Graphic Design in
Ames, Iowa
I am not a professional designer; those folks enter a graphic design college, earn their degrees and deserve the higher pay for their skills and talent. I would describe myself as self-taught, very proficient, better than good, highly organized, affordable, generous, and I'm continuing to learn. Oh, and I complete projects.
No doubt, the professional designers have a special name for people like myself (self-taught, non-degree designers), like scrubs, chunks, twinks or weasels! Well, because in a way, a self-taught designer implies that anyone can do this work, and that simply is not true. Regardless of how one might have acquired these skills, it still takes artistic talent, well organized ideas and analytical skill to develop a web site from concept to completion.
So, I’ve been a self-taught freelance web designer or "weasel" for about eleven years. I’ve designed sites for myself, my friends, non-profits, local businesses, and more specifically for conservation and wildlife related issues – that’s where my interest lies.
In 2000, I enrolled in a class at the University of New Mexico titled ‘Hypertext Somthn’er Another,’ I can’t remember the title. Dr. Richard Johnson-Sheehan taught the course; an excellent instructor. Some knowledge of hyper-text markup language (HTML) was a prerequisite for the course - I had none. Access to some web designing software was also required - and again, I had none.
I managed to snag Adobe Pagemill from a friend. Does anyone remember Pagemill? Stiff and crude are the two words that come to mind - but cruel and torturous were also appropriate. Pagemill did serve as a great set of training wheels. It forced me to really learn how to [break] manipulate the code.
Johnson-Sheehan’s class was at that time the only ‘web design’ class available at UNM, and it was taught in the English Department. It was a class in web design conventions, which is learning where all the bells and whistles should go so that your user’s web site experience was pleasant, predictable, efficient and productive - thus ensuring that they would return.
It was groundbreaking; a movement to abolish centered text, centered graphics, rainbow gradients, busy backgrounds, random links, and finally addressing the web site with two feet of text across the screen before a return - yeah, that guy's web site. Johnson-Sheehan was going to teach us CRAP – contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity.
And that was just what I wanted to learn – [more] CRAP.
I was a budding entrepreneur at the time. As both of my parents are self-employed, I suppose it was only expected that I would choose the same route too. While concurently working on a minor in business management at UNM's Anderson School of Management (an unlikely minor for a biology major), the next step was simple - I wanted my own business and I wanted my store front on the Internet. I had to learn how to create my own web site.
I purchased my first personal computer in 1999. I picked out the fastest, beefiest Gateway computer available (13 GB) – price tag: $3,500.00, more like $5,000.00 after it was all dressed. This computer still runs today – “Big Beulah.” Back when Gateway was the best, and their customer service was unmatched. I miss those days.
Back to the classroom, I couldn’t just concentrate on web design conventions; I had essentially lied my way into the class (since I didn’t even know what HTML meant), I had to get cracking on the code. So I read.
Today these three books are still pretty good references, some of the material was more appropriate ten years ago, but I would still recommend these books to learn the fundamentals of web designing, plus I really, really, love anything that Robin Williams writes (really).
Good books:
The Non-Designer’s Web Book,
By Robin Williams and John Tollett
HTML For the World Wide Web,
By Elizabeth Castro
The Non-Designer’s Type Book,
By Robin Williams
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(Rant Warning) Web development is an essential skill for everyone. If you have a message, a cause, a story, a product, or (ding! ding! ding!) important research to share - everything is disseminated on the Internet. Every college student (and professor) should be required to learn – at least the basics. I am continuously amazed at how many people I meet at the college level that are absolutely clueless - still. In today's digital culture if you cannot exploit this simple and easily accessible form of publication to your benefit, well, than you are missing out on an important opportunity. I would argue that visual graphics are equally, if not more important, than content at this interface. It’s not just writing that is essential, it's also your ability to attract and hold the reader in your space, idea, or metaphor. That is my experience and my two cents on the issue.
Learn it.
I passed Dr. Johnson-Sheehan’s class with a B; that was a hard earned B. I think all of us (students) left with a practical, tangible and useful skillset. This is the only class I have had in web designing, and probably the only class (so far) that has paid for itself many times over. I’m not implying that this one class was enough to begin a career in web development, no, I am only demonstrating that it had a big impact on my capabilities, and I'm glad that I learned the landscape first, because it stuck.
Recent work:
Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Iowa Aquaculture Association
Wildlife Rescue Inc. of New Mexico
Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference
(username & password: MEEC)
And, I maintain the ISU Forestry Extension web site. Currently bringing their Tree Identification Key into the 21st century - from this Old Web Site, to this New Web Site.
If you have a project or presentation that falls under one of these categories and you meet my contract criteria (below) – let’s talk, I would be happy to help you out.
Thank you for taking the time to read this page.
Project Categories:
• Conservation
• Wildlife Issues
• Sustainable Community Initiatives
Contract Criteria:
• Small to medium size job (less than 100 pages)
• I can build a new site, and then send you on your merry way to do the majority of the updates and maintenance.
• I can fix and reorganize someone else’s mess, and then send you on
your merry way to do the majority of the updates and maintenance.
My rates are comparable to my skills and experience. If you're sticker-shocked, please shop around - I'll see you back here in ten.
More resources:
Lynda.com
Prezi.com
It is worth learning Prezi.
It’s called “Death by Power Point” for a reason. Look it up.
Request:
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