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Strategy: Site Expansion.

Mar 9, ’11 2:41 AM

I have been thinking of making a few modifications to my current Internet infrastructure to allow the platform to grow in the years to come.  Before going into detail, I think it’s important to share my perspective on the site as a whole:

What’s Working:

  1. Good foundational online presence.
  2. Excellent initial placement in search engine rankings.
  3. Microsite concept allows for easy expansion.
  4. Hosting infrastructure is top-notch.
  5. Majority of time is spent on content generation.

What’s Not:

  1. Not every microsite has SEO functionality.
  2. Presence of older content is not reflective of current skill-level.
  3. Some duplication of content across sites.
  4. No clear long-term strategy.
  5. Some technical gaps exist.

While there will always be opportunities to explore, I would like to focus my time on a select few.  The best way to prioritize is to first revisit my objectives for my online presence:

  • Growth Enabler – I want to continue this online journey as it has strengthened my ability to focus and explore new ideas.  To be more specific, I want the content to enable the continued creation of both online and offline projects.
  • Relevance – I want visitors (employers, collaborators, friends) to have access to information, ideas and content that is most relevant and is most reflective of my capabilities at that time – and not be distracted by older information. At the same time, I would like to keep older sites active as they collectively are a part of who I am.
  • Presentation Ability – I want to go a step further in improving my communication abilities by presenting new concepts in HD.
  • Ease of Use – I want to make it easy for visitors to learn about me and my capabilities.
  • Pervasiveness – I want to maintain and broaden my standing in search engines through additional content generation and an effective SEO strategy.

Ultimately, this online presence is to support my personal and professional goals in a way that is self-fulfilling; one idea leads to another, essentially cross-pollinating between sites and into new online and offline endeavors.

Going a step further, I hope I can help others see things in a different way and encourage them to push themselves into new territories.  In a best case scenario, the site can connect me with other individuals with similar goals and interests for potential collaboration.

In short, I want the site to be an extension of myself.

Given this context, what needs to be done now?  Actually, quite a bit!  Here’s the list:

  1. Make final modifications to existing sites that will remain and formally close out sites that are no longer needed.
  2. Upgrade to the latest version of BasicMaths to allow for video embedding.
  3. Upgrade to the latest version of WordPress for existing sites.
  4. Figure out the best backup strategy for existing WordPress sites.
  5. Revisit SEO strategy for existing and new sites.
  6. Redesign Pixeldust microsite to focus exclusively on digital photography.
  7. Document current infrastructure.
  8. Design new homepage that allows for greater content flexibility.
  9. Create sitemap to illustrate microsite connectivity and potential redundancy.
  10. Launch SoundCloud presence.
  11. Figure out how to share brainstorming notes in a way that shows clear traceability to real content (designs, illustrations, posts, etc.).
  12. Formulate a long-term strategy.
  13. Develop a workflow for HD content generation and presentation.

Fortunately, a fair number of these tasks have already begun.

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Immersion: Core Objectives (Preview)

Jan 6, ’11 7:33 PM

While I’m still working through the details of the Immersion strategy (estimated duration ~2 years), I am certain of the primary objectives which are listed here:

I’ll post further details of the Immersion strategy in the next several days.

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Immersion: Challenges & Opportunities

Dec 23, ’10 7:22 PM

Portfolio Development: My portfolio has evolved fairly well over the past several years – particularly in the graphic design arena.  The evolution from where I began and where I am today shows a clear positive trajectory.  Recent digital illustration work using the Cintiq and Photoshop also show tremendous potential.  The opportunity here is two-fold.  First, when solid progress is being made, I tend to move on to another challenge without spending additional time to further develop / refine my existing skills.  In some strange way, the possibility for greater success deters me from moving forward.  Second, while the portfolio is looking increasingly professional, it is heavily weighted in graphic design and less so in other disciplines (e.g. 3D modeling, rendering).

Community Engagement: The past several years have focused heavily on portfolio development and the creation of my personal brand.  While there has been significant success in both fronts, the communication and level of engagement has been unidirectional.  My original belief of “build it and they will come” places heavy responsibility on external parties to not only learn about me, but to engage in further discussion.  There is an opportunity to change this unidirectional approach through increased engagement / participation on my end.

Process of Elimination: One of the challenges that I’ve faced with Big Generator is that it has lacked clear direction.  While it started out as a pure information design firm, it quickly expanded to become involved in brand strategy and other related offerings.  The opportunity is to refocus the company and establish a clear business strategy so that it can truly be successful over the long-term.

Out of Balance: One of my biggest challenges that I’ve been working to correct over the past two years involves a clear imbalance between my professional career thus far and the skills that are required to move beyond this realm of expertise.  While my efforts have shown true promise in correcting this “right brain / left brain” imbalance, there is still more work to be done.  The opportunity here is to take greater and more strategic steps to bridge this gap and clearly convey my strengths and potential as a design leader.

Emphasis on Innovation: Being creative for creative’s sake is beneficial, but leveraging creativity to solve real-world problems can be extremely powerful.  While my thoughts and designs are truly “mine”, the bulk of my efforts has been focused inward (self-development, strength building, creative exploration).  The opportunity is to shift gears and transfer more energy towards addressing real-world challenges and designing and creating with true purpose.

Mental Barriers: One of the keys to one’s success is the ability to maintain a high-level of optimism independent of the challenge faced.  With a realization that my optimism level is classified as “average”, there is a clear opportunity to employ constructive techniques to quickly move past barriers that would have normally impeded progress.  With the world moving at a faster pace, there is no better time to find ways to accelerate my ability to navigate through these challenges.

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The Visual Journey

Oct 26, ’10 11:18 AM

As you may already be aware, this blog is one of several projects that I have been working on over the past several years.  The underlying goal has centered around building a foundation onto which I can layer in new creative projects and pursuits.  This is why I’ve branded my main web site and bundled these projects within a title I call “Supercharged Creative Exploration.”

The original home page design launched earlier this year showcased the three original projects – Incubator, Microcosms and Pixeldust.  Since that time, I’ve also included a few other projects to the list – including Ink.

Not surprisingly, one of my goals has involved designing a new home page that provides visitors with a complete inventory of these projects along with a modular format that is easy to update.

With this goal in mind, I’ve formulated a few graphic designs that do just this.  While the current design solves the current objective and is easy to update, I consider it an early version and will eventually be replaced.  Over the next several months, I plan on eventually migrating to one of the site designs show below: (or some derivation thereof)

If you visit the new site, you’ll also notice a new link – something that I call “The Visual Journey.”  This is a design that encapsulates who I am, what I am interested in, and some more information about the history of my professional career and my interests.  I think it will help people understand what motivates me and what I am passionate about.

Due to the nature of the design and purpose, I’ve left it in a PDF format.  It’s best read using the official Adobe Acrobat reader but aside from a few minor graphic inconsistencies on the title page, the Preview application available in Mac OS X should also work well.

The combination of this new design along with the Visual Journey supplement symbolizes the next chapter in my creative and intellectual journey – it’s a chapter I call “Immersion.”

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Plane 9 | Phase 39

Aug 23, ’10 10:53 PM

With education as the backbone to my personal and professional life, the beginning of September continues (even to this day) to symbolize a new beginning for me.  Having moved into the ninth Plane (“Exodus”) in May, September 1st signifies the start of Phase 39 and a set of revised objectives for the months ahead:

Painting – Having experience with both traditional and digital art, I’ve found that having a true understanding of the fundamentals can make a significant difference when that same process is carried over into the digital realm.  This, I think, is one major reason why I’ve found it easier to paint with the Cintiq than I had originally believed – having taken a foundations course several years ago using charcoal and graphite.  However, to further improve my digital painting abilities, I am considering taking an oil or acrylic painting course at The Visual Arts Center of Richmond this term.

Ink – As you have already seen, my brief exploration with the Cintiq has pushed me to think seriously about the design and launch of a new “microsite” under my parent domain.  While some may question the purpose of a site such as this (i.e. not all of my creations will be deemed “remarkable”), that’s ultimately the point – you have to start somewhere.  As a real-world example, I started experimenting with graphic design nearly seventeen years ago and my early attempts were less than great (“comical” is the word that actually comes to mind …). Fortunately, my enjoyment for the process and medium has allowed me to gain the necessary experience to launch a business which may open up additional doors in the future.

OpenIDEO – While I have not had a chance to explore this site in much depth, I think this is a unique opportunity to make a positive impact while continuing to push myself both intellectually and creatively.  (And the fact that is comes from a company that I greatly admire doesn’t hurt either!)

Version Two – Having launched my personal brand earlier this year, I would like to revise the site to ensure that it includes other aspects of my portfolio – not just “Ink” but other projects as well, including my work at Big Generator.

The Factory – This concept is the graphical equivalent to Incubator.  It’s a microsite that will develop new graphical concepts that can be incorporated into graphic designs and/or digital illustrations.  The origins of this idea came partially from Eric Hanson’s video (“Digital Sets 1 – Design, Modeling and Camera”) where he highlights the concept of creating virtual buildings that can be later incorporated into larger 3D environments.  This idea is still in its infancy, and may not become visible until 2011 or later but it is worth thinking about now.

GD – Now having a solid graphic design portfolio established, I can now take inventory of what the next generation of my designs will need to entail.  Most of my designs up until this point focus primarily on color and typography and are nearly absent of patterns or imagery.  GD (capital letters) is the next chapter of my graphic / information design exploration.

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