Category: Design Guy

I used to author blogs. A lot of blogs. Several times a day I would research, write, and then post articles on a range of subjects as diverse as mental health, hardware, software, and security, for a group of companies based in New York. ‘Thought Leadership’ in action. I would push SEO optimised content out on schedule across all available channels, and measure the metrics so I could report back to those I was writing for. Fun stuff, for the most part. Highly challenging and highly rewarding in equal measure.

That changed a couple or three years ago, for a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with here. My productivity dropped. Off the map. I have redirected myself into other channels. Simply, been too busy with other challenges: I run a host of training platforms, manage servers and Sharepoint document repositories, and keep things ticking over for a dozen web sites with thousands of user accounts. Busy times. Since that change of pace I write blogs infrequently.

Blogging has become a personal activity rather than a commercial one, and almost dried up completely. In many ways I was and am glad of the respite. I have nobody to answer to. No deliverables to meet. No stats to analyze. No metrics to report. The constantly hungry beast that is corporate social media no longer needs to be fed. Well, at least, not by me. And I can use the Oxford comma to my heart’s content which gives me more joy than you can imagine. Neither the AP nor Chicago Style Guides now dictate my output. Which means I am free to spell optimise the way the English language intended it, with an ‘s’, and ignore that red underline with a smile.

I took a sabbatical. And it was fun.

I’m now feeling the need to express myself again, this time purely for myself. I have opinions, insights, knowledge and fun things running around my head, and a new-found hankering to share them.

Perhaps it’s the warmer weather. Perhaps it’s Spring Fever. Perhaps I just want to do something. Whatever combination of reasons are responsible, they have conspired and combined to drive me to the point of finally picking up paper and pen (monitor and keyboard?) again to write blogs.

So here I am.

Time to write. The void shall be filled. Onward.

Adobe are running a contest right now to celebrate the release of two new fonts derived from the archives of the Bauhaus school of design, a powerhouse of contemporary and modernist styles from its founding in 1919 to an untimely closure in 1933 due to pressure from the growing Nazi regime under then Chancellor Hitler. The story of Bauhaus is one I can recommend taking the time to learn. But it’s not THIS story.

At a loose end yesterday, I decided to throw my own entry into the ring for this contest. The #AdobeHiddenTreasures #contest (yes, I dropped in the required hashtags. Deal.) challenges entrants to use one or both of the new fonts to create a logo. That’s it. Once created, share it on social media with the tags previously mentioned, and sit back. This, I have done.

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A few years ago, a fine woman died. That’s how this annual shindig all began.

Pierrete, affectionately known as Peewee, was a central part of her group. Every year since her death, her friends and family have celebrated her life with a Memorial Ride fundraiser in her name. Every year, I shoot the event for free. It’s my way of contributing. I knew her too. Read more

It isn’t always about the money. Sometimes, a project is worth doing just for the fun of it.

Such a project came my way recently when my colleagues decided to form a ball hockey team. They registered, paid up, and were ready to rock and roll in the Niagara region Ball Hockey D league. A mixed group of seasoned ice hockey guys and total novices, they had never played together before as a team. Without skates. Shoot, some had never played before, period. In hindsight, this was never likely to end well. Read more

Like millions of others, I drive to work every day. What fun.

Even though I vary that by randomly choosing one of 7 possible routes, it averages 40 minutes each way, each day. 80 minutes. 5 days. 400 minutes per week. Dividing by 60 gives the total hours per week. 6.66… There is a joke in there somewhere.

Drivers don’t get the luxury of our train-or-bus travelling fellow commuters. We can’t read a newspaper or book. Can’t do a crossword. Can’t knit. We must keep our eyes on the road. For me, that is a waste of over 6 hours of time. Time that I can spend doing other things.

Like learning.

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Our recent wedding (4 years ago, give or take) was followed by an epic Canadian road trip of over 5,000 kilometres.

From our starting point near Niagara Falls, we went to a dockside bar in Montreal. Then drove on, to the ramparts of Quebec City, before heading to New Brunswick and St. Andrews. We fell in love with this place and one day, if we win the lottery, we’re going back. For good.  Read more