2 Months of Blogging Notes
I wanted to lighten things up for a post and show you my brainstorming method. It may seem a little archaic, but this is honestly how I decide what story to publish next. From emails I get from you all, and various comments, I can tell that some of you are probably curious as to who exactly I am, and how I come up with my ideas. So I’m dedicating this post to answering some of those questions.
I’m a Graphic/Web Designer blogging in my spare time. I haven’t quite come out of my shell yet, so lets leave names out for now and just call me BittBox, but the reason I started this blog is to share knowledge. The best way to do that is source files in my opinion, hence all of my freebies. I love designing, and I love helping people learn. A pretty good reason for starting a blog I think! I give all of my work away for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is to help everyone else (you) learn what I already know. I’ve spent years reading tutorials only to find that if I had a better college professor or two, I wouldn’t have had to waste 300 hours of my life searching for an answer that’s so simple it hurts. I hate the fact that colleges and universities continuously fall behind in educating designers for the ever-evolving world of web design. But they are pretty damn good at making you buy the latest editions of a useless textbook! WTF.
In a nutshell, I was supremely disappointed in what my web design education had to offer me (I know there are decent web design programs out there, but I wasn’t lucky enough to be in that situation, and I don’t believe I’m alone on this) so I was forced to teach myself everything I know. This blog is my way of trying to help some of you skip the unnecessary steps that many of us have to take, and get right to the good stuff. (illustrator especially) I’ve only been around for about 2 months, but I’m not going anywhere, and thanks for all of the positive feedback.
Cheers
~BittBox
Related Posts:
- Blogging from a Designer’s Perspective
- Web Design: The void between designer and programmer.
- BittBox Featured in Computer Arts
- 25 MORE Reasons You Might Be A Hardcore Graphic/Web Designer
- If you’re not reading comments, You’re missing out on a potential wealth of information.
- Illustrator Brush-Making Tip: Colorization Method
love your blog, thank’s for all the goodies mate….
You really nailed it. The internet is moving 10 times as fast as our universities can. By the time you graduate, none of your knowledge is up to date. This site is really taking off, though. The number of readers you have took me twice as long to gain!
I would like it if you switched to full text feeds rather than excerpts. I think you’ll find most people in agreement. You can put ads in your feed if you’re concerned with monetizing the content.
Regards and thanks for all the info!
Doug
Hey you have succeeded in your mission that you started this for…I am waiting for a spare time so that I can your whole blog….
BTW, can you give a tutorial on how to get reflection of an image like you have it in your header image (I am talking about the fading reflection of bittbox)…
Your blog is one of the best design blogs I know. I like your tutorials because you show everything very detailed which is great for newbies.
Go on!
Thanks for your blog. It’s the best one on the Web.
Great - I love your blog - and also the files - One question tho … Im an illustrator Newbie and when placing the files - for example the headers with swirls in (nice work with that) how do you select one? I ungroup it and can then release the clipping mask but it doesnt seem to be as easy as I thought - Is there a more simple way?
Just wanted to say I am so glad I found this blog. I am actually trying to move down the same path. Creating a site right now! Thanks for the inspiration and resources!!!
thanks for sharing; your blog occupies a unique space in the internet. Keep up the good work!
Just keep it up.
You are helping me in persuing my passion for web design.
Cheers
Craig
Hey, maybe in a future blog post show us how you put all these cool vector icons into use in a website! Thanks again for the great blog!
Whoah, you produced all this content in two months? Amazing! Thanks for sharing your knowledge, I wish there were more people like you.
I am not at all trying to disagree with your point that universities are behind (esp. in internet related fields), but I feel that University in general, while definitely getting you going in the right direction in your chosen field, is more about teaching you how to teach yourself rather than giving you every answer you are ever going to need in your career. I studied, neither graphic design nor web design / development in university, but I have managed to hold jobs where I am afforded both opportunities ever since I graduated and I would have to say, learning on my own has been a great experience.
The site is nice and I hope you keep up the good work. You have done a good job so far. I especially like the fact that a site about graphic design tips is also well designed. I always find it funny when a webite about graphics looks like sh*t. That, however, is not the case with this site.
Keep it up!
BittBox, I wrote something similar last month titled “where all the ideas come from
there is an image attached -hosted on flickr as yours- at http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=375497502&size=o
great write up!
Keep up the good work. I’ll keep reading. Thanks for all the great posts.
It’s a great blog, very interesting
@Sarah
Go to the Object menu, and select “Unlock All.” I’m guessing that the objects you are trying to select are locked. Another way you can unlock objects in by toggling the padlock icon in the layers palette.
~BittBox
love the site.
great content.
thank you bittbox.
You’re a great addition to the blogosphere, I’m glad I found your blog.
Subscribed!
-Steve
Wow! Thanks for all of the awesome feedback everyone! I will keep on course, and please email me requests for posts if you think of something you want to learn, and I’ll see what I can do.
Thanks again,
~BittBox
I think that web design is so crucial to the evolvement of ideas. It gives us a way to express ourselves and to get pages up, content up, thoughts up, etc. I am very frustrated by tcaec, antiquated methods of online media nad he lack of how to in web design, the lack of pratical knowldge, insead i find that univ and olleges teach the most arcaec methods for design and online media.
For example, I started a web design program only to get frustrated by the coding aspect, b/c i saw the design aspect being totally mentioned as an after thought or as a Photoshop beginners class.
I kow that xhtml, css and all that are a huge part of web design, but what if I am bad a t coding? Can’t I be good at layout and leave that to someone else?
This is a huge frsutration for meb/c I know that I could be a good designer as far as web sites go, but CS and flash, xhtml are overwhelming.
There need to be a hands on guide to just design in my opnion.
Sorry if my ramling seems a litle elementary to som of you. It’s just the truth. please free to drop by my my blog and share insights, stories and help build my community.
Thanks!
sorry for all the spelling errors in the post above. i was trying to just type.
sorry.
You really nailed it. The internet is moving 10 times as fast as our universities can. By the time you graduate, none of your knowledge is up to date. This site is really taking off, though. The number of readers you have took me twice as long to gain!
this is what i was refering to.
You really accomplished what I thought about doing but never actually took the time to do. You really have done it well and admirably continuing with it. I am a designer and use Illustrator about 80% of my day. I consider myself an expert in Illustrator and train a lot of people from beginners to professionals. You have techniques and suggestions I really appreciate.
Thank you for the time and effort you give to us. I know by my own schedule that there is a lot of time you spend sharing with us.
Thanks
Michael
I just found out about your site a few days ago, and I love it! It gave me tons of idea’s. Since I design websites for a partial living, inspiration is something essential. Your log is one of my resources for inspiration now..
thanks.. keep it up!
Mark
hey Bittbox:
I just found your site and it’s on my must read daily list now. You’re doing an awesome job sharing what you know and helping the net to become a prettier place. I totally agree w/you that college design program often don’t teach one the necessary skills for a design job. I’m taking classes right now at a pretty good ranked art school, but my professors don’t even work in design, they’re career academics. Not even my “design internship” really taught me anything about design itself, I was fetching coffee for free and had to “fight” with other interns just to get the chance to make copies for the designers. Most of what I’ve learned is by Googling and reading online tutorials put out by generous designers like you who share their knowledge. You’ve put on some really good and essential tutorials. For ex, I’ve spent GOD knows how much time on finding a good tutorial that explains how to create those abstract swirls and patterns and I finally found one here.
Keep up the Good Work! I know I’ll spread the word about your blog to every aspiring designer that I know. And THANK YOU!
ive stumbled upon your blog and you have pretty good stuff here, ive added you to my links.. thank you so much..
marnold
@ Bittbox
You the Man…or woman..havent figured that one out yet…anywayz thanks for it all
@Sarah:
I don’t know if you mean this Sarah but to select just one object in a group, Alt+right-click on that object using the -White-arrow (left of the arrow a + should appear)
Sorry if you weren’t meaning this..
I don?t understand all this fuss about expanding the compound path right away. You don?t lose the option of expanding when you go off and do other things after creating the compound path; you can always click back on the compound path and the expand button comes back. You can also double click on the compound path to be taken ?inside? it so you can fiddle with the positioning of it?s elements. In this way, you don?t actually have to commit to the expanded path until you are really sure it is what you want.
Duso moja draga, what a wonderfull creature and a great designer you are. You really made my day today ( I am going to stop by here on a regular bases, from now on ). First of all, thank you for sharing all those things that take you hours, days and months to figure them out yourself. I hope one day you’ll be teaching classes at college of your choice, if that’s what would make you really happy. Sorry for my English, hope you understand.
Yoy have an excellent taste level, and I would always ask you for a judgment for any of my work - don’t worry, I’m not going to do that.
All the best to you.
At least you had the option of a poor web design program, my degree is Information Technology Engineering focused on networking technology. At least it looks good on the wall =)
Yes, but only on the wall … :-), And I think this is a good opportunity to plan what I say honestly, I do exactly the same way … And just because it’s easier. Thank you
thanks