So, like a lot of you, I'm a student. My field of study is new media/interactive design. For anyone also in a creative field, either studying or professionally, what books and or magazines do you turn to for advice/tips/inspiration? I'm looking for more practical things like how to get/keep clients, process development, how to not eff up an interview, etc.

My personal favorites are: how to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul (book) and HOW (magazine)

Thanks for all the comments on my latest submission. I just want to remind everyone that this is a parody. Don't get me wrong, Flowers in the Attic is great...but it and other designs have spawned vacuous kitsch. The latest Threadless Loves contest is a testament to how trendy, brainless, and unoriginal submissions have become.

Wait. I know what some of you might be thinking:

"Whatever, dude. You sit there preaching about being original, yet you stole the idea from Flowers in the Attic".

My reply is "yes" and "no". To someone who is unfamiliar with Flowers in the Attic, my message is lost. They might credit me with the concept, unaware that it is based on someone else's work.

Those who are familiar with Flowers in the Attic and with threadless trends (read: butterflies, pandas, fruit, the 80's, etc) will hopefully see the humor in it -- and this is where my originality comes in. I don't know about you, but the other design didn't make me laugh. So something else is there.

Please let me know what you think. I'd love to know what others think.

Peas and Carrots,

Sarandos!

Another night has been eaten by the rising sun and I find myself in the belly of my bed, tweaking the swf of my next design. It's right at 69.6kb.

Two hours of sleep before a super-long day. I think I have some sort of disorder. I'll check the DSM IV later.

One of my biggest fears as a designer is that people will think my work sucks, and rightly so. The power of image and text knows almost no bounds and transcends worldly things like class, religion, or politics. When I design, I try to communicate something that isn't always tangible. In doing so, there is room for error; what I'm trying to communicate might not come across.

But why might it not, especially in an online contest such as Threadless? There are a few of reasons. Ahem.

One is that I simply did a shit job. I somehow didn't execute a design effectively, or the concept wasn't strong enough to connote that ethereal wisp to which everyone can relate. Enthymeme is the term for this. It's that binding yet unseen thread which makes the punchline of a joke funny, or the heart of an anecdote which builds a speaker's pathos. Its the glowing soul of an all-encompassingly understood concept. And I blew it.

Or, it could just be that I had an unforgiving audience. This one's a double-header. The first possibility is that the audience for which I'm designing couldn't relate to the idea or feeling that I am trying to communicate. This could be because of the aforementioned worldly things: class, religion, politics, gender, and so on. Or it could be for the second possibility: the audience gets it, but just doesn't care. There is some other trend that's more catchy, or just better. Who knows? I sure don't.

The last possibility is that other people's work was better. In comparison to super-designers, there just wasn't enough to hold up.

In any case, the blame can be attributed to the designer. The execution, user research, and competition research are all parts of running a successful company and being a good designer. You have to be good at what you do. You have to know who you're doing it for. And you have to know who might take that away from you, so that you can always be better. Sometimes it doesn't work that way.

In receiving my final score for my first submission, I was disappointed but not surprised. I promptly reviewed the scores of other submissions and found myself higher than most. This time I was a bit surprised. I felt as though I did my best, and I now have a better feeling for how this whole thing works. So I've learned, and will improve, and hopefully have a design printed someday.

There were of course higher ranking shirts, and the contest has not yet ended. I haven't given up, and I'm happy about what I've learned regardless of the outcome.

I have another submission in the final stages and will submit it upon the BLIK contest's completion.

Peas and Carrots,
Sarandos