Washington Post just tweeted this and I had to share. The Animated GIF has gone from unsophisticated cartoons meant to distract on early websites to  an art form.  The winner of the Inagural Motion Picture prize is shown at the top of the WP Style Blog article. However, these runner ups are my favorite:

Finalist, night category (Matthew Clarke/Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London)

Finalist, action category (Micaël Reynaud/Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London)

As a new teacher I am privy to the highs and lows of the profession without that much commitment. Early in the semester I realized that my input, critique, and idiosyncrasies color the way that these budding creatives approach future design challenges. That realization took me back to a conversation I started last year with some of my professional peers.


Me: I had to chuckle when I came across these poster designs done in Max Boam and Bert Smith's classes... those two challenged me to grow as a designer.

A. Scott: I love Max Boam 

C. Ono: love max. He was so straightforward but helped me grow a lot. I asked him about a piece one time and I asked "does this look like crap?" and he said, "yes, yes I'm afraid it does." and ever since then, I ask myself that question all the time when reviewing my work and think if he would give me the same reply…

A. Willard: I can imagine Max saying that in his Brit accent...

C. Ono: That's what made it so polite 

Last fall I attended a grad school reunion held on the campus of my alma mater. There, a former professor asked me if I wanted to teach a class in spring. "Okay."

In thinking about the world of work That you'll enter after school, it's impossible to precisely predict the skills and careers that will evolve from the current economy and technology ecology. Top Ten Online Colleges created this infographic outlining some of the vital skills and competencies future employees may need--with a focus on six drivers of changes within the global economy.

Whether the skills in this graphic are being embedded into modern education systems--from primary school to post-secondary--is up for debate, but this is a great resource to explain how the job markets are changing, and how you need to prepare for such a future.

Well, I've been doing responsive site designs for clients in recent years but have neglected to update my site with the proper code and functionality. earlier this year I took the time to rectify that issue and also added higher quality images; owing to the mobile move toward retina displays (more about that in a future article).

The redesign also has to do with my current work in teaching, training and academia. One website reviewer said that she noticed that my site was much more academic than in previous iterations. I'm happy with the result.

With out much more ado, here's a preview of simonejenifer.org:

Thanks owwwlab!

My director just put out the call for us to populate out 2014/15 conference wish list. As the only communications/design person on the team, my list is a little bit different than the others. Wouldn’t it be great to hit more than one of these. My focus here is on design/ marketing / communications in higher education. In order of the strength of my desire to attend:

44th Annual UCDA Design Conference -
Long Beach, CA September 20-23, 2014
The UCDA Design Conference provides you an opportunity to get an in-depth look at some of the issues facing designers and communication professionals both in and out of educational institutions.

How Interactive 
Washington , DC Sept 3-5 
Meet the interactive designers behind blockbuster web design projects for GE, Zappos, Nike, Facebook, Google and more. They’ll demystify complex concepts, share design processes you can apply to your own work, and clue you in to the web design trends and tools you need to know about. All with the trademark designer-friendly content, networking and inspiration you expect from the team that created HOW Design Live.

EduCause 2014
Orlando, FL Sept 29-Oct 2
With over 300 sessions and more than 500 speakers—60+ webcasts and 18 exclusive online sessions provided virtually—the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference presents a robust, community-generated program that explores today's toughest IT issues facing higher education and convenes some of the brightest minds in the community.

the HighEdWeb 2014 Annual Conference
Portland, OR, October 19-22 
The HighEdWeb 2014 conference will feature six thematic session tracks, with 70+ presentations by industry leaders; pre- and post-conference half-day, add-on intensive workshops; outstanding keynotes; and a number of social and networking events.

Graphic design interview questions can be surprisingly similar to interview questions asked in other industries. This is because--as professions--in business there are few variables. We must all deal with deadlines, colleagues, clients, and stressful situations.

Here are a few that you should be prepared for:

Every year or so I revisit this list—with good reason. SimplyHired, was once my favorite search resource to share. In addition to algorithm-selected postings the site now features header and sidebar advertisements (disguised to look like jobs) and an unending amount of Temporary Contract positions—posted by anyone from phishers, to grandmas, to some guy looking for website redesign.



These resources have been effective for many jobseekers this year:

• Idealist.org
• NonprofitJobs.org
• HERCJobs.org | HigherEdJobs.com
• America’s Job Bank (an oldie but goodie)
• LinkedIn
• Indeed
• www2.guidestar.org/
• AIGA
• USAJobs.gov

Of course, if you’re interested in a particular industry, check out the professional organizations’ websites. The same goes for a particular company. Be sure to bookmark it and visit early and often!

Retailing for 24,150 yen (about $235), the glasses will go on sale at the end of this month. Check out the Website...

Stock Images can be expensive, those of us in the non-profit sector, education, and rapidly-shrinking in house design departments are well aware.  Here are some sites that can give you the free images that you need to really make your designs pop!

Public Domain images and materials are ‘publicly available’ and not covered by intellectual property or copyrights. Today, graphic a design and digital media is abundant, so there is a high demand for images for use in print, web, and multimedia.

Here are are four public domain sites to pin and save. Enjoy:

http://publicdomainpictures.net

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://photos-public-domain.com

http://www.sxc.hu