When nothing goes right - go left

What's all this about Digital Design?

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:19:00 -0400

Digital design is coding right? No. It’s not.

Being a ‘Digital Designer’ means you’ll be staring at a computer for the rest of your life right? No. It doesn’t.

I don’t have any experience designing for websites or phones or tablets and wouldn’t know where to begin. Perfect - you’re in the best position possible.

There’s a lot of stigma around digital design, interface design, web design or pretty much any design that involves a screen. There are probably a million reasons for this but I suspect the major culprits include how quickly technology is moving, the fact that traditional education systems can’t keep up (how can they?) and all over the world education systems are teaching way too much code. (Most designers aren’t coders, they’re designers).

On a domestic level - how cluey do you think the board of education are to the new ipad retina display? Even if they were at the forefront of new technologies there is years of red tape to go through to update a curriculum on a certificate or diploma level and I suspect it’s an even longer process at the degree level. It’s no one person’s fault in particular, this is just what the world looks like right now.

So we (that’s you, me and everyone else in the industry) find ourselves in an environment where technology moves faster than education. In two years who knows what the landscape of technology will look like? Last year the use of tablet devices doubled to 18% and it’s expected to double again by the end of this year.

Scarey stuff right? Not at all. It’s an incredible time to be a designer. You just need the knowledge and experience to capitalise on these technologies and be on the front lines of the new wave of design solutions to make yourself an invaluable member of any team and advance your career.

I’m a ‘traditional’ designer but this year have set goals that I need to achieve before 2013 - and number one on the list is to gain a greater understanding tablet, smartphone and web design to the point where I could be a valuable person to have on a project. I have the advantage of access to some very talented people already working successfully in the field and whilst I wont be able to learn directly from them, I have kept my ear out and have learnt something. Which has strengthened my resolve.

If you want to be successful in the years to come:

Learn digital.

Cheers,
Flyn

NB | This is my first blog post in a while, I’d be surprised if anyone actually reads it. I’m making a concious effort to write here more often as a way to dump my thoughts at first, but then see where it goes. If you want to say hi, I’m on twitter here - @flyntracy

Flyn Tracy

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:07:57 -0500

Flyn Tracy

tek1nowblog: College for Creative Studies Talk to your kids...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:10:35 -0500

tek1nowblog:

College for Creative Studies

Talk to your kids about art school.

Advertising Agency: Team Detroit, Dearborn, MI USA Chief Creative Officer: Toby Barlow Creative Director: Gary Pascoe Art Director: Vic Quattrin Copywriter: Joel Wescott Published: October, 2011

Fuck, now what.

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:08:57 -0500

Fuck, now what.

Junior art director meme

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:46:29 -0500

Junior art director meme

Photo

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 01:51:31 -0500

Video

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:30:56 -0400

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:47:09 -0400

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:46:58 -0400

If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. Abe

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:46:21 -0400

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

Abe

Photo

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:52:11 -0400

Photo

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:31:06 -0400

Photo

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:42:49 -0400

Video

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:05:08 -0400

Brilliant

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:13:03 -0400

Brilliant

Photo

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:13:10 -0400

Photo

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:45:12 -0400

New shooooooeeeeeesss!

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 06:17:08 -0400

New shooooooeeeeeesss!

Busy with g-chat wtf is that?

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:11:57 -0400

Busy with g-chat wtf is that?

Kickstarter - The Happy Film

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:27:42 -0400

Kickstarter - The Happy Film