jamingaroutte.com

Desktop Wallpapers Available!

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 13/05/09 at 01:05:51 am

So I was sitting at my computer, thinking about how it was time to change my desktop backgound, & I decided that it was high time I finally got around to making one. I’ve thought about making these for years now, and haven’t really tried my hand at it yet (at least, not since I finally have a strong understanding of Illustrator, Photoshop, and Photography). I figure what better way to begin than by using the branding elements that I recently created?

So without further ado, click to download the first of many wallpapers to come! (I promise that very few of the “many to come” will be for my brand. This was just to kick things off…)

In other news, I have added a few more projects to my online portfolio, specifically the Healthworks flash game & Kasten Dog Training direct mail package design. At the moment, I have a few side projects on my plate, a bunch of ideas floating around just waiting to be implemented, & I’m waiting to hear back on an incredible job opportunity that I recently interviewed for–Cross your fingers, cause this one sounds awesome!

The Birth of a Portfolio

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 23/04/09 at 03:04:39 am

It’s finally happened–after nearly 3 years of preparing for a career in web design, I finally have an online portfolio! I’m so glad to finally have some way of showing people what I have to offer them. The funny part is that I have grown so much in such a short amount of time, that I know what I can produce now is so much better than some of the best work I’ve already done!

There are still a few things that I will be adding to the website that don’t appear already (not including additional projects; those will keep getting posted as I finish them). The first is adding a series of logos I’ve designed to the mix. I haven’t posted them yet because I don’t want to showcase just one or two, so I’m waiting until I have more to upload. The second is a short movie intro that explains a little more about my own brand and services: I just need to have the time away from other projects to create it.

All that to say, “Take a look!“

Portfolio Redesign

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 12/04/09 at 10:04:27 pm

There’s only a few more weeks left in the semester, and as I prepare for starting my design career in the workforce, I am finally sitting down and working on my portfolio. So far, I’ve got most of it set-up, and now I just need to go through and add the projects and content. I don’t normally do it this way, however for the purposes of school, I am having to post what I have when I have it–generally, nothing will go live until it’s completely finished and ready to. My teachers and peers are reviewing the progress as I go, so that’s the reason for publishing the redesign with no content.

My next steps are to continue to add content throughout the remainder of the semester, and eventually I intend to redesign my WordPress theme to suit… Who knows, eventually I may just have the whole thing “Powered by WordPress”.

JAG Design Blog – Moving Forward

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 13/02/09 at 01:02:34 pm

First of all, I want to apologize for not having touched this blog in the past 4 months. About all I can say is, “Life got busy.” Things have calmed down quite a bit, and I’m excited to be back on track.

Second of all, I’ve been moving forward on a few personal projects that have the potential of becoming–quite literally–dreams come true. One of these projects has actually stemmed from the original plan I had for this design blog, though is geared more towards a particular niche market. As a result, I have had to rethink how JAG Design Blog would function.

In re-evalutating, I’ve chosen to give this blog a much needed face-lift & changed the title to simply “JaminGaroutte.com.” As a freelance designer, I can offer my clients more personal attention, so I have decided to begin using this blog as a tool for communicating on a more personal level.

I appreciate your understanding & I’m excited to see how this will develop!

Slide:ology – A Review

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 24/10/08 at 06:10:47 pm

Just over a year ago, I gained some of the most powerful knowledge I’ve ever come across. I now use this knowledge every day, and it has affected everything that I do, everything I touch, and everything I see. Several months after stepping out of one career in pursuit of another, I wondered, “Why hasn’t anyone shared this with me before? Why doesn’t everyone know about this!?” One of the reasons I started this blog was to have a platform with which to share that revolutionary knowledge: Enhancing communication through design.

I start by telling you this because Slide:ology is a fantastic resource that I believe should be on everyone’s book shelf–whether you’re a professional designer, or you know absolutely nothing about design. When I first heard about this book from PresentationZen.com, money was tight, but I begged my wife to let me get it anyway (justifying it as an educational expense, since it was a design book), and I’m glad I did.

The general focus of Slide:ology is on presentation design, and the fundamental flaw in how our culture creates slides and presentations. I know that sounds like I’m elevating the significance of something lame, but consider the difference between a recent presentation you’ve seen at the office or on a Sunday morning, and compare that to the difference that Al Gore’s presenation, highlighted in An Inconvient Truth has made on our society’s desire to “Go Green” (Which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007). Slide:ology offers a number of guiding principles for how to effectively create a strong presentation.

However, these principles are not just limited to how we use Powerpoint. They are principles that can—and should—be applied to a myriad of communication platforms that many of us use at work everyday: presentations, newsletters, posters, brochures, invitations, flyers, advertisements, web designs, scrapbooks, etc. They touch on several things specific to presentations, including real-world presentation examples, dealing with templates, and motion, however the majority of topics can have a broad application: Using visual elements of color, text, images; arranging elements; creating diagrams and displaying data; and even planning, preparation, and branding.

For the most part, the design teaching is basic design stuff that the trained professional designer may not need, but the real world examples, branding information and sections on communicating data make this book a worthwhile purchase. To be honest, Slide:ology is worth the $35 just for Chapter 3: Creating Diagrams, as it shares more than 200 different ways of communicating data visually and a brief description of what each diagram communicates. For the non-designer, this book sums up all the powerful knowledge that I’ve picked up over the past year, and makes it easy to understand and use effectively: things like how color impacts your message, or how a subtle change to your text size or font choice can help or hurt what you’re trying to say.

If you’re a designer or work in a design studio, there should be a copy of this book someone near your workspace. If you’re a public speaker, this book should always be open when you’re working on your next talk. If anyone in your company makes a pitch to a client, they should all have read this book—in fact, you should get a copy for your secretary, no matter what, because at one time or another you’ll probably have him or her creating a marketing flyer or newsletter somewhere down the road. And if you’re like my wife and love to scrapbook, spending time pouring over these pages will show you how you can more effectively communicate to others what those memories mean to you.

The point is, whoever you are, and whatever you like to do, Slide:ology is not just a great book on presentation, it’s a great introduction to the power of design.

Belated Design Links

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 20/10/08 at 12:10:14 am

I apologize for not getting around to sharing these links sooner;
things have been kinda crazy around here lately. Here’s some more fun
stuff for ya:

The National Archives Experience
A cool interactive website that encourages exploration of more than 1200 historical records

Pirate Supply Storefront for Tutoring Program
Here’s a real world example of a practical way that design & creativity can truly make a difference in your community

Sikbox Logo Design Process
I always enjoy seeing the creative process that others go through

Sphere Art
Creative/inspirational study of spherical subjects

Visualizing the Bible
Chris Harrison creates some beautiful information graphics for the Bible

Portfolio of Andre Smatik
Great illustration inspiration

The Hallways of Adobe
Links to some of the often unexplored areas of Adboe’s website

Blog Action Day 2008 – Poverty

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 15/10/08 at 11:10:01 am

I discovered late yesterday that today is considered “Blog Action Day“; a day set aside to focus on the issue of poverty and taking action. I feel so unprepared for this kind of post, so I just want to share a wonderful opportunity that my wife and I have been a part of in fighting poverty:

For the past 4 years, we’ve been sponsoring a little girl in Kenya, Africa. For $30 a month, we are able to meet many of her needs, including food and an education. The program works! We regularly get letters from her telling us about how she’s doing in school, updating us on her friends and family, and sharing her joys. Compassion International is one of the best non-profit organizations around, and as far as I know, they still have the best financial integrity of any organization out there.

When my wife and I began sponsoring, $30 each month seemed like a lot of money; especially since we were not making very much. However, it really boils down to a few less trips to Starbucks. Over a year and a half ago, I quit my job so that I could go back to school and start a career in web design, meaning I left a stable salary. Since then, we’ve essentially been living off of one income (with a little extra money from side jobs I’m able to pick up here and there), but we’ve never once thought that a commitment to sponsoring our Compassion Child has been too much.

It’s easy, it’s cheap, and it’s highly effective. You can make a real difference, not only in the life of a child, but also in that child’s community! Just click on the image above, and start sponsoring a child today.

You won’t regret it!

Design Links

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 11/10/08 at 01:10:41 pm

It’s round two with more cool stuff I’ve run across lately; just click on the section headers:

Evolution of Logos
Take a look at some of the changes that major companies have gone through with their logos.

Max Kerning
Having been taught Graphic Design by a Typography addict, good type is something I’m paying more and more attention to. That’s why I absolutely love things like this–part humor, part truth!

Denook: Web Design Contests
People looking for a web site design can post a contest; winner gets paid for them to use your design. Wasn’t sure about this at first, but if business is slow, it’s a great motivator to try something new. If your design wins, you make a little extra cash; if you don’t, then you’ve created yourself a new design template that you can offer clients at a discount (aka get paid for work already done!)

Twurl
Having finally invested in my Twitter, I’ve learned that linking can eat half your post. This is a great tool for adding a link to something that has a long domain name.

Idea Generator
Goofy web tool for fighting a creative block

Collection of Unfortunately Placed Ads
Photographs of advertisements made extremely ironic in light of their environment

Animals on the Underground
Creative use of London Undergound’s Subway maps

Papyrus Watch
Real world sightings of the most overused novelty font in existance. Every designers worst nightmare.

Fall Vector Freebies!!!

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 08/10/08 at 10:10:08 pm

I had every intention of offering up a fresh, new article yesterday, but my homework got in the way. Thankfully, that wonderful distraction ended in your favor as I have created a few unique vector symbols in Adobe Illustrator CS3. So instead of you giving more to read, how about if I just give you some new graphics to go play with? Here’s a couple of Illustrator symbols, all of which were used to create the above image (background for a recent flash project I’ve been working on):

http://www.jamingaroutte.com/downloads/illustrator/fallpark.ai

These symbols are yours to use, no limitations. All I ask is that you give credit where credit is due.

And let me know what you think!!

Design Links

Posted by jamin_garoutte - 04/10/08 at 03:10:55 pm

In preparation for this blog, I decided that I would begin by posting at least twice a week. This allows me to offer you consistent content without overloading myself. As this project matures, it is my hope to build this blog into a fantastic resource, but I want to take the time to make sure I get a solid foundation first. As a guideline, I’ve reserved one post a week for sharing links to great content on the web (hopefully, I’ll find a better title for these posts). So here’s a few links to some great content, just click on the section headers:

GizMag, Issue #30
An inspirational pdf-magazine that I found earlier today *disclaimer- some mature content. My absolute favorite links from the site were the Natzke artwork/videos and the Green animation called L’Aime De Zoe.

Gears of War 2 Manual Design
Leaked images of the upcoming game’s manual. It still seems too much like a game instruction booklet to satisfy me, but I do like the concept (especially where you can see the owner has doodled and scribbled notes in it out of shear bordem–THERE’S A WAR GOING ON!!!)

Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” Ads Created on Macs
Yet another article that proves: Microsoft knows that Macs are better. (Previous indication found here: http://weblog.xanga.com/FrogJD2/671797173/microsoft-admits-mac-is-better.html)

Behance’s Action Method
Article about how one company developed a customized method for managing creative projects (not sure why the link is struggling, so copy/pasting this may help: http://www.behancemag.com/Tip-Our-Action-Addiction/5526). Also, here’s the Action Method website.

Social Network Geographical Maps
For those interested in this kind of stuff, here’s a visual breakdown of world wide social network usage, alphabetical by website. I’ve never even heard of half of these.

Search