Designing the new economy...

These past few days have been a time of uncertainty for everybody. Some people may be following current events closer than others, but everyone can sense the feeling hanging in the air. Without getting too political here, it's certain that things are going to change in a big way. The American Dream of the past 60 years is toppling in on itself, so I say it's time to design the new American Dream. This dream may be scaled back from the sprawling suburbs conceived of last century. We may not own four cars, but maybe we can count on one good working automobile. Life may involve walking to the store and biking to work. The new American Dream probably won't involve living in a 6-bedroom, 5-bath house. Things are going to get scaled back, expectations are going to have to be curbed. Things are changing, and there is lots of design to go along with the change. I myself am excited, bring on the 21st century American Dream.

Making Progress...

The process of designing my new portfolio site has been interesting. The design has been floating around in my head for quite some time, I've simply been waiting for the right time to get it onto paper and then onto the web. The key to web design is considering the function of the site over it's outward appearance. The aesthetic "window dressing" of a website is the easiest part. The hardest part is to get the end user to see what you want them to see. A good website should guide the user around to it's various pages, but also give license for exploration.

The main function of a portfolio site is to showcase the work. I'm trying to keep this principle at the forefront of my design process. I want the site to be subtle, elegant and easy to use, really giving the work room to shine. All in all I want a site that will last at least two years.

On another note, I've jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Feel free to follow me, I love company.
twitter.com/micronhero

Barbecue Bot

I pulled this guy out of the sketchbook archive and put him behind the grill where he belongs. I'd say I drew him around 2004. It can be awkward looking back at old drawings, almost like your junior high yearbook. It's important though to remember where you've traveled in your creative exploits. Sometimes it can kick you out of a creative slump, who knows.

The arrow points that-a-way...

Calm in the eye of the storm...

After a period of time working outside of the studio, I am back in my familiar surroundings. We are quickly approaching the last day of summer, and oh what a summer it has been. A lot of my work is coming to fruition this fall. One piece I'm very excited about is the PNCA BFA catalog, which I provided a series of illustrations for. Some work in progress is pictured above. I've received a prototype, but the catalogs probably won't be hitting until next month. My main push at the moment is to develop my new portfolio site, which will reside at Jakehollomon.com. My plan is to move all of my design and illustration work under this domain, while retaining Micronhero.com for merchandising purposes.

I'm trying to take full advantage of this period of calm. This is my chance to do the work that I want to do and take things to the next level of progression.