posts/2013-03-16-free-design-advice-for-your-brand-or-blog.md deleted file mode 100644 index 8e9ca9e..0000000 --- a/_posts/2013-03-16-free-design-advice-for-your-brand-or-blog.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 136 -title: Free design advice for your brand or blog -date: 2013-03-16T10:58:06+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/03/16/20133free-design-advice-for-your-brand-or-blog/ -permalink: /free-design-advice-for-your-brand-or-blog/ -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -
This coming week (March 18-25th), I'm offering free 30 minute advice sessions by phone.
So, if you'd like to talk about a design or strategy challenge which you are facing, whether it relates to your brand, business or blog, I'd love to help.
I can review your current website design, offer thoughts on connecting with your customers, help you with Wordpress problems or theming, or simply chew over strategy with you.
Book your slot using Clarity.fm or alternatively contact me with any questions you might have.
- \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/_posts/2013-03-19-trust-your-gut-joseph.md b/_posts/2013-03-19-trust-your-gut-joseph.md index 92aa093..c7fbcfc 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-03-19-trust-your-gut-joseph.md +++ b/_posts/2013-03-19-trust-your-gut-joseph.md @@ -1,16 +1,14 @@ --- -id: 83 title: Trust your internal bullshit detector date: 2013-03-19T08:50:51+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/03/19/20133trust-your-gut-joseph/ permalink: /trust-your-gut-joseph/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life + - graphic-design ---A generic business estate on the outskirts of town. A generic office building. Generic office spaces lined up neatly inside.
(Are these places cloned somewhere? Maybe that's what Milton Keynes is for?)
Not auspicious surroundings in which to meet new clients.
This was seven or eight years ago now. I was in my mid twenties. I worked for a 'boutique' graphic design studio as a web designer, but there was still grunt work to be done, hence this shitty assignment.
Oh and there's one more thing you should know: I also had a sizeable beard. It was a phase I was going through.
Anyhow, back to our meeting.
The youngest member of staff looked to be about sixteen years old. Even more worrying than this, he also seemed to be the smartest of the bunch. As if to prove it, the others retched up foul ideas for their new website, long erased from my memory.
We listened. Nodded out heads. Asked a few questions. Took a few notes.
It wasn't that complicated though. These guys basically had a system for putting adverts on the sides of lorries and rubbish trucks.
So it was hard for me to get excited about the job.
Can you do great work for crappy clients? What would a design legend like Wim Crouwel or Paul Rand have done in this situation? (Let's be honest, they probably wouldn't have gotten into it in the first place.)
My boss drove us back to the studio. My stomach twinged, uneasily, but I thought nothing of it.
Over the next few days I duly cranked out a couple of design options for the website. From what I remember, they looked quite nice.
We returned a couple of weeks later to pitch my concepts.
This time it was even more apparent that the boss was partial to a wisecrack or two. He was positively fizzling with "wee man" energy, like a third rate comedian having an off night, trying to work a crowd he could have counted on one hand. If he could count that high.
It was a warning sign, but I missed it at the time.
We presented my designs for their website. Gave them the patter, the spiel, the bullshit. He didn't say as much, but it was clear the boss wasn't impressed.
As we left the meeting room and began to file back through the office, he paused.
Ah, I naviely thought, maybe he's going to compliment us on our fine and considered work now.
Unfortunately he wasn't.
In fact, he started to sing the theme song from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at me. (Yes, because having a beard makes you look like someone from the bible. Of course. You're a pretty funny guy).
He sang quietly at first. But before I knew it he was cajoling the rest of his staff to join in.
What. The. Fuck.
I had a flashback.
That uneasy knot in my stomach I had felt a fortnight earlier wasn't something I had eaten for lunch.
It was my internal bullshit detector kicking in.
It was a primordial part of my brain saying "Get the hell out of this place, James. It's not good for you. Run. Now. Don't look back".
But I didn't listen to it, or say anything to my boss about my doubts for the job.
So now I was facing the music. An entire office of people was taking the piss out of my beard (and me) using the medium of song. Even though Joseph doesn't even have a beard in most productions of the musical. Check your facts, people.
But more importantly, trust your gut.
Be aware of sublminal messages that your body sends you.
Otherwise you might end up in a life-threatening situation, like this...
(Yes, I hate musicals. Something about them makes we want to punch people in the face)
\ No newline at end of file + +(Yes, I hate musicals. Something about them makes we want to punch people in the face)
diff --git a/_posts/2013-03-27-my-first-website.md b/_posts/2013-03-27-my-first-website.md index c5eb6b0..092ef1d 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-03-27-my-first-website.md +++ b/_posts/2013-03-27-my-first-website.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 180 title: My first website date: 2013-03-27T09:56:52+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/03/27/my-first-website/ permalink: /my-first-website/ categories: - - Graphic Design + - graphic-design --- Remember the dulcet, gurgling tones of a 56K modem connecting over your phone line? @@ -63,6 +60,7 @@ But I didn't own a computer. So I borrowed my flatmate's beige PC and once I stopped updating Headscan, and began cold-emailing businesses in the phone book that didn't have a website, offering to build one for £100. A car-hire company was the first to take up my offer. But that's a story for another day.
+
The only Headscan I can find online. I have a hunch this guy was from the Netherlands.
What did I learn from building my first website?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-04-05-less.md b/_posts/2013-04-05-less.md
index 4deefe8..e4b9a50 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-04-05-less.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-04-05-less.md
@@ -1,12 +1,9 @@
---
-id: 58
title: Thirteen variations on less.
date: 2013-04-05T11:12:21+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/04/05/20134less/
permalink: /less/
categories:
- - Uncategorised
+ - life
---
-I stopped reading the news on a daily basis over a year ago. Newspapers have become a luxury reserved for killing time on long journeys. My TV is also long gone.
I've been trying to be more honest, mostly with myself. Less concerned with the gloss and sheen, the smoke and the mirrors of design. Less hung up on what other people think about me. My online dating profile now includes a paragraph about all the good and not-so-good stuff that happened to me last year, instead of a single sentence. Being truthful as often as possible (but never when it could hurt someone) feels refreshing.
But, I'm writing this with eighteen browser tabs open. I turned the honesty up a notch too far with my family and wish I hadn't. If you're reading this, I still love you Mum/Dad/sister/brother. I just had to hire a van to move flat. Most of the boxes are still sitting unopened in a spare room. Books and CDs that I haven't made use of in years, but still lug around with all my emotional baggage.
Which prompted this list of the things I'd like less of in my life.
Less sugar, gluten, grains and synthetic foodstuffs.
Less lying to yourself, and other people.
L
e
s
s
.
\ No newline at end of file +I stopped reading the news on a daily basis over a year ago. Newspapers have become a luxury reserved for killing time on long journeys. My TV is also long gone.
I've been trying to be more honest, mostly with myself. Less concerned with the gloss and sheen, the smoke and the mirrors of design. Less hung up on what other people think about me. My online dating profile now includes a paragraph about all the good and not-so-good stuff that happened to me last year, instead of a single sentence. Being truthful as often as possible (but never when it could hurt someone) feels refreshing.
But, I'm writing this with eighteen browser tabs open. I turned the honesty up a notch too far with my family and wish I hadn't. If you're reading this, I still love you Mum/Dad/sister/brother. I just had to hire a van to move flat. Most of the boxes are still sitting unopened in a spare room. Books and CDs that I haven't made use of in years, but still lug around with all my emotional baggage.
Which prompted this list of the things I'd like less of in my life.
Less sugar, gluten, grains and synthetic foodstuffs.
Less lying to yourself, and other people.
L
e
s
s
.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-04-07-im-a-chicken.md b/_posts/2013-04-07-im-a-chicken.md index ed62695..a81e921 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-04-07-im-a-chicken.md +++ b/_posts/2013-04-07-im-a-chicken.md @@ -1,14 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 185 title: On not making cool shit for Bjork or working for minimal techno DJs in Berlin date: 2013-04-07T16:49:41+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/04/07/20134im-a-chicken/ permalink: /im-a-chicken/ categories: - - Graphic Design - - Life + - graphic-design + - life --- When I was fresh out of art school and recovered from the shock that people weren't physically lining up to employ me at my degree show, I went on the prowl for jobs in London. @@ -84,4 +81,4 @@ But I wish I had worked as an intern for a design studio that made cool shit for I wish that I had gone and worked for minimal techno DJs in Berlin. -I wish that reading this might help you find the courage to do something which otherwise will be nothing more than an electrical impulse firing in your brain a decade later to create a stomach-crunching pang of regret. \ No newline at end of file +I wish that reading this might help you find the courage to do something which otherwise will be nothing more than an electrical impulse firing in your brain a decade later to create a stomach-crunching pang of regret. diff --git a/_posts/2013-04-14-falling-off-the-edge-of-conversations.md b/_posts/2013-04-14-falling-off-the-edge-of-conversations.md index f6b1a9f..f46b53a 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-04-14-falling-off-the-edge-of-conversations.md +++ b/_posts/2013-04-14-falling-off-the-edge-of-conversations.md @@ -1,23 +1,20 @@ --- -id: 72 title: I keep falling off the edge of conversations date: 2013-04-14T08:58:43+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/04/14/falling-off-the-edge-of-conversations/ permalink: /falling-off-the-edge-of-conversations/ categories: - - Popular - - Uncategorised + - popular + - life ---The people on my right are having one, as are the people on my left.
I'm not involved in either.
I fell off the edge of them both a few minutes back and lay there at the bottom of a pit of silence wondering if I could find anything interesting to say.
Then I scuttled away from the party without saying goodbye.
And now I'm sitting here at 7.13am the next day writing a fucking blog post about it.
It's kind of stupid because this was a room full of people I know pretty well. I hadn't seem some of them for a while. I LIKE THESE PEOPLE A LOT. There should have been plenty to talk about.
In the past, carefully calculated quantities of alcohol have been my crutch. You know... enough to loosen your tongue, but not so much that you wake up the next morning with a blank. I should drink less. I'm toying with the idea of giving up drink completely for a while until I work out this not-talking thing. Maybe I should stop going to parties. Maybe my friends will stop inviting me when they read this.
What happens when I zone out from conversations?
Sometimes small details which beg to go unnoticed captivate me instead.
I will look at the cracks in a wall and wonder how they got there.
Or count things.
Yeah, Rain Man shit.
I count the rivets in the windows of train doors quite a lot. I used to do that on the way to work and could never seem to end up at the same number. But I try not to read too much into that kind of stuff. That would be really problematic.
Sometimes in my silence I just sit there and stew in jealousy at the people telling funny stories around me. Definitely kind of stupid.
If you want to slap the "introvert" label on me, go ahead.
Case closed.
How can you spot an extrovert?
- +Extroverts are the kind of people who have never noticed that there are tiny things floating on your eyeballs which look like worms. Yeah, the ones that are really hard to look at because they are always gliding to the periphery of your vision like asteroids in the game Asteroids.
If you go on the David Icke forum you'll find people who think these 'floaters' really ARE worms. Which seems to be a fairly tame theory coming from a bunch of people who think the world is controlled by reptilian humanoids.
Scrub that, I just read the last post on the forum thread, which relates floaters to altered states of consciousness and the visions of a mystical Benedictine abbess called Hildegard of Bingen. Hmm. I'm guessing the person who came up with that is a little um, introverted. It's an interesting theory though.
The scientific theory is that floaters are just tiny imperfections in the gel that fills the space between the lens and the retina of your eyeball.
How else can you spot an extrovert?
Extroverts are the kind of people you walk down the street with and have to point out that they're about to step in dog turd because they are too busy talking to notice.
That makes it sound like I'm hating on extroverts though. I'm not. Introverts need extroverts to even things out. We should set up a buddy system. We'll help you navigate dog turds and in return you can do the talking for us.
I woke up an hour ago and lay in bed squirming about last night. My friends are leaving London and I couldn't even wish them a fond farewell. I felt pathetic about it. Sorry guys. I'm going to miss you.
But then I took the cardboard boxes off my bedoom window (I haven't got round to buying curtains yet) and smiled because the sun was just easing over the roof of the houses opposite. I closed my eyes for ten minutes and tried to concentrate on my breathing. I'm not going to use the "m" word because it doesn't feel like that yet. I guess that's why they call it practice.
- +What is it about group conversations that freaks me out?
Maybe I'm just plain embarrassed by my conversational inability and have to leave the scene of the crime.
Like when you trip walking along the pavement and look back accusingly at the offending crack, as if to deflect from the shame of your clumsiness.
I don't really know.
Does it happen to you?
\ No newline at end of file + +What is it about group conversations that freaks me out?
Maybe I'm just plain embarrassed by my conversational inability and have to leave the scene of the crime.
Like when you trip walking along the pavement and look back accusingly at the offending crack, as if to deflect from the shame of your clumsiness.
I don't really know.
Does it happen to you?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-05-30-your-mind-is-a-jail-built-out-of-bullshit.md b/_posts/2013-05-30-your-mind-is-a-jail-built-out-of-bullshit.md index 07c3cc3..b5ad272 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-05-30-your-mind-is-a-jail-built-out-of-bullshit.md +++ b/_posts/2013-05-30-your-mind-is-a-jail-built-out-of-bullshit.md @@ -1,16 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 178 title: Your mind is a jail built out of bullshit. date: 2013-05-30T08:54:40+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Why honesty is the long-lost friend you need back in your life.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/05/30/your-mind-is-a-jail-built-out-of-bullshit/ permalink: /your-mind-is-a-jail-built-out-of-bullshit/ categories: - - Popular - - Uncategorised -tags: - popular + - life --- -(And why honesty is the long-lost friend you need back in your life...)
I sometimes wake early in the morning thinking about stupid stuff I've done and whether or not I have the guts to write about it.
Like the time I pulled a girl in the queue for the cloakroom at the end of a club night, then did a runner when I realised she had a pronounced limp.
Or how I sent my parents an Amazon Affiliate link so I could earn commission on a present they were buying me last Christmas.
Other times I roll straight over to grab my phone and see how many new likes I have on Instagram, then look for retweets on Twitter, check all three of my email accounts and then try to get back to sleep. Which never works, of course.
According to the writer and psychotherapist Brad Blanton (cheers for the article headline Brad) there are three levels of honesty.
The first of these is simply "revealing the facts".
Babies don't know how to lie.
They just cry and eat and poop and sleep.
The comedian Louis C.K. has gut-wrenchingly hilarious routines about what a pain in the ass his children are. There's even one about how much his daughter poops. Honest and funny at the same time. Boom!
Anyhow, back to the lies.
Lying is a learned behaviour woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.
Eventually babies discover that crying can get them what they want.
It all escalates from there, I guess.
We lie to make ourselves look better. It usually seems like the safest way through a conversation. We also lie because it gives the illusion of control over people's perception of us.
"Hey, how are you?"
"Yeah, good thanks".
Bullshit!
Firstly, no-one really expects you to answer that question honestly.
It's a conversational default. It's healthy to question these kinds of defaults now and again, I think.
Secondly, no-one is ever just "ok."
What the fuck does that mean?
You are either tired and grumpy and generally can't be arsed, or all fired up and wanting to scream and shout or fuck like any other regular mammalian creature, or hating on nothing and everything in the universe, or so loved up that you want to give people hugs and tell them everything's gonna work out fine in the end.
A few of my friends have been asking if I'm "ok" since I started writing these kind of blog posts.
I guess I'm not any less ok than I used to be.
I am just trying to engage more openly with my thoughts and feelings (which is Honesty Level 2 according to Brad Blanton).
The other day I was riding my bike and a guy nearly opened his car door on me.
I gave him the middle finger and a couple of minutes later I was shouting "FUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU WORLD" at the top of my lungs at no-one in particular. Except for the guy walking along with this kid on the pavement in front of me, who wasn't best pleased. Then I felt like a douchebag for a bit. And then I forgot about it.
Another friend asked "Is it the anonymity of a big city that makes you write so openly?", which is a fair question of someone with a track record in extreme quietness.
Why am I writing this?
I don't think it's anything to do with living in London.
At a most base level, I'm finding it cathartic to be writing about all the crazy stuff that's happened to me in the past 18 months.
Maybe it's little easier for me because for the first time in my life I don't have a job. I can publish anything online and not worry about a potential employer finding it. (Last year I made myself a promise never to have a boss again).
Aside from not having a job, I don't have a girlfriend either. Or any money. I spent all of my savings on a trip across America, trying to save a relationship, and bootstrapping CycleLove.
So yeah, it feels like I don't have much to lose, or any barriers to being honest, at least online.
I'm not so good at being open in my person-to-person transactions, yet.
Why should you bother to tell the truth when attempting to manipulate it has become the habit of a lifetime?
I was going to try and write a complete list of "reasons to be honest", but I can't because I haven't truly discovered all of them for myself yet. You can google those kinds of lists if you want to, of course. They will probably have less swear words in them.
Here are some reasons to be honest I can vouch for so far:
Being honest reduces stress. You don't have to keep track of lies you have told. As the Roman rhetorician Quintilian said — "A liar should have a good memory". Every lie is a repressed feeling which can potentially worm its way into you as some kind of physical ailment if you don't let it out verbally. Let that shit out, man. If you can't, remember at least to keep breathing. Nice long, deep belly breathes. I am always forgetting to breathe. Maybe stop now and take a few long breathes. Feels good, right?
Honesty makes you more interesting. You'll have more stories you can tell. The more open my writing has become, the more messages I've had from people thanking me or asking when the next post will be (or if I'm "ok"). Open yourself up and see what's inside. You might be a really funny motherfucker, like Louis C.K. Or find you can spill your guts into music like John Grant who counts addiction, depression and his diagnosis as HIV positive amongst his lyrical subjects of choice.
Honesty is the new branding.
People can see through your 'marketing' crap. The more expensive the product, the more lies its marketeers usually dream up. Just look at the way things like cards and diamonds are advertised. Diamonds are a big motherfucker of a scam cooked up by ad men back in 1938. Cars are sold as ego defence mechanisms.
Lies drive wedges between people. Honesty can bring you closer again. Yeah, the trust thing. If you are honest, you can create trust. Some people think you need to have trust before you can be honest, but I think they've got it the wrong way around.
Honesty creates freedom. Honesty makes you feel more alive. Imagine being able to say the first thing that comes into your head. Describing how you feel, instead of what you are thinking. Trust me, as an over-thinker this is a game changer because it helps you stay in the present moment. If you are depressed, a willingness to engage with the truth of your situation could be your way out.
Telling the truth lets you grow up. Your behaviour is probably based on stuff that happened to you as kid. Maybe you are still blaming other people for hurting you. I know I am. It's not their fault though. If you stop acting based on past experiences, you can move on, maybe even experiment with some new behaviours.
Honesty exposes the fiction in your life. This is Brad Blanton's Level 3 of honesty — "admitting you don't know who you are".
It feels like a pretty stupid thing to say at first.
But eventually it becomes liberating.
Who are you?
Who am I?
OK, OK.
I admit it.
I don't know.
I have no fucking idea who I am right now. I don't know if I want to be a graphic designer any more. Maybe I could be a writer. Earlier in the week I went on a crazy training ride on my bike and after about 100km hit a mental wall and had to stop. I told my friends to carry on without me but they waited. Really I wanted to start crying and tell them what a crazy year I've just had. Usually when I push myself physically I find myself thinking this kind of stuff after a while. I recommend it. I remember wondering if I should swap my road bike for a tourer and pedal the Highlands of Scotland like some kind of bearded bike-riding nomad for a few months, or sell all my stuff and become a musician. I probably won't though. I don't have the guts.
If you look at Twitter profiles, including mine, most people answer the "Who am I?" question with a list of family roles, occupations or hobbies "not necessarily in that order" and favourite caffeinated drinks.
If you are a decaffeinated skinny latte, you have a problem. Seriously.
As Chuck Palahniuk wrote in Fight Club:
“You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world.”
No-one else really cares that much about you. But you should. Pay attention to what's going on inside that jail of bullshit you've built in your head.
Be honest with yourself.
It's not easy. It take guts, and practice. Sometime it hurts like hell.
Who are you, right now?
Writing on honesty I've found useful
Radical Honesty, How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth by Brad Blanton, who was trained by the founder of gestalt therapy Fritz Perls. Some of it is a little extreme for my tastes but the core is gold — "The mind is a jail built out of bullshit. This book tells how the bullshit jail of the mind gets built and how to escape."
Almost everything on James Altucher's blog but specifically 7 Things Happen to You When You Are Completely Honest. When he says "For some reason, I've turned myself inside out and all my guts have spilled onto my blog", well, he's not kidding. If you search for the phrase "I don't know" on his site you get 155 results. I love that.
The lyrics of John Grant. Yeah I know I already mentioned him. Here are a few lines to get you started...
I wish I had no self-awareness like the guys I know
Float right through their lives without a thought
And that I didn't give a shit what anybody thought of me
That I was so relaxed you'd think that I was bored
Hallelujah.
\ No newline at end of file +(And why honesty is the long-lost friend you need back in your life...)
I sometimes wake early in the morning thinking about stupid stuff I've done and whether or not I have the guts to write about it.
Like the time I pulled a girl in the queue for the cloakroom at the end of a club night, then did a runner when I realised she had a pronounced limp.
Or how I sent my parents an Amazon Affiliate link so I could earn commission on a present they were buying me last Christmas.
Other times I roll straight over to grab my phone and see how many new likes I have on Instagram, then look for retweets on Twitter, check all three of my email accounts and then try to get back to sleep. Which never works, of course.
According to the writer and psychotherapist Brad Blanton (cheers for the article headline Brad) there are three levels of honesty.
The first of these is simply "revealing the facts".
Babies don't know how to lie.
They just cry and eat and poop and sleep.
The comedian Louis C.K. has gut-wrenchingly hilarious routines about what a pain in the ass his children are. There's even one about how much his daughter poops. Honest and funny at the same time. Boom!
Anyhow, back to the lies.
Lying is a learned behaviour woven into the fabric of our everyday lives.
Eventually babies discover that crying can get them what they want.
It all escalates from there, I guess.
We lie to make ourselves look better. It usually seems like the safest way through a conversation. We also lie because it gives the illusion of control over people's perception of us.
"Hey, how are you?"
"Yeah, good thanks".
Bullshit!
Firstly, no-one really expects you to answer that question honestly.
It's a conversational default. It's healthy to question these kinds of defaults now and again, I think.
Secondly, no-one is ever just "ok."
What the fuck does that mean?
You are either tired and grumpy and generally can't be arsed, or all fired up and wanting to scream and shout or fuck like any other regular mammalian creature, or hating on nothing and everything in the universe, or so loved up that you want to give people hugs and tell them everything's gonna work out fine in the end.
A few of my friends have been asking if I'm "ok" since I started writing these kind of blog posts.
I guess I'm not any less ok than I used to be.
I am just trying to engage more openly with my thoughts and feelings (which is Honesty Level 2 according to Brad Blanton).
The other day I was riding my bike and a guy nearly opened his car door on me.
I gave him the middle finger and a couple of minutes later I was shouting "FUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU WORLD" at the top of my lungs at no-one in particular. Except for the guy walking along with this kid on the pavement in front of me, who wasn't best pleased. Then I felt like a douchebag for a bit. And then I forgot about it.
Another friend asked "Is it the anonymity of a big city that makes you write so openly?", which is a fair question of someone with a track record in extreme quietness.
Why am I writing this?
I don't think it's anything to do with living in London.
At a most base level, I'm finding it cathartic to be writing about all the crazy stuff that's happened to me in the past 18 months.
Maybe it's little easier for me because for the first time in my life I don't have a job. I can publish anything online and not worry about a potential employer finding it. (Last year I made myself a promise never to have a boss again).
Aside from not having a job, I don't have a girlfriend either. Or any money. I spent all of my savings on a trip across America, trying to save a relationship, and bootstrapping CycleLove.
So yeah, it feels like I don't have much to lose, or any barriers to being honest, at least online.
I'm not so good at being open in my person-to-person transactions, yet.
Why should you bother to tell the truth when attempting to manipulate it has become the habit of a lifetime?
I was going to try and write a complete list of "reasons to be honest", but I can't because I haven't truly discovered all of them for myself yet. You can google those kinds of lists if you want to, of course. They will probably have less swear words in them.
Here are some reasons to be honest I can vouch for so far:
Being honest reduces stress. You don't have to keep track of lies you have told. As the Roman rhetorician Quintilian said — "A liar should have a good memory". Every lie is a repressed feeling which can potentially worm its way into you as some kind of physical ailment if you don't let it out verbally. Let that shit out, man. If you can't, remember at least to keep breathing. Nice long, deep belly breathes. I am always forgetting to breathe. Maybe stop now and take a few long breathes. Feels good, right?
Honesty makes you more interesting. You'll have more stories you can tell. The more open my writing has become, the more messages I've had from people thanking me or asking when the next post will be (or if I'm "ok"). Open yourself up and see what's inside. You might be a really funny motherfucker, like Louis C.K. Or find you can spill your guts into music like John Grant who counts addiction, depression and his diagnosis as HIV positive amongst his lyrical subjects of choice.
Honesty is the new branding.
People can see through your 'marketing' crap. The more expensive the product, the more lies its marketeers usually dream up. Just look at the way things like cards and diamonds are advertised. Diamonds are a big motherfucker of a scam cooked up by ad men back in 1938. Cars are sold as ego defence mechanisms.
Lies drive wedges between people. Honesty can bring you closer again. Yeah, the trust thing. If you are honest, you can create trust. Some people think you need to have trust before you can be honest, but I think they've got it the wrong way around.
Honesty creates freedom. Honesty makes you feel more alive. Imagine being able to say the first thing that comes into your head. Describing how you feel, instead of what you are thinking. Trust me, as an over-thinker this is a game changer because it helps you stay in the present moment. If you are depressed, a willingness to engage with the truth of your situation could be your way out.
Telling the truth lets you grow up. Your behaviour is probably based on stuff that happened to you as kid. Maybe you are still blaming other people for hurting you. I know I am. It's not their fault though. If you stop acting based on past experiences, you can move on, maybe even experiment with some new behaviours.
Honesty exposes the fiction in your life. This is Brad Blanton's Level 3 of honesty — "admitting you don't know who you are".
It feels like a pretty stupid thing to say at first.
But eventually it becomes liberating.
Who are you?
Who am I?
OK, OK.
I admit it.
I don't know.
I have no fucking idea who I am right now. I don't know if I want to be a graphic designer any more. Maybe I could be a writer. Earlier in the week I went on a crazy training ride on my bike and after about 100km hit a mental wall and had to stop. I told my friends to carry on without me but they waited. Really I wanted to start crying and tell them what a crazy year I've just had. Usually when I push myself physically I find myself thinking this kind of stuff after a while. I recommend it. I remember wondering if I should swap my road bike for a tourer and pedal the Highlands of Scotland like some kind of bearded bike-riding nomad for a few months, or sell all my stuff and become a musician. I probably won't though. I don't have the guts.
If you look at Twitter profiles, including mine, most people answer the "Who am I?" question with a list of family roles, occupations or hobbies "not necessarily in that order" and favourite caffeinated drinks.
If you are a decaffeinated skinny latte, you have a problem. Seriously.
As Chuck Palahniuk wrote in Fight Club:
“You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world.”
No-one else really cares that much about you. But you should. Pay attention to what's going on inside that jail of bullshit you've built in your head.
Be honest with yourself.
It's not easy. It take guts, and practice. Sometime it hurts like hell.
Who are you, right now?
Writing on honesty I've found useful
Radical Honesty, How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth by Brad Blanton, who was trained by the founder of gestalt therapy Fritz Perls. Some of it is a little extreme for my tastes but the core is gold — "The mind is a jail built out of bullshit. This book tells how the bullshit jail of the mind gets built and how to escape."
Almost everything on James Altucher's blog but specifically 7 Things Happen to You When You Are Completely Honest. When he says "For some reason, I've turned myself inside out and all my guts have spilled onto my blog", well, he's not kidding. If you search for the phrase "I don't know" on his site you get 155 results. I love that.
The lyrics of John Grant. Yeah I know I already mentioned him. Here are a few lines to get you started...
I wish I had no self-awareness like the guys I know
Float right through their lives without a thought
And that I didn't give a shit what anybody thought of me
That I was so relaxed you'd think that I was bored
Hallelujah.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-07-11-building-a-daily-practice-one-habit-at-a-time.md b/_posts/2013-07-11-building-a-daily-practice-one-habit-at-a-time.md index af974f0..364dad2 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-07-11-building-a-daily-practice-one-habit-at-a-time.md +++ b/_posts/2013-07-11-building-a-daily-practice-one-habit-at-a-time.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 99 title: Building a daily practice, one habit at a time date: 2013-07-11T13:45:29+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/07/11/20136building-a-daily-practice-one-habit-at-a-time/ permalink: /building-a-daily-practice-one-habit-at-a-time/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -I have a nasty habit of judging fat people.
I look at them and wonder how they got like that, what the hell they are eating, if there was a point where they realised they'd crossed the line into obesity, if they're trying to do anything about it.
Maybe I choose fat people because it's easy to feel like I'm better than them.
It's harder to pass judgement on people you perceive to be better than you. Usually you just get awestruck instead.
Seth Godin recently posted this 5,000th blog post. For the past few years he has written something on his blog on a daily basis. Now that is impressive. He also wrote that his biggest surprise was "That more people aren't doing this."
Why aren't they? Why is it so hard to make habits stick?
You have to start with small steps.
Pick one thing habit you want to acquire, and build on top of that.
My problem in the past has been piling everthing into an uber-wishlist. I wanted to learn to play guitar, and go running, and write short stories and generally make myself a better human being. But I did none of it. Except buy new running shoes and a book about the running tribes of Mexico and then go jogging a couple of times before stopping.
So, start with just one habit.
For me it's going to be meditation.
Most days now I sit with my eyes closed for 10 minutes before I start my day. In fact I've just upped the time to 11 minutes.
When I've done this 30 days in a row, I'm going to level up. (You can use apps like Commit or Lift to help track your progress on this kind of thing).
And then aim to write 1,000 words a day, on top of meditating.
Then (perhaps) build another habit on top of that.
\ No newline at end of file +
I have a nasty habit of judging fat people.
I look at them and wonder how they got like that, what the hell they are eating, if there was a point where they realised they'd crossed the line into obesity, if they're trying to do anything about it.
Maybe I choose fat people because it's easy to feel like I'm better than them.
It's harder to pass judgement on people you perceive to be better than you. Usually you just get awestruck instead.
Seth Godin recently posted this 5,000th blog post. For the past few years he has written something on his blog on a daily basis. Now that is impressive. He also wrote that his biggest surprise was "That more people aren't doing this."
Why aren't they? Why is it so hard to make habits stick?
You have to start with small steps.
Pick one thing habit you want to acquire, and build on top of that.
My problem in the past has been piling everthing into an uber-wishlist. I wanted to learn to play guitar, and go running, and write short stories and generally make myself a better human being. But I did none of it. Except buy new running shoes and a book about the running tribes of Mexico and then go jogging a couple of times before stopping.
So, start with just one habit.
For me it's going to be meditation.
Most days now I sit with my eyes closed for 10 minutes before I start my day. In fact I've just upped the time to 11 minutes.
When I've done this 30 days in a row, I'm going to level up. (You can use apps like Commit or Lift to help track your progress on this kind of thing).
And then aim to write 1,000 words a day, on top of meditating.
Then (perhaps) build another habit on top of that.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-07-24-you-will-never-be-ready.md b/_posts/2013-07-24-you-will-never-be-ready.md index 8f09a19..2db9edb 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-07-24-you-will-never-be-ready.md +++ b/_posts/2013-07-24-you-will-never-be-ready.md @@ -1,16 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 89 title: You will never be ready date: 2013-07-24T08:53:27+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "
If you don't start, there's no risk of failure, and no chance of being proved wrong.
" layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/07/24/20136you-will-never-be-ready/ permalink: /you-will-never-be-ready/ categories: - - Life - - Popular -tags: + - life - popular --- -"I don't know enough about business to start my own company yet" my friend confessed to me over a beer. And then the conversation slid on to something else.
Looking back, I wish I hadn't let him off the hook so easily.
I should have asked how he intended to learn the skills he thought he needed by proxy.
Safety is dangerous
If you don't start, there's no risk of failure, and no chance of being proved wrong.
This perceived safety net is your worst enemy right now.
I know because I've been stalling myself.
I've done so much reading about startups that if I had put all of the time into actually starting one, I might have a fledgling business by now.
Instead I've become a window shopper in the mall of entrepreneurship.
I read the tweets and the articles and the books. But I don't follow through with real action.
So I am writing this as much for myself as for you.
There will never be a "good" time
Distractions and excuses will always be lurking in the periphery of your life.
And there will always be another article or book you feel like you have to read before you begin.
But that's the problem.
Because learning by doing — by pushing beyond your comfort zone, by making mistakes — always trumps learning by reading.
No-one really cares what you are doing, or if you fuck up. People are already wrapped up in their own problems, so you shouldn't pay any attention to what they might be thinking. Trust me, they are already returning the compliment.
Ideas, particularly the ones rattling around your skull, are worthless.
Take any step which can propel an idea out from your brain and into the world.
Write a draft. Draw a sketch. Record a memo.
You will never feel ready. But don't let that stop you.
Make a start, today.
\ No newline at end of file +"I don't know enough about business to start my own company yet" my friend confessed to me over a beer. And then the conversation slid on to something else.
Looking back, I wish I hadn't let him off the hook so easily.
I should have asked how he intended to learn the skills he thought he needed by proxy.
Safety is dangerous
If you don't start, there's no risk of failure, and no chance of being proved wrong.
This perceived safety net is your worst enemy right now.
I know because I've been stalling myself.
I've done so much reading about startups that if I had put all of the time into actually starting one, I might have a fledgling business by now.
Instead I've become a window shopper in the mall of entrepreneurship.
I read the tweets and the articles and the books. But I don't follow through with real action.
So I am writing this as much for myself as for you.
There will never be a "good" time
Distractions and excuses will always be lurking in the periphery of your life.
And there will always be another article or book you feel like you have to read before you begin.
But that's the problem.
Because learning by doing — by pushing beyond your comfort zone, by making mistakes — always trumps learning by reading.
No-one really cares what you are doing, or if you fuck up. People are already wrapped up in their own problems, so you shouldn't pay any attention to what they might be thinking. Trust me, they are already returning the compliment.
Ideas, particularly the ones rattling around your skull, are worthless.
Take any step which can propel an idea out from your brain and into the world.
Write a draft. Draw a sketch. Record a memo.
You will never feel ready. But don't let that stop you.
Make a start, today.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-10-10-kinds-of-writing.md b/_posts/2013-08-10-10-kinds-of-writing.md index 5be8223..3d50e03 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-08-10-10-kinds-of-writing.md +++ b/_posts/2013-08-10-10-kinds-of-writing.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 188 title: 10 kinds of writing to experiment with on a daily basis date: 2013-08-10T12:38:43+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/10/2013810-kinds-of-writing/ permalink: /10-kinds-of-writing/ categories: - - Writing + - writing --- Ok, I know what you're thinking: does this guy really do ten different kinds of writing every day? @@ -69,7 +66,7 @@ The funny thing is that life usually does work out fine. All those things you we Make a permanent home for a notebook and pen by your bed. As soon as you wake up, run through any dream fragments in your head, and then write them down. If you're a visual person, you might try sketching them too. Either way, be quick because you only have a few minutes before that dream disappears forever. - +
A dream I had about an armada of floating lizards the size of cities. Um, yeah... I don't know what it was about either.
@@ -105,4 +102,4 @@ However rambling or useless they might seem, if you collect enough of your ideas
I think it's a great concept and have been logging my thoughts in a document ever since reading about it — so I now have an oddball collection of ideas on topics ranging from the pomodoro technique to the fact that Voyager 1 is still no more than a single light day away from Earth. (I don't know why that fact struck me as important, but one day I might find out...)
- What kinds of writing (or drawing) do you find helpful to make sense of your life?
\ No newline at end of file
+ What kinds of writing (or drawing) do you find helpful to make sense of your life?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-17-going-on-retreat.md b/_posts/2013-08-17-going-on-retreat.md
index 5a1a09f..6e39581 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-08-17-going-on-retreat.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-08-17-going-on-retreat.md
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 191
title: What I learnt about moving forwards by going on retreat
date: 2013-08-17T11:05:30+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/17/2013going-on-retreat/
permalink: /going-on-retreat/
categories:
- - Uncategorised
+ - life
---
I switched Airbnb to map view, maxed the price at £50 per night, and panned hopefully right from London.
@@ -43,9 +40,9 @@ I don't know why I abandoned my usual "pack light" principles. I guess I didn't
There wasn't much to do.
I took long walks into the surrounding countryside.
-
+
-And that was kind of great when I was starting a business, because although I’m making it up as I go along, I've had a little bit of experience in lots of different places. And that gives me an insight into how I could do things. +And that was kind of great when I was starting a business, because although I’m making it up as I go along, I've had a little bit of experience in lots of different places. And that gives me an insight into how I could do things. At some point, was making bags a thing you got obsessed about then? @@ -69,7 +66,7 @@ So we just said yes, without really thinking about it. We had no products...nothing at all... just one sewing machine. -We spent the next month (both of us had full-time jobs) burning out products in the evening. We would get home and stay up all night making stuff using materials that we'd found by cycling around Glasgow and ripping apart old leather sofas, old advertising banners and stuff. +We spent the next month (both of us had full-time jobs) burning out products in the evening. We would get home and stay up all night making stuff using materials that we'd found by cycling around Glasgow and ripping apart old leather sofas, old advertising banners and stuff.
"We spent no money at all on materials for about six months, which was awesome. And this was all happening outside of my normal work."
@@ -77,9 +74,9 @@ We spent the next month (both of us had full-time jobs) burning out products in The cool thing at the time was that I was in a good flat, with good people, and we just hung out all the time, in the evenings. -We were all doing design-related degrees, so we were thinking along the same lines. +We were all doing design-related degrees, so we were thinking along the same lines. -Making stuff was something that we did for fun, anyway. It didn't really feel like we were doing work, it was just coming home and chilling out. +Making stuff was something that we did for fun, anyway. It didn't really feel like we were doing work, it was just coming home and chilling out. It just progressed from there really. The bit where it got really hard was when, during the winter at the Barras, it was dead, and we felt like we had to be there to make the most of the money we were spending. @@ -102,7 +99,7 @@ So at that point, I rebranded Trakke so that it fitted into a slightly different Did you ever feel that there were things you’d learned as a graphic designer that you need to unlearn?I think graphic design at Uni, particularly on the course that I was on as opposed to other universities, was quite conceptual. It was all about design thinking, abstract ways of getting to an end goal. When you’re at Uni you’re reading all these magazine about guerrilla advertising campaigns, and all this stuff that’s pretty cool... but not the most effective way to actually sell anything. - +
So I had to learn that it’s not always about doing something crazy different.
@@ -162,7 +159,7 @@ That’s something I totally believe in. What I found with the ‘Made in the UK
I began looking for British supplies, which was a real challenge. You realise why most people don’t buy anything from British manufacturers: it’s expensive, you can’t get everything that you want, and it’s all quite niche.
But what I found doing it is, that the cool thing is that those companies have much more interesting stories, and are using materials and products which have a good story behind them too.
-
+
So when I sell someone a bag, I can say that it’s made in Glasgow and there’s a story about us, but also this webbing is made in the Midlands, that the factory used to be water powered and it’s been there since 1866 doing the same thing, and the zips are made by the last zip manufacturer in the UK... being able to spin a tale about every component gives people a real sense of where it’s from and all the work that goes into it.
@@ -170,7 +167,7 @@ So when I sell someone a bag, I can say that it’s made in Glasgow and there’
Could you see yourself going back to graphic design? How much do you do on a daily basis?
I do stuff for Trakke all the time — the bonus is that you don’t have to employ someone to do that, you can just make it all yourself. I’m not really sure. It’s not something that I’d ever want to do freelance again. There are lots of things I’d rather do than graphic design. If I’d had my time again, I would have studied product design... but of course that comes with it’s own limitations.
-
+
Trakke's very first bag
@@ -205,7 +202,7 @@ Retailers want to take 50% of what your sale price is, and you think “Well...
So it’s hard to see the balance. But these places are set up for a totally different kind of product. Basically the whole retail industry in the UK is set up for companies that are getting stuff made overseas at ridiculously low prices and adding their margins on.
I almost feel like it requires a different system to work, but it’s hard to find out what that should be.
-
+
We got taken out to ISPO which is a huge outdoor exhibition in Germany, and I sat on a panel for a lunchtime talk thing, with a guy from O’Neill, one of the founders of Patagonia (who I really admire anyway), and a company called Finisterre who make really nice surf stuff down in Devon, and a German company called Heimplanet who make amazing inflatable tents and bags.
So I was sat with this amazing range of people, and it was the first point that I felt that despite being a ridiculously small company creating stuff with three people in a workshop, people respected what we’re doing.
@@ -216,7 +213,7 @@ We got taken out to ISPO which is
It’s funny the companies you get inspired by.
-Howies always had that lifestyle thing, Hiut have the quality thing that I really like.
+Howies always had that lifestyle thing, Hiut have the quality thing that I really like.
There’s a company called Alpkit that I like, and they make products in China, really low cost outdoor kit that is really well designed and made. When we designed our website, I was looking to them a lot, because the stuff they sell is a lot cheaper than other competitors, but you buy it, you don’t pay any postage, and it arrives the next day, with a handwritten note — their customer service is unreal!
diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-22-30-days-of-writing-x-teach-everything-you-know.md b/_posts/2013-08-22-30-days-of-writing-x-teach-everything-you-know.md
index 0ef25f6..9e581e4 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-08-22-30-days-of-writing-x-teach-everything-you-know.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-08-22-30-days-of-writing-x-teach-everything-you-know.md
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
---
-id: 368
title: 'Announcing a writing challenge mashup: 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know'
date: 2013-08-22T15:31:30+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/22/2013830-days-of-writing-x-teach-everything-you-know/
permalink: /30-days-of-writing-x-teach-everything-you-know/
categories:
- - Writing
-tags:
- - 30dowxteyk
+ - writing
---
-Enough is enough.
I'm calling time on my self-induced self-helping self-discovery gluttony.
After almost two years of reading endless self-help books and self-development blogs, I've consumed the opinions of hundreds of writers.
Now it's time to reverse the flow of information.
Who am I? How can I help you? What should I write about?
Well, I'm not entirely sure.
So I'm setting myself a writing challenge mashup:
"30 days of writing" x "Teach everything you know"
(Inspired by Paul Jarvis and Nathan Barry respectively).
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to write 1,000 words a day on a topic I've acquired some kind of knowledge about, for 30 days in a row.
Usually I dream up these kinds of crazy ideas and then bail out.
I came up with this particular one early yesterday morning and spent today compiling a list of excuses not to do it: I'm in debt, I need to concentrate on selling my flat, I need a break at weekends, I need all my energy to do freelance gigs, I'm afraid... shit... maybe I don't even have anything useful to teach people.
Bullshit, James.
This time it's going to be different.
Just to make sure — on any day where I don't write 1,000 words about something I know before midnight, I will donate £100 to charity.
I've already written a list of 20 possible topics to cover. Everything from electronic music production to designing and building Wordpress themes to climbing mountains on bicycles. If half of them are usable then I only need another 20 to make it through to the end of the challenge.
I think I can do this.
Ok.
I'm going to hit the 'publish' button now.
See you tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, and...
\ No newline at end of file +
Enough is enough.
I'm calling time on my self-induced self-helping self-discovery gluttony.
After almost two years of reading endless self-help books and self-development blogs, I've consumed the opinions of hundreds of writers.
Now it's time to reverse the flow of information.
Who am I? How can I help you? What should I write about?
Well, I'm not entirely sure.
So I'm setting myself a writing challenge mashup:
"30 days of writing" x "Teach everything you know"
(Inspired by Paul Jarvis and Nathan Barry respectively).
Starting tomorrow, I'm going to write 1,000 words a day on a topic I've acquired some kind of knowledge about, for 30 days in a row.
Usually I dream up these kinds of crazy ideas and then bail out.
I came up with this particular one early yesterday morning and spent today compiling a list of excuses not to do it: I'm in debt, I need to concentrate on selling my flat, I need a break at weekends, I need all my energy to do freelance gigs, I'm afraid... shit... maybe I don't even have anything useful to teach people.
Bullshit, James.
This time it's going to be different.
Just to make sure — on any day where I don't write 1,000 words about something I know before midnight, I will donate £100 to charity.
I've already written a list of 20 possible topics to cover. Everything from electronic music production to designing and building Wordpress themes to climbing mountains on bicycles. If half of them are usable then I only need another 20 to make it through to the end of the challenge.
I think I can do this.
Ok.
I'm going to hit the 'publish' button now.
See you tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, and...
diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-22-the-power-of-not-thinking.md b/_posts/2013-08-22-the-power-of-not-thinking.md index a7192ec..cc727ed 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-08-22-the-power-of-not-thinking.md +++ b/_posts/2013-08-22-the-power-of-not-thinking.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 207 title: The power of not thinking date: 2013-08-22T12:23:44+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/22/20137the-power-of-not-thinking/ permalink: /the-power-of-not-thinking/ categories: - - Life + - life --- Wake up. Roll over. Grab phone. Check emails. Check a load of other crap. Get up. Shower. Eat breakfast watching iPad. Cycle to work mulling over said emails. Stare at screen for eight hours... interrupted by brief period of eating whilst staring at screen by way of variation. Cycle home. Cook whilst listening to music. Eat whilst watching screen. Read (from a screen). Sleep. Repeat. @@ -47,7 +44,7 @@ Sometimes I have a sudden sensation that my life is a computer game. People forget that character is assumed. Your feelings and desires and behaviours are self-selected, not presets. You wake up in the morning and slip back into your body, pull on those old familiar character traits and habits as you do your clothes, and carry on being the person you've always been. -Without sounding overly simplistic: what if you didn't? +Without sounding overly simplistic: what if you didn't? I'm asking because I've just started reading Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, a book which asserts the benefits of creating a gap in your mind-stream, and taking a break from who you think you are. @@ -69,4 +66,4 @@ The downtime that it creates is hugely beneficial for your noggin. Through not-thinking, you can create your own virtual cooling system for the personal super computer that is your brain. - \ No newline at end of file + diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-25-punks-dont-ask-permission.md b/_posts/2013-08-25-punks-dont-ask-permission.md index fe581a1..83ba427 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-08-25-punks-dont-ask-permission.md +++ b/_posts/2013-08-25-punks-dont-ask-permission.md @@ -1,15 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 212 title: 'Punks don’t ask permission. Neither should you.' date: 2013-08-25T19:56:27+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/25/20138punks-dont-ask-permission/ permalink: /punks-dont-ask-permission/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - life --- For punks, gobbing on the band who were currently on stage was considered the ultimate form of respect: @@ -46,8 +41,7 @@ There's something about the fiercely independent spirit of punk which could serv You only need 3 chords to write a song
Anyone can start a punk band. You just need a guitar and a handful of chords to get going. And skill was less important than attitude. My translation: a restricted palette can be a creativity enhancer. If you want to create something new, having less options means less dithering about your point of entry. There are less reasons not to start. And less things to learn how to use. Pick your power chords and go make some noise. -Do it differently
Don't do what your parents tell you. Don't be the person that society expects you to be. Just be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. As another famous purveyor of punk said: - +Do it differently
Don't do what your parents tell you. Don't be the person that society expects you to be. Just be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. As another famous purveyor of punk sa
"Once something becomes easy to copy, it loses its power"What's the best way to be different? Celebrate your individuality. Be confident in your opinions and feelings. Be comfortable in your own skin. @@ -70,8 +64,7 @@ There's something about the fiercely independent spirit of punk which could serv Build your own tribe
Siouxsie Sioux
There wasn't much to celebrate about Britain for young people in the late 70s. The economy was in recession. Industry was collapsing. Those kids were alienated man. So they built their own culture, something which made sense of the world around them. It was shocking to their parents, but it gave them an identity. By making a stand it is inevitable that you will push people away. But you will also pull those who are aligned to your principles even closer to you. To build your tribe you have to explore outside of the centre, and outside of normal. -Question and then disrupt the mainstream
Everything about punk flew in the face of what was considered normal in 70s Britain. They had big hair before the advent of the big hair of the 80s. Their clothes had torn fabrics, frayed edges and defaced prints at a time when pristine clothes were the norm. Doing things differently brings down barriers and opens up new avenues of exploration. Without punk there would be no post-punk, no Joy Division or Gang of Four, no post post-punk (whatever that is). Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean you should too. As Oscar Wilde said: "Everything popular is wrong". The successful business startups are those which do things differently from before. They're the ones that are disrupting established patterns of behaviour. The same applies to art. The Impressionists were considered radicals, far too dangerous to be included in mainstream exhibitions, because they violated all the principles of 'academic' painting at the time. Fast-forward a few hundred years and their art is amongst the most highly valued in the world. But that value only exists now because of their radicalism and refusal to conform. So... - +Question and then disrupt the mainstream
Everything about punk flew in the face of what was considered normal in 70s Britain. They had big hair before the advent of the big hair of the 80s. Their clothes had torn fabrics, frayed edges and defaced prints at a time when pristine clothes were the norm. Doing things differently brings down barriers and opens up new avenues of exploration. Without punk there would be no post-punk, no Joy Division or Gang of Four, no post post-punk (whatever that is). Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean you should too. As Oscar Wilde sa Above all else: rebel
Question the establishment. Take a stance on life. Find your own path. Do your own thing. @@ -82,4 +75,4 @@ There's something about the fiercely independent spirit of punk which could serv
-Day 3 of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know.
Words written: 1033
Time taken: approx 3 hours. I don't know much about punk, which added at least an extra hour of research onto my writing time. I'm going to concentrate on subjects I have direct experience of from now on. \ No newline at end of file +Day 3 of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know.
Words written: 1033
Time taken: approx 3 hours. I don't know much about punk, which added at least an extra hour of research onto my writing time. I'm going to concentrate on subjects I have direct experience of from now on. diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-27-mr-chicken.md b/_posts/2013-08-27-mr-chicken.md index 3a90cfb..1402865 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-08-27-mr-chicken.md +++ b/_posts/2013-08-27-mr-chicken.md @@ -1,15 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 217 title: Mr. Chicken date: 2013-08-27T18:58:06+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/27/20138mr-chicken/ permalink: /mr-chicken/ categories: - - Life -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - life --- Almost as soon as I tweeted a link to an article entitled "I'm Thinking. Please. Be. Quiet" yesterday, the security alarm in my house started beeping loudly every sixty seconds. @@ -143,4 +138,4 @@ But at least I have a start now.
-Day 5 of of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know.
Words written: 1042
Time taken: 1.5 hours \ No newline at end of file +Day 5 of of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know.
Words written: 1042
Time taken: 1.5 hours diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-28-how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer-redux.md b/_posts/2013-08-28-how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer-redux.md index c7e7004..498c0e6 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-08-28-how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer-redux.md +++ b/_posts/2013-08-28-how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer-redux.md @@ -1,15 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 292 title: How to stop being a graphic designer — redux date: 2013-08-28T15:15:28+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/28/20138how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer-redux/ permalink: /how-to-stop-being-a-graphic-designer-redux/ categories: - - Undesign -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - careers + - graphic-design --- Towards the end of last year I let forth an angry rant about being a graphic designer onto the internet with little expectation of a response. @@ -131,4 +127,4 @@ What get's you fired up? What is holding you back from starting a business? -Which designers-turned-entrepreneur would you most like to hear from? \ No newline at end of file +Which designers-turned-entrepreneur would you most like to hear from? diff --git a/_posts/2013-08-29-bloggers-theres-an-i-in-niche.md b/_posts/2013-08-29-bloggers-theres-an-i-in-niche.md index ad84a06..beb89fe 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-08-29-bloggers-theres-an-i-in-niche.md +++ b/_posts/2013-08-29-bloggers-theres-an-i-in-niche.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 86 title: 'Bloggers — there’s an “i” in niche, and it’s you' date: 2013-08-29T12:54:54+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/08/29/20138bloggers-theres-an-i-in-niche/ permalink: /bloggers-theres-an-i-in-niche/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - writing --- -
I just read a post on Paid to Exist about creating your own niche rather than choosing an existing one:
When you stop playing other people’s game and stop competing on other people’s terms, something incredible happens. You move from being left in the dust, to being the only one in the race.
This is really solid advice for anyone pondering possible topics for a blog.
I know... I know.... I'm going to write about travelling the world whilst working from my laptop!
Um, someone's done that already.
Maybe I can blog about finding your passion?
Nope. That's taken. He's better looking than you, too.
Be more specific...
Vegan cookery? Um, for dogs?
Dude! Give me a break here....
And so it goes on and on.
The list of tried-and-tested topics to blog about is endless
But that's not a good thing.
I should know. Before I started CycleLove I brainstormed a load of other ideas for blogs.
One of the less ropey concepts was to do something about the paleo diet, but specifically for cyclists. Sounds like a niche, right?
I purchased a domain name, and started to draft a content plan. Then I realised I knew very little about the paleo diet. And close to nothing about meeting the nutritional requirements of professional cyclists either.
There's also the distinct possibility that the entire paleo diet is a load of baloney. (I quickly moved onto the Bulletproof Diet because it has a much more solid scientific basis, and allowed me to eat rice without feeling guilty about it. I lost a lot of weight, in case you're wondering).
Anyhow. It's probably a good thing that I let that particular niche be.
Taking ownership of an untested niche takes balls.
You're going to have to take a stand, to disagree with people, and to take the flak when you get their back up.
There won't be a roadmap. Sometimes you won't even feel like you're on a path.
But the rewards are worth it.
Why?
Firstly, carving a niche of your own allows you to be yourself.
(Everyone else is taken, remember?)
And secondly, it transforms you from a sheep into a pioneer. Or from a stumbling zombie into the badass guy with the shotgun blowing them to pieces. Start blogging about paleo recipes for zombies. They already eat a lot of meat. I don't know. I'll leave this metaphor alone now.
Whatever you write about, make sure that no-one has done it quite like you before.
It's taken me a while to get into my stride with CycleLove.
I came up with a mantra — "humans on bikes, not cyclists" — which seemed to repel and attract people in equal numbers.
I'd get an email in praise of it one minute, and an angry tweet the next. This put me off my stride, at first... but...
Pissing people off is good
It took me a while to realise this, but it's true.
You can't be friends with everyone.
And for every person you repel, you will attract another with an equal and opposite force.
That's how magnetism works, baby.
So today I posted another 1,000 words to CycleLove about humans on bikes not "cyclists", and made by niche a little deeper. (I hope).
PS. Americans, there is no "t" in niche. Niche. Not nitch. Got it? Good :)
PPS. I just found an article about vegan cooking for dogs. Oh dear.
Day 6 of of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know was posted to CycleLove
Words written: 1385
Time taken: 3 hours
I just read a post on Paid to Exist about creating your own niche rather than choosing an existing one:
When you stop playing other people’s game and stop competing on other people’s terms, something incredible happens. You move from being left in the dust, to being the only one in the race.
This is really solid advice for anyone pondering possible topics for a blog.
I know... I know.... I'm going to write about travelling the world whilst working from my laptop!
Um, someone's done that already.
Maybe I can blog about finding your passion?
Nope. That's taken. He's better looking than you, too.
Be more specific...
Vegan cookery? Um, for dogs?
Dude! Give me a break here....
And so it goes on and on.
The list of tried-and-tested topics to blog about is endless
But that's not a good thing.
I should know. Before I started CycleLove I brainstormed a load of other ideas for blogs.
One of the less ropey concepts was to do something about the paleo diet, but specifically for cyclists. Sounds like a niche, right?
I purchased a domain name, and started to draft a content plan. Then I realised I knew very little about the paleo diet. And close to nothing about meeting the nutritional requirements of professional cyclists either.
There's also the distinct possibility that the entire paleo diet is a load of baloney. (I quickly moved onto the Bulletproof Diet because it has a much more solid scientific basis, and allowed me to eat rice without feeling guilty about it. I lost a lot of weight, in case you're wondering).
Anyhow. It's probably a good thing that I let that particular niche be.
Taking ownership of an untested niche takes balls.
You're going to have to take a stand, to disagree with people, and to take the flak when you get their back up.
There won't be a roadmap. Sometimes you won't even feel like you're on a path.
But the rewards are worth it.
Why?
Firstly, carving a niche of your own allows you to be yourself.
(Everyone else is taken, remember?)
And secondly, it transforms you from a sheep into a pioneer. Or from a stumbling zombie into the badass guy with the shotgun blowing them to pieces. Start blogging about paleo recipes for zombies. They already eat a lot of meat. I don't know. I'll leave this metaphor alone now.
Whatever you write about, make sure that no-one has done it quite like you before.
It's taken me a while to get into my stride with CycleLove.
I came up with a mantra — "humans on bikes, not cyclists" — which seemed to repel and attract people in equal numbers.
I'd get an email in praise of it one minute, and an angry tweet the next. This put me off my stride, at first... but...
Pissing people off is good
It took me a while to realise this, but it's true.
You can't be friends with everyone.
And for every person you repel, you will attract another with an equal and opposite force.
That's how magnetism works, baby.
So today I posted another 1,000 words to CycleLove about humans on bikes not "cyclists", and made by niche a little deeper. (I hope).
PS. Americans, there is no "t" in niche. Niche. Not nitch. Got it? Good :)
PPS. I just found an article about vegan cooking for dogs. Oh dear.
Day 6 of of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know was posted to CycleLove
Words written: 1385
Time taken: 3 hours
That thing you wake up in the morning thinking about.
That thing you keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking about too.
That thing you always have brain-sparks about in situations where you don’t have a pen and paper to hand.
That thing you want to do that other people say they want to do when they retire or when they win the lottery or if they had their lives to start over again.
That thing you keep trying to explain to your partner.
That thing your best friends ask about your progress with whenever they see you.
That thing you understand better than anyone else.
That thing you see connections to and reminders of everywhere.
That thing you are obsessed with.
That thing you want to do.
—
That thing that’s potentially like things other people are already doing which are the only things they’ve ever done in their lives that make them want to jump straight out of bed in the morning and get to it.
That thing that some day you’ll kick yourself about not having done when you see that someone else has done it first.
—
That thing you want to do.
That thing you want to do that could become the thing you do.
Why haven’t you started doing it yet?
\ No newline at end of file +
That thing you wake up in the morning thinking about.
That thing you keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking about too.
That thing you always have brain-sparks about in situations where you don’t have a pen and paper to hand.
That thing you want to do that other people say they want to do when they retire or when they win the lottery or if they had their lives to start over again.
That thing you keep trying to explain to your partner.
That thing your best friends ask about your progress with whenever they see you.
That thing you understand better than anyone else.
That thing you see connections to and reminders of everywhere.
That thing you are obsessed with.
That thing you want to do.
—
That thing that’s potentially like things other people are already doing which are the only things they’ve ever done in their lives that make them want to jump straight out of bed in the morning and get to it.
That thing that some day you’ll kick yourself about not having done when you see that someone else has done it first.
—
That thing you want to do.
That thing you want to do that could become the thing you do.
Why haven’t you started doing it yet?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-01-a-freelance-graphic-designers-survival-guide.md b/_posts/2013-09-01-a-freelance-graphic-designers-survival-guide.md index a841515..1f47a19 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-01-a-freelance-graphic-designers-survival-guide.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-01-a-freelance-graphic-designers-survival-guide.md @@ -1,18 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 316 title: 'A freelance graphic designer’s survival guide' date: 2013-09-01T19:52:50+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: '
Everything I learnt in my first year of freelancing.
' layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/01/20139a-freelance-graphic-designers-survival-guide/ permalink: /a-freelance-graphic-designers-survival-guide/ categories: - - Freelancing - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk - - graphicdesign - - popular + - freelancing + - graphic-design --- -Whilst I'm still dead set on quitting being a graphic designer, I'm still extremely grateful for having an in-demand skill set that I can fall back on when money gets tight.
I've been freelancing as a graphic designer (on and off) for over a year now, so I wanted to share a few tips which I've picked up along the way.
- When it comes to your portfolio website, focus on the essentials. You don't need an entirely bespoke all singing and dancing website to find work for yourself. A strong, thoughtfully ordered and presented body of work is much more important. For instance, my own portfolio website is a single static HTML page which I manually update from time to time. I actually knocked it up for a job interview when I moved to London and have just tweaked it slightly over the years.
- When applying for jobs: think about where you are positioned in the marketplace. I had a bad gut feeling about one job from my first 10 seconds of looking at the company's website — but still went to the interview. They even asked me to set aside the next day in case I got the job. But I didn't. And then they told me my work was too "mainstream" for them. (Which is a nice problem to have, ultimately). I should have trusted my gut and not bothered to go in for the interview though.
- Your hourly rate probably needs to be higher than you think. Ditto for your day rate. Brennan Dunn's Double Your Freelancing Rate makes for solid food for thought on this topic. Research the going rate in your locality. In London for example, experienced designers can earn £200 to £400 per day.
- If people try to talk down your rate, stand firm. Once you agree to work for a reduced rate, it will be close to impossible to talk it back up again.
- Avoid speculative meetings. Nearly all meetings are toxic. Field people out by email first wherever possible.
- Research any potential new employer. Before your interview of course, but also before you accept a job. (And remember that you don't have to accept the job at the interview. Tell them you'll give them a decision tomorrow). Ask around, maybe someone in your network has worked for these people before. What was it like? Did they enjoy it? Did they get paid on time? If you get a bad feeling about the work, trust your gut. Sometimes it's not worth it. There are other jobs out there.
- At the interview (or by email) find out what hours you will be expected to work. You might have to travel to a different part of town or start at an unfriendly time. (My last job started at 10am so I still find 9am starts a little tough). Factor that into your calculations.
- Find out your new employer's payment terms. Try to negotiate something shorter than the standard 28 days if you can — tough with larger firms that have procedures in place, but with smaller outfits you may be surprised what you'll get if you ask nicely. I always ask to be paid within 14 days.
- Allow 15 minutes extra so that you're early on the first day. First impressions still count, so you don't want to be late.
- Get prepared. Have a folder of fonts at the ready (on your hard drive, not in the cloud). And perhaps some templates ready to go in Photoshop or Illustrator, full of grids, iOS components, blank Apple products etc. etc. that you can use to get you started on jobs quickly.
- Optimise your systems. Physical and virtual. I always take my Logitech MX mouse and a mousemat with me, because it's quieter and more accurate than an Apple 'nipple' mouse, and has more buttons.
- OS X users can install an app like Steermouse to program the extra buttons on Logitech mice. I have the side buttons set to zoom in/out across all of the Adobe Creative Suite, and then use the extra button on the left side to toggle guides on or off. The microseconds that this saves you will compound over time to a few minutes every day. On which note...
- Optimise anything you do repeatedly.
- Take headphones with you. You never know how noisy your work environment is going to be.
- Even better, get noise-cancelling headphones. All those irritating background sounds will disappear. Less distraction means better work. The better your work is, the more you will get. If you look at it this way, this makes noise-cancelling headphone an investment, not an expense.
- Prefer to work from home? Ask if you can. If they say no, do your first job, make a good impression, and then ask again the next time. With some trust in the bank you will stand a good chance of them agreeing. I now have a few clients who let me work remotely on small jobs or after the first day's briefing has happened at their studio.
- If you end up working in-house and don't like someone, don't let it get to you. You'll be out of there pretty soon. That's the joy of freelancing — it's not forever. Let the loudmouth who thinks he's the digital daddy say his piece, but let the words flow straight in one ear and out the other.
- Are there other freelancers working in the studio? Make friends with them. Help them out. Get their emails. You can add these people to your network and help each other find work. Happiness goes around.
- If it's good, ask permission to include the work you've just done in your portfolio. Most studios are fine with this so long as everything is attributed. Don't take credit for work you didn't do — you may get find out.
- Leave at 6pm (or whatever the allotted finish time is) sharp. You may be a graphic design mercenary — but you don't have to lay your life on the line.
- Get a good accountant, preferably once who works with people in the creative sector. Fizz Accounting came highly recommended to me by several designers.
- Consider using an online invoicing system like Freshbooks, Xero or Freeagent to manage your accounts. I can't personally recommend any of these as I'm still using a manual system of creating invoices in InDesign and saving them to PDF, which seems to be working fine as I'm not dealing with more than 4 or 5 different clients a month at the moment.
- When it comes to finding work, controlled jobs boards like OnSite and Design Jobs Board, which filter out dodgy applicants and employers, are your best bet rather than free-for-all listing sites.
What tips would you add to the list to help fledgling graphic designers freelancers?
Recommended reading:
- David Airey's blog about graphic design, which includes several great articles on freelancing
- How I Survive as Graphic Design Freelancer
- Adrian Shaughnessy's How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul which will guide on the fine points of crafting your portfolio
- Double your freelancing rate by Brennan Dunn
Whilst I'm still dead set on quitting being a graphic designer, I'm still extremely grateful for having an in-demand skill set that I can fall back on when money gets tight.
I've been freelancing as a graphic designer (on and off) for over a year now, so I wanted to share a few tips which I've picked up along the way.
- When it comes to your portfolio website, focus on the essentials. You don't need an entirely bespoke all singing and dancing website to find work for yourself. A strong, thoughtfully ordered and presented body of work is much more important. For instance, my own portfolio website is a single static HTML page which I manually update from time to time. I actually knocked it up for a job interview when I moved to London and have just tweaked it slightly over the years.
- When applying for jobs: think about where you are positioned in the marketplace. I had a bad gut feeling about one job from my first 10 seconds of looking at the company's website — but still went to the interview. They even asked me to set aside the next day in case I got the job. But I didn't. And then they told me my work was too "mainstream" for them. (Which is a nice problem to have, ultimately). I should have trusted my gut and not bothered to go in for the interview though.
- Your hourly rate probably needs to be higher than you think. Ditto for your day rate. Brennan Dunn's Double Your Freelancing Rate makes for solid food for thought on this topic. Research the going rate in your locality. In London for example, experienced designers can earn £200 to £400 per day.
- If people try to talk down your rate, stand firm. Once you agree to work for a reduced rate, it will be close to impossible to talk it back up again.
- Avoid speculative meetings. Nearly all meetings are toxic. Field people out by email first wherever possible.
- Research any potential new employer. Before your interview of course, but also before you accept a job. (And remember that you don't have to accept the job at the interview. Tell them you'll give them a decision tomorrow). Ask around, maybe someone in your network has worked for these people before. What was it like? Did they enjoy it? Did they get paid on time? If you get a bad feeling about the work, trust your gut. Sometimes it's not worth it. There are other jobs out there.
- At the interview (or by email) find out what hours you will be expected to work. You might have to travel to a different part of town or start at an unfriendly time. (My last job started at 10am so I still find 9am starts a little tough). Factor that into your calculations.
- Find out your new employer's payment terms. Try to negotiate something shorter than the standard 28 days if you can — tough with larger firms that have procedures in place, but with smaller outfits you may be surprised what you'll get if you ask nicely. I always ask to be paid within 14 days.
- Allow 15 minutes extra so that you're early on the first day. First impressions still count, so you don't want to be late.
- Get prepared. Have a folder of fonts at the ready (on your hard drive, not in the cloud). And perhaps some templates ready to go in Photoshop or Illustrator, full of grids, iOS components, blank Apple products etc. etc. that you can use to get you started on jobs quickly.
- Optimise your systems. Physical and virtual. I always take my Logitech MX mouse and a mousemat with me, because it's quieter and more accurate than an Apple 'nipple' mouse, and has more buttons.
- OS X users can install an app like Steermouse to program the extra buttons on Logitech mice. I have the side buttons set to zoom in/out across all of the Adobe Creative Suite, and then use the extra button on the left side to toggle guides on or off. The microseconds that this saves you will compound over time to a few minutes every day. On which note...
- Optimise anything you do repeatedly.
- Take headphones with you. You never know how noisy your work environment is going to be.
- Even better, get noise-cancelling headphones. All those irritating background sounds will disappear. Less distraction means better work. The better your work is, the more you will get. If you look at it this way, this makes noise-cancelling headphone an investment, not an expense.
- Prefer to work from home? Ask if you can. If they say no, do your first job, make a good impression, and then ask again the next time. With some trust in the bank you will stand a good chance of them agreeing. I now have a few clients who let me work remotely on small jobs or after the first day's briefing has happened at their studio.
- If you end up working in-house and don't like someone, don't let it get to you. You'll be out of there pretty soon. That's the joy of freelancing — it's not forever. Let the loudmouth who thinks he's the digital daddy say his piece, but let the words flow straight in one ear and out the other.
- Are there other freelancers working in the studio? Make friends with them. Help them out. Get their emails. You can add these people to your network and help each other find work. Happiness goes around.
- If it's good, ask permission to include the work you've just done in your portfolio. Most studios are fine with this so long as everything is attributed. Don't take credit for work you didn't do — you may get find out.
- Leave at 6pm (or whatever the allotted finish time is) sharp. You may be a graphic design mercenary — but you don't have to lay your life on the line.
- Get a good accountant, preferably once who works with people in the creative sector. Fizz Accounting came highly recommended to me by several designers.
- Consider using an online invoicing system like Freshbooks, Xero or Freeagent to manage your accounts. I can't personally recommend any of these as I'm still using a manual system of creating invoices in InDesign and saving them to PDF, which seems to be working fine as I'm not dealing with more than 4 or 5 different clients a month at the moment.
- When it comes to finding work, controlled jobs boards like OnSite and Design Jobs Board, which filter out dodgy applicants and employers, are your best bet rather than free-for-all listing sites.
What tips would you add to the list to help fledgling graphic designers freelancers?
Recommended reading:
- David Airey's blog about graphic design, which includes several great articles on freelancing
- How I Survive as Graphic Design Freelancer
- Adrian Shaughnessy's How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul which will guide on the fine points of crafting your portfolio
- Double your freelancing rate by Brennan Dunn
-
+
### Vulpine — stylish cycling, from the heart
When I went to interview Vulpine's founder Nick Hussey and he regaled me a story about he had a gun put to his head whilst working in a club in Manchester, I realised that his cycling clothing company was going to be a bit different. Vulpine have been one of the success stories in the resurgence of British cycle style, with demand for their sharply tailored products always outpacing supply.By putting emotion at the heart of their social media output — by being socially native — Vulpine have formed an unusually strong bond with their customers: "Socially native businesses don’t sit down and devise a strategy for the use of social media. It’s just what they do. They share the ups and downs of starting a new business, their frustrations and accomplishments, successes and failures. In doing so they involve their customers, employees, partners and even their competitors in the story. We become active participants in their success (or otherwise). "When you read the Vulpine blog, you are not just punted their products. Instead you find out what makes them tick, why they are so mad about bikes, in short, what makes them human. - +
### CycleLove — Why I cycled 100 miles to meet my first customer
@@ -93,4 +90,4 @@ Then (please) come back here and tell me how you got on.If your approach contain
-Day 10 of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know
Words written: 1200
Time taken: 2 hours \ No newline at end of file +Day 10 of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you know
Words written: 1200
Time taken: 2 hours diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-03-im-thinking-of-chewing-off-a-limb.md b/_posts/2013-09-03-im-thinking-of-chewing-off-a-limb.md index 8a01af0..a1372e9 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-03-im-thinking-of-chewing-off-a-limb.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-03-im-thinking-of-chewing-off-a-limb.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 305 title: 'I’m thinking of chewing off a limb. Is it a good idea?' date: 2013-09-03T20:51:16+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/03/20139im-thinking-of-chewing-off-a-limb/ permalink: /im-thinking-of-chewing-off-a-limb/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - graphic-design --- -
If you think I'm going to answer the question above, I'm afraid that you've got the wrong blog.
However — on a similar note — earlier today someone send me a tweet to say that he was thinking of going into graphic design; and ask if I thought it was a good idea.
Boy, what a question.
You can probably get an idea of what my response could be from the title of this post.
Given that the man posing the question found me via my most recent "How to stop being a graphic designer" article, it's one I feel compelled to answer as honestly as possible. (Note: this is the stub of an article. I will be returning to flesh it out when I've had some more sleep).
The end of my love affair with graphics has been getting me down for over a year now.
You could call it a messy break up, I guess.
As with any broken relationship, rewinding to the start... to play over the moments where everything was sheer bliss... is hard to resist. The honeymoon period, if you will.
How I got started with graphic design
When I was a kid I didn't really know that graphics existed as a career option. Looking back now though, there are a few early indicators that I enjoyed aspects of the trade when I was young.
I won a Kellogg's Cornflakes competition to design (oh ok... to draw) a poster. Kellogg's sent me a huge art set with paints, crayons, brushes... everything a little kid could possibly want to make some more art. Another time a Christmas Card I made was exhibited in London. And bless my mum, she took me all the way to see it from Gloucestershire in the west of England.
Fast-forward a few years and I had gotten my hands on my first Apple Mac.
My school had an entire room full of them, and when tasked to create an imaginary logo (I chose to create one for a computer software company), my efforts were so convincing that my computer teacher accused me of copying an existing one.
At least he didn't tell me to make the logo bigger though, right?
I was good at art and technical drawing, but the only hybrid subject combining art and design (when I hit my teens in the early 90s) was "Design Technology". The problem was that I wasn't so hot at making actual 3D objects. I always had ambitious plans which failed to materialise. I conceptualised an amazing chess set in my head but never got beyond the first pawn. I designed a board game but executed it shoddily. In short, I wasn't much of a product designer.
I took one of those tests which pretend they can make incredibly clever career suggestions by analysing your academic strong points and interests. The career advisor passed me the computer printout, and dutifully informed me that I might enjoy being a hair dress. OH SNAP!
Luckily I then moved to a school with a really strong art department and spent a couple of blissful years messing about with paint, whilst also learning black and white photography.
I knew that I didn't want to be an artist (the thought of not having a guaranteed pay check freaked me out) and so was left with the choice between graphic design and architecture.
Given that becoming an architect required expertise in maths (ugh!) and a gruelling study period of seven years or so, graphic design seemed like the best option.
And so I submitted my portfolio to Glasgow School of Art, went for my interview (with an 11am pint beforehand to dull my senses) and set about becoming a graphic designer.
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to skip the intermediate ten years in which I duly pushed pixels around in Photoshop, and instead present you with the pros and cons of being a graphic designer.
(I wonder how many times I have to write "graphic designer" in my blog for Google to take notice and up me in its search rankings.)
Anyhow...
Things to love about being a graphic designer
- Your job is to be creative. To solve problems. To make the world a better place. What better kind of job could there be?
- The work changes. Different clients. Different mediums. Different technology (especially if you are working digitally... which most graphic designers are these days) .
- The ever-changing nature of the work makes it harder to get bored. Boredom is not good.
- You can design wedding invites for your friends
Things to hate about being a graphic designer
- It's a service industry. That puts you in the same bracket as waiters and hotel staff. THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. (Although graphic design is more challenging, because at the same time, it is also your job to educate your customers of their ignorance).
- Everything you do, you do it for... someone else. You are not an artist. Sometimes you feel like a sell-out.
- Clients will often ignore your best advice, and often for extremely personal reasons.
- Sometimes it is hard to turn off. You notice dodgy kerning on restaurant menus. Double spaces everywhere. Incorrect usage of em and en dashes at every turn.
- You spend a lot of time sitting down. Sitting down is not a natural thing to do. Ever see an animal sitting down? (I mean at a table, doing something) Me neither.
- You spend a lot of time at a computer.
- The long hours. Creativity is hard to schedule.
- You can design wedding invites for your friends
Would I recommend becoming a graphic designer?
Well, it depends on your motives.
If you have the necessary dedication and talent, graphic design can be an amazing way to earn a living.
If you are 'escaping' another career, think twice about the (seemingly) attractive aspects of working as a graphic designer before you jack in your day job.
Over time, it might just feel like you are chewing off a limb.
\ No newline at end of file +
If you think I'm going to answer the question above, I'm afraid that you've got the wrong blog.
However — on a similar note — earlier today someone send me a tweet to say that he was thinking of going into graphic design; and ask if I thought it was a good idea.
Boy, what a question.
You can probably get an idea of what my response could be from the title of this post.
Given that the man posing the question found me via my most recent "How to stop being a graphic designer" article, it's one I feel compelled to answer as honestly as possible. (Note: this is the stub of an article. I will be returning to flesh it out when I've had some more sleep).
The end of my love affair with graphics has been getting me down for over a year now.
You could call it a messy break up, I guess.
As with any broken relationship, rewinding to the start... to play over the moments where everything was sheer bliss... is hard to resist. The honeymoon period, if you will.
How I got started with graphic design
When I was a kid I didn't really know that graphics existed as a career option. Looking back now though, there are a few early indicators that I enjoyed aspects of the trade when I was young.
I won a Kellogg's Cornflakes competition to design (oh ok... to draw) a poster. Kellogg's sent me a huge art set with paints, crayons, brushes... everything a little kid could possibly want to make some more art. Another time a Christmas Card I made was exhibited in London. And bless my mum, she took me all the way to see it from Gloucestershire in the west of England.
Fast-forward a few years and I had gotten my hands on my first Apple Mac.
My school had an entire room full of them, and when tasked to create an imaginary logo (I chose to create one for a computer software company), my efforts were so convincing that my computer teacher accused me of copying an existing one.
At least he didn't tell me to make the logo bigger though, right?
I was good at art and technical drawing, but the only hybrid subject combining art and design (when I hit my teens in the early 90s) was "Design Technology". The problem was that I wasn't so hot at making actual 3D objects. I always had ambitious plans which failed to materialise. I conceptualised an amazing chess set in my head but never got beyond the first pawn. I designed a board game but executed it shoddily. In short, I wasn't much of a product designer.
I took one of those tests which pretend they can make incredibly clever career suggestions by analysing your academic strong points and interests. The career advisor passed me the computer printout, and dutifully informed me that I might enjoy being a hair dress. OH SNAP!
Luckily I then moved to a school with a really strong art department and spent a couple of blissful years messing about with paint, whilst also learning black and white photography.
I knew that I didn't want to be an artist (the thought of not having a guaranteed pay check freaked me out) and so was left with the choice between graphic design and architecture.
Given that becoming an architect required expertise in maths (ugh!) and a gruelling study period of seven years or so, graphic design seemed like the best option.
And so I submitted my portfolio to Glasgow School of Art, went for my interview (with an 11am pint beforehand to dull my senses) and set about becoming a graphic designer.
For the sake of brevity, I'm going to skip the intermediate ten years in which I duly pushed pixels around in Photoshop, and instead present you with the pros and cons of being a graphic designer.
(I wonder how many times I have to write "graphic designer" in my blog for Google to take notice and up me in its search rankings.)
Anyhow...
Things to love about being a graphic designer
- Your job is to be creative. To solve problems. To make the world a better place. What better kind of job could there be?
- The work changes. Different clients. Different mediums. Different technology (especially if you are working digitally... which most graphic designers are these days) .
- The ever-changing nature of the work makes it harder to get bored. Boredom is not good.
- You can design wedding invites for your friends
Things to hate about being a graphic designer
- It's a service industry. That puts you in the same bracket as waiters and hotel staff. THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. (Although graphic design is more challenging, because at the same time, it is also your job to educate your customers of their ignorance).
- Everything you do, you do it for... someone else. You are not an artist. Sometimes you feel like a sell-out.
- Clients will often ignore your best advice, and often for extremely personal reasons.
- Sometimes it is hard to turn off. You notice dodgy kerning on restaurant menus. Double spaces everywhere. Incorrect usage of em and en dashes at every turn.
- You spend a lot of time sitting down. Sitting down is not a natural thing to do. Ever see an animal sitting down? (I mean at a table, doing something) Me neither.
- You spend a lot of time at a computer.
- The long hours. Creativity is hard to schedule.
- You can design wedding invites for your friends
Would I recommend becoming a graphic designer?
Well, it depends on your motives.
If you have the necessary dedication and talent, graphic design can be an amazing way to earn a living.
If you are 'escaping' another career, think twice about the (seemingly) attractive aspects of working as a graphic designer before you jack in your day job.
Over time, it might just feel like you are chewing off a limb.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-04-people-at-the-end-of-their-lives-are-incapable-of-bullshit.md b/_posts/2013-09-04-people-at-the-end-of-their-lives-are-incapable-of-bullshit.md index bad0070..3334421 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-04-people-at-the-end-of-their-lives-are-incapable-of-bullshit.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-04-people-at-the-end-of-their-lives-are-incapable-of-bullshit.md @@ -1,16 +1,13 @@ --- -id: 144 -title: '“People at the end of their lives are incapable of bullshit”' +title: 'People at the end of their lives are incapable of bullshit' date: 2013-09-04T19:10:01+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/04/20139people-at-the-end-of-their-lives-are-incapable-of-bullshit/ permalink: /people-at-the-end-of-their-lives-are-incapable-of-bullshit/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life ---
This thought and smile provoking TEDx talk is by a woman called Kathleen Taylor who (after spending twenty years working as a counselor and community engagement facilitator for the dying) realised "that in the last chapter of their lives, most people become their authentic selves. They become courageous - they change their minds, apologize, forgive... they find joy in the smallest moments".
Don't wait until the end of your life to find out who you are — start finding out today.
- + - -via Karmatube
\ No newline at end of file + +via Karmatube
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-04-removing-the-possibility-of-stopping.md b/_posts/2013-09-04-removing-the-possibility-of-stopping.md index 98d9712..d50c77d 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-04-removing-the-possibility-of-stopping.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-04-removing-the-possibility-of-stopping.md @@ -1,15 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 224 title: Removing the possibility of stopping date: 2013-09-04T20:05:17+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/04/20139removing-the-possibility-of-stopping/ permalink: /removing-the-possibility-of-stopping/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - life ---
@@ -67,7 +62,7 @@ I'm also writing this standing up.
I've done a full day's worth of pushing pixels around to make websites and all I want to do now is lie down on my bed and read something.
-So the usual distractions of email and the internet have far less appeal than usual.
+So the usual distractions of email and the internet have far less appeal than usual.
Finishing this article is much much more appealing.
@@ -109,4 +104,4 @@ I could do some kind of intense daily workout routine and get those six-pack abs
But I already know the first one.
-Not stopping.
\ No newline at end of file
+Not stopping.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-06-10-simple-ways-to-improve-your-graphic-design.md b/_posts/2013-09-06-10-simple-ways-to-improve-your-graphic-design.md
index 4bfbd15..9bf501a 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-09-06-10-simple-ways-to-improve-your-graphic-design.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-09-06-10-simple-ways-to-improve-your-graphic-design.md
@@ -1,15 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 226
title: 10 simple ways to improve your graphic design
date: 2013-09-06T00:34:49+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/06/2013910-simple-ways-to-improve-your-graphic-design/
permalink: /10-simple-ways-to-improve-your-graphic-design/
categories:
- - Uncategorised
-tags:
- - 30dowxteyk
+ - graphic-design
---
1. Look outside of graphic design for inspiration.
@@ -155,4 +150,4 @@ tags:
-Disclaimer: I work primarily in the digital realm so this list is tailored more at web designers rather than print designers. But I'd hope that it is general enough to be useful to both parties. \ No newline at end of file +Disclaimer: I work primarily in the digital realm so this list is tailored more at web designers rather than print designers. But I'd hope that it is general enough to be useful to both parties. diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-06-feeling-lost-relax-youre-probably-headed-in-the-right-direction.md b/_posts/2013-09-06-feeling-lost-relax-youre-probably-headed-in-the-right-direction.md index 5b3ab2f..dca31e9 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-06-feeling-lost-relax-youre-probably-headed-in-the-right-direction.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-06-feeling-lost-relax-youre-probably-headed-in-the-right-direction.md @@ -1,18 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 307 title: 'Feeling lost? Relax. You’re probably headed in the right direction' date: 2013-09-06T16:43:40+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: | -
Following the signposts which had been set in place before you isn't the only way.
layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/06/20138feeling-lost-relax-youre-probably-headed-in-the-right-direction/ permalink: /feeling-lost-relax-youre-probably-headed-in-the-right-direction/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk - - popular + - life + - careers ---
@@ -108,4 +101,4 @@ Because (hopefully) I've started taking the first baby steps to finding my own p
The path which isn't a path because I'm the first person walking it.
-I hope you can find yours too.
\ No newline at end of file
+I hope you can find yours too.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-08-nothing-to-read-here-please-move-along.md b/_posts/2013-09-08-nothing-to-read-here-please-move-along.md
index 3f61f7c..649c5f8 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-09-08-nothing-to-read-here-please-move-along.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-09-08-nothing-to-read-here-please-move-along.md
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
---
-id: 55
title: Nothing to read here, please move along
date: 2013-09-08T22:01:13+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/08/20139nothing-to-read-here-please-move-along/
permalink: /nothing-to-read-here-please-move-along/
categories:
- - Uncategorised
-tags:
- - 30dowxteyk
+ - life
---
-It's Sunday night and it has just gone 11.01pm, which means I have less than an hour to write my 1,000 words for the day. (Reminder: you can view my daily wordcount in this public Google spreadsheet)
Now that I'm at day 16, just past the halfway point in my 30 days of doing this, I've started to spot a few patterns in my behaviour.
So with the clock ticking and nothing else I feel in a fit state to write about in depth and at speed, I'm going to write about what I've learnt about writing over this period.
(If this sounds like a cop-out, I agree. It is. I did just save some interesting ideas for other articles though, one of which is entitled "When porn went hairless". So I hope you can forgive me. A few minutes ago I was seriously contemplating hitting the sack and stumping up the £100 charity donation for missing my deadline).
Anyway, back to that roundup of my observations about the writing process so far.
On days where I don't meditate, the writing process seems to be noticeably harder.
I'm not sure the science behind this — but I do know that I haven't meditated for 3 days now, and that Im not particularly happy with my writing output over this period.
I'm hungry for real input.
Last weekend I found myself scrabbling around for my notebooks and sketchbooks, hungry for scraps of ideas, old notes, anything which could nourish me intellectually. I've started writing more notes as I am reading. Today I took notes as I went around an exhibition and then emailed them to myself to be added straight into my Spark File.
I've pretty much stopped watching TV since I began writing every day. What usually seems like a pleasant distraction feels like it is physically sapping mental energy from me. I guess TV is actually doing that most of the time, I just haven't felt it so strongly before. When I have turned the TV on, especially if the channel I'm watching has adverts, it all seems faintly ridiculous. Why does anyone in the UK want to watch an entire program about custom built choppers being constructed in some obscure backwater town in the USA? Who is programming this stuff? TV is weird. You gotta watch less TV James, way less.
You see a lot of writers give 'Read' as their primary tip for writing. I'm starting to understand why.
Magical things happen inside your brain during sleep.
A few times I've woken up in the dead of night with an idea popping out of my head. The best way to get myself back to sleep again seems to be to write it down... whether on my phone or in a notebook. On coming back to my midnight scribbles there is almost always something of interest or use in them. A solid 8 hours a night of sleep is something I need to be at my best.
Writing standing up is good.
I much prefer my home writing setup (MacBook on top of my bedroom chest of drawers) than any other (like sitting at a desk). Even though it hurts the balls of my feet after a while, writing standing up just feels better than being sat down. My spin is straight. I don't feel so comfortable, or so willing to slip into the distractions of Facebook and Twitter. Standing up and browsing Facebook just feels plain silly.
You can write in coffee shops.
I have always been sceptical of these stories of J. K. Rowling and the like crafting novels in coffee shops. "Seriously, how can a busy environment like that be conducive to writing?" I would think to myself. But on Thursday I found myself sitting with a coffee in hand, happily bashing away into my iPad. And within an hour I had close to an entire article drafted out. Actually I think I got a bit of a buzz from writing in public, if you can call it that. Ha!
If you can't write for half an hour without stopping on your subject matter, you're not ready to write about it.
A few times I've started to write an article but quickly found myself with 20 different tabs open as I frantically google for quotes and things I can't quite remember the facts about. I'm now recognising this as an indicator that I need do some more research before trying to finish the article. Or as my favourite author right now would say:
“Don’t ever write (a novel) unless it hurts like a hot turd coming out.”
Charles Bukowski
Momentum is important.
Every time you stop to check a spelling or a fact, you lose momentum. Even correcting typos seems to break my flow a little. So I have been trying to leave some of my typos until the end and then fix them all in one fell swoop.
Seeing people talk about something that you've written feels weird.
I've gotten a little addicted to searching Twitter for links to my site so that I can find out what people are making of my blog posts. This weekend a few people haven't been agreeing with what I've written. I'm going to have to get used to this, I know. If you're one of the people in question, hello! I'm glad that you're reading this, even if you don't like it. In fact if you don't like it, even better, tell me why. Thanks.
Writing 1,000 words a day is easy.
Just imagine you are talking yourself. Do anything you can do to get the first few sentences typed out. After that it should get easier.
If it gets harder, you need to rethink your subject matter.
Or do some more reading and note-taking.
If you have time that is...
Writing 1,00 words a day on top of having a day job is not so easy.
At the start of this experiment I didn't have much graphic design to work on. So I could spend 3 or even 4 hours writing my 1,000 words.
This week was much much tougher though as I've been freelancing for a studio.
I've been trying to fit writing in first thing in the morning. Even 15 minutes or so.
And I've been trying to write on my lunch break. Which has proved a little harder as there have been people floating around me and I don't like the feeling of being overlooked whilst writing.
So... kudos to all the people writing whilst also doing something else to pay the bills.
\ No newline at end of file +
It's Sunday night and it has just gone 11.01pm, which means I have less than an hour to write my 1,000 words for the day. (Reminder: you can view my daily wordcount in this public Google spreadsheet)
Now that I'm at day 16, just past the halfway point in my 30 days of doing this, I've started to spot a few patterns in my behaviour.
So with the clock ticking and nothing else I feel in a fit state to write about in depth and at speed, I'm going to write about what I've learnt about writing over this period.
(If this sounds like a cop-out, I agree. It is. I did just save some interesting ideas for other articles though, one of which is entitled "When porn went hairless". So I hope you can forgive me. A few minutes ago I was seriously contemplating hitting the sack and stumping up the £100 charity donation for missing my deadline).
Anyway, back to that roundup of my observations about the writing process so far.
On days where I don't meditate, the writing process seems to be noticeably harder.
I'm not sure the science behind this — but I do know that I haven't meditated for 3 days now, and that Im not particularly happy with my writing output over this period.
I'm hungry for real input.
Last weekend I found myself scrabbling around for my notebooks and sketchbooks, hungry for scraps of ideas, old notes, anything which could nourish me intellectually. I've started writing more notes as I am reading. Today I took notes as I went around an exhibition and then emailed them to myself to be added straight into my Spark File.
I've pretty much stopped watching TV since I began writing every day. What usually seems like a pleasant distraction feels like it is physically sapping mental energy from me. I guess TV is actually doing that most of the time, I just haven't felt it so strongly before. When I have turned the TV on, especially if the channel I'm watching has adverts, it all seems faintly ridiculous. Why does anyone in the UK want to watch an entire program about custom built choppers being constructed in some obscure backwater town in the USA? Who is programming this stuff? TV is weird. You gotta watch less TV James, way less.
You see a lot of writers give 'Read' as their primary tip for writing. I'm starting to understand why.
Magical things happen inside your brain during sleep.
A few times I've woken up in the dead of night with an idea popping out of my head. The best way to get myself back to sleep again seems to be to write it down... whether on my phone or in a notebook. On coming back to my midnight scribbles there is almost always something of interest or use in them. A solid 8 hours a night of sleep is something I need to be at my best.
Writing standing up is good.
I much prefer my home writing setup (MacBook on top of my bedroom chest of drawers) than any other (like sitting at a desk). Even though it hurts the balls of my feet after a while, writing standing up just feels better than being sat down. My spin is straight. I don't feel so comfortable, or so willing to slip into the distractions of Facebook and Twitter. Standing up and browsing Facebook just feels plain silly.
You can write in coffee shops.
I have always been sceptical of these stories of J. K. Rowling and the like crafting novels in coffee shops. "Seriously, how can a busy environment like that be conducive to writing?" I would think to myself. But on Thursday I found myself sitting with a coffee in hand, happily bashing away into my iPad. And within an hour I had close to an entire article drafted out. Actually I think I got a bit of a buzz from writing in public, if you can call it that. Ha!
If you can't write for half an hour without stopping on your subject matter, you're not ready to write about it.
A few times I've started to write an article but quickly found myself with 20 different tabs open as I frantically google for quotes and things I can't quite remember the facts about. I'm now recognising this as an indicator that I need do some more research before trying to finish the article. Or as my favourite author right now would say:
“Don’t ever write (a novel) unless it hurts like a hot turd coming out.”
Charles Bukowski
Momentum is important.
Every time you stop to check a spelling or a fact, you lose momentum. Even correcting typos seems to break my flow a little. So I have been trying to leave some of my typos until the end and then fix them all in one fell swoop.
Seeing people talk about something that you've written feels weird.
I've gotten a little addicted to searching Twitter for links to my site so that I can find out what people are making of my blog posts. This weekend a few people haven't been agreeing with what I've written. I'm going to have to get used to this, I know. If you're one of the people in question, hello! I'm glad that you're reading this, even if you don't like it. In fact if you don't like it, even better, tell me why. Thanks.
Writing 1,000 words a day is easy.
Just imagine you are talking yourself. Do anything you can do to get the first few sentences typed out. After that it should get easier.
If it gets harder, you need to rethink your subject matter.
Or do some more reading and note-taking.
If you have time that is...
Writing 1,00 words a day on top of having a day job is not so easy.
At the start of this experiment I didn't have much graphic design to work on. So I could spend 3 or even 4 hours writing my 1,000 words.
This week was much much tougher though as I've been freelancing for a studio.
I've been trying to fit writing in first thing in the morning. Even 15 minutes or so.
And I've been trying to write on my lunch break. Which has proved a little harder as there have been people floating around me and I don't like the feeling of being overlooked whilst writing.
So... kudos to all the people writing whilst also doing something else to pay the bills.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-09-literally-a-shipment-of-fail-dot-com.md b/_posts/2013-09-09-literally-a-shipment-of-fail-dot-com.md index b8f3eaf..0d45b16 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-09-literally-a-shipment-of-fail-dot-com.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-09-literally-a-shipment-of-fail-dot-com.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 232 title: Literally a shipment of fail dot com — how not to monetise a popular blog date: 2013-09-09T19:07:00+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/09/20139literally-a-shipment-of-fail-dot-com/ permalink: /literally-a-shipment-of-fail-dot-com/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life ---
@@ -60,7 +57,7 @@ Then I looked at my stats.
Traffic was going up. Fast.
-At the peak of its popularity, SOF had an Alexa rank of around 77,000.
+At the peak of its popularity, SOF had an Alexa rank of around 77,000.
Which meant it was amongst the top 100,000 most popular websites on the internet, with around 5,000 people visiting a day.
@@ -76,7 +73,7 @@ The worst designed website I'd ever created was the most popular.
Everything I thought I knew about the importance of design had been blown out of the water.
-I didn't do anything to promote my site after the initial few forum postings that I made.
+I didn't do anything to promote my site after the initial few forum postings that I made.
There was no email marketing strategy.
@@ -84,7 +81,7 @@ But the content marketed itself of course... it was perfect for posting in forum
Without much thought I stuck some Google Adverts into the SOF sidebar and waited to see what advertising revenue I could earn.
- On a good day I would make £6 or £7.
+ On a good day I would make £6 or £7.
Which was enough to buy myself a couple of beers at that time.
@@ -154,4 +151,4 @@ Embrace the shipments of fail.
(But remember that they are really just experiments).
-
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-11-everything-i-know-about-chinese-food.md b/_posts/2013-09-11-everything-i-know-about-chinese-food.md
index e40a144..82225b3 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-09-11-everything-i-know-about-chinese-food.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-09-11-everything-i-know-about-chinese-food.md
@@ -1,15 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 236
title: Everything I know about Chinese food
date: 2013-09-11T23:07:16+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/11/20139everything-i-know-about-chinese-food/
permalink: /everything-i-know-about-chinese-food/
categories:
- - Life
-tags:
- - 30dowxteyk
+ - life
---
I was sitting eating pot stickers in Chinatown on Sunday and suddenly realised I'd rather eat them over a traditional British roast dinner on any day of the week.
@@ -60,4 +55,4 @@ What's your favourite Chinese food?
Day 10 of 30 days of writing x Teach everything you knowWords written: 1200
Time taken: 2 hours - \ No newline at end of file + diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-13-wordpress-theming-tips-and-tricks-for-designers.md b/_posts/2013-09-13-wordpress-theming-tips-and-tricks-for-designers.md index 2f4afdc..061a55e 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-13-wordpress-theming-tips-and-tricks-for-designers.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-13-wordpress-theming-tips-and-tricks-for-designers.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 238 title: 'WordPress theming: tips and tricks for designers' date: 2013-09-13T23:10:51+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/13/20139wordpress-theming-tips-and-tricks-for-designers/ permalink: /wordpress-theming-tips-and-tricks-for-designers/ categories: - - Graphic Design + - graphic-design ---
@@ -43,4 +40,4 @@ I've only ever used two Wordpress hosts and I'd recommend both, but for very dif
Budget hosting: DreamhostYou get a LOT for your money with Dreamhost. In fact you get pretty much unlimited everything, except speed. But if you're ok with that, they make a great option for beginners because of the low price. Use the code 'GREIG' when you sign up to get $60 off. Or use Google to look for an even better voucher code ;) -Managed hosting: WP-Engine
I host CycleLove with WP-Engine and have had nothing but stellar service and rock solid hosting from them. Because it is a managed service you can relax in the knowledge that malicious attacks by hackers and Wordpress updates will be handled on your behalf. Which leaves you with more time to write your blog.
\ No newline at end of file +Managed hosting: WP-Engine
I host CycleLove with WP-Engine and have had nothing but stellar service and rock solid hosting from them. Because it is a managed service you can relax in the knowledge that malicious attacks by hackers and Wordpress updates will be handled on your behalf. Which leaves you with more time to write your blog.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-14-james-murphy-on-failure.md b/_posts/2013-09-14-james-murphy-on-failure.md index bd950e4..27d5c21 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-14-james-murphy-on-failure.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-14-james-murphy-on-failure.md @@ -1,19 +1,12 @@ --- -id: 240 title: 'I was really a failure… really, really, really, really a failure — an interview with James Murphy of DFA Records' date: 2013-09-14T16:41:33+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: '
I love this interview with singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy (co-founder of record label DFA Records) because he talks with unflinching honesty about his insecurities and frustrations about both his personal life and the music business.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/14/20139james-murphy-on-failure/ permalink: /james-murphy-on-failure/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - life --- Watch the video below first — it's less than 10 minutes long — and then keep on reading for my thoughts on his thoughts... - + - -I was really a failure, like really, really, really, really, really, really, really a failure. Like, I dropped out of college to make music, but then, I stopped making music. I mean, really not even an epic failure, just sort of like a sad, pathetic failure just kind of... A real epic failure you could get behind. Like, "I tried this big thing and it failed and I lost everything." No, I just kind of frittered my years away doing nothing and being in dead-end relationships and dead-end bands and stuff. And I didn't take responsibility for much. I kind of just felt bad for myself and wondered why my life wasn't better and stuff like that.
There are different kinds of failure.
And doing nothing is the worst kind of failure.
In fact perhaps doing nothing doesn't really count as failure, because you've failed to fail at all.
And then, when I was about 26, I just realised that, "Wow, my life is not at all going the way I want it to go. This is not what I expected." I was always the youngest guy. When I was 16, I was in a band where everybody else was in their 20s and I was like this song writer and the singer. I played guitar. And I was always the kid. And then, suddenly I was like 26, I wasn't doing anything. And I was like... That just seemed like a little too old to be doing nothing. And not long after David Foster Wallace put out the book, Infinite Jest, and it really just floored, it really depressed me. 'Cause, I was like, "If I start right now...," he's older than me. But if I started right now, I wouldn't get it done in time. To be done with something right, something like that, by the time I was his age and have it come out, it's not possible.
Comparing yourself to other people is distracting at best, destructive at worst.
I do this a lot on social media.
"Oh look, they've got 20 times more Twitter followers than me... I must be doing a shit job".
Which is stupid because everyone's situation is different. (And also because social media counts are often nothing more than vanity metrics).
Some people started way before you, or from a stronger financial position, or from a more nurturing environment.
Whatever it is that you're comparing with other people, don't.
So, I don't know, I was pretty disappointed with myself, and I kinda just went... I went to a therapy basically with an amazing person who... Where I was just like, "I'm not good at my life. I'm just bad at it and I don't care what it is, I don't care what you tell me. I just wanna not do this anymore, I just need to do something else". And I started just being, realising how... I was lazy, but lazy never felt right, when I heard that, when I said it to myself. It was like, "You're lazy." It wasn't that I was lazy, I was just really afraid. I was really afraid of failing.
I know where James Murphy is coming from on this front because I have a similar frustration trying to finish my own music. I guess it's because I'm scared of people listening to it and telling me that they think that it's crap. It probably is, but I'll never know either way if I don't put it out there in the first place. So yes, I am afraid of failing too.
And the other thing is that whatever you do, there will always be people who don't like what you are doing.
The trick is simply not to pay them any attention, and focus on the people who love what you're doing instead.
Especially given that the people sniping at you (the haters and the trollers) are usually firing blanks.
All my life I'd been precocious, and like I was... I was supposed to be smart and I was supposed to be creative and I think hearing those things makes you scared that you're gonna do something stupid or do something un-interesting, and no one will see you as smart or creative anymore. I had never been given any credit for being hard-working or being diligent or anything. And so, all my credits were based on these attributes that I had no control over. Like, oh it was... It's like being tall. Like congratulations, you're tall, is nothing you can even get excited about. So, I realised that I had kind of been so afraid of failing and looking bad, that I didn't do anything, that I just did nothing. And I could claim some sort of safety in doing nothing. But then, I decided that that's pathetic and I need to work against all of my instincts and start doing things.
I've written about the importance of starting before you feel ready before.
Ultimately (and paradoxically) safety is dangerous.
So, that's where I started a record company... and built into a studio. And I started becoming aggressive and started engaging culture, which was fun. I had never really engaged culture and always been like... If there's a bunch of people in New York city who seemed cool, I would just be sour grapes about it. I'd be very, "I don't want to go to that place, it's lame, all those people in there, they think they are so cool." I just feel really bitter and I decided, "Look, why don't I just go and see if there 10% of those people are fun, just like every other 10... " 10% of every group of people are pretty alright. 90% of most groups of people are kinda terrible. But 10%, so, I started going to different types of things and meeting different people and started throwing parties. And all of a sudden I was kind of cool, which I... I had never been in New York. I'd just always been a total not even an outsider, just like sort of a nobody, just sort of invisible, sad and kind of shy.
I'm sure that James didn't really become cool overnight by simply hanging out with people who were already cool, and that his music making skills opened a lot of doors for him.
But there's a lot to be said for seeking out people you like or admire, and spending time with them.
As Jim Rohn said: "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with".
Of course if you don't have the right kind of people people in your life already, you going to have to get them into it somehow.
Reaching out and making these new connections is not something that comes naturally to a lot of people, myself included. Check out the work of Scott Dinsmore, in particular his "How to connect with anyone" series, for some great advice on this topic.
And also, and I was deejaying and I felt cool and I threw parties. And then, one night I went to go see a band and somebody else was playing the records that I was playing. Like nobody else was playing the records I was playing, that was my thing. And I got really mad, and I got really defensive and I was just like, "What the heck... That's my... Who the hell is this?" Some 22-year-old. And I got really embarrassed by being, "These aren't your records, you didn't write them. You just play them, you just own them. You can't be proud of yourself for owning them." But I was mad at the same time 'cause I was like, "No, but I know that kid was at one of my parties." And just doing... And it was like this really dense conflict that I couldn't resolve and that's kinda where Losing My Edge came from. Really just came from this, I didn't have a good answer, I was angry, but I was also really pathetic for being angry.
The main takeaway for me here is that anger is a great tool for enhancing creativity:
"Think of negative emotion as fuel that you can burn on the path to creation."
I've always shied away from engaging with my anger in the past. I've been the quiet, sensitive guy who never gets mad. But since reading this I've started to realise that stepping back from my anger has meant depriving myself of an important energy source.
And so, I made that song and everybody thought it was terrible. I remember playing it to people and they just, they would be, they give you this face like... [chuckle] It kind of like, they don't wanna say anything, and then, asking you about technical things. "Oh, what are the drums?" And you're like, "Okay, you don't like this." And only Phil Mossman, who is the original LCD guitar player was the only person, he was like, "I love this." He was older than me, I think it had something to do with age. He was just, "I really love this, this is really funny." And so, we put it out. And with... Literally the people from the label, my two partners Tim and John were just like... They afterwards said, "We just thought you're making a big mistake and you're gonna look like an idiot and we just kind of felt bad for you... " It was the B-side until the last day. It was the B-side, the B-connection until the last minute and I was like, "No, that should be the A side. That's the one that I should sink or swim with."
Again: you cannot please everyone.
But that's a good thing.
You have to take some risks and to polarise some opinions.
Well for, that's a funny thing 'cause I know how many we made and it's not that many, it's like 4000, 5000, 12-inches, which to me was a huge deal. But then, I was like... Well, it kind of, it was a song that everybody knew when I was flying around. This is also when I learned about how much people got music from the Internet. I was like, "How does everybody know this thing?" It's like, "We've only sold 4000 copies of it." That's to stores. Let alone... Clearly, some of them haven't gone home with people. But then, I started meeting people. That's when I started making friends and meeting people that were other musicians and it was just kind of the story... Partially the story of their lives too. Like I met the Optimo guys from Glasgow, very early on. And they were just like, "Yeah, it just kind of felt like this is all our lives." Kind of this sad, wondering what to do with yourself kind of period of time.
Here's to the art of being lost — which is a tough thing to do — because as James points out, it often makes you feel like shit.
Then, I had a job. It was the first time I had made... It was the first time, I had made music in my whole life, it was the first time I made music that was... Well, I wasn't trying to be another thing than I thought I'm supposed to be. But I was just trying to actually be as much myself as I possibly could. Like the first time, I'd ever done that. And it was... And I was actually rewarded for it, which was remarkable, actually people were liking it. And so, that was a big change to me and I've become... And since then, I've become a really intense proponent of my friends. I'm really... Now, it's been so long and I'm really hard-working and I'm effective and I make good decisions and I'm very... I'm reliable.
If you do what you love, things will click into place.
So don't try to be anyone else.
Be yourself, be kind to yourself, and good things will happen.
\ No newline at end of file + +I was really a failure, like really, really, really, really, really, really, really a failure. Like, I dropped out of college to make music, but then, I stopped making music. I mean, really not even an epic failure, just sort of like a sad, pathetic failure just kind of... A real epic failure you could get behind. Like, "I tried this big thing and it failed and I lost everything." No, I just kind of frittered my years away doing nothing and being in dead-end relationships and dead-end bands and stuff. And I didn't take responsibility for much. I kind of just felt bad for myself and wondered why my life wasn't better and stuff like that.
There are different kinds of failure.
And doing nothing is the worst kind of failure.
In fact perhaps doing nothing doesn't really count as failure, because you've failed to fail at all.
And then, when I was about 26, I just realised that, "Wow, my life is not at all going the way I want it to go. This is not what I expected." I was always the youngest guy. When I was 16, I was in a band where everybody else was in their 20s and I was like this song writer and the singer. I played guitar. And I was always the kid. And then, suddenly I was like 26, I wasn't doing anything. And I was like... That just seemed like a little too old to be doing nothing. And not long after David Foster Wallace put out the book, Infinite Jest, and it really just floored, it really depressed me. 'Cause, I was like, "If I start right now...," he's older than me. But if I started right now, I wouldn't get it done in time. To be done with something right, something like that, by the time I was his age and have it come out, it's not possible.
Comparing yourself to other people is distracting at best, destructive at worst.
I do this a lot on social media.
"Oh look, they've got 20 times more Twitter followers than me... I must be doing a shit job".
Which is stupid because everyone's situation is different. (And also because social media counts are often nothing more than vanity metrics).
Some people started way before you, or from a stronger financial position, or from a more nurturing environment.
Whatever it is that you're comparing with other people, don't.
So, I don't know, I was pretty disappointed with myself, and I kinda just went... I went to a therapy basically with an amazing person who... Where I was just like, "I'm not good at my life. I'm just bad at it and I don't care what it is, I don't care what you tell me. I just wanna not do this anymore, I just need to do something else". And I started just being, realising how... I was lazy, but lazy never felt right, when I heard that, when I said it to myself. It was like, "You're lazy." It wasn't that I was lazy, I was just really afraid. I was really afraid of failing.
I know where James Murphy is coming from on this front because I have a similar frustration trying to finish my own music. I guess it's because I'm scared of people listening to it and telling me that they think that it's crap. It probably is, but I'll never know either way if I don't put it out there in the first place. So yes, I am afraid of failing too.
And the other thing is that whatever you do, there will always be people who don't like what you are doing.
The trick is simply not to pay them any attention, and focus on the people who love what you're doing instead.
Especially given that the people sniping at you (the haters and the trollers) are usually firing blanks.
All my life I'd been precocious, and like I was... I was supposed to be smart and I was supposed to be creative and I think hearing those things makes you scared that you're gonna do something stupid or do something un-interesting, and no one will see you as smart or creative anymore. I had never been given any credit for being hard-working or being diligent or anything. And so, all my credits were based on these attributes that I had no control over. Like, oh it was... It's like being tall. Like congratulations, you're tall, is nothing you can even get excited about. So, I realised that I had kind of been so afraid of failing and looking bad, that I didn't do anything, that I just did nothing. And I could claim some sort of safety in doing nothing. But then, I decided that that's pathetic and I need to work against all of my instincts and start doing things.
I've written about the importance of starting before you feel ready before.
Ultimately (and paradoxically) safety is dangerous.
So, that's where I started a record company... and built into a studio. And I started becoming aggressive and started engaging culture, which was fun. I had never really engaged culture and always been like... If there's a bunch of people in New York city who seemed cool, I would just be sour grapes about it. I'd be very, "I don't want to go to that place, it's lame, all those people in there, they think they are so cool." I just feel really bitter and I decided, "Look, why don't I just go and see if there 10% of those people are fun, just like every other 10... " 10% of every group of people are pretty alright. 90% of most groups of people are kinda terrible. But 10%, so, I started going to different types of things and meeting different people and started throwing parties. And all of a sudden I was kind of cool, which I... I had never been in New York. I'd just always been a total not even an outsider, just like sort of a nobody, just sort of invisible, sad and kind of shy.
I'm sure that James didn't really become cool overnight by simply hanging out with people who were already cool, and that his music making skills opened a lot of doors for him.
But there's a lot to be said for seeking out people you like or admire, and spending time with them.
As Jim Rohn said: "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with".
Of course if you don't have the right kind of people people in your life already, you going to have to get them into it somehow.
Reaching out and making these new connections is not something that comes naturally to a lot of people, myself included. Check out the work of Scott Dinsmore, in particular his "How to connect with anyone" series, for some great advice on this topic.
And also, and I was deejaying and I felt cool and I threw parties. And then, one night I went to go see a band and somebody else was playing the records that I was playing. Like nobody else was playing the records I was playing, that was my thing. And I got really mad, and I got really defensive and I was just like, "What the heck... That's my... Who the hell is this?" Some 22-year-old. And I got really embarrassed by being, "These aren't your records, you didn't write them. You just play them, you just own them. You can't be proud of yourself for owning them." But I was mad at the same time 'cause I was like, "No, but I know that kid was at one of my parties." And just doing... And it was like this really dense conflict that I couldn't resolve and that's kinda where Losing My Edge came from. Really just came from this, I didn't have a good answer, I was angry, but I was also really pathetic for being angry.
The main takeaway for me here is that anger is a great tool for enhancing creativity:
"Think of negative emotion as fuel that you can burn on the path to creation."
I've always shied away from engaging with my anger in the past. I've been the quiet, sensitive guy who never gets mad. But since reading this I've started to realise that stepping back from my anger has meant depriving myself of an important energy source.
And so, I made that song and everybody thought it was terrible. I remember playing it to people and they just, they would be, they give you this face like... [chuckle] It kind of like, they don't wanna say anything, and then, asking you about technical things. "Oh, what are the drums?" And you're like, "Okay, you don't like this." And only Phil Mossman, who is the original LCD guitar player was the only person, he was like, "I love this." He was older than me, I think it had something to do with age. He was just, "I really love this, this is really funny." And so, we put it out. And with... Literally the people from the label, my two partners Tim and John were just like... They afterwards said, "We just thought you're making a big mistake and you're gonna look like an idiot and we just kind of felt bad for you... " It was the B-side until the last day. It was the B-side, the B-connection until the last minute and I was like, "No, that should be the A side. That's the one that I should sink or swim with."
Again: you cannot please everyone.
But that's a good thing.
You have to take some risks and to polarise some opinions.
Well for, that's a funny thing 'cause I know how many we made and it's not that many, it's like 4000, 5000, 12-inches, which to me was a huge deal. But then, I was like... Well, it kind of, it was a song that everybody knew when I was flying around. This is also when I learned about how much people got music from the Internet. I was like, "How does everybody know this thing?" It's like, "We've only sold 4000 copies of it." That's to stores. Let alone... Clearly, some of them haven't gone home with people. But then, I started meeting people. That's when I started making friends and meeting people that were other musicians and it was just kind of the story... Partially the story of their lives too. Like I met the Optimo guys from Glasgow, very early on. And they were just like, "Yeah, it just kind of felt like this is all our lives." Kind of this sad, wondering what to do with yourself kind of period of time.
Here's to the art of being lost — which is a tough thing to do — because as James points out, it often makes you feel like shit.
Then, I had a job. It was the first time I had made... It was the first time, I had made music in my whole life, it was the first time I made music that was... Well, I wasn't trying to be another thing than I thought I'm supposed to be. But I was just trying to actually be as much myself as I possibly could. Like the first time, I'd ever done that. And it was... And I was actually rewarded for it, which was remarkable, actually people were liking it. And so, that was a big change to me and I've become... And since then, I've become a really intense proponent of my friends. I'm really... Now, it's been so long and I'm really hard-working and I'm effective and I make good decisions and I'm very... I'm reliable.
If you do what you love, things will click into place.
So don't try to be anyone else.
Be yourself, be kind to yourself, and good things will happen.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-15-dear-graphic-design.md b/_posts/2013-09-15-dear-graphic-design.md index 78e064c..a3dd1df 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-15-dear-graphic-design.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-15-dear-graphic-design.md @@ -1,14 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 115 title: Dear graphic design (an open letter to the profession which I thought had broken me) date: 2013-09-15T18:43:28+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/15/20139dear-graphic-design/ permalink: /dear-graphic-design/ categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - graphic-design --- -You were the career which I chose blindfolded out of a hat when I was eighteen, before I even knew what a real job was or what a graphic designer actually did for a living.
You were the possibility of new visual worlds, of new ways of communicating, of new modes of expression, of new shapes and colours and stories and all the other things which I love about making things.
I thought we’d be good together.
Unlike art, you came with a salary attached. And unlike architecture, you’d be mine in four years instead of seven.
Not that those were the main reason which I settled on you of course.
I’d always enjoyed the visual arts. And playing with technology, computers especially. You seemed like the perfect way to combine the two things. (And a much better idea than the only suggestion I ever got from a career advisor: become a hairdresser.)
Somehow I got into art school (the 11am pint I had before my interview probably helped) and set about learning the trade. I worked, not hard but hard enough, sought out new heros for myself, dreamt of making the world a better place, took photos, designed typefaces and generally pushed pixels around late into the night.
Graphic design became my talent, my job, my passion, my love, my life, my everything.
And I became a graphic designer.
The first year was a baptism of fail— in a good way—as the conceptual thinking skills which I’d been taught at art school were joined by practical ones. I learnt that printers don’t like it when you use faux italics in QuarkXPress. I discovered the world of paper stock and Pantone swatches. I met a new and at first mysterious player in the game of graphic design: the client.
The company at which I was working with grew. Satellite studios opened in London and New York. It felt exciting, even with the stress of the deadlines, the late nights and the pepperoni pizza stains on my keyboard.
I made the transition from print to digital (or web design as it was called back then) I taught myself the basics of web development. I learnt ActionScript, went to Flash conferences (ha!) and grappled with Wordpress.
After a while, slowly but surely, my friends began moving from Glasgow to London. I didn’t like the way the capital was sucking the talent out of Scotland and vowed to stay put.
But a year or so later it was me making the move south, to what was only my second job in five years.
Looking back now, I was already becoming uneasy about being a graphic designer at this point. I almost made a step in a slightly different direction (by taking a job at Ableton in Berlin) but took the safe route: another job as a digital designer.
Tip: don’t take the safe route.
Anyhow.
Luckily for me, London re-ignited me. After being safely wrapped up in the womb of Glasgow’s West End, everything seemed louder, bigger, better. I worked on huge websites… the most challenging projects of my professional life… and felt my design muscles being flexed, growing stronger again.
But then, suddenly, after a 10 years together, it stopped working between us.
I became jaded. I was tired. I fell apart. I had to quit my job. I thought that I had to go and find myself. I lost a girlfriend, my best friend, the love of my life. And I blamed graphic design for everything.
But now I realise that I was wrong.
It wasn’t graphic design’s fault that my life fell apart.
It was my own. (Or even better… it just happened. Stuff happens.)
I had let my profession define me. I had obsessed over everything I thought was wrong with that profession, instead of finding ways to put the things I thought that were so wrong right. And I had forgotten to pursue other passions, so that when the only thing I did stopped bearing fruit, I had nothing left to fall back on.
Maybe the courageous thing to do would have been to quit my job and start my own studio. But I was all out of courage.
I still have dreams (fantasies?) about this. Could I ditch everything and begin again from scratch, with a new manifesto for my work? I’ve seen other designers do it, but I’m not sure if I can myself.
What next then?
For one thing, I know I’ve pissed off a lot of graphic designers over the past year or so.
I've been called confused, angry, hypocritical, and I understand why.
I want to say sorry.
I was angry at myself, not at you.
Graphic design still matters to me. Bad design still pisses me off. I still have my Pantone mugs, my sprawling font collection, my Pinterest pins, and the ability to operate Photoshop blindfolded. None of this is going anywhere fast.
Maybe I can teach graphic design. Or maybe I'll just carry on exploring the creative tangents that graphic designers take into business. (Although I think I need to choose a new name for the project, and rephrase the whole thing a little less provocatively).
I don't know.
But at least I know this: it's not you graphic design, it's me.
\ No newline at end of file +
You were the career which I chose blindfolded out of a hat when I was eighteen, before I even knew what a real job was or what a graphic designer actually did for a living.
You were the possibility of new visual worlds, of new ways of communicating, of new modes of expression, of new shapes and colours and stories and all the other things which I love about making things.
I thought we’d be good together.
Unlike art, you came with a salary attached. And unlike architecture, you’d be mine in four years instead of seven.
Not that those were the main reason which I settled on you of course.
I’d always enjoyed the visual arts. And playing with technology, computers especially. You seemed like the perfect way to combine the two things. (And a much better idea than the only suggestion I ever got from a career advisor: become a hairdresser.)
Somehow I got into art school (the 11am pint I had before my interview probably helped) and set about learning the trade. I worked, not hard but hard enough, sought out new heros for myself, dreamt of making the world a better place, took photos, designed typefaces and generally pushed pixels around late into the night.
Graphic design became my talent, my job, my passion, my love, my life, my everything.
And I became a graphic designer.
The first year was a baptism of fail— in a good way—as the conceptual thinking skills which I’d been taught at art school were joined by practical ones. I learnt that printers don’t like it when you use faux italics in QuarkXPress. I discovered the world of paper stock and Pantone swatches. I met a new and at first mysterious player in the game of graphic design: the client.
The company at which I was working with grew. Satellite studios opened in London and New York. It felt exciting, even with the stress of the deadlines, the late nights and the pepperoni pizza stains on my keyboard.
I made the transition from print to digital (or web design as it was called back then) I taught myself the basics of web development. I learnt ActionScript, went to Flash conferences (ha!) and grappled with Wordpress.
After a while, slowly but surely, my friends began moving from Glasgow to London. I didn’t like the way the capital was sucking the talent out of Scotland and vowed to stay put.
But a year or so later it was me making the move south, to what was only my second job in five years.
Looking back now, I was already becoming uneasy about being a graphic designer at this point. I almost made a step in a slightly different direction (by taking a job at Ableton in Berlin) but took the safe route: another job as a digital designer.
Tip: don’t take the safe route.
Anyhow.
Luckily for me, London re-ignited me. After being safely wrapped up in the womb of Glasgow’s West End, everything seemed louder, bigger, better. I worked on huge websites… the most challenging projects of my professional life… and felt my design muscles being flexed, growing stronger again.
But then, suddenly, after a 10 years together, it stopped working between us.
I became jaded. I was tired. I fell apart. I had to quit my job. I thought that I had to go and find myself. I lost a girlfriend, my best friend, the love of my life. And I blamed graphic design for everything.
But now I realise that I was wrong.
It wasn’t graphic design’s fault that my life fell apart.
It was my own. (Or even better… it just happened. Stuff happens.)
I had let my profession define me. I had obsessed over everything I thought was wrong with that profession, instead of finding ways to put the things I thought that were so wrong right. And I had forgotten to pursue other passions, so that when the only thing I did stopped bearing fruit, I had nothing left to fall back on.
Maybe the courageous thing to do would have been to quit my job and start my own studio. But I was all out of courage.
I still have dreams (fantasies?) about this. Could I ditch everything and begin again from scratch, with a new manifesto for my work? I’ve seen other designers do it, but I’m not sure if I can myself.
What next then?
For one thing, I know I’ve pissed off a lot of graphic designers over the past year or so.
I've been called confused, angry, hypocritical, and I understand why.
I want to say sorry.
I was angry at myself, not at you.
Graphic design still matters to me. Bad design still pisses me off. I still have my Pantone mugs, my sprawling font collection, my Pinterest pins, and the ability to operate Photoshop blindfolded. None of this is going anywhere fast.
Maybe I can teach graphic design. Or maybe I'll just carry on exploring the creative tangents that graphic designers take into business. (Although I think I need to choose a new name for the project, and rephrase the whole thing a little less provocatively).
I don't know.
But at least I know this: it's not you graphic design, it's me.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-15-i-thought-i-was-an-alien.md b/_posts/2013-09-15-i-thought-i-was-an-alien.md index d2882cc..bf00a53 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-15-i-thought-i-was-an-alien.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-15-i-thought-i-was-an-alien.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 137 title: I thought I was an alien date: 2013-09-15T15:52:06+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/15/20139i-thought-i-was-an-alien/ permalink: /i-thought-i-was-an-alien/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -
Seriously.
Around the age of ten or so, I wasn't sure if I was human or not.
For some reason I had cooked up a theory that I was an alien from another planet.
I was certain that whenever I looked into a mirror there was some kind of clever technology projecting a perfectly synchronised video of a human face back at me.
It's probably best not to dwell too long on this: as with most far-fetched science fiction movies, the basic premise falls apart on close inspection.
For example, what about when I looked my hands... how come they weren't green and four-fingered? (No offence intended to any aliens reading this).
These days I am forever comparing myself with other people, not aliens.
Which is equally unhelpful.
Look at X, he's a much better writer/photographer/cyclist/person than me.
Look at X, they've got 10,000 Twitter more followers than me.
Look at X, she's so much happier than me.
However...
X might have started doing whatever he does days or even decades before you.
X might have purchased all those Twitter followers instead of earning them honestly like you did.
X might be an incredibly sad person underneath all her smiles.
You can never really know for sure.
Comparing yourself to other people is stupid
When you do, at best you're guessing and at worst you are projecting your insecurities onto someone else's apparent success.
The fastest route to happiness is to focus your attention on your own activities.
That might sound narcissistic, but it's not navel-gazing that I'm advocating here.
I'm talking about staying in the present moment, enjoying the process, living your own life, or whatever else you want to call it.
Whenever you compare yourself with other people, you're wasting precious energy.
How to cut down on your comparison-making
- Remember that everyone is different. Celebrate all the weird and wonderful variations in the human species.
- Do things that make you happy, instead of doing things to make other people happy.
- Be grateful for the things you have already, instead of focussing on what others have.
- Give up trying to be perfect. (The only way to be perfect is to do nothing, which isn't going to get you anywhere).
Seriously.
Around the age of ten or so, I wasn't sure if I was human or not.
For some reason I had cooked up a theory that I was an alien from another planet.
I was certain that whenever I looked into a mirror there was some kind of clever technology projecting a perfectly synchronised video of a human face back at me.
It's probably best not to dwell too long on this: as with most far-fetched science fiction movies, the basic premise falls apart on close inspection.
For example, what about when I looked my hands... how come they weren't green and four-fingered? (No offence intended to any aliens reading this).
These days I am forever comparing myself with other people, not aliens.
Which is equally unhelpful.
Look at X, he's a much better writer/photographer/cyclist/person than me.
Look at X, they've got 10,000 Twitter more followers than me.
Look at X, she's so much happier than me.
However...
X might have started doing whatever he does days or even decades before you.
X might have purchased all those Twitter followers instead of earning them honestly like you did.
X might be an incredibly sad person underneath all her smiles.
You can never really know for sure.
Comparing yourself to other people is stupid
When you do, at best you're guessing and at worst you are projecting your insecurities onto someone else's apparent success.
The fastest route to happiness is to focus your attention on your own activities.
That might sound narcissistic, but it's not navel-gazing that I'm advocating here.
I'm talking about staying in the present moment, enjoying the process, living your own life, or whatever else you want to call it.
Whenever you compare yourself with other people, you're wasting precious energy.
How to cut down on your comparison-making
- Remember that everyone is different. Celebrate all the weird and wonderful variations in the human species.
- Do things that make you happy, instead of doing things to make other people happy.
- Be grateful for the things you have already, instead of focussing on what others have.
- Give up trying to be perfect. (The only way to be perfect is to do nothing, which isn't going to get you anywhere).
@@ -35,7 +30,7 @@ For all his effectiveness as a rudimentary human, Frankenstein wasn't the best l
And because it is the visual that we are concerned with here, I don't think frankensteining is a good process to include in your graphic design workflow.
-As one usability glossary I found whilst researching this article puts it:
+As one usability glossary I found whilst researching this article puts it:
"A typical situation is to present multiple design options to a client who asks for a piecemeal combination of features. While the original designs each conveyed a unified message, the combination is a monstrous hodge-podge. "@@ -77,4 +72,4 @@ Here's a recap of the reasons not to let your client frankenstein your designs b
-PS. Just in case you don't know, fugly = fucking ugly. \ No newline at end of file +PS. Just in case you don't know, fugly = fucking ugly. diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-17-finding-work-you-love.md b/_posts/2013-09-17-finding-work-you-love.md index 2fe68f2..672761c 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-17-finding-work-you-love.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-17-finding-work-you-love.md @@ -1,14 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 241 title: 4 tips for finding work you love date: 2013-09-17T21:32:45+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/17/20139finding-work-you-love/ permalink: /finding-work-you-love/ categories: - - Life - - Undesign + - life + - careers --- If you’re a TED talk fan, the chances are fairly high that you’re already familiar with a presentation on “[The power of introverts](http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html)” by the American writer Susan Cain. @@ -18,7 +15,7 @@ The first thing I did after seeing it myself was to order a copy of Susan’s bo It was only last week that I picked up the book on a whim as I headed for the tube to work, and started reading again where I had left off 6 months ago. I’m glad that I did because the book immediately took a turn for the better and I’ve found myself mining a rich seam of practical advice in its closing chapters. -The tips which I want to share with you (also published on Susan Cain’s blog) are about that most difficult of decisions: what the hell to do with your life. +The tips which I want to share with you (also published on Susan Cain’s blog) are about that most difficult of decisions: what the hell to do with your life. But first, a quick diversion. @@ -28,23 +25,22 @@ If you don’t believe me, look at this graph for the phrase in Google Trends:
-That shit is trending. And when I say shit, I mean it. As The Minimalists rightly said: “follow your passion is crappy advice“.
-
+That shit is trending. And when I say shit, I mean it. As The Minimalists rightly sa
You need to be much more specific when it comes to defining your motivations — because passion isn’t the only emotion entangled in the career conundrum.
Whilst you’re going to need that passion by the bucket load to keep you motivated, it’s highly unlikely that you can simply ‘follow’ it to find your perfect job. And simply “doing what you love” doesn’t work either..
-Back to Susan Cain for some ideas on a better way forward…
+Back to Susan Cain for some ideas on a better way forward…
**1. Pay attention to what you envy.**
*Jealousy is an ugly emotion, but it tells the truth. You only envy those who have what you desire. Back when I was a Wall Street lawyer, some of my former law school classmates got together one evening, and compared notes on alumni career tracks. They spoke with admiration and, yes, jealousy, of a classmate who argued regularly before the Supreme Court. At first I felt critical of their envy. More power to that classmate! I thought, congratulating myself on my magnanimity. Then I realized that my largesse came cheap, because deep down I didn’t aspire to the accolades of lawyering. When I asked myself whom I did envy, the answer came back instantly. My college classmates who’d grown up to be writers, or psychologists.*
-I’ve also found myself envying the work of writers recently. Writing a book is definitely something I aspire to at the moment. (Whether I will actually have the balls to go ahead and do it is another matter). What else… well I also know that music documentaries — the kind where a band is profiled or the making of a classic album is documented — are amongst by favourite kind of TV programmes. So yes, I envy the work of musicians also. There’s probably some crossover there in terms of writing lyrics. Who do you admire *outside* of your current profession?
+I’ve also found myself envying the work of writers recently. Writing a book is definitely something I aspire to at the moment. (Whether I will actually have the balls to go ahead and do it is another matter). What else… well I also know that music documentaries — the kind where a band is profiled or the making of a classic album is documented — are amongst by favourite kind of TV programmes. So yes, I envy the work of musicians also. There’s probably some crossover there in terms of writing lyrics. Who do you admire *outside* of your current profession?
**2. Ask yourself what you loved to do when you were a child.**
*How did you answer the question of what you wanted to be when you grew up? The specific answer you gave may have been off the mark, but the underlying impulse was not. If you wanted to be a fireman, what did a fireman mean to you? A good man who rescued people in distress? A daredevil? Or the simple pleasure of operating a truck? If you wanted to be a dancer, was it because you got to wear a costume, or because you craved applause, or was it the pure joy of twirling around at lightning speed? You may have known more about who you were then than you do now.*
-This one is a little tricker for me. I wanted to be an astronaut for a while. Maybe that was because I had a romantic notion about jetting off to the stars on my own. I also wanted to design cars — but I still can’t drive. I’m going to do some more thinking about this one and get back to you…
+This one is a little tricker for me. I wanted to be an astronaut for a while. Maybe that was because I had a romantic notion about jetting off to the stars on my own. I also wanted to design cars — but I still can’t drive. I’m going to do some more thinking about this one and get back to you…
**3. Pay attention to the work you gravitate to.**
*When I was a lawyer, I never once volunteered to take on an extra corporate legal assignment, but I spent a lot of time doing pro bono work for a women’s leadership organization. I also sat on several law firm committees dedicated to mentoring and training young lawyers in the firm. Now I am not the committee type (I’m an introvert!), but the goals of those committees lit me up, so that’s what I did. Today I’m doing a version of this kind of work with my writing and consulting, and I wake up every day excited to get started.*
@@ -54,6 +50,6 @@ Ok, this one is easier. I’ve noticed whilst blogging on CycleLove that I love
**4. What makes you cry?**
This one comes courtesy of Steve Pavlina, over at Personal Development for Smart People. He advises that you sit down with a blank sheet of paper, ask yourself what your life purpose is, and keep writing down answers until you come to the one that makes you cry.
-Another admission: I’m kind of scared to try this last one out. Maybe because I have a few ideas about what the answer could be, and the implications of that answer. More fool me.
+Another admission: I’m kind of scared to try this last one out. Maybe because I have a few ideas about what the answer could be, and the implications of that answer. More fool me.
-**If you do try any of these tips out, [please send me a tweet and let me know how it went](https://twitter.com/j_greig). Did you find them useful? Did you find yourself considering new career options?**
\ No newline at end of file
+**If you do try any of these tips out, [please send me a tweet and let me know how it went](https://twitter.com/j_greig). Did you find them useful? Did you find yourself considering new career options?**
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-18-if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-writing-is-not-a-choice.md b/_posts/2013-09-18-if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-writing-is-not-a-choice.md
index 02e1615..fa354c8 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-09-18-if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-writing-is-not-a-choice.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-09-18-if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-writing-is-not-a-choice.md
@@ -1,15 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 79
title: If you want to be a writer, writing is not a choice
date: 2013-09-18T22:04:47+00:00
-author: James Greig
-excerpt: 'A late night ramble about writing.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/18/20139if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-writing-is-not-a-choice/ + +excerpt: 'A late night ramble about writing.
'layout: post permalink: /if-you-want-to-be-a-writer-writing-is-not-a-choice/ categories: - - Writing -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - writing --- -I don't want to write today. Or specifically this evening, just a few hours shy of midnight, with a couple of beers down the hatch. I want to read, or just get an early night. Or what would have been an early night when I first sat down to write this. My brain is tired and my eyes are blurry. Instead I am facing down an empty white box, one which is slowly being filled with words. At a certain point when I judge that it's time for a pause, I will hit enter.
That pause didn't help. It felt like an invitation to stop. All day I've reflecting on my life in between catching fragments of other people's on Twitter and Facebook, and now it feels like I have nothing left to give from my own.
So now I am writing about writing. The previous sentence was in the middle of the previous paragraph before, but I just moved it here. Writing at the end of the day doesn't work for me, clearly. I need to get back to my early morning stints, before breakfast, before the rest of the house is awake, before the rest of the world has infiltrated my brain. But not having optimal conditions to write in is not a good enough excuse for me right now. I'm committed to writing 1,000 words a day, and today is day 26 of 30, so I'm going to write anything and everything I can think of until my quota is full. Hopefully somewhere in the jumble of words a few ideas will emerge, if I'm lucky.
Brushing my teeth is a twice daily automated habit. 5 minutes a day of scrubbing at least. Pretty much without fail. What could 5 minutes a day of writing achieve? Maybe I could brush my teeth and write at the same time? Sometimes I brush my teeth with my eyes closed and standing on one leg, to test my balance. Try it. It's much harder than you might think. But if you do difficult things on a daily basis, they become easier.
Another pause. I just went to visit some other tabs in my browser. And then I spent a few minutes browsing my "File me" folder. There's an entire folder within that folder of my desktop from a day in January earlier this year. I don't know why I'm telling you that. Actually I do... I need to write 1,000 words before midnight and it's the only thing I'm thinking about right now. It turns out there was nothing useful at all in that folder, so I just trashed the entire thing. Isn't it funny how people's behaviour on computers mirrors real life? (Or maybe it's not). I'm not that much of a hoarder in the physical realm, but when it comes to file systems instead of actual storage systems, I don't like to get rid of things. Maybe that will become a problem one day. Not for myself, but for anyone who wants to try and make sense of my digital life when I'm gone. Maybe my computer should be cremated with me. One thing is for sure, if I'm buried in the ground (and I don't want to be, by the way), it's going to hang around for a long time, rusting slowly long after my flesh has rotted away.
Writing seems to have become marginally easier since I started doing it every day. I can't say that I have a 100% strike rate though. Usually on the days when I try extra hard to write something that other people will find interesting, they don't. Who wants to read an article about me thinking I was an alien? Not many people. What do people want to read about anyhow? (You should all be writing, anyhow. If everyone was writing there wouldn't be so much time left for reading though).
I don't know.
I'm getting angry now. I just hit the table with my fist.
I should have started writing this morning, or at least drafted some ideas on my lunch break. (You did spend your lunch writing a newsletter though, remember?) Ok, when I got home then, instead of going to the pub.
One great thing about writing long chunks of text is that you can assume relatively few people are reading them. I could say pretty much anything right now, safe in the knowledge that no-one other than a search engine bot is reading it. One day maybe search engine bots will become sentient. Like Skynet in the Terminator movies, only less dangerous because they wouldn't be able to send humanoid robots back in time to kill an earlier version of myself. Maybe I am capable of writing something so offensive that Google might need to do this. Now that would be good writing. I hope you're reading this Google. I hope you're reading this, NSA agents. This article is about to get seriously nasty. Ok, not really.
Why bother to write at all then, especially if I'm writing drivel? According to Wired Magazine, "even the worst bloggers are making us smarter" And when you publish to the internet, you have a fighting chance of making the transition from talking only to yourself, to talking to other people. A transition which has huge significance apparently:
Many people have told me that they feel the dynamic kick in with even a tiny handful of viewers. I’d argue that the cognitive shift in going from an audience of zero (talking to yourself) to an audience of 10 (a few friends or random strangers checking out your online post) is so big that it’s actually huger than going from 10 people to a million.
So, don't write just for yourself, write for an audience. Even if that audience is imaginary for now. Write every damn day if you can. It's not a choice — it's an obligation — to yourself, to your thoughts, to the clarity of those thoughts and to the audience you don't know exists yet.
\ No newline at end of file +
I don't want to write today. Or specifically this evening, just a few hours shy of midnight, with a couple of beers down the hatch. I want to read, or just get an early night. Or what would have been an early night when I first sat down to write this. My brain is tired and my eyes are blurry. Instead I am facing down an empty white box, one which is slowly being filled with words. At a certain point when I judge that it's time for a pause, I will hit enter.
That pause didn't help. It felt like an invitation to stop. All day I've reflecting on my life in between catching fragments of other people's on Twitter and Facebook, and now it feels like I have nothing left to give from my own.
So now I am writing about writing. The previous sentence was in the middle of the previous paragraph before, but I just moved it here. Writing at the end of the day doesn't work for me, clearly. I need to get back to my early morning stints, before breakfast, before the rest of the house is awake, before the rest of the world has infiltrated my brain. But not having optimal conditions to write in is not a good enough excuse for me right now. I'm committed to writing 1,000 words a day, and today is day 26 of 30, so I'm going to write anything and everything I can think of until my quota is full. Hopefully somewhere in the jumble of words a few ideas will emerge, if I'm lucky.
Brushing my teeth is a twice daily automated habit. 5 minutes a day of scrubbing at least. Pretty much without fail. What could 5 minutes a day of writing achieve? Maybe I could brush my teeth and write at the same time? Sometimes I brush my teeth with my eyes closed and standing on one leg, to test my balance. Try it. It's much harder than you might think. But if you do difficult things on a daily basis, they become easier.
Another pause. I just went to visit some other tabs in my browser. And then I spent a few minutes browsing my "File me" folder. There's an entire folder within that folder of my desktop from a day in January earlier this year. I don't know why I'm telling you that. Actually I do... I need to write 1,000 words before midnight and it's the only thing I'm thinking about right now. It turns out there was nothing useful at all in that folder, so I just trashed the entire thing. Isn't it funny how people's behaviour on computers mirrors real life? (Or maybe it's not). I'm not that much of a hoarder in the physical realm, but when it comes to file systems instead of actual storage systems, I don't like to get rid of things. Maybe that will become a problem one day. Not for myself, but for anyone who wants to try and make sense of my digital life when I'm gone. Maybe my computer should be cremated with me. One thing is for sure, if I'm buried in the ground (and I don't want to be, by the way), it's going to hang around for a long time, rusting slowly long after my flesh has rotted away.
Writing seems to have become marginally easier since I started doing it every day. I can't say that I have a 100% strike rate though. Usually on the days when I try extra hard to write something that other people will find interesting, they don't. Who wants to read an article about me thinking I was an alien? Not many people. What do people want to read about anyhow? (You should all be writing, anyhow. If everyone was writing there wouldn't be so much time left for reading though).
I don't know.
I'm getting angry now. I just hit the table with my fist.
I should have started writing this morning, or at least drafted some ideas on my lunch break. (You did spend your lunch writing a newsletter though, remember?) Ok, when I got home then, instead of going to the pub.
One great thing about writing long chunks of text is that you can assume relatively few people are reading them. I could say pretty much anything right now, safe in the knowledge that no-one other than a search engine bot is reading it. One day maybe search engine bots will become sentient. Like Skynet in the Terminator movies, only less dangerous because they wouldn't be able to send humanoid robots back in time to kill an earlier version of myself. Maybe I am capable of writing something so offensive that Google might need to do this. Now that would be good writing. I hope you're reading this Google. I hope you're reading this, NSA agents. This article is about to get seriously nasty. Ok, not really.
Why bother to write at all then, especially if I'm writing drivel? According to Wired Magazine, "even the worst bloggers are making us smarter" And when you publish to the internet, you have a fighting chance of making the transition from talking only to yourself, to talking to other people. A transition which has huge significance apparently:
Many people have told me that they feel the dynamic kick in with even a tiny handful of viewers. I’d argue that the cognitive shift in going from an audience of zero (talking to yourself) to an audience of 10 (a few friends or random strangers checking out your online post) is so big that it’s actually huger than going from 10 people to a million.
So, don't write just for yourself, write for an audience. Even if that audience is imaginary for now. Write every damn day if you can. It's not a choice — it's an obligation — to yourself, to your thoughts, to the clarity of those thoughts and to the audience you don't know exists yet.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-20-10-things-ive-learned-in-10-years-as-a-graphic-designer.md b/_posts/2013-09-20-10-things-ive-learned-in-10-years-as-a-graphic-designer.md index 6cf9a06..7597a2d 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-20-10-things-ive-learned-in-10-years-as-a-graphic-designer.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-20-10-things-ive-learned-in-10-years-as-a-graphic-designer.md @@ -1,16 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 342 title: '10 things I’ve learned in 10 years working as a graphic designer' date: 2013-09-20T00:21:37+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/20/2013910-things-ive-learned-in-10-years-as-a-graphic-designer/ permalink: /10-things-ive-learned-in-10-years-as-a-graphic-designer/ -structured_content: - - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' categories: - - Uncategorised -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - life --- -
If I could write a letter to my 23-year-old self, the naive fresh-faced version of me who had just finished art school and was looking for his first job in graphic design, these are a few of the things I would tell myself.
1. Good design starts with a good idea. Not with style or hype. You need a concept, an angle of approach, a different way of thinking about the problem — not a new way of presenting it visually. Also, good design doesn't usually start directly on a computer, it starts as a scribble, in a sketch or in the shower. If your blank canvas is Photoshop's then your creative possibilities will be Photoshop's also. And if you can't verbalise the idea before you visualise it, it's probably not strong enough yet. Unless of course you are a convincing liar, in which case you can post-rationalise the shit out of whatever it is you want to present...
2. You are not your work. Thus any criticism of your graphic design should never be taken too personally. I'm not saying that you should relinquish pride in your work. But I do think the expression "You are only as good as your last job" is an unhealthy one. Be the best graphic designer that you can be, but don't let that be all you are. Cultivate other interests and avenues of expression. You'll know if you've gone too deep into the profession because you'll spend your weekends noticing things that no-one outside it cares about, like double spaces on restaurant menus.
3. The client is always right, except when they are wrong. Oh Lordy, need I say any more than this? A massive part of the art of graphic design is selling your idea to the client. But sometimes the brief itself can be wrong, which makes your job even more difficult. And when it's the client who is wrong, you have to put them right without making them feel stupid or hurting their pride. You can also end up with the wrong client completely, which makes it almost impossible to put anything right. (Unless you fire them. Which you should).
4. Competitions which you have to pay money to enter are usually bullshit. I'm talking about the kind of competitions where if you win, you also have to pay money to attend the award ceremony and collect the prize which you already paid to stand a chance to win in the first place. I went to a few of these things when I worked up in Scotland, but luckily I didn't have to pay for them myself. Maybe I'm just bitter because I've never won any of the big ones. I don't know.
5. When a client gets mad at you, they're usually not mad at you... in the same way that anyone in a service industry can be emotionally beaten up by a customer who is having a shitty day. It's hard I know, but try to let their anger wash over you. No-one is going to die because of a typo or a missed deadline. (On a sidenote, there was an infamous print job at my first studio in which a spelling mistake on the cover of something went unnoticed until it rolled off the press. In the end they had to hire a calligrapher to correct each one by hand... see no. 9 below).
6. Save your work. Then back it up. Then back up your back up. (Or just use Dropbox). When I'm sitting at a computer, hitting Ctrl + S is basically a reflex action for me, something I'll do every couple of minutes without thinking. I'll also save multiple versions of my file starting from v00 so that I can trace back through variations in a design should I ever change my mind. Don't worry about filling up your hard drive, you can always go back later and delete the earlier files.
7. Make the logo a little smaller than you think it should be. Then when the client (almost inevitably) asks you to make it bigger, you'll be able to do it without hesitation. Compliment the client on his prescience whilst simultaneously hoping he didn't read this article.
8. Be as specific as you can about everything in your process *except* when the client is going to receive the next set of designs. Explain the thinking behind your choice of colour palette, typefaces, photography, paper stock. But with regards to deadlines say "next week" instead of "on Monday" or "later today" instead of "right after lunch". The more jobs you are juggling the more valuable this nonspecificity will become because you won't be tied down to exact timings. Also: a job will always take longer than you think it will, so take your time estimate and double it to be on the safe side.
9. Everything will work out just fine in the end. I was once working on a website build which was way off track to finish on time. Things kept going wrong and we had no idea what we were going to tell the client. As the evening wore on and the deadline loomed, things began to look bleak. Then we realised their hosting had gone down and we had no way to put the site live. These days I would have been honest from the start and admitted that we couldn't meet the deadline. Whatever you do, remember to keep breathing. Sometimes I forget. You can take this to the next level by learning to meditate — I've only just started this process but can already feel the difference.
10. No list of ten of anything design related is ever going to better Dieter Rams' timeless "Ten Principles for Good Design". His last tip is perhaps my favourite: "Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials."
What tips would you add to my list?
\ No newline at end of file +If I could write a letter to my 23-year-old self, the naive fresh-faced version of me who had just finished art school and was looking for his first job in graphic design, these are a few of the things I would tell myself.
1. Good design starts with a good idea. Not with style or hype. You need a concept, an angle of approach, a different way of thinking about the problem — not a new way of presenting it visually. Also, good design doesn't usually start directly on a computer, it starts as a scribble, in a sketch or in the shower. If your blank canvas is Photoshop's then your creative possibilities will be Photoshop's also. And if you can't verbalise the idea before you visualise it, it's probably not strong enough yet. Unless of course you are a convincing liar, in which case you can post-rationalise the shit out of whatever it is you want to present...
2. You are not your work. Thus any criticism of your graphic design should never be taken too personally. I'm not saying that you should relinquish pride in your work. But I do think the expression "You are only as good as your last job" is an unhealthy one. Be the best graphic designer that you can be, but don't let that be all you are. Cultivate other interests and avenues of expression. You'll know if you've gone too deep into the profession because you'll spend your weekends noticing things that no-one outside it cares about, like double spaces on restaurant menus.
3. The client is always right, except when they are wrong. Oh Lordy, need I say any more than this? A massive part of the art of graphic design is selling your idea to the client. But sometimes the brief itself can be wrong, which makes your job even more difficult. And when it's the client who is wrong, you have to put them right without making them feel stupid or hurting their pride. You can also end up with the wrong client completely, which makes it almost impossible to put anything right. (Unless you fire them. Which you should).
4. Competitions which you have to pay money to enter are usually bullshit. I'm talking about the kind of competitions where if you win, you also have to pay money to attend the award ceremony and collect the prize which you already paid to stand a chance to win in the first place. I went to a few of these things when I worked up in Scotland, but luckily I didn't have to pay for them myself. Maybe I'm just bitter because I've never won any of the big ones. I don't know.
5. When a client gets mad at you, they're usually not mad at you... in the same way that anyone in a service industry can be emotionally beaten up by a customer who is having a shitty day. It's hard I know, but try to let their anger wash over you. No-one is going to die because of a typo or a missed deadline. (On a sidenote, there was an infamous print job at my first studio in which a spelling mistake on the cover of something went unnoticed until it rolled off the press. In the end they had to hire a calligrapher to correct each one by hand... see no. 9 below).
6. Save your work. Then back it up. Then back up your back up. (Or just use Dropbox). When I'm sitting at a computer, hitting Ctrl + S is basically a reflex action for me, something I'll do every couple of minutes without thinking. I'll also save multiple versions of my file starting from v00 so that I can trace back through variations in a design should I ever change my mind. Don't worry about filling up your hard drive, you can always go back later and delete the earlier files.
7. Make the logo a little smaller than you think it should be. Then when the client (almost inevitably) asks you to make it bigger, you'll be able to do it without hesitation. Compliment the client on his prescience whilst simultaneously hoping he didn't read this article.
8. Be as specific as you can about everything in your process *except* when the client is going to receive the next set of designs. Explain the thinking behind your choice of colour palette, typefaces, photography, paper stock. But with regards to deadlines say "next week" instead of "on Monday" or "later today" instead of "right after lunch". The more jobs you are juggling the more valuable this nonspecificity will become because you won't be tied down to exact timings. Also: a job will always take longer than you think it will, so take your time estimate and double it to be on the safe side.
9. Everything will work out just fine in the end. I was once working on a website build which was way off track to finish on time. Things kept going wrong and we had no idea what we were going to tell the client. As the evening wore on and the deadline loomed, things began to look bleak. Then we realised their hosting had gone down and we had no way to put the site live. These days I would have been honest from the start and admitted that we couldn't meet the deadline. Whatever you do, remember to keep breathing. Sometimes I forget. You can take this to the next level by learning to meditate — I've only just started this process but can already feel the difference.
10. No list of ten of anything design related is ever going to better Dieter Rams' timeless "Ten Principles for Good Design". His last tip is perhaps my favourite: "Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials."
What tips would you add to my list?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-20-a-machine-for-dreaming.md b/_posts/2013-09-20-a-machine-for-dreaming.md index b74f67b..38607a7 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-09-20-a-machine-for-dreaming.md +++ b/_posts/2013-09-20-a-machine-for-dreaming.md @@ -1,15 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 96 title: A machine for dreaming date: 2013-09-20T21:51:39+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/20/20139a-machine-for-dreaming/ permalink: /a-machine-for-dreaming/ categories: - - Life -tags: - - 30dowxteyk + - life ---
@@ -39,4 +34,4 @@ That's the magical thing about consciousness: the freedom to think about anythin
He's talking about the way that light is reflecting off of the handbags of prostitutes. But for some reason it was the one image of thousands in the novel that lodged itself in my brain. I don't know why. Somehow that fragment of his story, something which might never have existed in the first place, has been transferred from him to me, and now to you.
-If everything we experience is just a dream, an imagined or simulated event inside the enormous machine for dreaming that is our universe (of which there may be many others), then where does that leave us?
\ No newline at end of file
+If everything we experience is just a dream, an imagined or simulated event inside the enormous machine for dreaming that is our universe (of which there may be many others), then where does that leave us?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-09-21-8-questions-to-ask-a-client-before-designing-their-website.md b/_posts/2013-09-21-8-questions-to-ask-a-client-before-designing-their-website.md
index 45e9c54..77df2ab 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-09-21-8-questions-to-ask-a-client-before-designing-their-website.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-09-21-8-questions-to-ask-a-client-before-designing-their-website.md
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
---
-id: 54
title: 8 questions to ask a client before designing their website
date: 2013-09-21T15:59:47+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/09/21/201398-questions-to-ask-a-client-before-designing-their-website/
permalink: /8-questions-to-ask-a-client-before-designing-their-website/
categories:
- - Uncategorised
-tags:
- - 30dowxteyk
+ - graphic-design
---
-You've beaten off the competition and are ready to start designing a shiny new website for your client. Awesome. But now what? Of course it's tempting to dive straight into the fun part (aka the design process) but first there are a few things it's worthwhile seeking definition on. Here are a few things to put to your new best friend:
1. Why do you want a new website?
Before you can understand your client's customers motivations, you need to understand their own.
The funny thing is that clients don't always have an answer to this question. They might want a new site because of a perceived need to keep up with their competitors (who just got an all-singing all-dancing new site), or because someone new in the marketing department is flexing their muscles, or simply because they need to spend a chunk of money they've been allocated before the end of the financial year.
Whilst we're on the subject of why, there's a technique called "The 5 Whys" (which Toyota created to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem) which is handy to bear in mind at this stage in the process. Whatever the client's answer to "why do you want a new website" may be, you're probably going to have to ask several more "whys" to get to the root of their motivations.
So, keep asking why. (But not this much).
2. Who is your website trying to reach?
Now, some people will advocate taking the answer to this question and creating user personas from it, like "Steve is a stylish city worker in his mid twenties who likes classic cars and browses websites from an Android tablet in his Shoreditch apartment".
Frankly though, I think this is bullshit.
Creating fictional characters isn't going to help you to understand the REAL PEOPLE who are already part of your client's world.
Be all ears when your client is talking about who the new website is for, take notes, identify the types of people who are currently or might be using the site, just don't feel obligated to make new people up along the way.
3. What do you want these people to do when they get to your website?
Yes, this is about defining calls to action. But it is also much more than this. As Seth Godin puts it:
The goal is to create design that takes the user's long-term needs and desires into account, and helps him focus his attention and goals on accomplishing something worthwhile.
That well-designed prescription bottle, for example, is well-designed because it gets you to take your medicine even when you forget or don't feel like it. If that wasn't the goal, then a cheap Baggie would do the job.
And that well-designed web site doesn't encourage aimless clicking and eventual ennui. Instead, it pushes the user to come face to face with what's on offer and to decide (hopefully) to engage.
What the client wants from their website and what its users want are two different things. Your job is to find the sweet spot in the middle. It might not be a very big one, but it's there... somewhere...
4. How are you going to promote the new site?
There are several reasons to ask this question. But the main one is that it will help you to gauge how serious the client is about the process they are about to undertake. If there are omissions or gaping holes in their plan, it could be an opportunity for you to get more work from them — maybe there's potential to create printed collateral or even an event to mark the launch of the site for example.
5. How will you know if the new site has been successful?
This is another question which can elicit blank stares from a client. If they are not already familiar with the use of analytics platforms like Google Analytics and KISSmetrics, now is your chance to educate them. This is going to boil down to metrics, if not to do with the site itself, then related things like sales targets. If your client isn't measuring these, you won't be able to either. (And the more facts and figures you have to hand, the easier it will be to create a brilliant case study about the website after it goes live).
6. When do you want to launch the new site?
Does the client have any specific deadlines? Or maybe an event they want the launch to coincide with? Finding out sooner rather than later will make your job a lot less stressful. And if, on backwards from the deadline, you'll probably find that you needed to start the site a few weeks ago, look at this as an opportunity rather than a problem. You can usually split the project into phases to help you meet the deadlines (And sometimes the things which have to get dropped, which the client thinks are absolutely crucial, never make it back onto the site again. Hallelujah).
7. Do you have a domain name (and hosting) in place yet?
If I had a penny for every job which has been held up by hosting or domain problems, I'd be... well... I'd have a pocket full of change. It may seem like a trivial detail but these things almost always take longer to get sorted than you expect. Even with bigger clients who should (in theory) be better placed to make the necessary arrangements, the process can be slowed by the extra bureaucracy involved in getting approval on costs and the like. So, get the hosting requirements out in the open as early as possible.
8. Who is going to populate the new site with content? Do you have a content plan?
Whoever this person is that's responsible for this side of things, you want them on your side. And you're probably going to have to teach them how to use the content management system for the site as well. If they don't have a content plan, well, that's something for another article, but in the meantime send them here.
You've beaten off the competition and are ready to start designing a shiny new website for your client. Awesome. But now what? Of course it's tempting to dive straight into the fun part (aka the design process) but first there are a few things it's worthwhile seeking definition on. Here are a few things to put to your new best friend:
1. Why do you want a new website?
Before you can understand your client's customers motivations, you need to understand their own.
The funny thing is that clients don't always have an answer to this question. They might want a new site because of a perceived need to keep up with their competitors (who just got an all-singing all-dancing new site), or because someone new in the marketing department is flexing their muscles, or simply because they need to spend a chunk of money they've been allocated before the end of the financial year.
Whilst we're on the subject of why, there's a technique called "The 5 Whys" (which Toyota created to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem) which is handy to bear in mind at this stage in the process. Whatever the client's answer to "why do you want a new website" may be, you're probably going to have to ask several more "whys" to get to the root of their motivations.
So, keep asking why. (But not this much).
2. Who is your website trying to reach?
Now, some people will advocate taking the answer to this question and creating user personas from it, like "Steve is a stylish city worker in his mid twenties who likes classic cars and browses websites from an Android tablet in his Shoreditch apartment".
Frankly though, I think this is bullshit.
Creating fictional characters isn't going to help you to understand the REAL PEOPLE who are already part of your client's world.
Be all ears when your client is talking about who the new website is for, take notes, identify the types of people who are currently or might be using the site, just don't feel obligated to make new people up along the way.
3. What do you want these people to do when they get to your website?
Yes, this is about defining calls to action. But it is also much more than this. As Seth Godin puts it:
The goal is to create design that takes the user's long-term needs and desires into account, and helps him focus his attention and goals on accomplishing something worthwhile.
That well-designed prescription bottle, for example, is well-designed because it gets you to take your medicine even when you forget or don't feel like it. If that wasn't the goal, then a cheap Baggie would do the job.
And that well-designed web site doesn't encourage aimless clicking and eventual ennui. Instead, it pushes the user to come face to face with what's on offer and to decide (hopefully) to engage.
What the client wants from their website and what its users want are two different things. Your job is to find the sweet spot in the middle. It might not be a very big one, but it's there... somewhere...
4. How are you going to promote the new site?
There are several reasons to ask this question. But the main one is that it will help you to gauge how serious the client is about the process they are about to undertake. If there are omissions or gaping holes in their plan, it could be an opportunity for you to get more work from them — maybe there's potential to create printed collateral or even an event to mark the launch of the site for example.
5. How will you know if the new site has been successful?
This is another question which can elicit blank stares from a client. If they are not already familiar with the use of analytics platforms like Google Analytics and KISSmetrics, now is your chance to educate them. This is going to boil down to metrics, if not to do with the site itself, then related things like sales targets. If your client isn't measuring these, you won't be able to either. (And the more facts and figures you have to hand, the easier it will be to create a brilliant case study about the website after it goes live).
6. When do you want to launch the new site?
Does the client have any specific deadlines? Or maybe an event they want the launch to coincide with? Finding out sooner rather than later will make your job a lot less stressful. And if, on backwards from the deadline, you'll probably find that you needed to start the site a few weeks ago, look at this as an opportunity rather than a problem. You can usually split the project into phases to help you meet the deadlines (And sometimes the things which have to get dropped, which the client thinks are absolutely crucial, never make it back onto the site again. Hallelujah).
7. Do you have a domain name (and hosting) in place yet?
If I had a penny for every job which has been held up by hosting or domain problems, I'd be... well... I'd have a pocket full of change. It may seem like a trivial detail but these things almost always take longer to get sorted than you expect. Even with bigger clients who should (in theory) be better placed to make the necessary arrangements, the process can be slowed by the extra bureaucracy involved in getting approval on costs and the like. So, get the hosting requirements out in the open as early as possible.
8. Who is going to populate the new site with content? Do you have a content plan?
Whoever this person is that's responsible for this side of things, you want them on your side. And you're probably going to have to teach them how to use the content management system for the site as well. If they don't have a content plan, well, that's something for another article, but in the meantime send them here.
@@ -61,4 +56,4 @@ But I can recommend mixing things up a bit.
@@ -43,4 +40,4 @@ If something isn't working in your life, don't bitch about it.
PS. It's been raining here in London for most of the day. But I just tweeted a link to a playlist of TED talks by famous graphic designers instead of complaining about the weather. And judging by the number of times it's been retweeted and saved already, I think I made the right call :)
-
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/_posts/2013-10-24-late-night-adventures-in-lifestyle-design.md b/_posts/2013-10-24-late-night-adventures-in-lifestyle-design.md
index c89cbae..98c800b 100644
--- a/_posts/2013-10-24-late-night-adventures-in-lifestyle-design.md
+++ b/_posts/2013-10-24-late-night-adventures-in-lifestyle-design.md
@@ -1,21 +1,18 @@
---
-id: 369
title: Late night adventures in lifestyle design.
date: 2013-10-24T09:12:21+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/2013/10/24/201310late-night-adventures-in-lifestyle-design/
permalink: /late-night-adventures-in-lifestyle-design/
categories:
- - Life
+ - life
---
Last night I couldn't sleep, so I turned the light back on and started leafing through one of the notebooks next to my bed. And then I realised why my 40 winks were not forthcoming — I'd be ignoring my own advice. There it was, sitting in plain sight a few pages back, in a list I'd forgotten writing:
———————————————
-Lifestyle design x
+Lifestyle design
-THINGS I ALREADY KNOW WORK FOR ME
+THINGS I ALREADY KNOW WORK FOR ME
- Meditate daily
- Sleep early, wake early
- Read daily (input)
- Write daily (output)
- Plan tomorrow at the end of today
- Leave phone outside bedroom / Don't use alarm clock
- Express gratitude (write down 3 things I am grateful each day)
- Less pasta. Less bread. Less bloat.
- Remember that "everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use". (thanks Steve)
- And for any situations that you can't change, you still have absolute freedom in how you respond to them.
Cereal was much more fun when I was growing up in the 80s. You could collect tokens for a free stunt kite, or find bicarbonate of soda powered submarines buried deep inside the packet, or cut up the box to construct animals masks and airport runways.
These days the cereal consumption experience is less visceral, but the nutritional claims on the side of the box are still the same old bullshit. Oh yes, Coco Pops are packed full of 50% of your RDA of vitamins and minerals, but they are also 35% sugar. Real healthy stuff you got there Kelloggs.
Did anyone other than a cereal manufacturer ever tell you that cereal was healthy? Are you sure whole-grains are good for you? Do you really want to turn the milk chocolatey? (Ok, maybe I do agree with that last one). But I try to take this stuff with a pinch of salt.
If you go see a mortgage advisor, they will try to convince you that borrowing five times your salary over a period of thirty years is good for you too. The guy at the phone shop wants you to upgrade your phone even if you bought a new one yesterday. The snake oil salesman wants you to buy snake oil. The razor brand want you to buy a razor with one more blade than the one you already have.
STOP.
You don't have to buy a house. Your old phone is more powerful than most supercomputers from thirty years ago. You don't even have to shave at all if you don't want to. (And I've no idea what snake oil does).
The point is, advice from other people often comes loaded with other intentions. And that doesn't just apply to advertising and marketing. Your parents might give you advice that errs to caution because they want you to be safe. Do you want your life to be headed for destination 'safe'? I'm guessing not.
So. Don't read the side of cereal boxes. Don't take advice on face value. (Yup, even this blog post could be bogus. But I hope not.) Don't listen to the critics, the haters, the whiners, the nay-sayers or the status quo.
Listen to your inner voice.
You have all the answers you need inside you already.
\ No newline at end of file +Cereal was much more fun when I was growing up in the 80s. You could collect tokens for a free stunt kite, or find bicarbonate of soda powered submarines buried deep inside the packet, or cut up the box to construct animals masks and airport runways.
These days the cereal consumption experience is less visceral, but the nutritional claims on the side of the box are still the same old bullshit. Oh yes, Coco Pops are packed full of 50% of your RDA of vitamins and minerals, but they are also 35% sugar. Real healthy stuff you got there Kelloggs.
Did anyone other than a cereal manufacturer ever tell you that cereal was healthy? Are you sure whole-grains are good for you? Do you really want to turn the milk chocolatey? (Ok, maybe I do agree with that last one). But I try to take this stuff with a pinch of salt.
If you go see a mortgage advisor, they will try to convince you that borrowing five times your salary over a period of thirty years is good for you too. The guy at the phone shop wants you to upgrade your phone even if you bought a new one yesterday. The snake oil salesman wants you to buy snake oil. The razor brand want you to buy a razor with one more blade than the one you already have.
STOP.
You don't have to buy a house. Your old phone is more powerful than most supercomputers from thirty years ago. You don't even have to shave at all if you don't want to. (And I've no idea what snake oil does).
The point is, advice from other people often comes loaded with other intentions. And that doesn't just apply to advertising and marketing. Your parents might give you advice that errs to caution because they want you to be safe. Do you want your life to be headed for destination 'safe'? I'm guessing not.
So. Don't read the side of cereal boxes. Don't take advice on face value. (Yup, even this blog post could be bogus. But I hope not.) Don't listen to the critics, the haters, the whiners, the nay-sayers or the status quo.
Listen to your inner voice.
You have all the answers you need inside you already.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-17-unhealthy-fears-vs-healthy-fears.md b/_posts/2013-12-17-unhealthy-fears-vs-healthy-fears.md index f211b7c..8dae6a9 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-12-17-unhealthy-fears-vs-healthy-fears.md +++ b/_posts/2013-12-17-unhealthy-fears-vs-healthy-fears.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 150 title: 'Sometimes I don’t want to…' date: 2013-12-17T07:48:08+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/12/17/20139unhealthy-fears-vs-healthy-fears/ permalink: /unhealthy-fears-vs-healthy-fears/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- -Get up in the morning
Go to work
Tell the truth
Tell a lie
Talk to ANYONE
Do what you think I should
Do what I thought I would
Let it slide
Look after myself, eat healthily, get my RD-fucking-A
Be alone
Be at the party for one millisecond longer
Admit that I'm wrong, don't have a clue or am just making it up as I go along
Put another piece of me on the internet.
But then where would I be?
\ No newline at end of file +
Get up in the morning
Go to work
Tell the truth
Tell a lie
Talk to ANYONE
Do what you think I should
Do what I thought I would
Let it slide
Look after myself, eat healthily, get my RD-fucking-A
Be alone
Be at the party for one millisecond longer
Admit that I'm wrong, don't have a clue or am just making it up as I go along
Put another piece of me on the internet.
But then where would I be?
diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-20-creativity-is-a-habit-not-a-feeling.md b/_posts/2013-12-20-creativity-is-a-habit-not-a-feeling.md index 29ad20c..5ba6255 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-12-20-creativity-is-a-habit-not-a-feeling.md +++ b/_posts/2013-12-20-creativity-is-a-habit-not-a-feeling.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 147 title: Creativity is a habit, not a feeling date: 2013-12-20T09:08:16+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/12/20/201311creativity-is-a-habit-not-a-feeling/ permalink: /creativity-is-a-habit-not-a-feeling/ categories: - - Life + - life ---
Chuck Close, Self-Portrait, 2004-2005
@@ -40,4 +37,4 @@ If you combine motivation with passion, you end up with grit. Which is a good so
Or as painter Chuck Close put it:
-\ No newline at end of file +Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’ And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you know what you’ll do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-24-s-o-h-n-the-wheel.md b/_posts/2013-12-24-s-o-h-n-the-wheel.md index 7a90cae..f8ce810 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-12-24-s-o-h-n-the-wheel.md +++ b/_posts/2013-12-24-s-o-h-n-the-wheel.md @@ -1,16 +1,13 @@ --- -id: 138 title: 'S O H N — “The Wheel”' date: 2013-12-24T09:31:04+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/12/24/201312s-o-h-n-the-wheel/ permalink: /s-o-h-n-the-wheel/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life ---Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’ And the belief that process, in a sense, is liberating and that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every day. Today, you know what you’ll do, you could be doing what you were doing yesterday, and tomorrow you are gonna do what you did today, and at least for a certain period of time you can just work. If you hang in there, you will get somewhere.
When a track sends a shiver down your spine in the first few seconds of listening, it's generally a sign that you're onto something good.
But sharing discoveries on social media sometimes feels like flushing them down the toilet, so I'm going to start posting some of my favourite things here instead, starting with this music video by S O H N.
- + - -"The Wheel" was released in 2012 but thanks to inclusion on a DJ Koze mix has been popping up all over the place this year. Which I'm grateful for, because up until today I'd missed this track completely.
Update: just realised there's a S O H N remix of Disclosure's "Help Me Lose My Mind". Holy shit.
\ No newline at end of file + +"The Wheel" was released in 2012 but thanks to inclusion on a DJ Koze mix has been popping up all over the place this year. Which I'm grateful for, because up until today I'd missed this track completely.
Update: just realised there's a S O H N remix of Disclosure's "Help Me Lose My Mind". Holy shit.
diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-29-why-i-skipped-christmas-this-year.md b/_posts/2013-12-29-why-i-skipped-christmas-this-year.md index 9450a0d..f676976 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-12-29-why-i-skipped-christmas-this-year.md +++ b/_posts/2013-12-29-why-i-skipped-christmas-this-year.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 110 title: Why I skipped Christmas this year date: 2013-12-29T08:56:39+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/12/29/201312why-i-skipped-christmas-this-year/ permalink: /why-i-skipped-christmas-this-year/ categories: - - Life + - life ---
@@ -22,7 +19,7 @@ The less Christmas-y things I did this month, the more I noticed how people arou
Christmas Jumpers: from ironic to moronic
Perhaps it's just me, but they seem to have they reached a new low this year. With everyone wearing one, they don't seem so funny any more. Looking at Google Trends, Christmas Jumpers haven't been funny for at least A FEW YEARS now. Ok I admit it, this is the one bit of Christmas I am hating on... - +
It's Christmas, can't we all just get along?
Although I love them very much, my family as a collective unit can be hard work to spend time with. And the pressure for everyone to "just get along" on Christmas Day tends to make things even worse. If I had my own family it wouldn't be a problem if I wanted to spend it with them — so why should that change because I'm single? @@ -57,4 +54,4 @@ With or without the complication of any religious elements you care to throw int "Retail holidays"? -No thanks. \ No newline at end of file +No thanks. diff --git a/_posts/2013-12-31-what-i-read.md b/_posts/2013-12-31-what-i-read.md index b9123c7..95308c2 100644 --- a/_posts/2013-12-31-what-i-read.md +++ b/_posts/2013-12-31-what-i-read.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 175 title: 'Left to right and repeat: what I read in 2013' date: 2013-12-31T09:37:22+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2013/12/31/2013what-i-read/ permalink: /what-i-read/ categories: - - Life + - life --- When I was a kid we'd make regular trips to the library during school holidays and I'd pick up a stack of new reading material each time. Sometimes I would get through six or seven books in a week, and although I have no idea what they were (other than every Hardy Boys adventure ever written, and a good chunk of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series), I've no doubt that reading expanded my mind in a way that no other medium can. @@ -85,4 +82,4 @@ FICTION Looking back at this list, I'm definitely going to try and read more non-fiction in 2014 — it makes for much better bedtime reading, and has a habit of throwing up fresh perspectives on things, no matter how old the book in question is. -What were the best things you read this year? \ No newline at end of file +What were the best things you read this year? diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-04-dont-consume-create.md b/_posts/2014-01-04-dont-consume-create.md index 39f5366..bd7de5a 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-04-dont-consume-create.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-04-dont-consume-create.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 146 title: 'Don’t consume, create.' date: 2014-01-04T13:36:37+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/04/20141dont-consume-create/ permalink: /dont-consume-create/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-05-why-names-rarely-match-up-with-faces-on-movie-posters.md b/_posts/2014-01-05-why-names-rarely-match-up-with-faces-on-movie-posters.md index 9b20930..2ff8421 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-05-why-names-rarely-match-up-with-faces-on-movie-posters.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-05-why-names-rarely-match-up-with-faces-on-movie-posters.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 75 title: Why names rarely match up with faces on movie posters date: 2014-01-05T20:04:52+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/05/20141why-names-rarely-match-up-with-faces-on-movie-posters/ permalink: /why-names-rarely-match-up-with-faces-on-movie-posters/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-13-start-small.md b/_posts/2014-01-13-start-small.md index dcb5f0e..ab74f8b 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-13-start-small.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-13-start-small.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 154 title: Start small. date: 2014-01-13T07:53:46+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/13/20141start-small/ permalink: /start-small/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-13-thought-experiment-molecular-composition-meditation.md b/_posts/2014-01-13-thought-experiment-molecular-composition-meditation.md index 1a1352b..657d032 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-13-thought-experiment-molecular-composition-meditation.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-13-thought-experiment-molecular-composition-meditation.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 288 title: The thought experiment that changes the molecular composition of your body date: 2014-01-13T21:55:47+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/13/20141thought-experiment-molecular-composition-meditation/ permalink: /thought-experiment-molecular-composition-meditation/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-15-undesign-designer-turned-writer-paul-jarvis.md b/_posts/2014-01-15-undesign-designer-turned-writer-paul-jarvis.md index 5e2b9b7..fecc1e3 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-15-undesign-designer-turned-writer-paul-jarvis.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-15-undesign-designer-turned-writer-paul-jarvis.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 297 title: In conversation with designer-turned-writer Paul Jarvis date: 2014-01-15T18:00:44+00:00 -author: James Greig + excerpt: | -Writing doesn't come easy — and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
Canadian designer Paul Jarvis is one designer who has found a way with words, writing for the likes of Fast Company, Huffington Post and Adobe's 99u, whilst running a successful web-design studio for entrepreneurial clients including Alexandra Franzen and David Ursillo.
With a friendly but bullshit-free style, refreshingly peppered with swear words (like the rest of this article), Paul's writing is pragmatic without ever being preachy — which isn't an easy mix to pull off.
When I dialled into Skype at what I thought was the scheduled time for our interview, it turned out that I'd gotten my daylight savings time mixed up, which resulted in an unexpected confession from Paul:
“I have two rats sleeping on my leg and I don’t want to move them...”
And so with his pets (who often take a starring role on his Instagram feed) snoozing away, we started our conversation by talking about Paul's early forays on the web. before moving onto how he set up his own design studio, and eventually got into writing.
-layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/15/20141undesign-designer-turned-writer-paul-jarvis/ +Writing doesn't come easy — and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
Canadian designer Paul Jarvis is one designer who has found a way with words, writing for the likes of Fast Company, Huffington Post and Adobe's 99u, whilst running a successful web-design studio for entrepreneurial clients including Alexandra Franzen and David Ursillo.
With a friendly but bullshit-free style, refreshingly peppered with swear words (like the rest of this article), Paul's writing is pragmatic without ever being preachy — which isn't an easy mix to pull off.
When I dialled into Skype at what I thought was the scheduled time for our interview, it turned out that I'd gotten my daylight savings time mixed up, which resulted in an unexpected confession from Paul:
“I have two rats sleeping on my leg and I don’t want to move them...”
And so with his pets (who often take a starring role on his Instagram feed) snoozing away, we started our conversation by talking about Paul's early forays on the web. before moving onto how he set up his own design studio, and eventually got into writing.
layout: post permalink: /undesign-designer-turned-writer-paul-jarvis/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-17-i-never-finish-anyth.md b/_posts/2014-01-17-i-never-finish-anyth.md index 3173198..20d03f9 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-17-i-never-finish-anyth.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-17-i-never-finish-anyth.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 264 title: I never finish anyth date: 2014-01-17T08:52:41+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "Why it's time to wake up and smell the hard work.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/17/20141i-never-finish-anyth/ + +excerpt: "Why it's time to wake up and smell the hard work.
"layout: post permalink: /i-never-finish-anyth/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-22-people-not-metrics-hacker-news.md b/_posts/2014-01-22-people-not-metrics-hacker-news.md index 3fa32d9..07407e0 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-22-people-not-metrics-hacker-news.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-22-people-not-metrics-hacker-news.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 290 title: 'Why the 25,000 views my last article got in 24 hours isn’t the metric I care about' date: 2014-01-22T13:34:27+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/22/20141people-not-metrics-hacker-news/ permalink: /people-not-metrics-hacker-news/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-25-how-not-to-make-your-content-go-viral.md b/_posts/2014-01-25-how-not-to-make-your-content-go-viral.md index 4943a9d..dfd088f 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-25-how-not-to-make-your-content-go-viral.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-25-how-not-to-make-your-content-go-viral.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 151 title: How not to make your content go viral date: 2014-01-25T19:44:04+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/25/20141how-not-to-make-your-content-go-viral/ permalink: /how-not-to-make-your-content-go-viral/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-01-25-moreyou.md b/_posts/2014-01-25-moreyou.md index 953e6a0..85dfd32 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-01-25-moreyou.md +++ b/_posts/2014-01-25-moreyou.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 34 title: Why the world needs more you date: 2014-01-25T10:48:36+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/01/25/moreyou/ permalink: /moreyou/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-02-11-snipers.md b/_posts/2014-02-11-snipers.md index 38008ea..9bc39d0 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-02-11-snipers.md +++ b/_posts/2014-02-11-snipers.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 48 title: Snipers gonna snipe date: 2014-02-11T09:02:38+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/02/11/snipers/ permalink: /snipers/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-05-07-why-rock-the-boat.md b/_posts/2014-05-07-why-rock-the-boat.md index 2d54ff4..95f22dc 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-05-07-why-rock-the-boat.md +++ b/_posts/2014-05-07-why-rock-the-boat.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 98 title: Why rock the boat? date: 2014-05-07T06:39:43+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/05/07/20145why-rock-the-boat/ permalink: /why-rock-the-boat/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-05-19-how-to-fix-mondays.md b/_posts/2014-05-19-how-to-fix-mondays.md index d61cfae..e1a23ce 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-05-19-how-to-fix-mondays.md +++ b/_posts/2014-05-19-how-to-fix-mondays.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 114 title: How to fix Mondays date: 2014-05-19T11:12:03+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/05/19/20145how-to-fix-mondays/ permalink: /how-to-fix-mondays/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-06-13-blogging-lessons-matthew-inman-the-oatmeal.md b/_posts/2014-06-13-blogging-lessons-matthew-inman-the-oatmeal.md index 7427498..4224495 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-06-13-blogging-lessons-matthew-inman-the-oatmeal.md +++ b/_posts/2014-06-13-blogging-lessons-matthew-inman-the-oatmeal.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 160 title: '7 lessons about blogging you can learn from The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman' date: 2014-06-13T17:21:54+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/06/13/20139blogging-lessons-matthew-inman-the-oatmeal/ permalink: /blogging-lessons-matthew-inman-the-oatmeal/ categories: - Undesign diff --git a/_posts/2014-06-13-false-economy-of-boxes.md b/_posts/2014-06-13-false-economy-of-boxes.md index 2961be9..b258c41 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-06-13-false-economy-of-boxes.md +++ b/_posts/2014-06-13-false-economy-of-boxes.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 108 title: The false economy of boxes date: 2014-06-13T10:09:25+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/06/13/20146false-economy-of-boxes/ permalink: /false-economy-of-boxes/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2014-06-15-if-it-sounds-like-writing-rewrite-it.md b/_posts/2014-06-15-if-it-sounds-like-writing-rewrite-it.md index 89ed923..a7c7fab 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-06-15-if-it-sounds-like-writing-rewrite-it.md +++ b/_posts/2014-06-15-if-it-sounds-like-writing-rewrite-it.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 92 title: If it sounds like writing, rewrite it. date: 2014-06-15T12:22:36+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/06/15/20145if-it-sounds-like-writing-rewrite-it/ permalink: /if-it-sounds-like-writing-rewrite-it/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2014-06-24-start-now.md b/_posts/2014-06-24-start-now.md index bb99500..92fd969 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-06-24-start-now.md +++ b/_posts/2014-06-24-start-now.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 118 title: Start now date: 2014-06-24T06:56:26+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Not twenty years from now, not two weeks from now. Now as in now.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/06/24/20146start-now/ + +excerpt: 'Not twenty years from now, not two weeks from now. Now as in now.
'layout: post permalink: /start-now/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-09-07-keep-going.md b/_posts/2014-09-07-keep-going.md index fb2f7cb..9dac7f0 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-09-07-keep-going.md +++ b/_posts/2014-09-07-keep-going.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 87 title: Keep going. date: 2014-09-07T14:11:40+00:00 -author: James Greig + excerpt: | -Humans don't come with an instruction manual, and our lives don't come with a map. How then can we find our way in life?
-layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/09/07/20149keep-going/ +Humans don't come with an instruction manual, and our lives don't come with a map. How then can we find our way in life?
layout: post permalink: /keep-going/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2014-09-11-staring-match-with-my-garden-shed.md b/_posts/2014-09-11-staring-match-with-my-garden-shed.md index 9a55ea0..a4391f2 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-09-11-staring-match-with-my-garden-shed.md +++ b/_posts/2014-09-11-staring-match-with-my-garden-shed.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 84 title: 'I’ve been having a staring match with my garden shed' date: 2014-09-11T12:25:54+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "Every time I've looked out of my bedroom window for the past few weeks, my shed has been there, unblinkingly transmitting a single thought into my mind...
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/09/11/20149staring-match-with-my-garden-shed/ + +excerpt: "Every time I've looked out of my bedroom window for the past few weeks, my shed has been there, unblinkingly transmitting a single thought into my mind...
"layout: post permalink: /staring-match-with-my-garden-shed/ categories: - Undesign diff --git a/_posts/2014-09-14-hate-being-a-graphic-designer.md b/_posts/2014-09-14-hate-being-a-graphic-designer.md index 6457047..a19b683 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-09-14-hate-being-a-graphic-designer.md +++ b/_posts/2014-09-14-hate-being-a-graphic-designer.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 303 title: Hate being a graphic designer? Don’t. Your job is an escape route, not a trap. date: 2014-09-14T12:00:37+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Your work is never a trap, unless you see it as one.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/09/14/20149hate-being-a-graphic-designer/ + +excerpt: 'Your work is never a trap, unless you see it as one.
'layout: post permalink: /hate-being-a-graphic-designer/ categories: - Freelancing diff --git a/_posts/2014-09-21-creative-perfectionism-mvp.md b/_posts/2014-09-21-creative-perfectionism-mvp.md index c2aac10..6966730 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-09-21-creative-perfectionism-mvp.md +++ b/_posts/2014-09-21-creative-perfectionism-mvp.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 313 title: How to sidestep creative perfectionism by acting like a startup date: 2014-09-21T15:56:21+00:00 -author: James Greig + excerpt: | -Creative people, myself included, often get hung up on how things look. Here's how to stop polishing, and start shipping instead.
-layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/09/21/20149creative-perfectionism-mvp/ +Creative people, myself included, often get hung up on how things look. Here's how to stop polishing, and start shipping instead.
layout: post permalink: /creative-perfectionism-mvp/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-09-29-getting-unstuck.md b/_posts/2014-09-29-getting-unstuck.md index 474341c..5c4366e 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-09-29-getting-unstuck.md +++ b/_posts/2014-09-29-getting-unstuck.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 319 title: 'Getting unstuck when you’re working on your own projects' date: 2014-09-29T19:06:55+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'When it comes to making your own art (instead of working for other people), it can be tough to keep things moving...
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/09/29/20149getting-unstuck/ + +excerpt: 'When it comes to making your own art (instead of working for other people), it can be tough to keep things moving...
'layout: post permalink: /getting-unstuck/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2014-10-05-other-peoples-opinion.md b/_posts/2014-10-05-other-peoples-opinion.md index 5cb5b38..82eae8b 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-10-05-other-peoples-opinion.md +++ b/_posts/2014-10-05-other-peoples-opinion.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 321 title: 'Other people’s opinion of you are none of your business' date: 2014-10-05T08:09:31+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Push at the edges, until something breaks and you have to fix it into a new shape.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/10/05/201410other-peoples-opinion/ + +excerpt: 'Push at the edges, until something breaks and you have to fix it into a new shape.
'layout: post permalink: /other-peoples-opinion/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2014-10-12-writing-1000-words-daily-accountability-hack.md b/_posts/2014-10-12-writing-1000-words-daily-accountability-hack.md index 0444225..9e579a9 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-10-12-writing-1000-words-daily-accountability-hack.md +++ b/_posts/2014-10-12-writing-1000-words-daily-accountability-hack.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 323 title: The accountability hacks I used to blog 30,000 words in 30 days, and what it taught me about writing date: 2014-10-12T09:46:18+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'If Aristotle was on point and "We are what we repeatedly do", then to be a writer all you need to do is write. It sounds easy, right?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/10/12/201410writing-1000-words-daily-accountability-hack/ + +excerpt: 'If Aristotle was on point and "We are what we repeatedly do", then to be a writer all you need to do is write. It sounds easy, right?
'layout: post permalink: /writing-1000-words-daily-accountability-hack/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-10-19-the-unspoken-d-word-depression.md b/_posts/2014-10-19-the-unspoken-d-word-depression.md index 9687deb..8fb9d81 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-10-19-the-unspoken-d-word-depression.md +++ b/_posts/2014-10-19-the-unspoken-d-word-depression.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 317 title: The unspoken D word that eats you from the inside. date: 2014-10-19T10:01:47+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "What happened the day that I realised I couldn't go to work any more.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/10/19/201410the-unspoken-d-word-depression/ + +excerpt: "What happened the day that I realised I couldn't go to work any more.
"layout: post permalink: /the-unspoken-d-word-depression/ categories: - Popular diff --git a/_posts/2014-10-26-fewer-shorter-better-emails.md b/_posts/2014-10-26-fewer-shorter-better-emails.md index 9b2e5fe..0cc44a1 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-10-26-fewer-shorter-better-emails.md +++ b/_posts/2014-10-26-fewer-shorter-better-emails.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 302 title: Fewer, shorter, better emails. date: 2014-10-26T13:01:27+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "How to write more effective business emails. (And respect your reader's time).
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/10/26/201410fewer-shorter-better-emails/ + +excerpt: "How to write more effective business emails. (And respect your reader's time).
"layout: post permalink: /fewer-shorter-better-emails/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2014-10-28-make-a-to-dont-list-and-other-ideas-for-working-smarter-not-harder.md b/_posts/2014-10-28-make-a-to-dont-list-and-other-ideas-for-working-smarter-not-harder.md index 1329930..117cd36 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-10-28-make-a-to-dont-list-and-other-ideas-for-working-smarter-not-harder.md +++ b/_posts/2014-10-28-make-a-to-dont-list-and-other-ideas-for-working-smarter-not-harder.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1284 title: Make a “to don’t” list, and other ideas for working smarter not harder date: 2014-10-28T08:27:48+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/make-a-to-dont-list-and-other-ideas-for-working-smarter-not-harder/ permalink: /make-a-to-dont-list-and-other-ideas-for-working-smarter-not-harder/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-01-how-to-fire-a-client.md b/_posts/2014-11-01-how-to-fire-a-client.md index adfc1b3..20f12a2 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-01-how-to-fire-a-client.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-01-how-to-fire-a-client.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1282 title: How to fire a client date: 2014-11-01T10:11:39+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/how-to-fire-a-client/ permalink: /how-to-fire-a-client/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-02-the-art-of-the-uncomfortable.md b/_posts/2014-11-02-the-art-of-the-uncomfortable.md index 9f80211..e86d709 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-02-the-art-of-the-uncomfortable.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-02-the-art-of-the-uncomfortable.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 310 title: 'The art of the uncomfortable: how to hack your habits by running short experiments' date: 2014-11-02T10:09:23+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "Some of the biggest gains I've made since quitting my job have come from pushing myself into corners, into doing things I'm not sure I can handle, or just plain don't want to do.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/11/02/201411the-art-of-the-uncomfortable/ + +excerpt: "Some of the biggest gains I've made since quitting my job have come from pushing myself into corners, into doing things I'm not sure I can handle, or just plain don't want to do.
"layout: post permalink: /the-art-of-the-uncomfortable/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-05-dictating-writing-hiking.md b/_posts/2014-11-05-dictating-writing-hiking.md index 6bbb9ea..2180073 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-05-dictating-writing-hiking.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-05-dictating-writing-hiking.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1281 title: Dictating, Writing, Hiking. date: 2014-11-05T10:03:23+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/dictating-writing-hiking/ permalink: /dictating-writing-hiking/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-15-on-not-using-all-the-available-space.md b/_posts/2014-11-15-on-not-using-all-the-available-space.md index f66693d..e9a3ab1 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-15-on-not-using-all-the-available-space.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-15-on-not-using-all-the-available-space.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 68 title: On not using all the available space date: 2014-11-15T16:20:43+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "Everyone knows that packing light makes travel easier, but we've all been that person lugging a suitcase full of never-needed things around a foreign city. What could you offload to lighten the load?
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/11/15/201411on-not-using-all-the-available-space/ + +excerpt: "Everyone knows that packing light makes travel easier, but we've all been that person lugging a suitcase full of never-needed things around a foreign city. What could you offload to lighten the load?
"layout: post permalink: /on-not-using-all-the-available-space/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-16-opening-up.md b/_posts/2014-11-16-opening-up.md index 3865eaf..38ed24d 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-16-opening-up.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-16-opening-up.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 306 title: '15 things you probably don’t know about me yet' date: 2014-11-16T11:51:52+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'This article has been sitting in my drafts folder for months with just three words written:
“SPILL GUTS HERE”.
But I couldn’t find the guts to spill my guts, until now.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/11/16/201411opening-up/ + +excerpt: 'This article has been sitting in my drafts folder for months with just three words written:
“SPILL GUTS HERE”.
But I couldn’t find the guts to spill my guts, until now.
'layout: post permalink: /opening-up/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-19-reflections-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-glasgows-art-scene.md b/_posts/2014-11-19-reflections-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-glasgows-art-scene.md index df78ff8..60fcfd8 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-19-reflections-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-glasgows-art-scene.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-19-reflections-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-glasgows-art-scene.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1278 title: 'Reflections on the past, present and future of Glasgow’s art scene' date: 2014-11-19T11:57:00+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/reflections-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-glasgows-art-scene/ permalink: /reflections-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-glasgows-art-scene/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-23-tour-de-cycle-hire-3-friends-riding-300km-with-3-gears.md b/_posts/2014-11-23-tour-de-cycle-hire-3-friends-riding-300km-with-3-gears.md index e1e5cd7..b278fa4 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-23-tour-de-cycle-hire-3-friends-riding-300km-with-3-gears.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-23-tour-de-cycle-hire-3-friends-riding-300km-with-3-gears.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1277 title: Tour de Cycle Hire — 3 friends riding 300km with 3 gears date: 2014-11-23T12:08:58+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/tour-de-cycle-hire-3-friends-riding-300km-with-3-gears/ permalink: /tour-de-cycle-hire-3-friends-riding-300km-with-3-gears/ categories: - CycleLove diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-23-turn-your-brain-off-and-on-again.md b/_posts/2014-11-23-turn-your-brain-off-and-on-again.md index e766db3..f3debc0 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-23-turn-your-brain-off-and-on-again.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-23-turn-your-brain-off-and-on-again.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 304 title: Have you tried turning your brain off and on again? date: 2014-11-23T12:47:27+00:00 -author: James Greig + excerpt: | -When programmers need to fix problems in their software, they release patches to fix the bug in question without compromising the integrity of what's already in place. Find out what's possible by applying the same process to upgrade your internal operating system...
-layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/11/23/201411turn-your-brain-off-and-on-again/ +When programmers need to fix problems in their software, they release patches to fix the bug in question without compromising the integrity of what's already in place. Find out what's possible by applying the same process to upgrade your internal operating system...
layout: post permalink: /turn-your-brain-off-and-on-again/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-11-30-finding-your-purpose.md b/_posts/2014-11-30-finding-your-purpose.md index 87ddc6f..6d4f1fd 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-11-30-finding-your-purpose.md +++ b/_posts/2014-11-30-finding-your-purpose.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 163 title: Why, the three letter word that could change your life date: 2014-11-30T12:32:47+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Feeling a little lost, lacking in direction, or unsure of what to do next with your career? Here are some ideas for finding your purpose.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/11/30/201411finding-your-purpose/ + +excerpt: 'Feeling a little lost, lacking in direction, or unsure of what to do next with your career? Here are some ideas for finding your purpose.
'layout: post permalink: /finding-your-purpose/ categories: - Popular diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-01-a-second-hand-bicycle-saved-my-life.md b/_posts/2014-12-01-a-second-hand-bicycle-saved-my-life.md index f3214fe..17df353 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-01-a-second-hand-bicycle-saved-my-life.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-01-a-second-hand-bicycle-saved-my-life.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 43 title: A second-hand bicycle saved my life date: 2014-12-01T09:23:34+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'What inspired me to start CycleLove? Why and how do we become so attached to our bikes? Does cycling have an image problem? All topics touched on in a short talk I made in 2013.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/12/01/201412a-second-hand-bicycle-saved-my-life/ + +excerpt: 'What inspired me to start CycleLove? Why and how do we become so attached to our bikes? Does cycling have an image problem? All topics touched on in a short talk I made in 2013.
'layout: post permalink: /a-second-hand-bicycle-saved-my-life/ categories: - CycleLove diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-04-cycling-infrastructure-is-not-for-cyclists.md b/_posts/2014-12-04-cycling-infrastructure-is-not-for-cyclists.md index c16add2..4c9498c 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-04-cycling-infrastructure-is-not-for-cyclists.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-04-cycling-infrastructure-is-not-for-cyclists.md @@ -1,16 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 326 title: Cycling infrastructure is not just for cyclists date: 2014-12-04T09:01:15+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Looking at the arguments for and against protected space for cycling in our cities. What if everyone felt safe to cycle in our cities, not just existing cyclists?
' layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/12/04/201412cycling-infrastructure-is-not-for-cyclists/ permalink: /cycling-infrastructure-is-not-for-cyclists/ -structured_content: - - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' categories: - - Uncategorised + - life ---
@@ -122,4 +116,4 @@ Is that so crazy?
Further reading:
-- The case for cycling infrastructure
- Cycling is not dangerous
- Protected bike lane statistics
- Vehicular Cyclists - Cycling's Secret Sect
- Hackney People On Bikes
- The case for cycling infrastructure
- Cycling is not dangerous
- Protected bike lane statistics
- Vehicular Cyclists - Cycling's Secret Sect
- Hackney People On Bikes
Three clues that it might be time to move onto something new (and why quitting doesn't make you a quitter).
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/12/09/201412knowing-when-to-quit/ + +excerpt: "Three clues that it might be time to move onto something new (and why quitting doesn't make you a quitter).
"layout: post permalink: /knowing-when-to-quit/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-11-just-enough-design.md b/_posts/2014-12-11-just-enough-design.md index bb4bad8..903c005 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-11-just-enough-design.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-11-just-enough-design.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1275 title: Just enough design date: 2014-12-11T17:57:45+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/just-enough-design/ permalink: /just-enough-design/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-14-what-are-you-working-on-2.md b/_posts/2014-12-14-what-are-you-working-on-2.md index 4a1adb5..4311e15 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-14-what-are-you-working-on-2.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-14-what-are-you-working-on-2.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1274 title: What are you working on? date: 2014-12-14T13:13:20+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/what-are-you-working-on-2/ permalink: /what-are-you-working-on-2/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-21-the-freakonomy-needs-you.md b/_posts/2014-12-21-the-freakonomy-needs-you.md index 707fa21..d6854e4 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-21-the-freakonomy-needs-you.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-21-the-freakonomy-needs-you.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 39 title: The freakonomy needs you date: 2014-12-21T11:39:12+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Imagine that you found something you desperately wanted to be a part of, but it was happening on the other side of the world. Would you sit at home getting in a funk, or head to where the action was happening?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/12/21/201412the-freakonomy-needs-you/ + +excerpt: 'Imagine that you found something you desperately wanted to be a part of, but it was happening on the other side of the world. Would you sit at home getting in a funk, or head to where the action was happening?
'layout: post permalink: /the-freakonomy-needs-you/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-22-10-things-that-graphic-designers-get-stuck-with-and-10-books-that-can-help.md b/_posts/2014-12-22-10-things-that-graphic-designers-get-stuck-with-and-10-books-that-can-help.md index e849c66..ae18302 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-22-10-things-that-graphic-designers-get-stuck-with-and-10-books-that-can-help.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-22-10-things-that-graphic-designers-get-stuck-with-and-10-books-that-can-help.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1263 title: 10 things that graphic designers get stuck with, and 10 books that can help date: 2014-12-22T14:32:09+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/10-things-that-graphic-designers-get-stuck-with-and-10-books-that-can-help/ permalink: /10-things-that-graphic-designers-get-stuck-with-and-10-books-that-can-help/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2014-12-28-the-problem-with-setting-a-finish-line.md b/_posts/2014-12-28-the-problem-with-setting-a-finish-line.md index b2db087..abe4120 100644 --- a/_posts/2014-12-28-the-problem-with-setting-a-finish-line.md +++ b/_posts/2014-12-28-the-problem-with-setting-a-finish-line.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 158 title: Playing golf on the moon (and the problem with setting a finish line) date: 2014-12-28T14:19:31+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Why goals can make you unhappy, and what you should focus on instead.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2014/12/28/201412the-problem-with-setting-a-finish-line/ + +excerpt: 'Why goals can make you unhappy, and what you should focus on instead.
'layout: post permalink: /the-problem-with-setting-a-finish-line/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2015-01-11-lets-talk.md b/_posts/2015-01-11-lets-talk.md index c05779b..005fb37 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-01-11-lets-talk.md +++ b/_posts/2015-01-11-lets-talk.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 329 title: 'I’m giving up Twitter for a month. Let’s talk on the phone instead.' date: 2015-01-11T10:57:30+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Instead of moaning about my Twitter addiction on Twitter, I thought it would be interesting to swap public broadcasting for person-to-person communication.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/01/11/20151lets-talk/ + +excerpt: 'Instead of moaning about my Twitter addiction on Twitter, I thought it would be interesting to swap public broadcasting for person-to-person communication.
'layout: post permalink: /lets-talk/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-01-18-review-of-2014.md b/_posts/2015-01-18-review-of-2014.md index 3015316..d0a5103 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-01-18-review-of-2014.md +++ b/_posts/2015-01-18-review-of-2014.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 165 title: My biggest mistakes and failures of 2014 (plus some of the good bits) date: 2015-01-18T13:01:00+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'An honest reflection on the year, and why defining objectives is better than setting resolutions.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/01/18/20151review-of-2014/ + +excerpt: 'An honest reflection on the year, and why defining objectives is better than setting resolutions.
'layout: post permalink: /review-of-2014/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2015-01-25-weird-and-twisted-and-drowning.md b/_posts/2015-01-25-weird-and-twisted-and-drowning.md index ca08ba5..258335e 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-01-25-weird-and-twisted-and-drowning.md +++ b/_posts/2015-01-25-weird-and-twisted-and-drowning.md @@ -1,14 +1,11 @@ --- -id: 330 title: We’re all kind of weird and twisted and drowning date: 2015-01-25T14:10:36+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "You know all those thoughts and feelings you have, that you're not sure are normal? Here's the thing. Everyone else has them too...
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/01/25/20151weird-and-twisted-and-drowning/ + +excerpt: "You know all those thoughts and feelings you have, that you're not sure are normal? Here's the thing. Everyone else has them too...
"layout: post permalink: /weird-and-twisted-and-drowning/ categories: - - Uncategorised + - life --- You know all those thoughts and feelings you have, that you're not sure are normal? @@ -62,4 +59,4 @@ You know... those unevenly coloured, slightly bruised and wonky tomatoes with th ― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood -(And we're all the more loveable and human for it). \ No newline at end of file +(And we're all the more loveable and human for it). diff --git a/_posts/2015-02-01-how-to-play-like-a-74-year-old.md b/_posts/2015-02-01-how-to-play-like-a-74-year-old.md index cadf08a..f5313a8 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-02-01-how-to-play-like-a-74-year-old.md +++ b/_posts/2015-02-01-how-to-play-like-a-74-year-old.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 332 title: How to play like a 74 year old date: 2015-02-01T10:05:42+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Want to age proof your brain and body? Stephen Jepson has a lifestyle recipe which might work for you...
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/02/01/20152how-to-play-like-a-74-year-old/ + +excerpt: 'Want to age proof your brain and body? Stephen Jepson has a lifestyle recipe which might work for you...
'layout: post permalink: /how-to-play-like-a-74-year-old/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2015-02-08-excuses-excuses.md b/_posts/2015-02-08-excuses-excuses.md index 2ed8b49..7846480 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-02-08-excuses-excuses.md +++ b/_posts/2015-02-08-excuses-excuses.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 335 title: Excuses, excuses date: 2015-02-08T13:11:56+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Four shitty excuses that are stopping you getting stuff done, and how to zap them from your life
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/02/08/20152excuses-excuses/ + +excerpt: 'Four shitty excuses that are stopping you getting stuff done, and how to zap them from your life
'layout: post permalink: /excuses-excuses/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2015-02-15-dont-start-your-business-with-an-idea.md b/_posts/2015-02-15-dont-start-your-business-with-an-idea.md index 68440ed..2bf81e3 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-02-15-dont-start-your-business-with-an-idea.md +++ b/_posts/2015-02-15-dont-start-your-business-with-an-idea.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 336 title: 'Don’t start your business with an idea' date: 2015-02-15T11:30:05+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Are you the kind of person who’s always getting excited about new ideas for businesses? But then struggling to get them off the ground? Find out why you might have been doing things back to front...
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/02/15/20152dont-start-your-business-with-an-idea/ + +excerpt: 'Are you the kind of person who’s always getting excited about new ideas for businesses? But then struggling to get them off the ground? Find out why you might have been doing things back to front...
'layout: post permalink: /dont-start-your-business-with-an-idea/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-02-18-how-i-write-part-1.md b/_posts/2015-02-18-how-i-write-part-1.md index 05611f6..fc7a594 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-02-18-how-i-write-part-1.md +++ b/_posts/2015-02-18-how-i-write-part-1.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1258 title: How I Write (Part 1) date: 2015-02-18T11:57:10+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/how-i-write-part-1/ permalink: /how-i-write-part-1/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2015-03-02-why-seth-godin-taught-himself-indesign.md b/_posts/2015-03-02-why-seth-godin-taught-himself-indesign.md index 1197ee8..c3efe61 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-03-02-why-seth-godin-taught-himself-indesign.md +++ b/_posts/2015-03-02-why-seth-godin-taught-himself-indesign.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1257 title: Why Seth Godin taught himself InDesign date: 2015-03-02T16:43:48+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/why-seth-godin-taught-himself-indesign/ permalink: /why-seth-godin-taught-himself-indesign/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-03-03-jfs-challenge-pay-my-rent-by-writing.md b/_posts/2015-03-03-jfs-challenge-pay-my-rent-by-writing.md index fc73b08..c3a5c29 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-03-03-jfs-challenge-pay-my-rent-by-writing.md +++ b/_posts/2015-03-03-jfs-challenge-pay-my-rent-by-writing.md @@ -1,12 +1,9 @@ --- -id: 341 title: Can I pay my rent by writing this month, instead of doing graphic design? date: 2015-03-03T15:04:05+00:00 -author: James Greig + excerpt: | -I don't feel ready. And if I'm honest, I feel a bit scared to be writing this. But I know that there won't ever be a "right time" to do this. So here goes nothing...
-layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/03/03/20153jfs-challenge-pay-my-rent-by-writing/ +I don't feel ready. And if I'm honest, I feel a bit scared to be writing this. But I know that there won't ever be a "right time" to do this. So here goes nothing...
layout: post permalink: /jfs-challenge-pay-my-rent-by-writing/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2015-03-08-before-you-go-freelance.md b/_posts/2015-03-08-before-you-go-freelance.md index aac37d4..a1c021b 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-03-08-before-you-go-freelance.md +++ b/_posts/2015-03-08-before-you-go-freelance.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 343 title: 'What I wish I’d known 3 years ago about becoming a freelance designer' date: 2015-03-08T14:57:38+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'And why freelancing could be the best way to take back control of your life, and your creativity.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/03/08/20153before-you-go-freelance/ + +excerpt: 'And why freelancing could be the best way to take back control of your life, and your creativity.
'layout: post permalink: /before-you-go-freelance/ categories: - Freelancing diff --git a/_posts/2015-03-22-freelancing-the-biggest-mistake.md b/_posts/2015-03-22-freelancing-the-biggest-mistake.md index a746e33..1825781 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-03-22-freelancing-the-biggest-mistake.md +++ b/_posts/2015-03-22-freelancing-the-biggest-mistake.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 350 title: The biggest mistake you can make as a freelancer date: 2015-03-22T13:45:30+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'And a quick method to work out (roughly) what your freelancing day rate should be.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/03/22/20153freelancing-the-biggest-mistake/ + +excerpt: 'And a quick method to work out (roughly) what your freelancing day rate should be.
'layout: post permalink: /freelancing-the-biggest-mistake/ categories: - Freelancing diff --git a/_posts/2015-03-22-time-and-time-again.md b/_posts/2015-03-22-time-and-time-again.md index 75192f8..b6600a2 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-03-22-time-and-time-again.md +++ b/_posts/2015-03-22-time-and-time-again.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 346 title: 'Time and time again: why it always takes longer than you expect' date: 2015-03-22T11:53:04+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Meandering thoughts on the passage of time, and some techniques for beating imposter syndrome.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/03/22/20153time-and-time-again/ + +excerpt: 'Meandering thoughts on the passage of time, and some techniques for beating imposter syndrome.
'layout: post permalink: /time-and-time-again/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2015-03-29-the-best-way-to-complain.md b/_posts/2015-03-29-the-best-way-to-complain.md index 7e0aa83..880a600 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-03-29-the-best-way-to-complain.md +++ b/_posts/2015-03-29-the-best-way-to-complain.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 352 title: The best way to complain date: 2015-03-29T10:58:02+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'When you have an itch, you have a simple choice: ignore it, or give it a good scratch. What would happen if you applied the same principle to your life?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/03/29/20153the-best-way-to-complain/ + +excerpt: 'When you have an itch, you have a simple choice: ignore it, or give it a good scratch. What would happen if you applied the same principle to your life?
'layout: post permalink: /the-best-way-to-complain/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-04-04-dont-take-this-advice.md b/_posts/2015-04-04-dont-take-this-advice.md index 7c179a1..44ce59e 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-04-04-dont-take-this-advice.md +++ b/_posts/2015-04-04-dont-take-this-advice.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 347 title: 'Don’t take this advice' date: 2015-04-04T10:29:25+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Let’s imagine that an alien of the small, friendly variety was to crash-land on earth, and somehow end up in my bedroom, as aliens often do in 80s movies...
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/04/04/20154dont-take-this-advice/ + +excerpt: 'Let’s imagine that an alien of the small, friendly variety was to crash-land on earth, and somehow end up in my bedroom, as aliens often do in 80s movies...
'layout: post permalink: /dont-take-this-advice/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-04-09-introducing-the-freelancers-field-manual.md b/_posts/2015-04-09-introducing-the-freelancers-field-manual.md deleted file mode 100644 index 3e9709b..0000000 --- a/_posts/2015-04-09-introducing-the-freelancers-field-manual.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16 +0,0 @@ ---- -id: 348 -title: 'Introducing The Freelancer’s Field Manual' -date: 2015-04-09T12:40:25+00:00 -author: James Greig -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/04/09/20154introducing-the-freelancers-field-manual/ -permalink: /introducing-the-freelancers-field-manual/ -structured_content: - - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' -categories: - - Uncategorised ---- -I'm going to start with a quick recap....
Almost 800 people have now signed up for 7 Things You Should Do
Before Going Freelance, the free email course I launched last month.
As this was the first time I've put together any kind of course, the signup rate (and the great feedback I've been getting) has exceeded all my expectations.
So I'm excited to tell you what's next....
I've just started work on The Freelancer's Field Manual, an ebook for creative folk on the road to self-employment.
It maps out the skills and strategies required for a successful freelance career, and will be available with optional extras like video interviews and handy templates for invoicing, project proposals and client surveys.
PS. If you pre-order the book before 12th May you can save 20% on the normal price.
- -Warning: I’m about to bruise your ego.
It’s going to hurt a little.
But it’s for the best, I promise.
Here goes...
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/04/19/20154dont-make-it-about-you-copywriting/ + +excerpt: 'Warning: I’m about to bruise your ego.
It’s going to hurt a little.
But it’s for the best, I promise.
Here goes...
'layout: post permalink: /dont-make-it-about-you-copywriting/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2015-04-26-on-giving-yourself-permission.md b/_posts/2015-04-26-on-giving-yourself-permission.md index e67475b..d604e03 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-04-26-on-giving-yourself-permission.md +++ b/_posts/2015-04-26-on-giving-yourself-permission.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 354 title: On giving yourself permission date: 2015-04-26T12:16:56+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Sometimes you have to say ‘fuck it’, and do something just for yourself, no matter what everyone else thinks.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/04/26/20154on-giving-yourself-permission/ + +excerpt: 'Sometimes you have to say ‘fuck it’, and do something just for yourself, no matter what everyone else thinks.
'layout: post permalink: /on-giving-yourself-permission/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-05-03-replacing-twitter-with-phone-calls-an-adventure-in-unplugging.md b/_posts/2015-05-03-replacing-twitter-with-phone-calls-an-adventure-in-unplugging.md index b412e9d..acce712 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-05-03-replacing-twitter-with-phone-calls-an-adventure-in-unplugging.md +++ b/_posts/2015-05-03-replacing-twitter-with-phone-calls-an-adventure-in-unplugging.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 1256 title: 'Replacing Twitter with Phone Calls: An Adventure in Unplugging' date: 2015-05-03T12:35:33+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/replacing-twitter-with-phone-calls-an-adventure-in-unplugging/ permalink: /replacing-twitter-with-phone-calls-an-adventure-in-unplugging/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-05-03-time-out.md b/_posts/2015-05-03-time-out.md index 73eee06..46c083d 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-05-03-time-out.md +++ b/_posts/2015-05-03-time-out.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 356 title: Time out. date: 2015-05-03T12:06:02+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "Why I'm not writing during the month of May.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/05/03/20155time-out/ + +excerpt: "Why I'm not writing during the month of May.
"layout: post permalink: /time-out/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-06-14-rebooting-my-design-practice-part-1.md b/_posts/2015-06-14-rebooting-my-design-practice-part-1.md index 1442f3e..0ab0009 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-06-14-rebooting-my-design-practice-part-1.md +++ b/_posts/2015-06-14-rebooting-my-design-practice-part-1.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 357 title: 'Rebooting My Design Practice. Part 1: Positioning, Pricing and Networking' date: 2015-06-14T11:33:04+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'After 3 years of freelancing, and 12 years in the design business, I took a step back from my work to consider not just what I do, but how and why I do it.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/06/14/20156rebooting-my-design-practice-part-1/ + +excerpt: 'After 3 years of freelancing, and 12 years in the design business, I took a step back from my work to consider not just what I do, but how and why I do it.
'layout: post permalink: /rebooting-my-design-practice-part-1/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2015-06-21-small-but-not-humble.md b/_posts/2015-06-21-small-but-not-humble.md index 03d4dfd..f089c2e 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-06-21-small-but-not-humble.md +++ b/_posts/2015-06-21-small-but-not-humble.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 366 title: Small but not humble date: 2015-06-21T14:13:58+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'What is the future of work in a world where everyone is self-employed? And is it ok not to have all the answers yet?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/06/21/20156small-but-not-humble/ + +excerpt: 'What is the future of work in a world where everyone is self-employed? And is it ok not to have all the answers yet?
'layout: post permalink: /small-but-not-humble/ categories: - Freelancing diff --git a/_posts/2015-11-01-clusterfuck.md b/_posts/2015-11-01-clusterfuck.md index 0d729eb..452333e 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-11-01-clusterfuck.md +++ b/_posts/2015-11-01-clusterfuck.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 371 title: How to untangle a guilty procrastination clusterfuck date: 2015-11-01T11:00:20+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Been beating yourself up about not doing something? Here are four things to help you get unstuck.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/11/01/201511clusterfuck/ + +excerpt: 'Been beating yourself up about not doing something? Here are four things to help you get unstuck.
'layout: post permalink: /clusterfuck/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-12-13-undesign-manifesto.md b/_posts/2015-12-13-undesign-manifesto.md index 3324a38..34fed75 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-12-13-undesign-manifesto.md +++ b/_posts/2015-12-13-undesign-manifesto.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 380 title: 'Undesign: a manifesto for makers.' date: 2015-12-13T15:28:01+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/12/13/201512undesign-manifesto/ permalink: /undesign-manifesto/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2015-12-17-smoother-website-builds.md b/_posts/2015-12-17-smoother-website-builds.md index 4542650..a54ccda 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-12-17-smoother-website-builds.md +++ b/_posts/2015-12-17-smoother-website-builds.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 2097 title: What should I ask my client in advance to make their website build go more smoothly? date: 2015-12-17T13:48:20+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2097 permalink: /smoother-website-builds/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2015-12-20-get-your-funk-on.md b/_posts/2015-12-20-get-your-funk-on.md index b279a96..23efe9f 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-12-20-get-your-funk-on.md +++ b/_posts/2015-12-20-get-your-funk-on.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 381 title: 6 Ways to Get Your Funk On in 2016. date: 2015-12-20T15:22:18+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/12/20/201512get-your-funk-on/ permalink: /get-your-funk-on/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2015-12-27-less-stuff-more-energy.md b/_posts/2015-12-27-less-stuff-more-energy.md index 21cd0f5..75fe9a1 100644 --- a/_posts/2015-12-27-less-stuff-more-energy.md +++ b/_posts/2015-12-27-less-stuff-more-energy.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 384 title: Less stuff, more energy date: 2015-12-27T15:30:33+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2015/12/27/201512less-stuff-more-energy/ permalink: /less-stuff-more-energy/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2016-02-14-why-you-should-write.md b/_posts/2016-02-14-why-you-should-write.md index 61ba3c9..aec9760 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-02-14-why-you-should-write.md +++ b/_posts/2016-02-14-why-you-should-write.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 386 title: Why You Should Write date: 2016-02-14T14:02:09+00:00 -author: James Greig excerpt: "Writing is like flossing... even though we know the health benefits, we make excuses not to do it. Here are some tips and tricks to get you started with the writing habit, and some of the benefits you'll experience from getting your thoughts out of your head and into words." layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/02/14/20162why-you-should-write/ permalink: /why-you-should-write/ categories: - writing diff --git a/_posts/2016-02-20-if-you-can-do-it-do-it-now.md b/_posts/2016-02-20-if-you-can-do-it-do-it-now.md index 265ea73..ce2fb68 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-02-20-if-you-can-do-it-do-it-now.md +++ b/_posts/2016-02-20-if-you-can-do-it-do-it-now.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 391 title: If you can do it, do it now date: 2016-02-20T13:39:16+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'On the dangers of deferring things until the “right” time.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/02/20/20162if-you-can-do-it-do-it-now/ + +excerpt: 'On the dangers of deferring things until the “right” time.
'layout: post permalink: /if-you-can-do-it-do-it-now/ structured_content: - '{"oembed":[],"overlay":true}' diff --git a/_posts/2016-03-22-lifeframework.md b/_posts/2016-03-22-lifeframework.md index 511e157..e646c82 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-03-22-lifeframework.md +++ b/_posts/2016-03-22-lifeframework.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 393 title: A rough framework for figuring out what the hell to do with you life date: 2016-03-22T13:21:47+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "What do you want from life? What's good for you in the long run? Are you helping other people, or just yourself? Big questions which can help you find your way in the new world of work.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/03/22/20163lifeframework/ + +excerpt: "What do you want from life? What's good for you in the long run? Are you helping other people, or just yourself? Big questions which can help you find your way in the new world of work.
"layout: post permalink: /lifeframework/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2016-03-24-codetolearn.md b/_posts/2016-03-24-codetolearn.md index dc46905..6759dee 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-03-24-codetolearn.md +++ b/_posts/2016-03-24-codetolearn.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 394 title: 'Want to get your head around HTML and CSS? Forget “learn to code” and embrace “code to learn”' date: 2016-03-24T13:36:51+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/03/24/20163codetolearn/ permalink: /codetolearn/ categories: - DevTools for Designers diff --git a/_posts/2016-03-28-devtools-download-image.md b/_posts/2016-03-28-devtools-download-image.md index c19fcde..bcbc916 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-03-28-devtools-download-image.md +++ b/_posts/2016-03-28-devtools-download-image.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 2099 title: 'DevTools For Designers: Download Any Image From A Website' date: 2016-03-28T13:52:32+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2099 permalink: /devtools-download-image/ categories: - DevTools for Designers diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-03-639th-time-lucky.md b/_posts/2016-04-03-639th-time-lucky.md index 90d7fe5..cdf403c 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-03-639th-time-lucky.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-03-639th-time-lucky.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 396 title: 639th time lucky. date: 2016-04-03T12:45:31+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Why do I keep writing when most of the time the process drives me crazy?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/04/03/20164639th-time-lucky/ + +excerpt: 'Why do I keep writing when most of the time the process drives me crazy?
'layout: post permalink: /639th-time-lucky/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-05-devtools-what-the-font.md b/_posts/2016-04-05-devtools-what-the-font.md index fc3139d..66e78af 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-05-devtools-what-the-font.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-05-devtools-what-the-font.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 2111 title: 'DevTools For Designers: What The Font?' date: 2016-04-05T14:14:46+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2111 permalink: /devtools-what-the-font/ categories: - DevTools for Designers diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-10-fear-fuelled-not-fearless.md b/_posts/2016-04-10-fear-fuelled-not-fearless.md index 72024a9..184612b 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-10-fear-fuelled-not-fearless.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-10-fear-fuelled-not-fearless.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 397 title: Be fear-fuelled, not fearless date: 2016-04-10T18:51:50+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'How to rechannel fear to your advantage.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/04/10/20164fear-fuelled-not-fearless/ + +excerpt: 'How to rechannel fear to your advantage.
'layout: post permalink: /fear-fuelled-not-fearless/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-grabbing-html-scruff-neck.md b/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-grabbing-html-scruff-neck.md index 5f1172c..2c4005f 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-grabbing-html-scruff-neck.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-grabbing-html-scruff-neck.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 2124 title: 'DevTools For Designers: Grabbing HTML By The Scruff Of The Neck' date: 2016-04-13T14:27:30+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2124 permalink: /devtools-grabbing-html-scruff-neck/ categories: - DevTools for Designers diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-reveal-hidden-password.md b/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-reveal-hidden-password.md index 5c85011..92d922a 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-reveal-hidden-password.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-13-devtools-reveal-hidden-password.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 2117 title: 'DevTools for Designers: Reveal a hidden password' date: 2016-04-13T14:21:48+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2117 permalink: /devtools-reveal-hidden-password/ categories: - DevTools for Designers diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-17-guide-to-public-speaking.md b/_posts/2016-04-17-guide-to-public-speaking.md index 163fe9a..cf7bb12 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-17-guide-to-public-speaking.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-17-guide-to-public-speaking.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 398 title: 'A normal person’s guide to public speaking (Or: How to give a talk without losing your marbles)' date: 2016-04-17T14:10:14+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/04/17/20164guide-to-public-speaking/ permalink: /guide-to-public-speaking/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-23-finding-your-flow.md b/_posts/2016-04-23-finding-your-flow.md index 93563c7..0dc6eae 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-23-finding-your-flow.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-23-finding-your-flow.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 400 title: Finding your flow date: 2016-04-23T13:22:03+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'When’s the last time you were so engrossed by something that hours passed by without you realising it?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/04/23/20164finding-your-flow/ + +excerpt: 'When’s the last time you were so engrossed by something that hours passed by without you realising it?
'layout: post permalink: /finding-your-flow/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2016-04-29-emails-that-get-designers-fired.md b/_posts/2016-04-29-emails-that-get-designers-fired.md index b6f3abd..b3d5be8 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-04-29-emails-that-get-designers-fired.md +++ b/_posts/2016-04-29-emails-that-get-designers-fired.md @@ -1,15 +1,12 @@ --- -id: 403 title: Emails that get designers fired date: 2016-04-29T09:51:18+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: Simple rules to help designers write better emails. And why you should never email in anger. -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016/04/29/20164emails-that-get-designers-fired/ + +excerpt: Simple rules to help designers write better emails. And why you should never email in anger.layout: post permalink: /emails-that-get-designers-fired/ categories: - - Graphic Design - - Writing + - graphic-design + - writing --- Last week I reminded myself of a simple lesson. @@ -56,4 +53,4 @@ So, I'm writing this as reminder to myself. The next time I write an email in anger, I’ll be sitting on my thoughts for a while before hitting send. -(PS. If you're wondering, the email I sent in anger didn’t get me fired. But it did toe the line of what you can acceptably say by email, and a heated conversation ensued. It's worked out for the best though... sometimes a crisis is the best way to fix things.) \ No newline at end of file +(PS. If you're wondering, the email I sent in anger didn’t get me fired. But it did toe the line of what you can acceptably say by email, and a heated conversation ensued. It's worked out for the best though... sometimes a crisis is the best way to fix things.) diff --git a/_posts/2016-05-25-a-podcast-for-graphic-designers.md b/_posts/2016-05-25-a-podcast-for-graphic-designers.md index 492b8c7..4dc7286 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-05-25-a-podcast-for-graphic-designers.md +++ b/_posts/2016-05-25-a-podcast-for-graphic-designers.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 804 title: I’m starting a podcast about graphic designers forging alternative career paths date: 2016-05-25T20:49:12+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20165a-podcast-for-graphic-designers/ permalink: /a-podcast-for-graphic-designers/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2016-05-29-lets-talk-about-creative-burnout.md b/_posts/2016-05-29-lets-talk-about-creative-burnout.md index 65f2048..6edfe1c 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-05-29-lets-talk-about-creative-burnout.md +++ b/_posts/2016-05-29-lets-talk-about-creative-burnout.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 805 title: 'Let’s talk about creative burnout' date: 2016-05-29T17:27:25+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'How has creative burnout has affected you, and how have you coped with it?
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20165lets-talk-about-creative-burnout/ + +excerpt: 'How has creative burnout has affected you, and how have you coped with it?
'layout: post permalink: /lets-talk-about-creative-burnout/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-06-05-insideyou.md b/_posts/2016-06-05-insideyou.md index 27363f8..5a87593 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-06-05-insideyou.md +++ b/_posts/2016-06-05-insideyou.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 806 title: 'It’s inside you.' date: 2016-06-05T18:52:51+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'When everything turns to shit and you want to crawl up into a ball and admit defeat, it’s not because you’ve reached the end of the road. It’s because you’ve forgotten what fuels your fire.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20166insideyou/ + +excerpt: 'When everything turns to shit and you want to crawl up into a ball and admit defeat, it’s not because you’ve reached the end of the road. It’s because you’ve forgotten what fuels your fire.
'layout: post permalink: /insideyou/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-06-12-personal-branding.md b/_posts/2016-06-12-personal-branding.md index 6637cbd..cb4a4c6 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-06-12-personal-branding.md +++ b/_posts/2016-06-12-personal-branding.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 807 title: Don’t start your personal brand by designing a fancy website or logo date: 2016-06-12T12:06:48+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20166personal-branding/ permalink: /personal-branding/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2016-06-15-shorter.md b/_posts/2016-06-15-shorter.md index be042c3..900bb1f 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-06-15-shorter.md +++ b/_posts/2016-06-15-shorter.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 808 title: The secret of shorter. date: 2016-06-15T14:46:57+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Making something shorter doesn’t mean making it less interesting or less sexy.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20166shorter/ + +excerpt: 'Making something shorter doesn’t mean making it less interesting or less sexy.
'layout: post permalink: /shorter/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2016-06-19-careermultiverse.md b/_posts/2016-06-19-careermultiverse.md index c888067..cacbe96 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-06-19-careermultiverse.md +++ b/_posts/2016-06-19-careermultiverse.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 809 title: How to explore a multiverse of alternative careers, without the risk of quitting your job date: 2016-06-19T07:03:06+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'A thought experiment to transform your career options from hypothetical to practical by taking small, intentional steps.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/careermultiverse/ + +excerpt: 'A thought experiment to transform your career options from hypothetical to practical by taking small, intentional steps.
'layout: post permalink: /careermultiverse/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-06-26-control.md b/_posts/2016-06-26-control.md index 7675308..91a0152 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-06-26-control.md +++ b/_posts/2016-06-26-control.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 810 title: These are the things you can always control, no matter how tough life gets date: 2016-06-26T08:17:01+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20166control/ permalink: /control/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-07-11-restarting-cyclelove.md b/_posts/2016-07-11-restarting-cyclelove.md index c28ff14..c00b95f 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-07-11-restarting-cyclelove.md +++ b/_posts/2016-07-11-restarting-cyclelove.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 411 title: 'On thinking you’ve missed the train (and restarting CycleLove)' date: 2016-07-11T15:41:09+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20167restarting-cyclelove/ permalink: /restarting-cyclelove/ categories: - CycleLove @@ -77,8 +74,7 @@ You can't. So you just have to wait it out. And remember this: everyone is making it up as they go along, and everyone has days where they feel like a failure, and everyone does things they wish they could undo. -But as Saul Steinberg said: - +But as Saul Steinberg sa"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser"diff --git a/_posts/2016-07-24-introvert.md b/_posts/2016-07-24-introvert.md index 6cf2e88..cf9da28 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-07-24-introvert.md +++ b/_posts/2016-07-24-introvert.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 413 title: Use your introversion as a superpower, not an excuse date: 2016-07-24T14:19:04+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20167introvert/ permalink: /introvert/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2016-08-14-you-arent-gonna-need-it.md b/_posts/2016-08-14-you-arent-gonna-need-it.md index f0cf20d..c9f41c4 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-08-14-you-arent-gonna-need-it.md +++ b/_posts/2016-08-14-you-arent-gonna-need-it.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 414 title: 'You aren’t gonna need it' date: 2016-08-14T08:10:07+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: '
Why and how to strip things back to the core.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20168you-arent-gonna-need-it/ + +excerpt: 'Why and how to strip things back to the core.
'layout: post permalink: /you-arent-gonna-need-it/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2016-08-19-im-a-designer-not-a-screwdriver.md b/_posts/2016-08-19-im-a-designer-not-a-screwdriver.md index 3d51b68..712dd6f 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-08-19-im-a-designer-not-a-screwdriver.md +++ b/_posts/2016-08-19-im-a-designer-not-a-screwdriver.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 415 title: The three traits that define meaningful work date: 2016-08-19T09:43:46+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20168im-a-designer-not-a-screwdriver/ permalink: /im-a-designer-not-a-screwdriver/ categories: - Undesign diff --git a/_posts/2016-08-27-15-things-about-graphic-design-for-students.md b/_posts/2016-08-27-15-things-about-graphic-design-for-students.md index fa4883c..664abab 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-08-27-15-things-about-graphic-design-for-students.md +++ b/_posts/2016-08-27-15-things-about-graphic-design-for-students.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 416 title: 15 things they might not teach you about graphic design when you’re a student date: 2016-08-27T11:55:42+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Tips for graphic design students on getting the most out of internships, and on taking the first exciting few steps in their professional design career. (And a refresher for all of us who are already further down the line.)
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/2016815-things-about-graphic-design-for-students/ + +excerpt: 'Tips for graphic design students on getting the most out of internships, and on taking the first exciting few steps in their professional design career. (And a refresher for all of us who are already further down the line.)
'layout: post permalink: /15-things-about-graphic-design-for-students/ categories: - Graphic Design diff --git a/_posts/2016-09-04-freelancers-guide-monday-morning-meeting.md b/_posts/2016-09-04-freelancers-guide-monday-morning-meeting.md index e9370b3..ac6beb9 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-09-04-freelancers-guide-monday-morning-meeting.md +++ b/_posts/2016-09-04-freelancers-guide-monday-morning-meeting.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 417 title: The freelancer’s guide to having a Monday morning meeting with yourself date: 2016-09-04T17:37:34+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20169freelancers-guide-monday-morning-meeting/ permalink: /freelancers-guide-monday-morning-meeting/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-09-11-what-are-you-working-on.md b/_posts/2016-09-11-what-are-you-working-on.md index 50013ab..f3ba7c6 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-09-11-what-are-you-working-on.md +++ b/_posts/2016-09-11-what-are-you-working-on.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 418 title: What are you working on? date: 2016-09-11T09:09:49+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Last time I asked this question, the response from everyone rading this blog was inspiring: you were starting blogs, building apps, planning adventures, and launching brands.
So I thought it would be fun to repeat the experiment, but with a twist to encourage you to connect with each other..
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20169what-are-you-working-on/ + +excerpt: 'Last time I asked this question, the response from everyone rading this blog was inspiring: you were starting blogs, building apps, planning adventures, and launching brands.
So I thought it would be fun to repeat the experiment, but with a twist to encourage you to connect with each other..
'layout: post permalink: /what-are-you-working-on/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-09-17-design-practice-part-2.md b/_posts/2016-09-17-design-practice-part-2.md index 1c2469b..498c6ed 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-09-17-design-practice-part-2.md +++ b/_posts/2016-09-17-design-practice-part-2.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 811 title: 'Rebooting My Design Practice. Part 2: Qualifying Clients, and Baby Steps Towards Productized Consulting' date: 2016-09-17T09:33:03+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'Guidance for freelancers on qualifying new clients, developing your productized consulting offer, and trusting your gut.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20169design-practice-part-2/ + +excerpt: 'Guidance for freelancers on qualifying new clients, developing your productized consulting offer, and trusting your gut.
'layout: post permalink: /design-practice-part-2/ categories: - Freelancing diff --git a/_posts/2016-09-25-how-to-take-it-easy-on-yourself.md b/_posts/2016-09-25-how-to-take-it-easy-on-yourself.md index 1835b07..0bd1039 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-09-25-how-to-take-it-easy-on-yourself.md +++ b/_posts/2016-09-25-how-to-take-it-easy-on-yourself.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 812 title: How To Take It Easy (on Yourself) date: 2016-09-25T13:33:59+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/20169how-to-take-it-easy-on-yourself/ permalink: /how-to-take-it-easy-on-yourself/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2016-10-02-first-email-course.md b/_posts/2016-10-02-first-email-course.md index 14be409..02c4889 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-10-02-first-email-course.md +++ b/_posts/2016-10-02-first-email-course.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 803 title: '8,991 emails later: everything I learnt creating my first email course in Mailchimp' date: 2016-10-02T10:59:35+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'What I learnt creating my first email course. How to choose an audience and a topic, sequence your lessons, then build and promote your email course.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/first-email-course/ + +excerpt: 'What I learnt creating my first email course. How to choose an audience and a topic, sequence your lessons, then build and promote your email course.
'layout: post permalink: /first-email-course/ categories: - Meta diff --git a/_posts/2016-10-09-creative-rollercoaster.md b/_posts/2016-10-09-creative-rollercoaster.md index b3f0064..0bea3ef 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-10-09-creative-rollercoaster.md +++ b/_posts/2016-10-09-creative-rollercoaster.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 428 title: Riding the creative rollercoaster date: 2016-10-09T12:09:37+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/201610creative-rollercoaster/ permalink: /creative-rollercoaster/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-10-18-what-ive-learnt-about-writing.md b/_posts/2016-10-18-what-ive-learnt-about-writing.md index 4ad8509..86b445e 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-10-18-what-ive-learnt-about-writing.md +++ b/_posts/2016-10-18-what-ive-learnt-about-writing.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 813 title: These are the things I’ve learnt about writing so far. date: 2016-10-18T15:54:51+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=813 permalink: /what-ive-learnt-about-writing/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2016-10-23-confessions-of-a-non-finisher.md b/_posts/2016-10-23-confessions-of-a-non-finisher.md index 755d44c..4404ba2 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-10-23-confessions-of-a-non-finisher.md +++ b/_posts/2016-10-23-confessions-of-a-non-finisher.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 802 title: Confessions of a serial non-finisher date: 2016-10-23T13:47:16+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: 'How can you avoid the wandering path of the procrastinator? Find out how to find your sweet spot when it comes to finishing projects, and why following your passion is unlikely to help.
' -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/confessions-of-a-non-finisher/ + +excerpt: 'How can you avoid the wandering path of the procrastinator? Find out how to find your sweet spot when it comes to finishing projects, and why following your passion is unlikely to help.
'layout: post permalink: /confessions-of-a-non-finisher/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2016-10-30-more-eyeballs.md b/_posts/2016-10-30-more-eyeballs.md index cf44024..a6a2c25 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-10-30-more-eyeballs.md +++ b/_posts/2016-10-30-more-eyeballs.md @@ -1,11 +1,8 @@ --- -id: 436 title: The one trick that will get your content read by tens of thousands of people date: 2016-10-30T07:42:09+00:00 -author: James Greig -excerpt: "After writing 600 odd blog posts, I’m more clued up about promoting my content than I used to be. Here's what I've learnt about creating and sharing content.
" -layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/more-eyeballs/ + +excerpt: "After writing 600 odd blog posts, I’m more clued up about promoting my content than I used to be. Here's what I've learnt about creating and sharing content.
"layout: post permalink: /more-eyeballs/ categories: - Writing diff --git a/_posts/2016-11-10-distraction-max.md b/_posts/2016-11-10-distraction-max.md index 5c70fcf..5c98151 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-11-10-distraction-max.md +++ b/_posts/2016-11-10-distraction-max.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 440 title: Remember when the internet was more useful than it was addictive? date: 2016-11-10T13:55:24+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/distraction-max/ permalink: /distraction-max/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2016-11-13-the-right-problem.md b/_posts/2016-11-13-the-right-problem.md index 24fd834..37d1a3d 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-11-13-the-right-problem.md +++ b/_posts/2016-11-13-the-right-problem.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 441 title: Are you solving the right problem? date: 2016-11-13T11:25:05+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/201611the-right-problem/ permalink: /the-right-problem/ categories: - Uncategorised diff --git a/_posts/2016-12-07-gifted-books-2016.md b/_posts/2016-12-07-gifted-books-2016.md index 4d142cf..48a7c82 100644 --- a/_posts/2016-12-07-gifted-books-2016.md +++ b/_posts/2016-12-07-gifted-books-2016.md @@ -1,10 +1,7 @@ --- -id: 2220 title: Gifted Books 2016 date: 2016-12-07T11:38:14+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2220 permalink: /gifted-books-2016/ categories: - Life diff --git a/_posts/2017-02-13-alternative-careers-graphic-designers.md b/_posts/2017-02-13-alternative-careers-graphic-designers.md index 3776696..0b8f2cf 100644 --- a/_posts/2017-02-13-alternative-careers-graphic-designers.md +++ b/_posts/2017-02-13-alternative-careers-graphic-designers.md @@ -1,13 +1,10 @@ --- -id: 1109 title: 'Alternative careers for graphic designers: the complete guide' date: 2017-02-13T16:01:59+00:00 -author: James Greig layout: post -guid: http://greig.cc/?p=1109 permalink: /alternative-careers-graphic-designers/ categories: - - Graphic Design + - graphic-design ---
@@ -19,7 +16,7 @@ Being a graphic designer is tough: clients are demanding, bosses want pixel perf
So it’s only natural to question your chosen career path from time to time.
-But before you quit your design job, you need to be sure exactly what is currently causing you dissatisfaction about your career — otherwise you could find yourself feeling exactly the same about your new bob.
+But before you quit your design job, you need to be sure exactly what is currently causing you dissatisfaction about your career — otherwise you could find yourself feeling exactly the same about your new bob.
Questions to ask yourself if you’re thinking about quitting your design job
@@ -101,4 +98,4 @@ Here's to your next step on a new career path.
\ No newline at end of file
+
diff --git a/_posts/2017-05-15-eating-the-menu.md b/_posts/2017-05-15-eating-the-menu.md
index c53c31e..07af299 100644
--- a/_posts/2017-05-15-eating-the-menu.md
+++ b/_posts/2017-05-15-eating-the-menu.md
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 1909
title: Eating the menu instead of the dinner
date: 2017-05-15T09:28:04+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/?p=1909
permalink: /eating-the-menu/
categories:
- - Life
+ - life
---
I’m increasingly glad that the internet and social media wasn’t really a thing when I was growing up.
@@ -69,4 +66,4 @@ But you can always have too much of a good thing, and can so easily confuse the
And at a certain point, you can become so enchanted with the symbols that you entirely confuse them with the reality. This is the disease from which almost all civilized people are suffering.
-We are therefore in the position of eating the menu instead of the dinner.
\ No newline at end of file
+We are therefore in the position of eating the menu instead of the dinner.
diff --git a/_posts/2017-06-20-yellowcar.md b/_posts/2017-06-20-yellowcar.md
index b75fb92..fd1813b 100644
--- a/_posts/2017-06-20-yellowcar.md
+++ b/_posts/2017-06-20-yellowcar.md
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 2379
title: The only yellow car in the village.
date: 2017-06-20T11:52:33+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2379
permalink: /yellowcar/
categories:
- - Life
+ - life
---
When I was a kid we lived in a patch of quintessentially English countryside known as the Cotswolds.
diff --git a/_posts/2017-06-26-the-hardest-thing.md b/_posts/2017-06-26-the-hardest-thing.md
index e6c0db6..175d61e 100644
--- a/_posts/2017-06-26-the-hardest-thing.md
+++ b/_posts/2017-06-26-the-hardest-thing.md
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
---
-id: 2386
title: 'Maybe it’s the hardest thing'
date: 2017-06-26T10:40:17+00:00
-author: James Greig
layout: post
-guid: http://greig.cc/?p=2386
permalink: /the-hardest-thing/
categories:
- - Life
+ - life
---
*I almost didn’t publish this article, because so far I’ve completely failed to follow the advice at the end of it. But that’s a pretty good reflection of where my head has been at this week, and maybe it will help someone feel better about where they’re at too. So here goes…*
diff --git a/about.md b/about.md
index f0e1eaf..d58da09 100644
--- a/about.md
+++ b/about.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 7
title: About
date: 2016-05-18T21:20:44+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
guid: http://greig.cc/about/
subtitle:
diff --git a/archive.md b/archive.md
index e0b2b76..532f386 100644
--- a/archive.md
+++ b/archive.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 3
title: Archive
date: 2017-02-13T15:57:58+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
guid: http://greig.cc/archive/
---
diff --git a/articles/articles.md b/articles/articles.md
index f7896bf..d74f357 100644
--- a/articles/articles.md
+++ b/articles/articles.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 541
title: Articles
date: 2016-09-15T12:19:29+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: listing
pagination:
enabled: true
diff --git a/beforegoingfreelance.md b/beforegoingfreelance.md
index 8fcf607..5338988 100644
--- a/beforegoingfreelance.md
+++ b/beforegoingfreelance.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 426
title: Before Going Freelance
date: 2016-05-18T21:21:17+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
guid: http://greig.cc/beforegoingfreelance/
subtitle:
diff --git a/books.md b/books.md
index cce28a9..aec9f2d 100644
--- a/books.md
+++ b/books.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 28
title: Books/Courses
date: 2016-05-18T21:20:45+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
guid: http://greig.cc/books/
---
diff --git a/category/freelancing.html b/category/freelancing.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 7142b66..0000000
--- a/category/freelancing.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: categories
-title: Freelancing
-category: freelancing
-description: "Freelancing isn’t always easy, but it is immensely rewarding in the long run, both in terms of personal growth and financially. So much so that I can’t imagine ever going back to a “normal” job again. Start with the story of my first 3 years as a freelance designer and then try some of the other articles about freelancing below."
----
diff --git a/category/popular.html b/category/popular.html
deleted file mode 100644
index 1b0d706..0000000
--- a/category/popular.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
----
-layout: categories
-title: Popular
-category: popular
-description: "My greatest hits, if you want to call them that."
----
diff --git a/contact.md b/contact.md
index 0ed7531..9418aa1 100644
--- a/contact.md
+++ b/contact.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 9
title: How can I help you?
date: 2016-05-18T21:20:44+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
guid: http://greig.cc/contact/
---
diff --git a/creativemornings.md b/creativemornings.md
index 7180653..fe44f2d 100644
--- a/creativemornings.md
+++ b/creativemornings.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
id: 1679
title: Hello via Creative Mornings!
date: 2017-03-30T12:18:24+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
guid: http://greig.cc/?page_id=1679
subtitle:
diff --git a/design-and-strategy.md b/design-and-strategy.md
index a180787..acad939 100644
--- a/design-and-strategy.md
+++ b/design-and-strategy.md
@@ -2,28 +2,24 @@
id: 16
title: Your business, made better
date: 2016-05-18T21:20:44+00:00
-author: James Greig
+
layout: page
-guid: http://greig.cc/design-and-strategy/
---
If you're not getting the results you want online, I can help...
-• Show your work (and build an engaged audience)
-• Optimise the design & copy for your sales/landing page
-• Create a strong, professional image for your startup
+• Show your work (and build an engaged audience)
+• Optimise the design & copy for your sales/landing page
+• Create a strong, professional image for your startup
With over a decade's experience in graphic design, plus hands-on knowledge of writing, marketing and social media, I'm uniquely placed to create good-looking websites that deliver real results.
-
“James is one of those rare but wonderful creative polymaths who is as comfortable setting beautiful typography as he is making music and writing code. His design shows a deep understanding of technology while holding its own with the pedants of the graphic design world” — Hoss Gifford, Director of Technology for OneMethod@@ -64,24 +60,24 @@ Need a new website? I'll design and build a custom Wordpress-powered website whi
Vulpine
+RBS
+British Council
+Mackintosh
+The Royal Institution
+Orange.ch
+Paul Calver
Skylight
+Topshop
+Google
+Tate
+BMW/Guggenheim
+Whistles
+NOMOI
Based in London
Hello, Since the summer of 2012, I've been working as a freelance graphic designer with various studios and agencies in London. @@ -24,6 +23,7 @@ If you landed directly on this page, you can viewWhat it's like working with me
“James was great at taking feedback, delivered everything he promised on time and the standard of design was as high as I'd expected from his portfolio. Plus I learnt a lot myself from working with him. The end result was a really happy client and, personally, the most stress-free part of the rebrand.” — Adam Johnson, Design Director, Prophet+
“James is one of those rare but wonderful creative polymaths who is as comfortable setting beautiful typography as he is making music and writing code. His design shows a deep understanding of technology while holding its own with the pedants of the graphic design world” — Hoss Gifford, Director of Technology, OneMethod@@ -41,22 +41,22 @@ Available for new projects from late-November/December 2015.
Design studios I've freelanced at in London include:
-Stereo Creative -Public Life -Merchant Cantos -SAS London -Fieldwork Facility -Wolf Ollins -MultiAdaptor -Prophet -Archive Studio +Stereo Creative+Public Life
+Merchant Cantos
+SAS London
+Fieldwork Facility
+Wolf Ollins
+MultiAdaptor
+Prophet
+Archive Studio
Brave New World