Since Benny gave me such a lovely introduction I felt it only right that I post tonight. To be honest tho, I’m not all that sure what to write, lol. I haven’t quite broken into the design field, but I’m working my way there! It isn’t the easiest to do considering all that I know about the subject has been self taught. I can say tho, that being that it has been pretty much a long road of trial and error it makes the end result all that much better. Even the simplest of issues can be cause for celebration. Benny can vouch for that considering there have been plenty of times that I figure something out and the first thing I say to him is “I’m freaking amazing!” lol.

There have been plenty of times when I have come across something in Photoshop I don’t understand or some CSS code I can’t figure out. The one thing I can honestly say tho is that at no point have I ever just given up on it. Granted, I may step away from it for a bit, but never have I just pushed it to the side never to look back at it again. I think it’s cause it is one area that I know I can succeed in. Knowing people in the field would help a bit, but I’m willing to fight my way to the top. It just might take me a little longer. Regardless, I will get there and really, isn’t that all that matters?

I know trial and error can be frustrating.. very frustrating. It’s one of those learning processes that make whatever it is that you are learning stick. So the next time it becomes a littler easier, bringing you one step closer to what you want to accomplish. I know when I first decided to get into logos and Benny asked me to do his it wasn’t the easiest of tasks. The first one I did for him I literally had 20+ variations. Tho, most of that was due to his analness, not to my inability to create a good logo, lol. Eitherway, it pushed me to try harder, use different techniques and methods. Now, I can do things with Photoshop and CSS I never thought I’d be able to and it feels amazing to see my work being used knowing that I did it all on my own.

Of course, there are some sites that have helped me along the way. LogoPond is a good one for getting different ideas, but just for that. No copying! That’s hard work and no one deserves to get their work stolen. Jacob Cass usually has some helpful tips and tricks for logos, as well. If you want something more for vector programs, such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw you can check out Vectortuts or for more of a web development area Nettuts+ can be helpful. ;D

Anyway, I’m off to sort thru some CSS codes.

Keep Creating.
Elle

To follow on with yesterday’s theme on my adoration of Open Source developers, I thought I should add my experience of premier shopping cart programs and the resolution of it all.

When I first started TheGeekPolice, the course advisors suggested using a hosted shop company called Magellan Commerce. Being that they were the ones who where in the know, I took their advice and signed up for $30-$40 a month for the package. What I got was an online shop, with some decent back of house stuff, but no real malleability with the design. There were about 10 different themes that I could choose from, but to personalise it (not knowing anything about CSS) was going to cost me, at the very, very least, $500.

Over time too, access to the back area became very slow, and to upload stuff was tedious and long winded. One day it took 5 mins just to get in. I don’t know if the server was slow or what the problem was. We became really bored of it all!

Tbh, I think it probably serves me right for turning my back on my trusting ally, WordPress. I started to look into Shopping cart plugins and found a few, ending up using eShop. Why I hadn’t thought of this before baffles me! Installation was a doddle , as it always is with WordPress and to use the Cart was simple too (all you have to do is input some criteria and post the product!)

In a nutshell, I would seriously look at the WordPress options before you sign into a premier scheme!

WordPress is King!! (sorry, I should stop blowing smoke up its a*se)