Hey gang. In case you’re wondering what happened to my blog, it turns out my WordPress site was hacked about 4 different times in the last couple months, and its finally back up.

I set up a quick theme I was using previously, and had to delete all other themes I had been using – hence why the footer and sidebars now look a little wonky. And I’m so busy I haven’t had time to fix it yet – I’ve been busy with two cool UX design projects at Cobalt (widgets for car dealers’ sites), more simultaneous projects with J&D’s than ever before (including the Bacon Coffin which is all over the media now, as well as several new packaging projects), and to top it all off, my kids’ Baseball/Fastpitch seasons started, so you know I’ll be spending a lot of time filming and editing team videos again! I know how the White Rabbit feels… and to top it all off, after tweeting at #AEASEA yesterday, i’ll probably have designers looking at my site! What was that comment about someone’s boxers showing?

An Event Apart, Seattle 2012Anyways, I’m in the process of cleaning my Blog back up, and would love to attempt to create my own WP theme after all the talk of adaptive design by Jeffrey Zeldman (@Zeldman) and Scott Berkun (@Berkun) at An Event Apart Seattle yesterday. I met some great folks, found a photo of myself in one of the presentations and had entirely too many free Cokes and Gummi Bears in one 8-hour period than should be allowed by law, and took a HEAP of notes (thanks @evernote!) It was awesome.

I’ve never created my own WP theme, but I’m always dissatisfied with a theme ‘not quite being what I see in my head’ and my own lack of Dev skills. Maybe time for me to try to expand my horizons and see what can happen! What do you guys think?

Current tunage: The Cinematics’ “Let’s Go Steady” (i LOVE this song!)

Grab some popcorn or a big bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs and pull up a beanbag…

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I’ve been tasked with reinvisioning a gallery display without Flash… I’m curious how others start the design process? Myself, I prefer old fashioned pencil, pen and paper to do my loose concepting. Others jump right into wireframes using tools like Omnigraffle and Illustrator, while others jump right into Photoshop and start pixel-pushing. What about you? What method works best to get your creative juices not just flowing, but blending into a fruit smoothie of awesomeness?

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Promises, Promises from Rob Christianson on Vimeo.

 

My latest animated skit for New Hope FWB Church, based on a script in this week’s Elements children’s church curriculum by Randall House.
In this skit, Steve and Alan discuss the true meaining of “keeping one’s promises” in light of a silly misunderstanding.

I did the character design and illustration for Steve and Alan, as well as their voice work. Animation and editing done with Adobe After Effects.

 

My friends Ashley and Forrest asked me to film their wedding video. I have only done a wedding video one other time, and while I love video editing, the stress on this kind of project is incredible. Knowing you are being trusted to capture as many memories as possible of one couples’ most important few hours of their lives is a heavy load to carry. I think it turned out well – I used one borrowed camera on a tripod from a friend, and then my own hand-held camcorder for more diverse shots. I didn’t notice until I started editing that one cam was hi-def and the other was not.

Live and learn, but I hated it to be during a special project. Maybe I’m being to hard on myself, to me it’s a project, to them it’s their memories, and they’re very happy with the final project.  I also wish I had gotten advice/interviews from friends and family for the end – I saw a video producer from Seattle who does that, and it’s great. Maybe next time.

The video was edited with iMovie, and I used the better audio track (from the closest camera on the tripod) for most of the audio. Had to match audio levels, overlay their chosen music, and did a nice little B/W montage at the end to their ending song. I really like the latest version of iMovie… it’s not Final Cut or Premier, but it works for these occaisional projects I do. And I’ve learned over the years that it’s not the brand of paintbrush used that makes the artist, it’s the talent over the tools.