Big things are happening over here, but most notably my partner Frank and I have joined forces to create http://studiofunction.com. We have some extremely exciting projects brewing for the rest of 2011 – watch that space for updates! I will be pausing activity on this site and focusing all energies on Function.
Over the holidays, I had the pleasure(?) of attending a LAN party where 1) I was the only girl and 2) I was the only macbook. Since they never got around to playing the Steam games that I own, I ended up working until 6am, re-writing the markup and css of my site. Version 1.0 dates back to June 2009, and, though it was pixel-perfect true to the design, and worked pretty ok, it was a little messy under the hood – something I could easily see after working more intimately with css over the last 1.5 years. Let me know what you think of the improvements:
Oh, hello March. The site updates I mentioned in January are coming in the next week or so – I’m just getting a hand with my wonky javascript and then we should be good. The design has stayed the same, but some things to look forward to include: some new work, a new illustration section, cleaner html/css (though I guess that’s not really that exciting).
2011 so far has been fantastic, and biking all winter long has made it not even feel like winter at all… I’ve been out and about more than ever, and I’ve got the salt ruined boots to prove it. January and February were both incredibly busy; I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to do some great work with the awesome teams at Jet Cooper and nulayer over the past few weeks. There’s lots of exciting stuff in the works!
I’m always looking for the next piece of awesome so get in touch and let’s start something amazing!
I was just digging around an old drive looking for something when I found some technical illustrations from 2003 that, somehow, I DON’T REMEMBER DOING. They must’ve taken hours but I’m drawing a blank on, you know, actually creating them. How is that possible? It was for a York/Sheridan class called “Design & Systems 1″. They must’ve been frustrating because one of the files was passive-aggressively named fuck.ai which I only ever do when I’m very angry.
Happy 2011 everyone! I figured I should probably update this thing before the month slipped away from me. In October 2010 I made the difficult decision to leave my much loved position at The Working Group to be my own boss. The universe kept tempting me with amazing, unsolicited freelance work, and after overworking myself 7 days a week for a couple months, I knew something had to give. So here we are, and it’s going to be effing fantastic.
Stay tuned for site updates this month where I whip out some more recent projects and improved site functionality. I’m also working on some witty copy about working with clients, but I’m currently stuck on the line “clients must like nice things”… which seems rude, even though it’s true.
All the best to you and yours in 2011… let’s do something great.
I’m totally proud of the team at The Working Group, launching PostageApp out of beta. This full project will eventually work its way into my portfolio (logo, illustrations, ui, ux, creative direction) but for now, just go poke around the site and register for an account for yourself.
Just stumbled upon some photos of my 2005 York/Sheridan Grad Show display panels. My god… it seems like a lifetime ago. I still have some of this physical work but some of the digital files have been lost in a series of failed DVD burns/backup drives failing.
from The Rise of Endymion, by Dan Simmons
This quote has stuck with me for over 8 years since I first read the gorgeous Hyperion cantos (probably my favourite series of novels). I don’t know if I truly knew what it meant at the time, but it struck a chord; it resonates deeper than ever now.
I should really get dressed/do my hair/get psyched for tonight… yay friday!
Sean and I finally decided on a name and a domain for the secret project! Exciting times…
We just need to uh, get started on the idea/product now. This is the most excited I’ve been about a design project in a long time (branding, website, packaging, p.o.p, ads, general amazingness).
…since I started sketching regularly. Part of me thinks it might be because I am scared that one day I will run out of my cache of Pentel Superb BK77 fine ballpoint pens (I can’t find them in stationery stores in Toronto anymore, but a quick search makes me feel a bit better about their availability on a global scale.)
So anyway, you were bound to figure out that I’m a lecherous perv soon anyway, so here are a couple of pages from my latest sketchbook.
I recently stumbled upon my old Flash portfolio website circa 2002… I wish I still had the vector files! I remember labouring over those pill vectors into the dead of night.
Vivian is treated more like an experiment, than a human being.
Aside from being a tranny term (a hilarious fact I just recently found out), my website name “fully functional” was originally meant to be an ironic statement about myself. Back in 2002, there were many, many things medically and emotionally wrong with me. The name isn’t relevant in the same way anymore; now, it applies in a more sincere way, with the ultimate goal to being a fully functional ui/ux/interaction designer and developer.
Clearly the design of this Flash site overwhelms the dinky work… it’s kind of awesome to see where this all started.
Wow 2010 is really breezing by me. So far already I’ve been to Mexico, Hong Kong and Shangri-la (Kunming, Yunnan, Dali, Lijiang). It also feels like I’ve been to hell and back this year but that’s another story. My friend Sean and I have an exciting project in the works that we hope to launch this summer, unless life gets in the way like it usually does. It’s a little more tactile than I’m used to, since I’m accustomed to sitting on my laptop all day, but this in itself is extremely exciting and refreshing. Here goes nothing!
I started these concepts a long time ago after seeing how bad the Windsor Salt packaging had gotten. I assume the general population doesn’t think about salt packaging because… who cares, it’s salt. But if I’m going to have a box of this stuff sitting around my house for years, it might as well look nice.
(I know, I know, most people fill cool salt shakers and don’t think twice about the packaging, but wouldn’t it be nice to have that little visual surprise every time you opened your spice cabinet?)
This is the first in a series of sites that I redesign just for kicks – sites are chosen based on a personal interest in the subject matter and visuals. (current site for comparison)
I have had the Tissue Culture & Art website bookmarked for about 5 years and in that time, the Victimless Leather section hasn’t been updated at all. I think I discovered the art project after attending an awesome STELARC lecture at York, or maybe just in passing from my fascination with bio-art phase…
In September 2009 I noticed that their home page said “new website online 3/08″. This had clearly been up for a while. I emailed them to see if I could lend a hand to their awesome project in any way (still no reply). I was bored one Saturday in November so I started a redesign of the logo, business cards, and website for TC&A, purely for fun.
On a side note, the Victimless Leather project was recently included in MoMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit (which I sadly missed). They had to kill the coat because it was growing too much. Totally creepy, totally amazing.
An oldie from earlier this year with a couple of tweaks. This chart is especially meaningless now since I only buy Honeycrisp™ apples… (the TM is for real…).
Welcome to the new blog! It was kind of annoying setting up the Wordpress theme, but we made it, apparently! Exclamation marks!!! I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out why my additional blog styles suddenly stopped showing up before I realized I forgot a single } curly bracket somewhere… I think Sass has ruined CSS for me.
Anyway… feel free to leave a comment if things look messed on your computer. Soon I will start adding some stuff that I do in my spare time, like drawings, arts/crafts, meaningless infographics, and (ugly) websites that I re-design just for shits and giggles.