Tag Archives: Graphic Design

What a Year 2017 Has Been

29 Dec

2017 is coming to an end with two days left to go. This is my last entry for the year and my, my, what a year it has been for me!

There has been many significant changes to our lives in 2017, the biggest one being the relocation of our design studio. We moved closer to home and it’s a mere 5km away only. What a difference for us especially when it comes to time management and traffic jam-free driving which is really nice.

It may be smaller in size but it’s a lot more cosy and I certainly feel happier. Work-wise we have been fortunate to be kept busy. Let’s hope this momentum carries onward to the new year.

On the personal side, I have been plagued with injuries causing me to lose interest in playing golf. While it’s unfortunate I lost my passion for the game I enjoy, it spawned a new passion, carving. Gigglesville was born with a whole new township of owl Citizens and Superheroes. They have been lovingly hand-crafted with each day of me staying home to recover from the tennis elbow.

Hubby also picked up a new interest in air plants. The house is now full of these everywhere and it’s nice to look at them. M1 had a good year at university, and did her second internship which we feel the experience was invaluable. She has matured so much. M2 turned Sweet 16 and doing well in school too.

We had several crayfishes that lasted and didn’t. These creatures are not easy to care for! Some fishes died too due to old age. Senior citizen of the house, Rooney, also official pet number one, turned ten and for the first time showed signs of his seniority. And demanding more attention than ever.

The list can go on for what happened throughout the year! As I reflect back, there’s more good and memorable ones than anything else and I carry these in my heart forever. With 2017 almost done––sometimes too fast with the days going by, sometimes super slow––I look forward to the new year and eagerly await what lies ahead with a positive outlook.

I want to thank all my readers, people from all over the world, friends and family who have followed me to read my stories and thoughts. It’s a nice feeling and I hope you’d continue to read and enjoy the musings.

A toast to 2017, thank you for memories and another toast to 2018, let it be an exciting year with lots to write, grouse and muse about!

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Holiday’s Over

18 Dec

The minute the realization kicks in that the holiday is over, the body is sapped with lethargy and the spirit is down. Welcome back to reality. We got to the airport early yesterday, and after checking in, we took the train—transferring from one terminal to another—to look for Aji Ichiban to buy some last minute snacks. After our purchase, we had a simple noodle lunch before making our way to the designated gate.

Although our flight was delayed slightly, we managed to arrive home not too late which was good because this allowed us to readjust to the weather and rest. The holiday is truly over.

I shouldn’t have agreed to a meeting today with a potential new client but when it’s a potential new client, one should agree to accommodate them. Well, towards a good week ahead!

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A Charitable Cause

8 Dec

I must say that Graphic Design is a wonderful profession to be in. For me, it’s more fun than work because it challenges the creativity and it’s not mundane because every project is different. And when you know what the end result is used for, it’s satisfaction guaranteed.

Last night we attended Marche de Noel, a charitable cause organized by the French community in Malaysia. Roped in by a French friend three years ago, we have been supporting this event since 2015. Our role is to provide pro bono design work for the marketing of the event. From flyers, posters to social media call-outs and stage backdrop, we do our part.

The Christmas party was held after a successful day bazaar where funds were collected for two foundations that they support, A Heart for A Heart and Make a Wish Malaysia. And when one sees what the funds are used for—fulfilling sick and needy children’s wishes to come true— satisfaction is simply priceless.

I’m glad we play our part. And this year, a little more than priceless satisfaction, I won a Lucky Draw prize, having bought some tickets. What a nice reward.

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Change in Taste

13 Oct

Instead of topping up the gum ball machine with more M&Ms, I decided to change my chocolate stash in the office. I felt I needed a change and opted for mini Snickers.

Yes, I enjoy chocolate but cautious not to overeat. Then again, I should throw away caution and just reach for them when I am stumped for ideas in the office to have a booster. Sometimes coffee alone is insufficient.

The new supply has only eight pieces and so far, I have eaten two bars. I think this pack will not last, it’s too good and a great creative stimulant!

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Dang! She’s Good

21 Jul

I can’t help but gush about my M2’s artistic ability. Recently, I officially engaged her for one of my client’s project. The style: doodles, something she was very capable of.

The project: a doodle to depict a community of health. I paid her for the job and I think she did an excellent job. The end result speaks for itself. Dang! She’s good.

M2's art

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Twelve Hours Later, Part 2

10 Jul

When I was working on that stressful publication design project not too long ago, the timeline and deadline was simply ridiculous. It’s every designer’s nightmare but I pulled through.

Will I subject myself to such nightmare design projects ever again? Well, when a client is of utmost importance despite no room for negotiations on the deadline, we have to be as professional as possible. (We’re talking about the government of the country here!)

The urgency to meet the deadline was very critical because the project was a very high-level publication for submission to the United Nations. And looking back, stress aside I am proud to say my team and I have done our part because our work is now uploaded to the United Nations’ website for the world to see!

I hold my breath as we will continue with the client again for the second publication, which thankfully has a more reasonable timeline, no festivity holiday ahead and we have no travel plans.

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Twelve Hours Later

26 Jun

Last week, we intended to leave town on Friday morning but there was a hitch. A big hitch. I had mention we will arrive when we arrive but little did I know it would be 12 hours later that we began our journey…

It all started from that last minute publication design project that I was working on. The original deadline of Monday set by the client was not met (not because of me but them). Then it got pushed to Wednesday but the client still could not finalize the editorial. What happened thereafter was just a designer’s nightmare. It’s been a long time since I have been subjected to such a situation.

After being informed that Wednesday night’s handover to me was good to be worked on, a Friday deadline was given and it couldn’t budge. Not even an inch. So I basically had only a day (Thursday) to work on the new stuff. One day to redesign what I had done earlier because there’s so much more information! The design ended up being revamped and expanded from the initial 60-pager to 80-pages. My team helped wherever possible.

And as if the situation wasn’t stressful enough, things were still under edits that Friday morning and more new materials to include came after the redesign was done! Can you believe it? Leaving town that morning was not an option because I don’t think I can leave with a peace of mind if this wasn’t completed properly. Thank goodness we were driving instead of flying.

To cut a long story short, after a flurry of phone calls on Friday morning, the client came over, at 3.00pm and not earlier unfortunately. They sat with me and together, we finalized all the details of the publication. It was 6.00pm when we eventually completed the task in hand. What a day Friday turned out to be!

Twelve hours later (9.00pm) from our intended time of departure, we started our journey. Traffic was heavy at certain stretches but thankfully not bumper to bumper due to the holiday break and took the usual time because of the distance. It was 2.40am when we finally arrived at the grandparents’ home up north.

Today we head back home and hopefully traffic will be kind. All in all, it was a good break despite the unexpected circumstances to the start of it.

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Look What I Did!

16 Mar

Stress can sometimes be decision makers. Last week was very stressful with a short bandwidth to work on some design work for an upcoming event. And things culminated to this week and finally the stress session was over.

I wanted chocolate last week but didn’t even have time to open the two bags of M&Ms that I have. Frankly I hid them away from myself. So this week after the work wrapped, I decided to reward myself by filling up my gum ball machine to enjoy my chocolate.

Initially, I opened the Crispy bag and filled the yellow dispenser and was happily dispensing M&Ms to treat myself. No discipline! 

Then I opened the Peanut bag, throwing out all concerns of dust and what nots, and filled the gum ball machine but it wasn’t enough. So I moved all the Crispy M&Ms over to it. And it’s looking really good and enticing.

Seriously I won’t be accessing it freely because I would need coins unlike the yellow dispenser. Controlled eating I’d say. While it’s nice to have easy access to chocolate, it’s not good to be constantly eating it.

Then again maybe I need more chocolate because the yellow dispenser looks so sad and empty. Hmm…

   

Looks like two is not enough!

 

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I Have a Room

7 Feb

Throughout my professional career as a Graphic Designer/Assistant Art Director/Art Director/Design Director, I have never had a room of my own in the office. Maybe because when one works in a design studio or art department, these places are open concept environments.

At least it was like this for me in all the places that I have worked in. In New York City where I interned and then worked at, WBMG., Inc. was an open concept design and I had a drafting table in the organized design studio. And I must admit I modelled my own studio like their setup when we first started our company.

Then in Adweek, the old office on 23rd Street was also open concept and I had a drafting table amidst other drafting tables of the rather chaotic setup of the art department. Only the Editor had a room if I recall. When the company moved to their new place on Broadway and it was more organized, I had a cubicle workstation.

Although the cubicles were quite high, I could still yak with my colleagues. Now come to think of it, even though I may not see them because the cubicle system obstructed my view, I could still talk to everyone in the whole art department!

The next work place, a publishing house in KL was also the same with an open concept setup. No room, just a table and sufficient to work.

Then my own design studio. Open concept too. But after all these years of being in an open concept work environment, I now find myself having a room at our new office! A definite first for me.

And I think I kinda like it simply because I get to display all my toys in a more organized manner than anything else! They now have a wall to lean against without crowding my workspace. In an open office, it wasn’t easy to surround my space with plushies, my array of display-worthy collectibles and gum ball machine but now, I can do it! Nice.

Plus I can play my choice of music (Michael Buble! yay) without disagreement from the team. So having a room for a change is nice, very nice.

Together

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Do Dinosaurs Need Peace and Quiet to Think?

21 Nov

Sometimes I think of myself as a dinosaur because the things I see today are so different from my growing up days. And I find myself reminiscing about the good old days a lot when seeing my teenager second child does the things she does these days. Makes me acutely aware that indeed, times have changed.

These last two weeks I find myself needing extra peace and quiet surrounding me when I do my work in the office. A strange change in me. Have I evolved?

Although there is music in the studio as I feel it’s necessary to mask the sometimes enormous silence, I find it especially annoying when the DJs chatter more than play music, thus breaking my concentration. And this is precisely why I prefer Michael Buble in my car over the radio.

Currently, I am working on yet another design project and this time, the need to formulate my thoughts in quietness is important because I need to ensure every aspect of the identity’s application is cohesive and covered. So there shouldn’t be distractions. Unlike projects that require music blasting to spur my creativity, now it’s quietness that is necessary. Looks like the thought process outlining the application of a design is different from the design itself. I must have evolved.

It made me wonder, out of the blue, do real dinosaurs needed the same when they were thinking what to eat? Where to go? Would music derail their thoughts and decisions? It’s a silly thought.

  

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