Changing Perspective

So I've been wondering how to be more creative every day. It is hard to maintain a creative mindset when you design. This is something I have been struggling with a lot lately. Since I started with my 4th year of studying it kind of created the sense of 'lets do research and ignore designing for a while.' Even though there is a lot of work that goes hand in hand and time management can become quite difficult to control, there is still this voice inside of me screaming to pic up a pencil to draw. Which is weird because drawing is not my strongest skill. And when you hold that pencil you realize how out of practice you are and you are stuck (designers block).

To get into this habit of designing new innovative things, you have to lay down some ground rules for yourself which will help you in being creative mentally and physically. Here is some things that can help you motivate yourself:

1. Reading graphic or any type of creative material. Even if it is a good novel or just reading comic books. Magazines and creative blogs is what keeps me going. I either get inspired by something and hop onto illustrator and experiment, or sometimes I just get an idea that I would make a note of and later follow up. N.B.It's good to take notes!

2. The second thing I would recommend is to subscribe to a YouTube channel and Facebook community pages. This is just another way of motivating yourself. You might see a photo on Facebook that has been done by another designer which interest you and you want to check out his/her work. That leads to more ideas for yourself!

3. Listen to music. Maybe you are one of those people who doesn't listen to a lot of music or may none. I would recommend to hop onto iTunes and just listen to the top10 at least. Music helps to stimulate you mind and also helps you relax. Even if it is alternative, pop, hip-hop, classic or rap it is GOOD to listen to something. Sometimes you might not even realize where you got your next great idea from. Music does play a great role in either expressing or motivating yourself.

4. Another important thing is to have a twitter account... This might not sound relevant but I assure you it helps! Following famous designers or reading the latest trends and news helps A LOT! REALLY! Just go and try it and you'll see what I mean. Staying up to date with the real world has a great impact on the way you think while designing.

5. Last but not the least it is important to have great designer circles. What I meant by this is plain simple Friends. Friends plays the biggest role in your designs because you have discussions about things that bothers you and always seeks to find something new to do. That new stuff helps making you see bigger pictures and well, create new ideas! As for my group of friends we would always reminisce how we can change the world through improving bad designs.

So remember next time when you are out with your friends discussing how bad that coffee shop menu looks or you get a tweet with a link to a new trending video on YouTube, take notes for next time you are bored and messing around on illustrator or photoshop. Who knows, it might just be the next big thing!

Till Later!

*F

Long Lost Blogs

So I've been thinking the other day how one can make time to write a blog entry daily. I mean, I barely get time to visit the bathroom! But how do people do this? Well, since I had time to update my blog I decided to start blogging again. Yes, after 6 months it hit me that I have to make some effort and work on my freelancing. So what I am proposing to do is to post something every week, does that sound good?

Anyway to get back in the game I have to get some new stuff going. I am planning to post some digital designs for your personal use, ideas and then some tutorials to help everyone that are struggling with Adobe software. So keep an eye out for posts and like me on Facebook to get the latest updates!

Till later!
*F

iTunes 11 - a designers review

Hey guys! iTunes 11 is here and it is AWESOME!

Yeah, yeah, I know it this is a random post from what I usually post but hey it is always good for change, right? I thought it was part of design, new look, new way of making things work better which is my slogan now, have you heard.

Well, let's get to it then. The BRAND NEW iTUNES 11 has AWESOME new features where you can sync your music, apps, books, movies, etc., to your iCloud account. This makes it easy to access your personalized iTunes anywhere and everywhere. Here is how it looks now:

PRETTY, RIGHT? I just love how they managed to simplify it more even though it is already very clean and minimal looking. Some people are confused on where the sidebar went and WHY they took it away. Well, from a designers perspective I think they just wanted it out of the way, making the music library look more clean and easier to access. It is all about the music and when you open your library your beautiful artwork jumps at you. It's just right there for you to click on and play!

Anyway, to get your sidebar back you just hit ALT+CMD+S (MAC) / CTRL+ALT+S (WINDOWS) and TA-DA! But personally I prefer the new look better. Problems start when you want to sync your iPod or other devices with playlists... So just turn on that sidebar and do it the old fashion way. Can also be switched on from the menu: "View > Show Sidebar"

Enough technical stuff lets talk about the design of the new interface!

Apple has manages to design this amazing feature with the new iTunes 11 when you download an album with an artwork the library extracts the colours from the cover art and changes the theme of that album window. As you can see in the picture above from the latest Rihanna album (LOVE HER!) the window extracted her skin colour of the art work and replaced the text in the window with that colour. AMAZING! Here is another example for you to get the picture:

The new mini player is a big change in iTunes and I think many people will start using this more often now. You can search and add songs to "up next" playlists from the mini player. This is an awesome new feature that I think is very handy when working and don't want the big iTunes window to open.

Furthermore you can change the views of your library that I am in love with!!! They limited it to Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, and Playlists which is SO much easier to handle. The sidebar with all my hundreds of playlists made it confusing and difficult to find stuff. Thanks Apple for making this so awesome!

Now you just have to go download the new iTunes A.S.A.P!!! It is really a must-have that will make your life off organizing your music MUCH easier and well pretty to look at while browsing your library.

Till Later!

*F

UPGRADE 2012

Good Morning and Welcome to the new Franco Creations Blog/Website Upgrade

I am excited to announce that the upgrade is officially been done for your connivence.
Please enjoy the new experience and feel free to report if you have a problem with accessing any of the links or work.

I exhibited my work and my brands new look & feel last night. I just want to thank everyone for making this exhibition and this brand possible, and for making it look awesome. Thank you for my parents for giving me the opportunity to live my dream and building myself up to where I am today.

If you are in Cape Town please drop by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Cape Tech) to view my exhibit and take a business card. I will soon upload my portfolio to the blog. Exhibition opens 9am-8pm Wednesday 28 & Thursday 29.

Thank you supporting my brand and be sure to check for new updates.

Till Later!
*F

Post 125

So this year was insanely-crazy-busy and here we are at the end again. Wow time sure passes quickly when one is busy working.

At the beginning of this year I promised everyone that I will be posting on my blog more than every before and so I posted less than last year... disappointing, I know... To make this right I will just have to work even harder and commit myself. Everyone is busy and don't have time for things, but one can make time for important thing right?

I have been working on my new brand identity for some time now and the time has come to officially release it to the public. Although I have leaked the logo on my new Photography logo but that's cool, you haven't seen the final logo_ yet!

Next year is going to be a mystery without knowing where I will be and what I am going to do for a living. But one thing that is clear is that I won't stop designing! Hopefully luck comes my way and I can get my degree in Graphic Design which would be awesome but for now I just have to wait and see what is going to happen.

BUT HEY! Don't be alarmed, since I have some time I am going to keep you guys busy during the holidays with some designs and maybe some tutorials. Keep an eye out for the big upgrade to see new cool features.

Till Later

*F