Story Pixel Articles

Cintiq Heaven and Hell

2012-02-12T06:02:59Z

Getting the Wacom 24HD Cintiq to work was too frustrating for words. I am discussing my experience hoping that at least one other person who is having the same problem reads this (the summary above summarizes the fix).

Trip to shadiest UPS ever

Last night I went to pick my new Cintiq 24HD up from UPS (having missed the delivery due to being at a mandatory lunch). Being new to Pittsburgh, I pull into the UPS truck entrance. Immediately I’m being yelled at by the UPS Master of Ceremonies. I roll down my window in the intense snow to be greeted with “WHAT’S WRONG BRUH CAN’T YOU READ???” to which I say stunned “Yes that’s exactly it” then just roll my window back up. He can’t deflate me b/c I’m getting a Cintiq and he’s getting pneumonia.

WATCHU GOT IN THAT CASE

The package was incredibly heavy in an unexpectedly large box. I spent twenty minutes at least removing enough crap from our Volvo to insert this giant box. I finally got this damn thing in by scooting up my chair such that my knees were basically touching my chin.

The UPS was in a shady area with lurkers everywhere so I’m just happy to get out with my goods.

Dancing with the Volvo some more

At home, it’s completely impossible to remove the box due to the way I jammed it in. I realized that I was going to have to unbox it in the car. I got a steak knife and I’m hacking away at this. Bits of styrofoam and pieces of cardboard start to pile up at my feet while I’m hunkered into my tiny car parked in the middle of the street. I can feel my neighbors confirming that, yes, this guy is an asshole.

Oh you wanted to connect it too?

Once it’s in the house, I try to connect it to my MacBook Pro. I am missing some kind of dongle. Awesome. I googled for how to connect a 24HD to a MacBook Pro and found out after much forum-reading that what I really needed was a dongle that only Apple could sell me. Apple was freshly closed so I’d have to get the dongle in the morning.

At Apple, I purchased the dongle. They are always great.

Installation CD of infinite crashing

When I got home from Apple I was so excited to connect the 24HD. But first I had to install the stuff on the CD that came with. The installation software on the included CD crashed five times before I realized this was hopeless… that I could just download the drivers.

Minutes of glory

With the drivers installed, I finally plug everything in and reboot. It works! OMG it’s beautiful even though the image is stretched and bloated, having me to freak out that I have indeed broken something. I eventually realize it’s not on the correct setting and adjust. Okay now looking gorgeous. Good!

I get SketchBook Pro immediately. It works for an hour. It’s like magic. Wow I’m going to use this all of the time and be like DaVinci or something. I take a break and come back. I adjust the position before restarting it. Suddenly it doesn’t recognize the pen. I get this in System Preferences under the Wacom area:

A supported tablet was not found on the system

Yes Wacom let me reboot again

So I’ve been trying to figure this out since 8:30p. I reboot literally about thirty times trying different combinations of things. I have scoured the forums, scoured social media outlets, all without success.

Words cannot contain how helpless and mad I can get in situations like this. I wanted to send it back, I felt like a jerk for even buying it. Something told me that there was a problem that was outside of software. I did some more searching. Someone on Wacom’s forums posted about checking some hidden connections.

Butter knife to the $2500 iPad

I got out a screwdriver and a butter knife and started opening things. I open both of the clipped-in panels on the tablet itself (not the base). Lo and behold there was a wire disconnected. WTF. I plugged it back in. That just cost me a day of my life.

But this fixed it.

Branding is all parts of an experience

Even though the Cintiq is a dream, I have to admit, it’s going to take me some time before I associate the word Cintiq with art. I’m reminded that branding is not just graphics and messages… branding is the installation process, branding is how easy it is to find the right answer. It’s really easy to knock it out of the park in one respect while dropping the ball in another. The overall experience can be spoiled in a thousand ways.

Sweat the details like your brand depended on it, because the details is where I see that you actually care about me.

Hello, Pittsburgh!

2011-07-08T16:11:26Z

After a year of reminding my friends when it was again I was moving to Pittsburgh, it finally happened on July 1st, 2011. Here are my initial impressions.

Life

Compared to the Kentucky town I hail from (Lexington), Pittsburgh is a faster paced and bigger city. Duh. Stephen Colbert wouldn’t be surprised about that. There are more conversations happening to filter out (or filter in, depending), increased traffic, and an overall elevation of stimuli. I miss some of the people I grew close to (you know who you are).

Family

A move to Pittsburgh, besides being exciting on its own merit, was a move also closer to my wife’s family. I am very excited about this. Additionally I am focused on moving my other family to the area.

Fatherhood

People are so nice here. Our neighbors in Bloomfield (a deeply Italian neighborhood) are instantly happy when they see how curly and sweet my son is. It’s a great feeling and maybe a convenient icebreaker to have this giggling cherub by our side. The reaction we get makes my wife and I feel extremely proud. Granted living in a more urban area inspires more vigilance and is an adjustment, but the advantages seem many: less time cooped in a car, more eyeballs looking out for us, more things for Isaac to see, and a concentration of people makes it easier to meet people outside of the typical professional circles.

Work

Another question I got was what I’m doing for work. I’m doing two things: one is http://dough.pro (a startup I’m doing with Quint Tatro); the other is a string of projects with Aveda. Those projects span some interaction design and a lot of JavaScript/HTML/CSS. It’s very exciting to be doing both of these things while exploring the city on foot (I work out of coffeeshops right now).

Pittsburgh (unlike Lexington) has a large number of agencies which I probably could complement really well. I like being untethered to a desk (unless it’s my own) but I admittedly miss having coworkers. We’ll see if I join an agency.

House

We bought a house and it’s awesome. It requires some updating which will be an opportunity to mould the home to meet our needs. Structurally it is solid. I like older homes because they are built well and have accrued personality. The neighborhood we live in is Bloomfield. It is extremely welcoming, full of character and very tight. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. Some neighborhoods I’ve visited remind me of this song, but this area certainly isn’t one of them. Not to say there is something wrong with that. In the end people are people and places are places, what’s left is style… and there’s no accounting for that. All we can do is respect that different people need and think in different ways. So I’m excited to learn from people… their thoughts, experiences, and conditions.

Next Steps

My next goals are to adjust to parenthood in a bustling community, make friends, learn from them, learn from the city and its history, do the absolute best work I can, and generally grow into this community.

I’ll be attending the 2011 Twootenanny and just having coffee with some interesting folks. I’ll be starting some initiatives and projects which I’ll talk about later.

Site launches

I don’t do a great job of announcing the things I launch, but I launched http://iamnotsam.com which will be my work-oriented site for the next few years. Story Pixel will be my blog for a while longer. Eventually I wish to grow Story Pixel into a brand for iPad children books, but that’s farther down the road.

Redesign of Epic Small

2011-03-10T15:11:17Z

I have already discussed the concept of Epic Small, so I’ll just announce that I took a few days to redesign the site: http://epicsmall.com. Enjoy!

Uprooting, replanting

2011-02-06T15:42:13Z

Grafting lessons

In Lexington, I learned a lot of lessons about freelancing. The first lesson is to never ignore the red flags. Performing the same mistakes and expecting better results is like insanity (Einstein believed that I think). Another huge lesson is your work is the only legitimate basis for work-related pride. All the other things we like to feel proud about—talent, ideas, being better at something than someone else, having a lot of Twitter followers, awards or a fast car—are virtuous to achieve but once achieved are in the past.

Ultimately it is about the work. I personally feel as good as my last project. It is motivating and keeps me reaching higher. If I’m on top, then why climb?

So, it looks like my plan will be simple—produce a lot of results and work with the best people who will have me.

Offerings

Like many seasoned freelancers, I have a T-shaped pattern to my working life. Several shallow skills at the base with a long finger of deep skills protruding from the center. This configuration seems to be the most stable for a web-related career.

And the T-shaped strategy allows me to hack out some simple ideas I have. I have big ideas and I can’t quite hack them out alone (e.g. Tot Zeens and a dozen others). Eventually I will hack them out, but baby steps.

So rather than offer everything, I will offer a few things—and be the best at those. I will define those clearly on my new site I am not Sam.

Black and Yellow!

I am not a big football guy, however I am a sucker for any sense of unity and can-do spirit. And that’s what I feel in Pittsburgh very strongly. I think specifically the neighborhood of Central Lawrenceville will be the home to many special things in the next ten years. I really look forward to embracing (and hopefully being embraced by) this community.

People like Rob de la Cretaz, Jon Dascola, and Jason Head have already confirmed that Pittsburgh is full of talented and friendly people.

And to boot I’ll be closer to my wife’s awesome family and my mother will be moving near too. Watching Isaac grow is the best experience in my life. Thanks for reading!

Now and later

2010-09-05T14:37:58Z

No more Flash

A cornerstone to a successful career as a creative is to not confuse your job with your career. Decoded, this means to always be growing something: an idea, a skill, a relationship.

Around Christmas 2009 I began to come to terms with the idea that I was too comfortable with Flash to continue doing it. Though I was working with fantastic, hard-won clients who absolutely appreciated my talents, I had lost my interest in Flash. I made the tough decision to leave a lucrative gig with Estee to learn something new.

Fineslacks

Immediately after stopping Flash work, some friends (Todd Willey, Nick Warner, and Steven Hayes) and I started a new company called Fineslacks around March 2010. The first project, Todd proposed, would be a CMS based on one I had been wanting to see: a Ruby-based CMS as awesome as ExpressionEngine (PHP-based). We had estimated it would take less than a month to complete. I joined under the condition I would be Chief Creative Officer (meaning I would make calls regarding product features, UI, and design).

After a few months of growing as a team, we hit a more serious hiccup than growing pains. We met at a coffee shop early in the morning (already not a good sign)... then we got the news: no more salaries. I knew there would be some risk because with any startup, droughts are not unheard of, but this one came unexpectedly early for me. Alarmed with the suddenness and absoluteness of this news, I made the choice to pivot toward paying gigs because I had a young son to support. It was tough because I liked the guys, however looking back it was the right decision. As far as I know, Fineslacks is still planning to release a CMS later this year.

No gig

After our meeting at the coffee shop, a lot of emotions came forth. I felt a little embarrassed as I had hyped up Fineslacks at SXSW and locally. I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to shape the CMS into something I knew people like me wanted to use. Mostly I was scared… I wasn’t going back to Flash. Estee had left it out on the table that I could return and do iPhone apps, but I was sort of needing a more creative role to grow in… to prepare for Pittsburgh.

Punndit

After only two days of no gig lined up, Randall Stevens offered me a contract to work on his exciting startup idea Punndit. It allowed me to focus on directing the creative; also I’d have my hands in design and still be involved Ruby on Rails! It was my opportunity, in deus-ex-machina fashion, so I accepted.

And that is where I am now. The contract with Story Pixel is continuing. I am not an employee but a contractor (clearing up some rumors I encountered). The new position has allowed me to focus both on design and learn tons of new things. Working in an office everyday is an adjustment but downtown is a welcomed change of scenery. Randall listens to my creative opinions so that was a welcomed change.

I’m right where I want to be in my career: not afraid where my next dollar is coming from and making the best work I can make with the projects I have. Also in my limited spare time I am continuing to develop both Tot Zeens and some iPad project. Happiness is paramount and I am happy as long as I am developing and learning.

I have also been writing more with a few magazines I like: Smashing Magazine and Fuel Your Creativity. More is on the way. Writing helps me grow outside of what projects I’m trusted with.

Grateful

I am a lucky dude to be working with things I love. Meeting with James Mathias helped me reaffirm that creating websites is like the best job in the world. Duh! While I really look forward to moving to Pittsburgh, I aim to maximize my remaining time in Lexington.

Sure that means do the most epic things I can, but it also means appreciating what I have been blessed with. My son and wife amaze me everyday, life is much fuller with them. I do not want to look over my shoulder in ten years and wonder why I can only remember wireframes, Photoshop, and stylesheets.

About Blinkwang

2010-08-18T18:59:34Z

I have made my first HTML5 game: Blinkwang!

Special thanks

This game would have not been as cool if it were not for the help of several folks. Wes Keltner provided tons of great pointers. My wife and family obviously helped a lot. Thank you so much Deron Sizemore and Chris Steiha for the thought-out feedback! Finally thanks to James Smith, Lamar Wilson, to Peter Cook and so many others.

The idea

We count very well with our intuition. We can also hone our intuitions just by practicing. While I was jogging one day, I started to ponder how well people can walk into a room and guestimate the number surprisingly well. That was a year ago, as far as I knew I’d never do anything with that concept.

The contest

The contest is An Event Apart’s 10k app competition. Make an app less than 10k in html5. Simple! Right?

Lessons learned

HTML5 is very exciting. As my game started to reach 15k, I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal to boil it back down to 10k. So I thought. The final app was around 25k. Auto-compressing broke it every time. So it was up to me to hand-minify it. So incredibly laborious. But it’s done and I hope people like it.

Jogging (your creativity)

2010-04-25T06:39:04Z

A creative exercise

Over the last couple of years, I have grown to regard running as a cornerstone of my creative life. While my legs spin off in one direction, my mind wheels in another. The trajectory, often surprising in its dance, touches and connects concepts in delightful ways.

A vetted habit

Last week I had an opportunity to meet and to discuss in passing my belief with two nice creative gents, Will Gay and Stanley Hainsworth. Stanley is a veteran runner who, as Will explained, helped inspire him to make running a habit. Today, both Stanley and Will regard running as a space to conjure, ponder and refine ideas.

I hated to run for years

My own entrance into running was bumpier, in fact I dreaded or avoided running for years (event after Quint got me started). Then I began signing up for real races. At first 5k races then, much later, longer ones. After five years, I am running my first marathon in just one week. Neat.

Challenge and schedule: keys

The combination of signing up for races and sticking (religiously) to a schedule is key. Be aggressive but be sensible. My first 5k was much harder than any running challenge to date. It gets better and better.

Tips for starting

I hope this helps persuade you to try running even if you’ve tried it with unconvincing results.

Identify and sign up for a nearby race
Most important: get a schedule
Get good shoes (I recommend a runner’s shoe shop)
Remember pain is normal and will leave (for me took 3 months)
During the initial “hell” phase, listen to music

Why I run

At first it was for the challenge, then for the health… now it’s mostly for the time to explore ideas.

I can easily do it anywhere, even on vacation
Regimented running yields discipline
Miles of running dwarf work woes
Baseline mood improves making you happier and more focused
Because it is hard, running incentivizes you to get lost in thoughts
You perform beyond best expectations, giving you confidence
Running allows time to discern if an idea is good

Conclusion

It’s so important to have a habit that brings you away from the monitor and closer to your thoughts. Running has been that for me and, if it’s viable, I’d encourage you to (re)try it.

Epic small

2010-04-22T13:10:31Z

The problem

Always thinking “big” is a fast road to creative constipation.

The solution

Do something creative this week and share it. The idea isn’t important… the doing is important.

Why

Lots of reasons. Small creative acts spark bigger acts. It’s relaxing. Inspiration. Doing small ideas frequently helps you better navigate larger ideas to completion. And so on. Like Voltaire said

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Best of all, the creative habit helps you avoid the pitfall of perfectionism.

The inspiration for “Epic Small”

ProgressLex (a local group founded by forward-thinking people like Ben Self) recently put on an unconference entitled Now What Lexington. When I arrived, I hadn’t planned to speak, just to listen. As people were announcing their sessions in the kickoff session, I noticed most every goal was monolith or very abstract. Nothing wrong with that, but balance was needed. I had an idea for a session.

I gave that session (with help from Todd Willey) which I called “Epic Small” and it was unexpectedly very well-received.

It now has a Facebook group Epic Small which I encourage you to join.

What about you?

Feel free to share your small idea here or link to where you announced it. Let’s do this!

Finish your site

2010-02-05T16:37:38Z

Exposure is underrated

A lot of professionals, especially freelancers, feel like their opportunities will be on par with their talents. That’s not how it works. You must expose your work. Exposure increases your work’s value, dramatically.

Finish your site now

There are lots of reasons designers don’t finish their sites. I’ve been there and I procrastinated as much as the next person. Here were some excuses I told myself:

Not enough work in portfolio yet
Not good with HTML stuff
Too busy with “real work”

These reasons are terribly short-sighted, here is how to work around them.

Play to your strengths

If you don’t have enough work in your portfolio, then make a site that highlights your thoughts, ideas, and personality. People want to work with people they like. They don’t like you yet because they don’t know you. They don’t know you because your site isn’t finished!

Trust that HTML is not hard

Suck at HTML? That is okay, it is not as hard as you think. There are many options available to you. Wordpress and/or ExpressionEngine have a ton of great templates to begin with. You do not have to be a programmer to put together a site these days. Also: HTML is not a programming language.

You are not a mechanic

A lot of people will tell you the mechanic’s car is always broken. This is a harmful and outmoded metaphor. Doing your own site will lead to greater exposure, greater value, and to better higher-paying clients. And the latter makes life much easier and work more rewarding.

How to start

Get out some typing paper. Write down your 1 or 2 main goals (e.g. “showcase my work”, “create a soapbox for my ideas”). Take a tour of sites and make note of the ones you like the most. Don’t bite styles, rather look at their organization. You shouldn’t open Photoshop until you know exactly what content you are putting on your site. Remember: planning is at least half the work.

How to finish

Finishing a site is both fun and a test of your will. Tell a few friends of your intentions and timeline. Let them ask (even hound) you about it. You can challenge a friend to a “site race.” Also, put a piece of paper next to your desk and write on it “Finish site.” Tape it up in plain sight. Finally: remind yourself that client work makes other people money; your site makes you money.

Jealousy, a friend

2010-01-21T14:28:31Z

The wow factor

Through this digital window, the world’s most amazing creative works are in a relentless parade. How can one be impervious to jealousy?

Befriending jealousy

A passionate person cannot help but to feel jealous sometimes. However, many creatives seem to stop at resenting the creator. That is unwise because it’s useless. What’s wise is to view yourself as capable of doing anything. Richard Feynman’s captures this attitude:

What one fool can do, so can another

Passion is jealous

Jealousy is one of the natural consequences of being passionate about something. If you cease being wowed or stop asking how, then your passion may need some exercise.

Stay positive

Again, jealousy that inspires action is healthy. Do not indulge in gossip with a jealous person. Instead goad them to express their jealousy as creative action. Then everyone wins.

Mingle

A lot of us get a healthy exposure to amazing work by browsing sites like Smashing Magazine, FWA, and AIGA. But don’t forget to go to conferences and to attend any industry mixers. These activities put a human face on those efforts you have admired. And once you meet the person behind the creations… you realize… hey…

What one fool can do, so can another

Professionally we will never evolve away from jealousy, we will evolve because of it.

What I know

2010-01-12T17:24:13Z

Obviously a list like this can continue indefinitely, but here’s the highlights from my own meandering experience.

Work indirectly with the money

The objective of every project for a client is the same: make them more money. I find having a well-organized and impartial liaison between yourself and the stakeholder provides an important firewall during crunch time: when scope creeps and timelines are like a herd of cats.

Don’t work with assholes

Seriously. Also, so I’m clear on my definition, an asshole is someone who on first meeting “yikes, this person sure seems like an asshole… but I’ll give them a chance because I need the work.” No, unless you are starving, you should avoid assholes. They will shit on you.

Be brief

Don’t overload anyone (especially non-technical people) with details. It’s nerve-wracking, confusing, and a sign of weakness in their eyes.

Appear magical

Related to the above… but encourage the feeling in your clients’ minds that you have actual magic powers. Don’t be arrogant about that magic though. Appearing magical is how you’ll eventually start that cult *wink*.

Be (genuinely) humble

Be aware of your worth but don’t aggrandize your importance. It’s about results not your ego. Know there is always someone out there a little more skilled or knowledgeable.

Never be “If-Come Enterprises”

Never engage in business with people who want you to do something cheaply on the promise of future work that will be better-paying. It practically never ever ever happens that way.

Remain positive

When something goes wrong, deal with it but stay positive. Don’t forget that positivity makes you and your team more efficient. If you find that things are so bad you can’t stay positive, fire the client. Firing clients is a key survival mechanism for freelance.

Sketches everyday

2010-01-06T15:12:07Z

Keeping a consistent sketchbook is something every creative thinks about doing. This was the year I decided to be more consistent with sketching. The tipping point for this long-ignored to-do list item was this article. Now I spend about 20 minutes a day doing something creative and posting it here:

My daily Flickr sketches for 2010

If I’m really enjoying something I’ll put in a little more time, but as a rule I have to keep it short else it’s too much work. Why not join me? After all every day is full of possibilities just like January 1st.

Perfectionism, the enemy

2009-11-02T15:57:38Z

If I can’t create a genius work like the Mona Lisa, why even open my sketchbook today? If my soufflé will suck in comparison to Rocco Dispirito’s, I’ll just serve potted meat. I wouldn’t know where to get started with PHP, I can’t make my own site.

Recognizing the perils of being a perfectionist is tricky since it’s not totally a bad thing. When we were young, perfectionism was the habit we learned that led to those gold stars, spelling bee trophies, and being accused of being “so talented.”

But in the professional world, perfectionism can be the enemy of creativity and happiness. It can keep us from starting important side projects. It can make us hate ourselves for being caught between the urge of doing something and the fear of it failing. It can cause us to hate our colleagues when they are recognized for work that we consider “not perfect.”

Perfectionism is your spice rack, use it occasionally; but don’t forget the main course of any project is several imperfect, messy steps. What’s important is that you start taking the steps, else you risk starving your creativity.

Update: this post was translated into Spanish. Thanks Manuel Iglesias Brocos.

Collaborative thinking

2009-09-04T17:23:55Z

After working recently with Jetpack Dance-Off to launch a word game Phrays, I better understand that we (even as independents) can do the impossible through the simple act of sharing.

Everyone has ideas to offer, but few execute because taking the first step often feels like climbing a mountain. But one person’s mountain is another’s pebble in the path. In this way a complementary team lifts one another to places not reachable individually. So with the right people, you can walk anywhere. That’s collaborative thinking and freelancers need to do more of it.

Tips for effective collaboration

Be ready: write down every idea. Right now, open a document or take out a piece of paper and list every idea. Title each entry and summarize them with only one sentence. If the idea can’t be described easily with one sentence, then consider simplifying the concept.

Make creative but supportive friends. Seek out kindred creative minds in person or online. Be mad scientists together. Sit down (or type) over coffee or tea, wildly speculate about how horse auctions will be conducted fifty years from now. Discuss great ideas and terrible ideas with equal enthusiasm. Have humor and don’t force anything. Only pursue the ideas that really intrigue all collaborating parties.

Have a collaboration-friendly life. Make time to collaborate. If you work fifty hours a week and have three children, then collaboration will be really challenging (but still very doable). Be honest with yourself and your collaborators regarding your availability.

Carefully choose collaborative opportunities. All participants in the project should be necessary i.e. offer something that the collaboration really needs. Similarly, all collaborators should have a stake in the end product. A person that wants you to do all of the work without offering anything valuable (and not just a whip-cracker) isn’t a collaborator, he or she is a parasite.

Just do it already. This is most important. Plan generously but when the time is ripe get started and keep momentum strong on collaborative projects. Know that momentum exists only when visible progress is being made every week.

But careful

Not every idea calls for collaboration. Sometimes you can do something yourself. Sometimes an idea that sounds so awesome isn’t smelling as fresh a few weeks later. But if your idea is strong yet circumstances aren’t ripe for working together, consider outsourcing or pulling the concept off solo. What is important ultimately is that one acts on their ideas and keeps writing new ones down.

Logos sometimes

2009-07-30T12:04:23Z

Pretty thrilled to learn that a logo I designed for Rubidine (a Web application house) was featured on an awesome logo inspiration site. If you like, check out the interview over at LogoGala!