(Oh, clients if you’re reading this, I also do some letterpress printing, I might blog about that after the Christmas rush!)

Had a bit of a distressing day on Thursday over at the Polytechnic and a part which recently gave way on the C&P Old Style 10×15 gave way again in a more dramatic fashion and the press is looking a little worse for wear. This is a donated machine which we use in the Letterpress class which I volunteer at, and if anyone can help us source some parts that would be amazing.

Also unrelated to the main problem, we need to source a replacement disc lever & roll (the pawl itself is okay), but happy to pay for the whole assembly if someone has one going spare.

Basically we’re looking for any leads on where to perhaps find parts (maybe another person has had something similar happen and has a press they’re selling for parts?) to repair this excellent machine.

I love to eat. This is well known amongst my friends and family. When I met with Mary from Gourmania it became apparent we’d get on really well! Mary has started a great gourmet food tourism business – she seems to know everyone working in quality food in Hobart and she’s built that into a fantastic gourmet food tour of Hobart. I reckon you’d be hard pressed to find a better way to spend a morning – I went on it and it’s heaps of fun. I really like the mix of history (I am secretly an old man) and food. So much tasty food! If you’re like me, and enjoy your food, you’ll love Gourmania Food Tours!

I produced the identity, printed marketing materials and a few other fun odds and sods for this project. The website was produced in collaboration with the excellent David Ajnered.

Finally, if you’re into Facebook then why not like Gourmania on Facebook – it’ll cost you nothing (okay you’ll see the food and want to do the tour, but I think that’s a small price to pay!)

Today I’m really pleased to be able to share the new website and identity for Miskas Wood Products Inc. Then new logo and website reflects a fresh face for a company with a long standing record of producing quality timber products. The look is clean and modern and I’m really pleased with the final result. Go and check it out, and if you’re Canadian or American, go buy some stuff from them, they’re lovely!

This site was produced in collaboration with David Ajnered, programmer and all around awesome guy from Sweden. Dave came and worked with me in the studio for 5 months earlier this year. Recently we have been collaborating on a lot of new sites and this is the first one to go live! There’s lots more exciting web work coming from us!

So without further ado, check the new Miskas Wood Products website!

I shared this yesterday and a lot of people seemed to get a laugh out of it. It’s from an (obviously quite informal) pitch document. Stuff like this makes my job, my job.

The Little One Said make beautiful hand made things for littlies and the home. Working from vintage illustrations, and customising some vintage type we were able to create a beautiful new brand. This was a true collaboration with the client and I’m really quite chuffed with the end result.

If you’d like to take a look at some lovely & stylish things, head over to The Little One Said Etsy shop! (This owl print bib is super cool is it not?)

It’s ridiculous that somebody as silly and unfashionable as me could be self employed doing design. The chances of that happening seem absurdly small. Some days I feel like a total fraud and that the fun police will come crashing through the door and take my business away and drag me back kicking and screaming to bashing out K-Mart catalogues (where I started).

I’m no better and certainly not more talented than my classmates from my course. I stay in touch with some of the folks from school and some of them have gone far in design, some of them not so much – that’s to be expected really. More on that later. Rest assured, if I can do it, so can you.

The truth is that there’s amazing opportunities for creative people to be creative and get paid for that. The field of opportunity for a designer (or any creative) seems to grow daily. The opportunities to access other businesses and like minded people all over the world is staggering. It amazes me how quickly I can share something with somebody on the other side of the planet and how easy it is to make new contacts and friends all over the globe.

The world is also in need of truly talented individuals to re-invent and re-invigorate design. That’s how design works, it moves as fast as culture moves which in some cases can be lightning fast. There are opportunities everywhere, right here wherever you’re reading this from, down to the milk bar down the street, to the dude who posts pictures of his cat climbing into boxes. If you’ve got a will, there is an outlet for your design talent.

I’m often confused with a fully functioning human being, and hilariously enough, I run a successful small design business that I’ve built myself. And I bloody love my work! You too, can have all this!

There’s a catch though.

With my sincere apologies to everyone involved with the excellent series Game of Thrones and especially to George R.R Martin.

Sorry – it’s not all sunshine and kittens. I know you’ve been enjoying drinking wine from a box, and ingesting scalding hot late night pies of questionable provenance and all the best that student life offers … but if you want this, then you’re going to have to work for it.

The truth is that yes, there’s amazing opportunities out there. Let’s go back to my classmates I mentioned before, especially the talented ones … as a student I was jealous watching other students just “get it” and nail their briefs at design school. They were miles above me in terms of design skill and I felt like I was way out of my depth.

But something changed for me - I want to tell you about my secret weapon. If you really want to get a job in design, and you really want to make it your career … you’re going to have to work hard. You’ll have to work harder than your class mates, and when you start working you’ll have to work harder than your peers. Especially if you’re like me and you look at your own work and know something’s missing. I worked like a mad man to get better, and I will continue to work hard to improve. That’s the secret of any creative endeavour. Work.

You will be entering an extremely competitive marketplace, and there are more people who want to work in the creative fields than there are jobs. That means you have to step up to the plate and make things happen – nobody else will do it for you.

Truth is, the only way to get better at anything is to produce. You must be producing heaps of work and you must step up to the plate and start smashing out heaps of work. Am I suggesting you become a slave to design and grind out endless meaningless work to get better?

Nope. Here’s the rub. You have to produce heaps of work which gets better every single time. The upside to this commitment to improvement is that it will keep the creative fire inside of you burning long after others burn out and get tired of design. The reason I still love my job is that I treat every job as an opportunity to get better. I also know I’ve got a long way to go, and as soon as I look at my work and think “yep that’s as good as it possibly can be” – I’ll start looking for another profession.

So here’s my message to you, [insert your name here]. If you want to find work and stand out from the crowd, you have to be different from the crowd. That means you have to roll up your sleeves and be willing to do the work which will set you apart.

Here’s some specific advice for students, just so you know, get your money’s worth from this post.

• Re-Do at least one (if not all of them) of your school projects from scratch, in a day. You’ll surprise yourself with awesome if you put pressure on yourself to perform here. (Once you start working you’ll need to work 100x faster so why not start now?)
• Expand on everything. Take a logo design, and present stationery. Already done logo & stationery? Do signage and point of sale. Being able to do this kind of stuff quick can result in a huge up-sell with your clients. I do this all the time (whenever a job permits) and it’s an amazingly effective way to turn a small job into a bigger one.
• Design your folio properly. I shouldn’t have to explain this, but if you don’t have a fully designed portfolio ready to go at a minute’s notice you don’t deserve a design job.
• Get your work online and participate. There’s heaps of online folio sites you can upload your work online with. There’s heaps of design communities that will allow you to build connections and friendships.
• Make connections and do stuff. Most of your friends who are studying are doing awesome things (or they will one day). Get involved and do stuff with them. Become a member of AGDA (or your local equivalent if you’re not in Australia) and go along and meet people.
• When you find what your passion in design is, hammer away at that, and build that area. If you find yourself heading into an area of design you don’t want to be in, you’ve only got yourself to blame.
• Challenge yourself to improve everything you do, but also learn when it’s time to put the job down and move onto the next one.
• If you’re in Hobart and want to talk about your work and get a portfolio review, get in touch and I’d happy to have a chat and give you the best head-start I can.

That’s it really. I hope you have an easy transition from your course to employment and I want you to know it’s actually worth all the effort. Even on my worst days I feel lucky as all-get-out to be able to do what I do. I’d love to see you join me.

A few weeks ago, I moved into my new office at Level 2, 109 Elizabeth Street. You can find me above Appleby’s Cycles (yes, come through the bike shop – I know it’s a bit weird!) in the centre of Hobart. I’m sharing with my brother Duncan who is taking his photography business Storm Boy Photos full time!

My lovely little studio above Arts Tasmania in the 146 Art Space studios was brilliant, but I was starting to outgrow it, and at the same time this space became available. So here I am! Come past and have a cup of tea if you’re passing by!

A huge thanks is also due to Arts Tasmania for providing me with the space, it’s a fantastic example of the state government really stepping in and helping creative businesses grow and flourish here in Tasmania.

Apache Services is an amazing, can-do sort of company. The entire time I’ve worked with them to develop the new brand and the website, they have demonstrated to me how switched on staff and management can make all the difference. They specialise in Horizontal Directional Drilling, but also all sorts of civil earthworks and project management here in Tasmania and also further afield. Why not check out their new website here?

Just for fun, here’s the logo on one of Apache’s enormous Trenching Machines! A good logo will work not just on business card and letterhead but wherever it needs to be used.

Brief break from your scheduled programming folks. Dan Ilic is putting together an awesome comedy fundraiser in Sydney this weekend and you should go along, have a laugh and donate some cash to help those flood affected.

Facebook event is here, and the Evapor-Aid site is here.

This is an EP Cover for Dylab – since I left melbourne he hasn’t stopped making music so I can conlusively say I’m a bad influence on him! You can listen to Unclean Emulation here. Unclean Emulation is composed of tracks made on Nintendo DS (Korg DS-10 if you want to check it out).

More than a nod to my internet design nerd buddy Todd Proctor as well – I re-used his excellent logo and type treatment he made for Dylab’s last EP (Best design advice – surround youself with people who are better at it than you are – Todd’s a good example of this).