One of the most overused words I hear when I talk to a client is the word “Simple”

“I want my website to be real simple”. “This shouldn’t cost so much because I want it real simple”. “My illustration should just take you a few minutes because it’s really simple”

AAAAAAgh. Folks, never approach a graphic designer with that word. Do you know what we hear when the word “simple” is spoken?  Translation: Make the estimate higher.

Do you know why?  There’s usually 2 reasons:

1. Whenever you have something that is “simple”, it actually means MORE time and effort was put into it. Look at how intuitive your iPhone works, or how straightfoward it is to use Gmail. How did they get that way? Usually it means groups of intelligent people hired to spend months and months, even years, crunching around a table figuring out how to make it simple. And then they sit around focus groups and run endless beta tests to even refine it further.
2. I’m not going to categorize everyone like this…but it’s more often than not that the person who says “simple” is the one that’s the MOST picky about their work. This person is usually not very clear what they want – but they want the designer to find the perfect solution with expectation it’ll take a minimum amount of work.

So the next time you call your graphic designer wanting some work done. Avoid this word. Take some time to think about what you want and be as specific as you can be about what you’re looking for. (i.e., find examples of things you like, look for competitor examples & think about how you’d like to stand apart from them, describe things that you must have and things you’d like to avoid, etc.).

This is the ONLY way to reduce your design costs.

I get jokes sometimes from relatives and friends, “You make too much money Raph“. While I think in some small part that’s a compliment to the appearance of success in my business, I can’t help but reflect upon my situation and see how much that’s really true?

I put SO much money back into my business.  I think I put about 25% of time and money into advertising, another 30% chunk gets “donated” to Uncle Sam, a good portion goes into operations (i.e., computer upgrades, software, office supplies, etc.).

What’s left is just enough to pay off mortgage and send Kingston to the babysitter. If I really think about it in one way, running my own business I might end up making LESS than I would working for someone else with a salary. It’s easy to get depressed when you think about it….but then you tell yourself, “Hey, I’m sitting in the comfort of my own home and at any time I can step out and lie on the beach”

Then things are a little rosier again.

Here’s something quite amazing…this artist, Juan Francisco Casas Ruiz, does this amazing artwork with ballpoint pen. Can you imagine this? Shit in highschool the only thing I drew with ballpoint was some Metallica logos on my bookcovers.

My only problem with this is that it’s so photo-realistic….what’s the point? Let’s just take a photo! Sometimes if I want to see an artists hand-drawn work, I want to see the actual hand-drawn lines like the way Michaelangelo or Da Vinci’s work is often left unfinished so that you see the sketch lines off parts of it.

But HEY, this is still amazing. This guy is the king of ballpoint in my book. (via Scene 360 Illusion)

With all the hoopla in recent months over dead celebrities and how we idolize some of them, I think this artists work was particularly fitting. “…multiple clones of my self-portrait image have been created in order to invent a new idol”.

Something about seeing a laughing face that just brightens your day a little bit doesn’t it? A recent goal of mine is to get a good laugh…you know, the type of laugh where you tear over and can’t catch a breath? It’s been a while since I found anything that funny!  (via Siong Chin)

Not exactly new (this video was put up 3 years ago now), but then again, I haven’t really seen much of this being put into actual commercial use lately have you?

It still worth a look though — designers who may be into animation, or interface design might look into textiles like this as a new media niche.

I don’t know if I’d ever find use of one of these shirts myself one day except to maybe broadcast “Help me…call 911” every time I’m at the 3 mile mark on my weekly jogs.

For all the CSS geeks out there, I stumbled across this great list of resources. Follow the list and you’ll end up with even more great lists…that take you on, and on, on. Have at it. SOMEbody must get a reward for putting all this together.

If you’re anything like me, you may have already bookmarked some of your favorite places for CSS references. I always end up at A List Apart, or Web Designer Wall.

For all you out there with no idea what CSS is…I’m not going to try explaining. I started thinking of some weird cake baking analogy but I think the way my day is going so far, I better not try to complete that idea. Let’s just say you’re better off not knowing. (via Toxel)

A few shots of Kingston over this past weekend. 6 months old can you believe it? He’s thickened up…he’s got jelly rolls that are almost irresistably pinchable. He can’t quite sit up on his own yet. But I’m counting the days. I intend to take him down to the beach to eat his first sand to sit on the sand as soon as he can do so.

Well well well…my new cards came in today. I was so nervous about these cards…they cost me almost a dollar each and if they came out bad, I think I’d dig a hole in the ground and shove my head in. All week long I don’t couldn’t think of much else (so sad huh?)

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I sat in front of an Origins store yesterday as I was waiting on a meeting nearby. Origins sells those skin care products that smell funny. My wife once wanted their ginger smelling cream.

I couldn’t help but notice their logo…

Is it just me or does anyone else see a white skull peeking out between the trees?

I can only assume this is unintentional. Or maybe it IS intentional to tie into the “origins” like it’s some life and death thing? OR the logo designer thought it to be some sick inside joke like the way there have been Disney artists who have drawn hidden penises in children’s cartoons.

Otherwise, a skull isn’t something you’d want people to picture after they’ve applied a thick layer of “Gloomaway” to their face.

Tomorrow I’m going into the doctor’s office to get my cholesterol checked. Yippee. I hate going to the doctor, much less going to the doctor to volunteer getting my skin punctured by a sharp needle.

I’m doing it because I bought life insurance recently…as always, they come and take blood samples (you know, they give you life insurance if you’re healthy and I assume you’re screwed if you’re not; great health system eh?) Anyway, the result came back that I’m doing very well with my health but they said my cholesterol was JUST high enough not to qualify for their super special rate. Just the GOOD rate they originally quoted me.

Now my wife hears that an automatically the “GOOD” rating is suddenly interpreted as being so bad that I can’t have ice cream, savor a burger, or even drive out for a good breakfast at Cinnamon’s (eggs benedict mmm) without getting a major stink eye from her. So now I gotta have this test just so I can have my eggs benedict in peace. Summmamabeeatch.

On other news, I’m itching to get my new business cards in. Yeah, finally after 4 years I finally come up with a new card design for myself. This one costs me $.84 per business card. YOWTCH. It’s either going to turn out super fancy dancy and I’ll get new attention, and hopefully new business, as a result of it. OR it’s going to turn into another printing disaster like what happened to me a few weeks ago and I’ll be down another few hundred bucks on bad printing. I’m a big advocate of the business card though — it’s the best first impression marketing piece in existance. I figure I better put my money where my mouth is (or is it mouth where my money is?) and dish out some dough on a good card. I’ll report back on this when I get my cards in another couple days.