Papertree Design » Journal

JeremyJaymes.com Another Revision

Jeremy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:58:54 +0000

I decided to revise and relaunch jeremyjaymes.com, yes creating yet another blog. In light of recent events and more importantly, recent ideas, I decided that it makes sense for me to begin establishing a more “personally branded” home on the web. Bottom line it will help me to connect with yet separate myself from the Papertree Design brand. (If that makes sense?)

Sticking with my usual minimalist style I wanted to create a platform that will focus entirely on the personal. Thoughts, ideas, a sketchpad so to speak that will allow me to express who I am as an individual. I did go out on a limb and for once add a splash of color, not just any color either. Orange, one of my favorites.

While the previous version, the lifestream, was a cool project it didn’t carry much weight for me. I belong to each one of those social areas for a reason, if someone would like to connect with me on one of them then I welcome the opportunity to meet new people. Bottom line is I have more I need to get off my mind.

This new site will lead way to two things. One, it will more than likely replace my need to write on ViralThinking.com from time to time, which in the long run means Viral Thinking will either disappear or be replace by a new idea. I do love the name. Two, what you see here will more than likely influence the future branding of Papertree Design, something I am a bit excited about.

It also means that I will be forced to focus more on who I am, the personal side, something I am pretty shy about doing. It’s a new strategy and a new adventure.

Check out the new site, welcome me, leave a comment.

So Many Reasons For a Redesign

Jeremy — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:15:28 +0000

Over time we develop and change. Although not probably noticed by others, I personally have noticed many changes over the past two years in myself as a designer and Papertree Design as a business.

While I am sure that the underlying reason for this version of the site has to do with a need for something fresh, I would like to think that there was a well guided purpose behind it. With this redesign I wanted to illustrate the evolution I feel that I have undergone both as a designer and business owner as well as the gradual development of a stronger focus for Papertree Design. In a way this re-design marks the coming of good things for the year ahead.

Goals Being that I intended to keep the new design as minimal as the two versions prior, I decided that I would break the mold by transitioning from my usual choice of a seriffed typeface (nameley Georgia) to a sans-serif. While I am not sure that this will come accross, I felt like this choice would signify a new direction.

As more of a personal preference, I also decide to go back to the left aligned format I have experimented with in the past. I like the way a left aligned site presents itself, it’s a good fit for Papertree Design.

Bringing new content to the forefront. As you can see I have shifted the content focus of the site, bringing to the forefront both my work and who/what Papertree Design is. With that I have moved articles to a secondary position. While I will continue to share information, I have a project I have long been waiting to jump on and I believe this will be consuming quite a bit of my writing time.

Bringing every thing to you in one place. I have long struggled with a proper presentation for everything I would like to share in one place on this site. The new footer area, I feel, has brought me one step closer to accomplishing this goal. Everything is accessible now, from each and every page on the site. Go ahead look around.

A few things you may notice – I have revived the “shorts” section for which I plan to start contributing to on a regular basis. Shorts are just that quick and easy posts that often times are done simply to share something cool or inspirational. I have also linked more directly to the theme I released a few months ago and lastly provided a subtle clue to something in the works. (Try and find it.)

In addition to launching this redesign I also wanted to note a new addition to my portfolio which I am quite proud of. Have a look at the beautiful new Hopeless Records site. More to come on that, I am definitely looking forward to working with them again in the very near future.

A final note, I think it’s also important that I mention that I went with no initial comps when creating this design, simple line drawings and that’s it. I enjoy working that way and it’s nice to be able to do it once and awhile. Under the hood I am also taking version two of my framework for a spin just to work out any kinks.

While the site still requires some revision and refinement, I have to say that I am quite pleased with what I have to start. I would love to hear your opinions below.

Version 4 and the search for Inspiration

Jeremy — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:19:33 +0000

I had planned to tackle this project a bit earlier in the year but as is often the case, personal work has to take a back seat to client work for obvious reasons. So this weekend as I felt like I was finally able to relax a bit, I dug in and got to redesigning the site. Welcome to Version 4 of Papertree Design!

Different yet similar:

The design is both quite different, yet quite similar to what you might remember as version 3. With this redesign, I decided to keep it pretty minimal, left aligned and focused around a pretty strict grid.

Why maintain a minimalist approach?

One, it is my personal style and two I prefer to focus on the content. Although perhaps not an excellent writer, I enjoy it and I enjoy sharing experiences, tips and advice with people, thus it will remain a large part of this site. I will say that in the early days of planning for this redesign I was a bit conflicted on which direction I should proceed. I really had it stuck in my mind that I should try to push the envelope and create something totally unlike my preferred style, but in the end the function of the site ruled out. I do have plans to attempt something a bit different with my soon to be revamped Lifestream which is moving to a new and separate domain. (when time permits)

Inspiration

I could probably fill a page or two with everything I dug through and mashed up over the course of the last month in my search for inspiration for this redesign. I compiled mood board after mood board and referred to them constantly throughout the process. If I had to list just a few,
Graphic-Exchnage was a huge source of inspiration for me. Jason Santa Maria’s site, as well as a few he worked on while at Happy Cog, such as the AIGA site. Another big one was Retinart.net. Plus quite a few more that you can browse through on QuickSnapper.

Still Working

As with any previous version of this site I will continue to work on it tweaking and improving, finding my little mistakes. You will notice that I shutdown the portfolio portion for a bit as it to needs a refreshing. I do plan to add quite a bit to my Flickr account over the next few days, something I plan to utilize a lot more often in the coming year. Here you will find a variety of work and other projects of a personal nature.

It Shows Improvement

Overall I think this Version shows my gradual improvement as a designer, I still won’t be winning any awards but for myself it was a step forward and that is what I really hope for. As always, I appreciate any thoughts or comments so feel free to leave them below.

2009 Is About Improving

Jeremy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:56:35 +0000

The close of 2008 upon and the doors of 2009 swinging open before me. It can be an exciting marker, the New Year. For some it means a clean slate and new beginnings. For me it is just a nice time to reflect on the days past, thinking of what I have accomplished and what is yet to come.

Outside of closing the books and wrapping a few loose ends however it really becomes a day just like any other. Really each day should be a fresh start, a new beginning filled with all the wonder and excitement that this day we mark as the New Year can bring. The goals I make now are no different from the goals I made yesterday and deserve no more or no less attention.

But… if I did have to set some goals and resolutions for the New Year I would have to say that this New Year is about getting better. Perfecting the skills I have and learning the new, taking on projects that push me and taking on projects that I truly enjoy. Really begin to realize the true reason that I looked towards freelancing and entrepreneurship in the first place.

The second goal would be to make a promise. A promise to this blog and to those that read it. A promise to bring you along on this journey of mine in hopes that you could learn with me. To become truly useful to both my clients and to my readers. To provide you with a thing of value, whether it be beautiful and useful design or just the knowledge that led me to create it.

The New Year to me is about taking the skills and knowledge I have gained in the past and improving, accomplishing those things which I saw for the future, and learning those things which I have not yet had the time to learn.

I wish you all an excellent New Year, I will see you in 2009.

Happy Holidays from Papertree Design

Jeremy — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:42:34 +0000

I thought I would take the time out to wish everyone Happy Holidays this morning. Hopefully each and every one of you has the opportunity to take a little break from the daily grind and spend a some time with someone with family and a few good friends this Holiday season.

Enjoy yourself, I will see you in the New Year!

Served Up By Media Temple

Jeremy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:37:30 +0000

I have been talking about getting us some new hosting around here for quite some time and finally made the switch around two weeks ago. Naively I had assumed that it went of without a hitch, but thanks to a new client it was called to my attention that there were some pretty major errors in and around the portfolio area. (Thank you) These things happen, so if you are out there on the site cruising around and you should happen to run across another one of these pesky little buggers, please drop me an email and I will get it fixed immediately.

As for switching over to Media Temple, I couldn’t be happier!

Design Notebook 11/23/2008

Jeremy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:46:41 +0000

I managed to skip last weeks design notebook entry due to the need for sleep and the pressing issue of finding a new home for Papertreedesign.com. (I ended up going with Media Temple if anyone is interested. Anyhow the list of links was beginging to pile up in my handy little text file so I need to catch up and get a few of these out there. Consider this weeks design notebook a conglomeration of interesting things I have had the pleasure of reading over the past two weeks. Enjoy and try to find something useful!

Design and Marketing Inspiration

42 Information Packed Twitter Backgrounds – Iammikesmith.com
37 More Information Packed Twitter Backgrounds – Iammikesmith.com

The Result

Loving This One

As you can see from the shot above I have yet to put it to good use but…
How To Make Exciting Screenshots In Photoshop or Gimp – ProBlogDesign.com

On Blogging

Awesome article:
7 Secrets You Must Know to Give Your Blog the Edge – JustCreativeDesign.com

Really Diggin this Blog

WpEngineer.com

SEO

Some pretty obvious and some pretty interesting:
10 Ways to Piss of SEO – AlhanKeser.com

On the Must Read List

Sunday Morning Motivation – Design Notebook 11/10/2008

Jeremy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:46:27 +0000

Yesterday morning I awoke after having had a rather productive Saturday, to find myself extremely motivated to piece together the new WordPress project that I have been dreaming about for some time now. After studying a number a Premium Themes as well as sifting through an endless selection of articles, I now feel that I have every piece of the puzzle necessary to put together my new WordPress theme package. It will become quite obvious where my head was at over the weekend after you have a look at this weeks very short design notebook entry. This weeks notebook applies to a special sector, but there is some excellent reference material here for anyone interested in taking their WordPress design to the next level.

On Custom Admin Panels, Functions & Hooks

http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_action
http://codex.wordpress.org/Designing_Themes_for_Public_Release
WordPress Codex – Plugin APIs and Filters
http://codex.wordpress.org/Adding_Administration_Menus
Literal Barrage – A Theme Tip for WordPress Theme Authors

Just Looking For Inspiration

http://budurl.com/russ

http://sixrevisions.com/resources/50-beautiful-free-wordpress-themes/

Books
PHP5 and MySQL Bible

Some Essential Reading from the Design Notebook

Jeremy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:26:32 +0000

Yesterday I awoke to a rather beautiful but early Sunday morning and I just couldn’t seem to get myself into ‘work’ mode. So instead I decided to pursue alternatives to cranking out code and dedicated the day to “setting work aside to pursue education, thus the topic of this particular post. “Some Essential Reading”, or the extending version of the title “Some Essential Reading on the Topic of Creating a WordPress Theme”. I decided to skip the later because I feel the following weblogs, tutorials and code excerpts do in fact apply to more than just those setting out to create a WordPress theme. (They can in fact be very useful to many of use who set out to develop a more useful and attractive internet on a daily basis.)

So from the “Design” Notebook made possible by Google Notebooks, here’s the list:

On Grid Layouts in Web Design

“Setting Type on the Web to a Baseline Grid” on A List Apart – Excellent article on the use of grid systems in web layouts.

“Five Simple Steps to Designing Grid Systems” on MarkBoulton.co.uk

“Gridding the 960″ on CameronMoll.com

“The Funniest Grid You Ever Saw” on Subtraction.com (Khoi Vinh)

On WordPress and Deisgning For

WordPress Codex – Theme Development – The WP Codex

“Tutorial – Creating Custom Write Panels in WordPress” on Wefunction.com

Sandbox Theme Readme.html on Plaintxt.org

“How to Create a WordPress Theme from Scratch” on Nettuts.com (Basic but a good starter)

Designing for Sandbox on code.google.com The Sandbox Theme Wiki

Themeshaper on themeshaper.com (A wealth of information on WordPress, Creating Themes and Web Design in general)

A Collection of Themes and Theme Frameworks (The short version as I have reviewed several in the past)

Thematic on Themeshaper.com

Starkers on ElliotJayStocks.com

Artisan Theme on Artisanthemes.com

Sandbox on Plaintxt.org

Thesis on diythemes.com

Books

I also spent quite a bit of time with “Grid Systems” by Kimberly Elam

I am of course leaving quite a bit out when it comes to the topics covered in the sections above, however I can only cover so much material in one day so enjoy.

What’s in your Feed Reader?

Jeremy — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:09:32 +0000

I have gotten in the habit of starting each day off by combing through my feed reader to have a look at what was written the day prior. It helps me to wake up, get the mind running and more often then not provides just enough inspiration to get me excited about my day. I thought it would be kind of fun to share with you those that I follow through the blogosphere on a daily basis and perhaps encourage you to share you own at the bottom.

Here they are appearing in no particular order (except maybe how they are currently appearing in my reader):

Coudal Partners – visit the site or grab the feed (Intelligent, smart and just plain interesting)
Freelance Folder – visit the site or grab the feed (No freelancer should go without)
Adii Rockstar – visit the site or grab the feed (A WordPress Rockstar and an intelligent businessman)
Pro Blog Design – visit the site or grab the feed (A lot more than the name leads to believe)
CSS-Tricks – visit the site or grab the feed (If you design or develop visit daily)
Freelance Switch – visit the site or grab the feed (A wealth of information for all web workers)
Blog Design Blog – visit the site or grab the feed (A must follow for bloggers and blog designers)
37 Signals Signal vs Noise – Visit the site or grab the feed (gotta stay up with this crew)
Just Creative Design – Visit the site or grab the feed (This site inspires me)
I love Typography – Visit the Site or grab the feed (The Beauty of Typography)
Logo Design Love – Visit the site or grab the feed (I love logos )
Twirk Ethic – Visit the site or grab the feed (Just plain interesting and downright inspirational)
David Airey – Visit the site or grab the feed (Insprational and Informative the man knows his stuff)
Freelancer Magazine – Visit the site or grab the feed (Just started following this one)
Chris Brogan – Visit the site or grab the feed (A social media genius)
Ryan Graves - Visit the site or grab the feed (Social Media, Entreprenuership, the web and he’s local)
Comet Branding – Visit the site or grab the feed (local marketing guru and social media expert Al Krueger)
Jason Santa Maria – Visit the site or grab the feed (Amazing graphic designer if nothing else worth visiting for the beauty of the site)

There are so many more that I probably visit on a daily basis and not to leave anyone out but this is what is sitting in my Feed Reader as we speak. As you can see I have a lot of reading to do so I should get back to work, please feel free to add yours below!