First arrival and bungalow in Kuta, Bali

We decided to rent motobikes for the first few days we were there. They came with these very helpful goggles!

The 4th hotel we ended up at

Dreamland, Uluwatu

Blue Point, Uluwatu

This is an Indonesian holiday called Nyepi. It is the celebration of the Hindu New Year

Other pictures from around Bali:

Gili Islands

What is your iPhone wallpaper?

1. Find a studio/ firm that I am able to grow with professionally and creatively. I have been freelancing pretty avidly for the past year now and I think it is about time for me to find a company with friendly Creatives so I have the opportunity to learn and grow with others. I can honestly admit that I have never had an in-house job that I enjoyed. I blame myself mostly for just jumping at any job I was offered so that I was able to earn a dollar. This year I promise myself that I will not take up a job just because it is a source of income, but because it is a place where I can see myself succeeding.
2. No more Mrs. Nice Girl. This year I will not let any current/future clients of mine take advantage of my kindness. By this I mean no more chasing payments. When I first started freelancing my biggest mistake was being too nice and working on other peoples time and not my own. 2010 will be my year to completely dig myself out of the hole of mistakes I fell into when I began freelancing full-time a year ago. You learn from your mistakes.
3. I’d like to think of myself as a pretty organized person, but I can never be too organized. I will take the opportunity this new year has brought by reorganizing/updating all of my contracts, proposals, and billing/payment system.
4. Start making schedules. I have never made a schedule in my life. Sure, I do what needs to be done when it needs to be done and on time, but I’d like to take that mentality and one-up it. By scheduling my days I hope to gain more personal time and lose some of the stress that comes with the spontaneous life a freelancer leads.

Personal goals for 2010:

1. Fitness. Since I have been overseas I have fell out of the swing of every day life back in Florida. So, I plan on taking advantage of the beautiful Pacific Ocean and swim at least 4 days a week and if I am not swimming I will be running (which I hate by the way).
2. Health. Many of us go on random health kicks, and I am one of those people. This year I plan on cutting certain things like soda out of my diet, and putting more fruits and vegetables in their place.
3. Put myself into forced uncomfortable situations. Traveling has really opened my eyes and has taken me out of my comfort zone. This year I plan on purposely taking myself outside of my own personal comfort zone in hopes of meeting new people and experiencing things I couldn’t picture myself doing.
4. This is an important one for me. I plan on saving a certain amount of money each week and putting it aside to travel. Being in Australia is my first experience with being overseas. I think it is important for my well-being to get out and see as much of the world as possible why I still young and in good health.

What are some of your professional and personal resolutions and plans for the new decade?

Sydney Harbour Bridge, New Years Eve. (Taken by my iPhone)

I was very excited to get my new notebook, so I tweeted about. After sending out the tweet I was asked if I preferred Mac over PC, especially for web design by @loveforweb. My answer in less than 140 characters was:

“When it comes to design it is purely preference and comfort. Macs don’t make you a better designer. Skill does!”

I would now like to elaborate on that statement in more than just 140 characters. Being a designer is not about what you use to create your work, it is about how you create your work. It is about the knowledge and meaning behind your projects, and the steps you’ve taken to get there. If you are a great designer you can design equally beautiful art on a PC or on a Mac.

So, does it really matter if you are designing on a Mac or a PC? I would say it matters to a certain extent. It matters when it comes to your comfort and what you are familiar with. It matters personally, but it does not matter when it comes to your work. Designing on a Mac does not make your work better. The only thing that can make your designs better is years of experience, knowledge, and a love and passion for what you do.

I think it is important for designers who are just starting off to know that you do not need to purchase expensive accessories in hopes that they will make you a better designer. Simplify your life by only keeping necessities in it.

Here is the temporary setup. I say temporary because as many of you may know, I am currently overseas. So, this is what I will be working with for the next 6 months. A very large setup for such a tiny desk I bought and built from Ikea.



I know I have been slacking quite a bit lately, and I’d like to take this time to thank and welcome all of my new subscribers! Sorry that I haven’t had a chance to get anything up for you guys lately, but hopefully you will find this side project interesting and choose to subscribe to the Ant Does Sydney blog as well as keeping up with my Sydney Adventures by adding the Facebook app, Life Points! Every week I will put together a list of 5 Sydney activities that are within the Life Points app and will run a poll to see which activity readers would like me to experience that week.

I am always active on twitter! So, for those of you who aren’t following me yet, follow me here and hopefully we can keep in touch via twitter until I catch up here at the VelvetAnt blog!

Icebergs in Bondi Beach

Hanging out on a not-so-safe cliff in Bondi

Ferry ride across the Sydney Harbour to Manly

The ever-so-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge (I have yet to do the climb, but I plan on it)

Skyline view on the city and the opera house

It really isn’t as big as it looks…

These pictures are from Currumbin Zoo on the Gold Coast:

This emu was quite fond of me…

Sharing a tasty treat with a friend!

Enjoy!

In February I received a phone call telling me I was a finalist in the Work and Play in Sydney contest (contest’s MySpace). It took my mind a quick second to process the phone call because I forgot I even entered!

Long story short: I will be moving to Sydney, Australia on July 19th. I am still in search for an in-house design position, but hopefully freelancing will get me by until I do find a design position in Sydney.

Here is my entry video. I can honestly say it is my best videography work (hence the shaky hand effect!), but it sure got the job done! (If you are reading this via RSS you can click here to view it in the web.)

I am Australia bound! I will be living (and hopefully working) in Sydney for at least a year. If you currently live in Sydney or have visited Sydney in the past I’d love to hear about your experience and what you recommend I check out while I am there. Please feel free to share everything with me!

I have been hard at work sprucing a couple of things up around the VelvetAnt site. I have just switched servers so now I will be bigger and badder than ever. Be sure to look out for the new site design, as well as a couple fun contests to go along with the new site look!

In the mean time here is a hilarious video for you to watch.

Your Business Card is Crap!

For people reading via RSS visit this post to view the video

PS: Sorry to anyone reading this blog via RSS. You probably got a little ‘welcome to wordpress!’ Update from my site in your RSS reader yesterday! Apologies.

Who doesn’t love Helvetica? I know I do! Today I received my first tattoo. I wanted to get something that would never go out of style, so I went ahead and got ‘Helvetica’ tattooed on the back of my arm just above my elbow. To be more specific, Helvetica Medium.

A lot of people who don’t know much about typography and graphic design keep asking me what Helvetica is and the importance of it. My response is something like this:

‘Helvetica modernized type as we know it today. It sends a message to people in a very noncontroversial way. You can’t judge Helvetica. Helvetica can say it all. It can say ‘I love you, I hate you, Will you marry me?’ in a way that communicates effectively and always looks good. Helvetica makes life simple.’

Helvetica Trailer

How do you show your love for Helvetica?

Welcome to the Velvet Ant blog! This blog is a resource for you, others, and myself to showcase our creativity and share our knowledge as designers. This blog will mostly focus on Graphic Design, Logo Design, Typography, Web, 3D Design, and many other tools to apply to your everyday way of living in hopes to better yourself as a professional.

Quick Background about myself:
My name is Antonea Nabors and I am a Graphic Designer who lives and works out of Melbourne, Florida. I am employed by a company where I do mostly print and web work, but I also love to freelance in my spare time. I majored in Digital Arts and Design at Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida about 2 years ago and I have not regretted my career path for a second! I have been intrigued by computers and what you are able to accomplish on them since the first day I connected to the internet with my 56k modem! I love everything that is design and I don’t know what my life would be today without it!

Never go see a movie with me because I will tell you how many titles in the opening previews are using the Trajan typeface. I have been surfing since I was about 11 years old, and I almost love it as much as design. I am easily inspired by nature and I love being faced with situations that really make me think on my toes. I like solving problems. I love music and finding new music to listen to. You will find me posting entries here and there that will tell you what I am currently listening to, so if you feel that you might have new music that I’d be into or that I should give a listen to, please leave me a comment! I have never blogged a day in my life. I wouldn’t consider myself much of a writer. I am just a Designer looking for a way to effectively communicate with other Designers and Creatives.

Now, what is this whole ‘VelvetAnt’ thing about? When I was graduating from college and was setting myself up with a marketing plan, I didn’t want it to be boring. I didn’t want to market myself just as ‘Antonea Nabors.’ So, why VelvetAnt? My nickname is Ant, and a velvet ant is actually a type of wasp that closely resembles an ant. A velvet ant is known for its painful, venom-filled sting, whose fur resembles the appearance of velvet. In a nut shell, VelvetAnt is my way of marketing myself as a small, yet powerful freelance designer.