Brokeback Mountain

Man, if John Wayne were alive today, someone would be dead for making this crud.

Like the Pros do it

So the wonderful staff at 1stFamilyChurch recently asked me to design a newsletter of sorts of them; fun little project, it taught me a lot about designing with someone else in mind (a lot of someone else's in this case). But one thing, in particular, I found is that adults love their picture. I kept wanting to design something edgey, full of graphics design, low on color. So to make a short story long, one of the guys I've met blogging saved my tail.

Jarrett Fuller has an awesome eye for photography, and I ended up choosing prints entirely from his gallery when doing the latest layout for FFC's newsletter. And while, I'm sure the publication very well may be far from compete, I just wanted to say thanks to Jarrett for letting us use his photos. Thanks to him we've managed to put together a piece that meets both my "design" standards and the staff's "practical" ones. You're the man, Jarrett!

Looking Good

The other day, we had a speaker come in to speak at Convocation, pretty routine for us, at least, but apparently not for him. The man attempted to supervise the entire set up of convo, it seemed. I doubt this was his first speaking engagement apart form his church, but he couldn't have been very seasoned, at all. First things first, if you bring us a Power Point with a Royal Blue background and yellow text in a Comic Sans font, we're going to "doctor" it . That might have flew somewhere else, but that's not going to cut it here.

Unfortunately, we were having an abnormal amount of trouble with our Martin 250s and 300s that morning, so no one had a chance to get started on this man's outline until the service actually started. That's cool, we've done tighter before.

So we're mid-way through the message when he gets booking. I mean, he's flying through points like they're nothing. The guy next to me is having trouble keeping up, needless to say (I mean, he's good, but I don't think anyone's that good). So the inevitable happens: we miss a point. The man actually stopped and said "I'm sure it's coming up on the screens in a second, maybe someone fell asleep up there."

I was almost too stunned to put the point up there at all, and I I almost don't even know where to begin ranting. Suffice it to say, if you don't say anything, no one's going to know something's wrong. An AV department is not trying to make you look like a moron, believe it or now: we're going to make you look good, but if you're stopping us, there's nothing we can do about it.

Looking Good

The other day, we had a speaker come in to speak at Convocation, pretty routine for us, at least, but apparently not for him. The man attempted to supervise the entire set up of convo, it seemed. I doubt this was his first speaking engagement apart form his church, but he couldn't have been very seasoned, at all. First things first, if you bring us a Power Point with a Royal Blue background and yellow text in a Comic Sans font, we're going to "doctor" it . That might have flew somewhere else, but that's not going to cut it here.

Unfortunately, we were having an abnormal amount of trouble with our Martin 250s and 300s that morning, so no one had a chance to get started on this man's outline until the service actually started. That's cool, we've done tighter before.

So we're mid-way through the message when he gets booking. I mean, he's flying through points like they're nothing. The guy next to me is having trouble keeping up, needless to say (I mean, he's good, but I don't think anyone's that good). So the inevitable happens: we miss a point. The man actually stopped and said "I'm sure it's coming up on the screens in a second, maybe someone fell asleep up there."

I was almost too stunned to put the point up there at all, and I I almost don't even know where to begin ranting. Suffice it to say, if you don't say anything, no one's going to know something's wrong. An AV department is not trying to make you look like a moron, believe it or now: we're going to make you look good, but if you're stopping us, there's nothing we can do about it.

Learning Who's Boss

To this day, one of the hardest aspects of designing graphics, publications, anything really, is not designing something I like, because I'm not the one trying to be reached with this piece. Granted: sometimes I fit into the same demographic as those who I'm designing for, and those jobs are really fun and easy - it's like I'm drawing up something for my own wallpaper, or something.

But more and more, I'm getting projects for another demographic, and thus I'm having to weigh what I like professionally (not personally) and what they like personally (not necessarily professionally).

I'll be honest, when you're working with someone who has a horrible eye for design, colors, and layout, this just plain sucks. Luckily I've only had a few of those jobs. That's not the point, though.

The point is, that just because you're favorite ad firm is trying out something now, doesn't mean you need to try and push that on you 85-year-old client. Don't design for you, design from you. Chances are, you'll find that you client's satisfaction will amplify your own, and you won't constantly be having to re-do their projects, either.

Stepping On Toes

We're in the middle of Spiritual emphasis Week this week, and like every SEW, a guest speaker is brought in to speak. Now this goes over great with the student body, I mean anyone new is a blessing from God himself to the vast majority. The tech community has a slightly different view, however. See the student body doesn't have to deal wit this new speaker: we do.

So this is my second SEW, the first guy was awesome. Funny, interesting, good-ole South Carolina boy. He came alone and coordinated with us to plan his outlines for the services, which was cool: we got to know him. This guy, though is a cookie of a different flavor.

In the weeks leading up to SEW, I head rumors as to how hard this guy who if you really want to know who it is, it's not that hard to look up was. Big deal, people are people, right? So right before load in, one of our Campus Pastors, comes up to me and says, "...not to add any more pursue to you, but this guy is really expecting us to screw up big time with the production. So if you could be perfect for the next week while he's here, I'd really appreciate it."

Wow.

I mean, I like to think I'm up to it, but hey, I'm but no means an expert. And hey, computers crash on us on a weekly basis, nothing I came really do about that.

So I'm at the meeting post-load in, where I'm told that not only are we to be absolutely perfect (which isn't that bad of a standard, really) but this guy is bringing in not only his own outline, not only his own graphics, but his own operator too! I'm not too sure if I'm justified in this or not, but I felt slapped. To me, the house operator, that said "you're not good enough for me" it said "I know you do this every other day, but my standards are just out of your reach" that says "you don't know my style and I'm not willing to give you time to learn". That's unreasonable, in my professional opinion.

Let's forget about that fact that I know the system better the she does, and let's forget about that fact that I think their presentation look like Grade A C-R-A-P...let's toss all that out the window. How professional is that?! To come into a house as a guest and kick the owner out: that's a principal I just can't grasp. I 've been trying again and again to see this his way, but I just can't, and like I said, I may not be justified in this rant. But there's a fine line between professional standards and stepping on toes, a very fine line indeed.

I wish I spoke Italian

My CNN widget brought my attention to this story this afternoon; about a priest being sued (for all practical purposes) because he claimed it was an obvious, and widely accepted, truth that Jesus Christ existed. Nothing about the purpose of His life: existed. I wish I had Doc's email address, so I could forward this to him. I bet he'd get on a plane and straighten this guy out real quick. Which brings me back to my opening remark: I wish I spoke Italian.

Wonderful Days Bring Wonderful News

I just received word from the "powers above" (the ones right underneath the Big Man) that we're considering upgrading to PVP.

Their site pretty much speaks for itself, but in short this will allow us to mix our own video loops live and in house. Granted: it will take a while still before we can put on a show like Catalyst '05, but we're taking steps towards it, still. And as an added bonus, I know I'll sleep better knowing I'll have this awesome software on my hardrive before long.