Dream Work Environment

Because dreams are free and throwing them to the wind, gives us hope that the universe will listen and grant wishes like fairies do in fairy tales.

I always make it a point to educate myself when I have nothing to do. I've been doing sketching exercises with workbooks and reading up on advises from expert designers all over the globe. And feasting my eyes on pictures of Damian Lewis on the internet (LOL - what is work without some play mixed in right?).

Anyway, this Sunday I decided to check out slide presentations, having just finished teaching Microsoft Office 2007 on Word, Excel and Powerpoint to Agricultural Extension Workers last Friday. I found this slide presentation about project processes and there was this part that really, really, REALLY makes me wish I worked for them. The article is found here: Simon Collison

The Creative Team 

I wholly believe that our processes should be inclusive, and that all members of a team can influence all aspects of the design and build of a product. 

One of my most stringent rules as a creative director is that anyone, anywhere in the team can feel free to add value. They all have brains and common sense. Anyone, at any stage can contribute an idea, pose a question, throw a spanner in the works, piss on our collective chips, or get so excited that they piss on themselves. 

I’m certainly no fan of the production line approach. Project manager passes request to developer; developer passes framework to designer; designer colours it in etc. Everyone working within a niche skillset on a need-to-know basis. No. I favour, as many do, an open platform, where all team members are informed and involved from day one. If we are all aware of the project’s goals and aims, we can all contribute. Findings throughout should be made transparent and shared with the whole team; and I would not exclude any client-side politics, budgets or contractual details from that either. 

Forgive the role-pigeonholing here for a second. A developer can challenge a designer about a chunk of CSS or use of type. A designer can challenge a developer. Anyone can do this so long as they have a deep understanding of the process being undertaken, pairing that with the backbone of the project and their own experience. 

Whilst some will always remain specialists, an individual’s general skillset or knowledge-base increases dramatically through collaborative design. This also assists individuals to achieve their own goals. For instance, even the quietest designer can find themselves doing a pitch or chasing a potential client if they wish. It promotes a Musketeers all-for-one ethic that puts a collaborative, thriving team at the heart of everything.

I would like to work in a place where my opinion will be valued, even if it's a wrong one. I do think not all of my opinions will be wrong. This would be nice. No. This would be great. My friend from Haribon says this is the process they adapt when they plan. When will they ever adapt this strategy to organizations like mine? I promise myself, if I ever get the chance to lead a team, this will be my process approach - everyone in my creative team will have a voice - and their voice will be valued.

June-July 2011

Unposted work covering March to July 2011. 

Samahan Laban Sa Monopolyo - logo. Support the fight against monopolies. Check out their website and blog.

The IPEMPC 19th Annual General Assembly Yearbook. 

Recent Karat World Campaigns. Check it out on their website. www.karatworld.net.

A layout made to empasize the Governor's 8-point agenda in his SOPA. Read all about it here. 

UFI website

We started with three mock-ups with the company colors of which one was approved as shown below. I liked working on the details of this site because of the company logo which in itself is kinda fun. So from the logo we were able to agree on this psd mock-up:

This is a capture of the site online. The Uygongco Foundation Inc. (UFI) is a non-stock, non-profit, non-sectarian, non-political organization and is the social responsibility arm of the La Filipina UyGongco Corporation catering to communities in Iloilo City, Guimaras and Capiz. Their programs include day care and elementary children feeding, scholarship programs for elementary, high school, vocational tech courses and formal education. They also have a school improvement program and provide books for kids. It also organizes job fairs for fresh graduates and the unemployed.

The project began it's planning stage last year and started early February. We finished it a few weeks ago and now it's online. If you want to give and help out raise up children's education  in this region, please visit www.ufi.org.ph.

Other Jobs

Awesome Dog Tags - 8 art work total

Logo for the Road Racing Event

Design for the Hunter Homes Website in the US c/o 704 Creative

Also designed the logo

The logo for the Manila Marathon

 And an invite for Nicole's Birthday

DB's Hometel

This is a long over due update.

DB's Hometel is a new modern hometel located  in D.B. Ledesma, Jaro, Iloilo City. With sleek clean rooms and a homey ambiance, it attracts tourists, students and visitors, providing them a home away from home in Iloilo.

Below is the initial mock-up design for the website:

And this is the final website now online: www.dbshometel.com

The hometel offers tours to local tourist spots in the Visayas. Check out their travel pages and download the brochures for package tours to Iloilo, Palawan, Bohol, Bacolod, Boracay and lots more.:

Online since March 2011.

For Love Of The Game… and The Money LOL

People tell me I write well. But they obviously haven't met the whole family yet. I suck compared to my siblings. LOL. Anyway, here's an excerpt from a note my brother wrote in Facebook. This is our youngest, Roy, who just got married and will soon be a dad. Again posting this for posterity ... or as long as blogger stays.  :)

So the dilemma becomes whether to get paid and pay the price of success or have more quality time at home and yet earn barely enough to make ends meet. Sadly, I know only a handful of people who:

a.) Understand that there are obligations that come with the additional income and/or,

b.) Are willing to sacrifice whether (not necessarily the greater good) financially or personally

People in my line of work often forget to ask three things: Do I devote enough effort in my work to get paid this much? Does the quality of work that I do reflect the income that I receive? Most importantly, do I really deserve to be here? More than most will answer yes to all these questions and yet less than a handful would not be wrong or would not be lying to themselves.

Unfortunately, you cannot really answer these three questions truthfully if you expect your work to be easy all the time. Remember, you have to work enough to stay in the game. You have to work hard to compete in the game. But to be truly the best at the game, you have to sacrifice FOR the game. And yet in this scenario, more often than not, those who get rewarded are those who show enough to fool their employers into thinking that they work hard.

Let me be clear though, I am not saying one should forsake everything good in life to deserve the kind of lifestyle we have but there IS some amount of sacrifice involved. And this includes, but is not limited to family. You have to be willing to get screamed at everyday by people. You have to be willing to endure the stress of coming in early in the morning, working your ass off to get something done and at the end of the day get chewed out for an insignificant something that you forgot to do.

People seem to be under the impression that working in front of computers is easy. You sit all day in front of the computer until your day ends. What most people don’t know is how stressful is the stupidity that we have to deal with day in and day out. The hours of endless lectures we have to endure because some idiot made some mistake in the process of doing something that should not have involved us in the first place.

The fact of the matter is, everyday at work is war for us. And war should only reward survivors. But in my world, it’s the cowards who hide in the trenches during the firefight who get rewarded over the veterans who were emotionally, physical and psychologically scarred forever by the seemingly endless struggle. And it’s sad that we live in a world like that but we do. So I pose this challenge to the readers of this note: you can’t be content to EARN it, you also have to WANT IT. Because if you can’t OWN the responsibility that you have been given, you are sadly someone who doesn’t belong here.

Here's my two cents. An added clause if I may. I agree with everything he says. But I have my limits. (1) I will not kiss my boss'es ass just because I WANT IT. (2) I will do everything to EARN IT but not at the expense of others or my principles. But then again, that's not really the point. I can't stop myself. I have angst. LOL.

Manila International Marathon

I re-did the logo in Photoshop because the original was pixelized. The client wanted a very simple design based on the Dinagyang website. This was not the original color. I forgot to get a screenshot of the original psd file but except for the color, it's no different from this one. By this time, I have already a css formula prepared for my grids which I made full-use of in this static website.

Now online: http://www.manilainternationalmarathon.com

You can register for the marathon online or download the Reg form for fax. And you can also pay registration fees online using google check out or paypal.