Thoughts Thoughts
::Sigh:: I Joined Twitter March 3, 2009
I know I said this would probably never happen, but the unthinkable has happened. I joined Twitter after the persistance of two friends. (cough, cough).
Truthfully, I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do with it, but I guess every once in awhile I’ll pop on and post some profound 140 character message. You’d better friend me quick if you don’t want to miss out on any of that profundity. In addition, I’ll get my Lifestream to update with it as well.
In other news, I’ve got two new web sites launching soon. Stay tuned.
Contentedness February 8, 2009
One of the things I have often noticed, and often been frustrated with, is my natural discontent in almost every situation. You may have noticed it yourself in your life, whatever you seem to be doing, you think it could be better somehow. Strange, but we’re discontented creatures, never quite happy with the situation we’re in.
I notice it especially when I’m traveling. When I’m away from home I wish I could just rest at home and enjoy some down-time. Then, when I finally get home, I get bored quickly and wish I was out doing something fun. How ridiculous is that? Shouldn’t I just be able to enjoy the situation I’m in and not always wish it were something else?
Yes… I should.
I was thinking about what Paul says in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”
Then I read Proverbs 19:23 the other day: ” The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”
Finally, 1 Timothy 6:6 says “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
And I’m only quoting a few verses… Obviously, the Bible has a lot to say about being content. Oftentimes it relates to money and posessions, but I think the issue goes much deeper. We feel like we deserve more, like there’s always something better out there that we deserve. Why is that?
Truthfully, I don’t know how to solve this dilemma of the human condition, and I’m trying to learn from the verses above how to experience “godliness with contentment.” But its not always easy.
This weekend, I noticed a discontented attitude settling in, which was rediculous because I was up at a cabin with my family and friends enjoying the beautiful outdoors! So I worked hard to ask God to help me be content, and enjoy the situation that I was in, right there, right then. And you know what? He answered my prayer. It was an amazing weekend. Thanks Lord.
New Website Launched January 29, 2009
Yesterday I had the pleasure of launching Phoenix Endeavors’ new website. It feels good to launch it after starting on the project about eight months ago! The company is an SAP software consulting firm here in Minneapolis who came to me for a complete website, wanting to be able to update it themselves after it was completed.
I’m pretty happy with how the design turned out. It’s clean and simple, with a lot of white space. The design has some nice dimension, where the photo feels like its coming off of the page. I like how the menu is a bit unique from other drop down menu’s, and it makes use of some cool transparency.
It was hard to nail down exactly what type of photography should be used, I was really trying to steer them away from the typical “business people shaking hands in a conference room” sort of imagery, as is common on a lot of consulting websites.
They told me that they wanted to be perceived as experts at what they did while working in partnership with the companies that hire them. At some point along the way I stumbled on the analogy of fighter pilots, or Blue Angel type of guys. They’re experts, and they have to coordinate everything they do as partners.
Overall, it was a fun project to work on and I’m proud to add it to my portfolio. Let me know what you think about it. Like it, love it, hate it?
Church Website Designers January 19, 2009
I don’t tend to post a lot of links to offsite articles because I’d much rather write and publish things that I’ve written and created. But today I was browsing Darren Hoyt’s blog, a designer who I respect on the web and I came across his most recent article that I thought was a great collision between my two passions: Design and Christianity.
In his article he interviewed several key designers who have played big roles in redesigning church websites. He asks some great questions and their responses are insightful
It’s a lengthy article, but worth the read if this sort of thing interests you. Generally, what do you think, where is the line between a good professional website for a church and something that is too glitzy and glamorous?
New Ideas December 29, 2008
Working in the advertising and design industry makes me try and think up new ideas all of the time. The creative process is challenging and oftentimes hard to come up with ideas that are unique and relevant to the audience.
I noticed something this weekend as I was playing a Scrabble-type game with my family. As I tried to form my individual letters into words I would try to come up with long words at the beginning of the game. (You know, like “antidisestablishmentarianism”, just kidding) but I found that I sat there trying to think of long, complex words to no avail. When I would finally give up on that and focus on getting 3-4 letter words that I could put together quickly, I had much more success getting rid of my letters. My Scrabble board would spiral in complexity and often I could form shorter words into longer ones.
I think this is a good example of things I’ve found to be true about coming up with good ideas:
Just get started. I find that I rarely think of anything decent when I wait until I have a “good idea”. Instead, just get started, brainstorm everything: Even the silly, impossible, already-been-done ideas. Put time into your decision process, but don’t wait for the “perfect idea” to get started creating.
Ideas start as simple, and become complex. I am never able to come up with good complex ideas right off the bat. No one sat down and thought “I’m going to design a car, here’s how the carburetor is going to work…” Start with a simple idea and complex systems will evolve from it. Don’t jump to the specifics quite so soon.
Just some thoughts for you today the next time you have to brainstorm some new idea. I’m sure I’m not the first to come up with these things, but I decided to just post instead of overthinking. (That was the point, wasn’t it?)
Two New Albums Posted October 28, 2008
I posted some new photos in the Photography section earlier today, so I thought I should share it here since I doubt ya’ll check out the photo section all that often. (I should do a photo a day thing for a month or something, ooh good idea!)
The first album is from our trip to Chicago a couple of weekend’s ago. We had some fun running around downtown and Millennium Park and I was snapping photos the whole time. The second album is from the last couple of months, a camping trip with some friends, a trip to the Little Farmer, and Fall Conference with the Navs. I love fall and the colors it brings.
Attack of The Blur! October 21, 2008
I had a chance to work on a fun project for work over the last few months to promote the MN American Marketing Association (AMA) and their upcoming fall conference. We decided to create 5 super heros dubbed “The Focus 5″ that would represent the 5 different tracks that could be taken at the conference. We also decided that we just had to create a Microsite and videos to carry the idea.
For the videos, my creative director Paul Afong created and drew the characters, and then they were scanned and colored on the computer. Other members of the Morsekode team did the voiceovers. Finally, I took the drawings and animated parts of them in Flash. I also got to put together all of the sound effects and music to create the final soundtrack.
While we realize that we’re not exactly an animation house, we had a lot of fun with this project and are proud of what we accomplished. You can check out the videos below:
New MacBook Pro October 14, 2008
I normally don’t post too often about technology kinds of stuff, but since I mentioned it in an earlier post, Apple has finally released new laptops, and I’m stoked! Brand new design, sweet new trackpad, two graphics processors, what more could I ask for? It’s just so pretty.
I’ve been saving my pennies and dimes for a long time now and hope to get one of these suckers soon. Now the only question is whether I should with the way the economy is going…
Duty vs. Passion October 7, 2008
Jonny, Ross and I started a new book this week named “The Sacred Romance“ by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. I actually read it a long time ago, but don’t remember much. We’ll be reading a couple of chapters every two weeks and talking about them. Should be a good time. Our discussion last night centered around Duty vs. Passion. In the first chapter they say:
“Frustrated by our heart’s continuing sabatage of a dutiful Christian life, some of us silence the voice by locking our heart away in the attic, feeding it only the bread and water of duty and obligation until it is almost dead…”
Now, I think all of us would agree that living a life passionate for Christ is always going to be better than living a life only of Christian duty and obligation. No arguments there. But my question is whether there is a place for duty and obligation, and unfriendly as those words sound?
As much as I would like to wake up every day feeling refreshed, renewed, and passionate to live my life glorifying God, the truth is that I don’t. I often wake up foggy-headed, cranky, and worried about the day ahead of me. It is often only duty that gets me into the Word and praying.
Frequentyly I find that once I have taken the time to sit down, focus on God, and read His Word, then my life comes into clearer focus and I can live more passionately for God.
I think the intentions of the authors are good, we should be striving to live for God passionately, but I wonder if it is accurate to be telling people that their whole life should be lived as one blazing ball of passionate energy for God? Is that even possible? Could we wear ourselves out?
Obviously, we’re only one chapter into the book, so I cannot say what exactly the authors are envisioning. What do you guys think, is duty as important as passion in the Christian life? Leave a comment if you’ve got something to say.