Here’s the “Save The Date” I created for my best friend’s wedding in September. I’ve never done hand-drawn type before, so I took some cues from Jon Contino. It was a little tough at first, but now I’m in love with it. Can’t wait to do more.
It’s like IRL 8-bit. I can feel the nostalgia coming back to me.
25
October
Exiting the Comfort Zone
Every ounce of growth I’ve made in my career, in my life, in my friendships, was a direct result of me stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something I wasn’t completely thrilled to do.
It’s hard for me to understand how people expect to grow without ever leaving the four walls they’ve built around them. Never forced to leave their office, their town, their state. Never meeting new people, especially those who may disagree with them. Never doing anything that truly makes them uncomfortable.
How do you ever expect to win the jackpot without ever putting money on the table?
The older I get, the easier it is to become comfortable, complacent. A mediocre job with a steady paycheck is often enough for most people to drop anchor and just float near the shore.
I just can’t be satisfied with this type of thinking. I always want to be better, faster, stronger, smarter.
Lately, I’ve been really focused on putting myself out there and, I’m not going to lie, sometimes it sucks. Even as I’m writing this, my stomach is uneasy at the thought of people reading this; judging me, critiquing me, laughing at me.
I experience the same feeling when I’m about to speak to a room full of strangers or when I’m about to be recorded on our podcast. But that feeling often quickly goes away and I’m left with a long-lasting sense of satisfaction.
And the next time, it gets a little easier. And the time after that? Even easier.
;
Amanda Morrow
Interactive Designer, BitMethod
Who are you, and what do you do?
I’m the Interactive Designer at BitMethod. We build web and mobile apps for clients as well as ourselves.
My job is to map out and design each of our projects with an emphasis on user experience and simplicity. This usually entails capturing ideas and suggestions floating about in our conversations and making them visual using sketches, wireframes or mockups.What hardware are you using?
At the office, I push pixels on a 27” iMac accompanied by an Apple Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. At home, I just recently switched from a 15” MacBook Pro to a 13” MacBook Air running OS X Lion.
This may come as a surprise, but I do not own an iPhone. I’m the only Android user at BitMethod, but I very much enjoy my Samsung Epic 4G. As for sketching, the coffee cup on my desk is never low on black Paper Mate Flair Felt-Tip Marker Pens and dry-erase markers. So, if you’re looking to get me something for Christmas (Hint, hint … markers!).And what software?
I have a love/hate relationship with Adobe CS5. It’s wonderful software but sometimes I push it too hard and it fights back. I spend most of my time using Illustrator for mockups and all other design projects. I tend to only use Photoshop for editing photos but occasionally will use it to apply effects and filters not found in Illustrator. For wireframing, I use InDesign. Master pages and the ability to create interactive .pdf’s comes in handy for rough prototyping.
Typically, I have two browsers running, Chrome and Safari. My email, calendar, chat and documents are all run through Google. Everyone at BitMethod saves their files to Dropbox and we just recently started using Trello to manage all our projects. It’s a great, simple scrum board-type web app. Also, don’t forget to backup, kids! I use BackBlaze for that.What would be your dream setup?
I’m pretty happy with my current set-up. I went a long time without nice things so I’m incredibly grateful to have all the hardware and software I need. But if I absolutely had to choose, I could always use more cupcakes and kittens on my desk.
River Stone sidewalk on Flickr.
There were many beautiful things at the botanic gardens, but I think this sidewalk is one of my favorites.
