Category: Design

Things related to design

So tell us about your new job…

Michigan Public Health Institute was started by the Michigan State government as a non-profit organization to study and create programs in regards to public health issues. This is good in that MPHI is not government (although it closely works with government) and can easily adapt and change in comparison to typical government bureaucracy. I work in the Interactive Solutions Group (ISG) as a graphic designer. ISG provides technology-aided solutions for information problems (think training and education). Previously ISG and MPHI outsourced all their graphic design. They now want to bring the design in-house to reduce costs, improve information control and to remove “layers” between end clients and the ISG.

So what do I do?
Amazingly enough this graphic design position covers everything thing from web design to print with a healthy dose of multi-media design thrown in. Basically its very wide ranging. What I really love about the position is that I can have a positive influence on something more important (and life helping) then say, the latest annual report. Annual reports are important, but at MPHI I can help with public health issues. That’s pretty cool in my book.

MPHI

Recruiters, employment agencies, other interested parties, the general public, family and friends:

I am now employed as a graphic designer by the Michigan Public Health Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving public health through education, communication, and technology. All I can say is that I’m thrilled to be a part of this organization and hope that my design work will help it to carry out it’s worthy mission and goals.

This however does not mean I’m tapped out for freelance work. I’m still available. Just be aware that I have other priorities and that my turn-around time may be a bit longer.

To friends, family, and teachers who have helped me reach this point: Thank you.

Waiting for Adobe

So I got my Adobe Flash MX 2004 certification certificates…months after I took the test and passed. I believe this may have been caused by the Adobe-Macromedia merger, as when I took the test, Flash was definitely property of Macromedia and Macromedia was its own company. I still don’t know what to think about the merger. Some of it will be good. But I worry about so much power over my creative tools being wielded by one vendor…especially seeing how spotty Illustrator has been after version 9. And Acrobat has been prostituted to the business world leaving a bad taste in this designer’s mouth. I really like the PDF file format – it really does make my life easier in many ways. But when the newest features in Acrobat are developed primarily for “enterprise” document solutions…yeah, it kind of rubs me wrong. I thought Adobe applications were made primarily for us creative types. It just makes me feel a bit left out. It’s like an old friend deciding to hang out with a different crowd and slowly starting to ignore you. Anyway, the reason for this post is that I also received a certificate saying I’m an Adobe Certified Instructor in Flash MX 2004: Rich Media Design. Okay. I only took one test too. I guess getting Flash designer certified also certifies me to teach Flash. Of course it is kind of a moot point as Flash 8 is out and I’m only certified for Flash MX 2004. The upgrade to Flash 8 is worth it from my experience at mediaRAIN. Not that I have personally made the upgrade yet. I’m waiting for Adobe apps to become Universal. I have a nice MacBook Pro just waiting for them to appear. Any day now. Like right now. Now? Pretty please, Adobe?

For further and better written commentary on Adobe, Macromedia, the merger, and Adobe’s drift away from its core principals because Marketing is in Control, please see John Gruber’s daringfireball.net.