I found myself tinkering with an unfinished layout for 3 hours. Whatever I do seems ineffective and unable to "pass as moderately satisfactory" even for my lowest quality standards. I feel that there was a switch in my head I accidentally switched off and now I don't know where it is.
Indesignsecrets.com is dubbed as "...your one-stop shop for all things InDesign" and that is an accurate way to describe it. Aside from a few people I know that still can't let go of their Pagemakers and QuarkXpresses, Indesign seem to have made its way into becoming every layout artists' preferred layout tool. And with good reasons. It is by far the most feature-packed, intuitive, and most powerful page layout tool in the market today. Being such, there are a lot of things a rookie like me need to learn about this gem and Indesignsecrets.com really saved me a lot of time in getting my self acquainted with the juicy stuff.
Indesignsecrets.com is the companion web site for the Indesign secrets podcast hosted by David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion, two of THE world’s top InDesign gurus. The credentials on these guys are stellar but interestingly enough, Blatner and Concepcion make learning Indesign fun through their light banter and comic exchange of tips and techniques.
Indesignsecrets.com is also home to the Indesigner video podcast which showcases the power of InDesign to automate repetitive tasks, improve productivity and build unprecedented flexibility into the design process. Hosted by Michael Murphy, a veteran art director and Adobe Certified Expert for Indesign CS2 who has written for InDesign Magazine and presented before the New York and Milwuakee InDesign User Groups.
Unless you we're living under a rock for the past year, you would know that podcasting had become a phenomenon of sorts. It sort of became the new blog... and in a lot of ways that is accurate.
For the benefit of those who have no idea what a podcast is, Wikipedia defines a podcast as:
Apodcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. A podcast is a specific type of webcast which, like 'radio', can mean either the content itself or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.
I have about 30 podcast subscriptions. And I make it a point that I listen to the latest episode as soon as it is available. Most of my podcast subscriptions are design related. For the main reason that I believe that there is yet a lot of things I need to know about the career I chose for myself. Adam Hay, the author of Rookie Designer, has done a good job of bringing the most important issues that concerns us rookies into the clear. I have been listening to RD for over a year now and have learned a lot about the business of designing and the common mistakes that we, rookies, often commit. Although there are some software tips on the podcast, this is not a venue for learning a particular software. There are other podcasts for that in future posts. In the meantime, take my advice andsubscribe to Rookie Designer now. I use iTunes to manage my podcast subscriptions. I believe it to be the best aggregator available. Download iTunes from the apple website. Available for both Macs and PCs.
I came across this video ad in the apple website a few months ago... I pondered about the charting method for a while and decided that It could be a good way to see how I've been living my life. To my horror, my charts show that I have too many unnecessary activities cluttering up my schedule that I have little, if any at all, work done. And by work I mean doing my commitments, fixing this blog, finishing my portfolio, and exploring talents that I have recently been given the opportunity to explore (e.g. photography.) Among other things. (Actual chart being processed.. watch this blog for updates)
I realized that 24 hours is not enough for me to do all the things I HAVE to do, let alone things that I wanna do. I have to give up some of 'em. No, sleeping and eating is not dispensable.
Here is a list of things I have to rethink my involvement in... Warning, try them out on your own risk.
1. Youtube (and every other video sharing sites) - YouTube is THE popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. Videos can be rated, and the average rating and the number of times a video has been watched are both published. A year ago,I was sucked in on Youtube because of my search for "hard-to-find" anime, music videos and commercial spoofs. I was hooked since then. It is very convenient that Youtube had started pulling out Bleach episodes because of Dattebayo's complaints. It will make it much more easier for me to go cold turkey.
2. Monstersgame Server 2- This browser game pits vampires against werewolves in a global war. As one of the leaders of the vampire clan, [D] Deathbringers, I have the responsibility to organize my clansmates and help them through the different aspects of the game. Some members come from as far as Romania, USA, Germany and UK. It IS lots of fun as we interact with players from different culture and exchange ideas and opinions on things other than the game. It would be hard to give this up but I'll try.
3. Tantra Online - ABS-CBN Interactive jumped in face first in the rapidly growing online gaming industry with Tantra Online, A neo-oriental fantasy game. This Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) boasts of stunning graphics and dynamic game-play for the hard-core gamer. Using any of the eight character classes, Players are tasked to defend the world of tantra against the mara forces on the different quests. Rewards in the form of items or in-game currency are given for every quest completed. The player vs player (PvP) feature of Tantra is also something the developers are proud of. PvP enthusiasts gets a blast in Tantra's "God War" wherein players engage in battle defending their respective god's castle. It's a battle royale whenever the followers of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu come across each others path in Kruma. I have been playing this game for well over 2 years already and I must admit that I would still like to grind levels with the best of them but alas! Nothing is meant to last forever. My ghandharva is going to hibernate for the meantime but will probably be back in a time not in the immediate future. I made up my mind on this one.
4. Happy Tree Friends Podcast - Senseless violence (extremely bloody ones) even among cute woodland creatures is only fun on the first few episodes... It gets extremely gross after a while. This one wasn't for me in the first place.
Maybe I can give these things up... Maybe I can't... We'll see in the coming weeks.
Indesignsecrets.com is also home to the Indesigner video podcast which showcases the power of InDesign to automate repetitive tasks, improve productivity and build unprecedented flexibility into the design process. Hosted by Michael Murphy, a veteran art director and Adobe Certified Expert for Indesign CS2 who has written for InDesign Magazine and presented before the New York and Milwuakee InDesign User Groups.
