Becoming a Web Designer

It has always been an interest of mine to listen to the career paths of others, web designers especially, it's like looking in a mirror (something I have developed quite the skill for). I think what's most fascinating is the often-erratic paths people take, it's always …

Duck & Cover

"It's been awhile" is how I seem to launch into every blog post of late. My strategy has been the somewhat defensive, "duck* & cover." If I were to drink the blogging koolaid, I would know that blogging is essential to my business. If only...

So how does the, "duck & …

Death of an Icon

When I stumbled into my early teens, or maybe even before that, I had a strong draw towards music and more specifically bands. Being born in Seattle made me gravitate towards the scene there, even if I lived in Alaska. And what band is synonymous with Seattle? Nirvana …

I am a horrible blogger AND a decent hustler

I'm always reading these "how to blog" lists, well not so much of late, but I was reading them.

The Choices We Face

The always on mentality - it's a choice. The quality of your work - another choice.

BarCamp Portland

Hello BarCampers, my name is George Huff, but on twitter, my name is georgehuff - nice to meet you.

A Web Designer's Education

I've talked about education before, but yesterday I was blown away (again) by someone who decided to forgo school (for the most part) and forge on with a self-taught design career.

1000 Twitters, oh my!

Something is uniquely jarring about hitting one-thousand twitters. You really want to say something prolific in those 140 characters, but prolific things limited to 140 characters are saved for dead writers or dead politicians. What a dilemma. What a service!

I …

SXSW '08 - Saturday

Just like most mornings, I woke up and checked my Twitter. The night before put us at the Gingerman where we drank a couple of pints of Lonestar and conversed with several geeks - doesn't get much better. Dustin Diaz, of JavaScript and Google fame, brought his big …

WTM Reblog - Building Carefully

It's difficult to tackle any web project and avoid attempting to, "shoot the moon." Ideas are plentiful and examples even more so. I rep We The Media - that is my sole position. Finding work and finding talent are what I do by day, by night I design, code, and fight …

SXSW 2008 - Pre-Trip

As many people know, SXSW is coming up this week and as all should know - it's pretty much the place to be for a geek. Where else can every random conversation be about topics like design, user experience, and community building - geekgasm!

Anyhow - I'm staying at the …

Networking and the Creative Soul

As a creative, I once looked wearily upon "networking." Never because I thought the ideas generated between people or the relationships they had were inherently bad - I was skeptical of networking because it never felt natural to me. A forced relationship at most - …

Making Leopard's Spaces Work For You

When I first read about "Spaces" and saw the screenshots in OSX Leopard, I felt like it could be a huge potential productivity booster. Those from the Linux fold have been rotating cubes and "spaces" for quite some time - and of course when Leopard came out with it, …

2007: A Tri-Fecta of Favorite Things in Review

Most publications start making predictions around this time of year, but I hate being wrong. It's not so much that I don't have ideas of where things are going - it's more the fact making future predictions is a bit trite. Rarely are there any groundbreaking revelations …

Transparency and the Old Guard

Wired wrote about it, but even before that it was in our hearts and on our minds. If trade-secrets ruled the day in the 20th century - transparency will rule the day in the 21st. The words competition and secrecy will be exchanged with collaboration and openness. …

Thriving in the Bro-conomy

Yep, that's a new word, or at least I think I made it up (and if I didn't, it's like me to think I made up a word). The bro-conomy, to me, is the economy that exists between "bros." Or better put, between people that you have, or would like to have, a more than a …

Good, Cheap, and Fast

Theresa Tran, of Tease Marketing, once said something to me in a conversation that resonated heavily, "You have good, cheap, OR fast, you get to pick two." After mulling it over in my head for a little while, it made perfect sense. And as I broke off to go start my …

A Simple Guide to Building a Wordpress Theme

Downloading and tweaking one of the many themes of Wordpress is all fine and good. But what happens when you want to extend your blog/site past what someone else's theme can give you? The truth is - this is a realm where most users are terrified to go. While I …

Avoiding the Designer's Crisis

It would be a marvelous world indeed, if every comp/design ever produced was received with adornment and praise. The truth is, as designers, when we submit any comp - we expect that. This type of speculation is perhaps a bit naive - but we wouldn't put anything out we …

On Embracing My Night Owlishness

I've been strictly freelancing for about two months now and still haven't found a routine that gets me up and at 'em as well as carrying a 8-5 job. Not that I am considering going back to that world, not any time soon at least. But the whole routine thing has me a bit …