4 Ways My MacBook Haunts Me

Before I get started, I’d like to say I haven’t posted in a long time because I’ve been in the process of moving to a new city, and its been a hectic period. (Also, I didn’t have anything to write about.) Now that I have some downtime, I need to vent quickly.

In the art field, most vacancies I’ve encountered ask for their applicants to work on a mac. To me, that’s a bit of a curse, and the ghost that haunts me is my own MacBook pro. There are, of course, the obvious complaints that Windows users posit to avoid buying a mac. These range from, “it’s much more expensive”, to “many software companies don’t make mac versions of their software”, and “they’re evil.”

Aside from the obvious complaints, there are some baffling usability issues that many owners complain about, but Apple refuses to address. Under any normal circumstances, they would be quirks that come with the territory. The fact that these issues haven’t been addressed is what makes them game breakers for me. These are my 4 main reasons for never buying a MacBook pro unless someone threatens bodily harm.

The Fate of Skeumorphism

Apple has been known for dipping its toe into the idea of using Skeuomorphism with design. A skeuomorph is a design on an object that makes it look like something else (i.e. the Mac Calendar looks like an actual desktop calendar). Now there’s suddenly talk of people wanting to get rid of it.

I’m personally a fan of skeuomorphism (If I could, I would make my entire OS resemble the controls to a pirate ship). Unfortunately, designers don’t see it the same way and skeuomorphism is on its inevitable way out. Why are designers getting rid of it? What spurred the change and what’s the future of it? I did some work on The Google for the benefit of mankind and here’s why it’s happening:

File Transfer Protocol

I recently saw some job requirements that asked for File Transfer Protocol (FTP) experience, which isn’t something I’ve seen employers asking for before. Luckily, I have serendipitous experience from some website design I’ve done on my own. Since I did an article on SEO that seemed to gain attention, I figured it might be relevant to those who liked that article if I talked about File Transfer Protocol for a bit.

The 3D Cover Letter

I recently decided to put some extra time and effort into the hiring process. I had the idea to make a 3D animated cover letter when applying to be a 3D artist. Most of the positions are calling for environment artists, so I’m drawing up some concept art. This week, I hope to make some serious progress on the project as a whole and I’ll see if it goes anywhere special.

Hit the jump for some details.

The 150 Character Hurdle

When applying to jobs through sites like LinkedIn and The Resumator, there’s always a section that says, “In 150 characters or fewer, tell us what makes you unique. Try to be creative and say something that will catch our eye!” I know I’m not the only person who dreads seeing this text box once my resume is perfected, my cover letter is proofread, and I’m officially drained of creativity. The exclamation point makes the whole thing seem mockingly effervescent in comparison to the tableau of despair I can see reflected in my computer monitor. 

 I did some work on The Google, and found that there are a whole lot of people out there asking for advice on what to say, but the answers they get are polarized to either flat-out examples or, “If you have to ask, then you’re doing the creativity part wrong.”  In this article, I’m going to address the topic by asking the questions that aren’t being answered, and then answering them by consolidating any useful information I found in each section.

5 Types of Symbols That Are Begging to Be Used in Logos

Traditional symbols seem like they’re already set up for logo design because they’re simple, scaleable, easy to replicate, and carry a ton of meaning. Distorting, recreating, and combining them seems like an excellent way to convey a message, and make a client happy by showing you put the extra thought into the design process. Symbolism is a visually tantalizing form of communication that almost certainly goes under appreciated. 

Earlier, I wrote about how I’m beginning to design logos for freelance sites, and how I wish someone gave me a few pointers before starting. Well, I recently decided to use traditional symbols in my logo designs until I read two articles from The Logo Factory that basically said, forget originality and use what already works in the case of crowdsourcing. Since, I probably won’t have too many opportunities to put my idea in motion, I want to give it away by listing the 5 types of symbols that are begging to be used in logos.

5 Easy Ways To Improve Your SEO

I recently had the experience of reading about a marketing company I liked, and then spending close to an hour just trying to find their website on Google. I finally found them by aimlessly typing in different combinations of their company’s name into the search bar. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an aspect of website maintenance that some users tend to overlook, and it can have crippling results.

Appearing as a top result on a Google search is also an effective marketing tool that some people aren’t taking advantage of. As someone who both sees the effects of bad SEO, and wants to increase blog traffic, I looked into maintaining SEO hygiene. To help anyone who reads this blog, as well as myself I did some labor on The Google, and here’s what I came up with:

5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Making Logos

Working with crowdsourced freelancing has taught me a number of things that I wish someone had told me beforehand. While my experiences with Illustrator are purely self-motivated, I feel like there were a few things that should be taught in classrooms regarding scaleable graphics.

I’m using this blog post as an opportunity to disseminate my newfangled knowledge of Graphic Design. This is a tutorial for the specific purpose of instructing other people on how to set up their workspaces for creating logos.

Don’t worry. I did my research before writing this article.

Freelancing For Experience?

The internet is riddled with advice on what to do once you’ve graduated and are looking for a job. LinkedIn is overflowing with inspirational articles directed toward graduates of 2013, but graphic art majors face the daunting hurdle of having their work previewed and weighed against other applicants.

So you’ve read the articles, and you’ve gone through the motions of applying for jobs. Your resumes are out; your cover letters are impeccable; your portfolio site is up to date, and you’re waiting for calls. Now what? 

Portfolio Site

It’s official. Today, I received my final grades and I will be graduating on Sunday with a BS in Digital Media & Animation. I recently launched my portfolio website, which you can check out at PatrickBuchholz.com, so I’m actually going to shift this WordPress site from being a semi-portfolio/blog, to a full blown blog.

Hit the jump for an idea of what the future holds.