Being a person that gets bored with looking at the same thing for long periods of time I thought it was about time for a VelvetAnt website refresh. I’ve decided to take my online portfolio to a single page since it is just a portfolio and contact information. I also decided to add a bit more personality to my site by making the main focus of my website… my feet! Please feel free to have a look at my new design and let me know what you think!

I wish all of my subscribers and everyone else an amazing 2012!

It wasn’t too long ago when I posted an update on my website’s redesign. Well, it has happened again. I am not one for redesigning a site more than once a year let alone twice within 3 months! I just didn’t feel content with the site that I had up and I wanted to pull VelvetAnt back to it’s freelance roots. The previous site was intended for just that, but I don’t think I accomplished my vision with that design. I am feeling good about the minimalistic approach of this design and I think it will stick around for awhile!

With that being said here are a few screen shots of the new site. Feel free to pop over for a live view!

You may have noticed that I have been a bit slack lately when it comes to the good ol’ blog. I have been going through some changes here at VelvetAnt and you can finally visit the site here to see my new design. My goal with my redesign was not to just give myself something new to look at, but more so to get back to what my site is meant for: attracting clients. My previous site was designed a bit like many studio websites that you may see. I had the realization that many potential clients are purposely looking for freelance designers to take on their projects and those are the type of clients that I would like to work with.

I hope you all enjoy the new design and I will back to regular blogging on a week-to-week basis since my new site is now up. I will also be looking for some guest bloggers. If anyone is interested in having their posts featured here on VelvetAnt please contact me and we can talk.

For the past 13 days I have been enjoying the culture in Indonesia. I met up with a few friends from Florida in Bali, Indonesia for a quick, but much needed holiday. It was a really amazing trip full of good food, great people, and amazing waves. I wanted to share some of the pictures from my trip with you. We were on the island of Bali for the majority of our stay, but we also ventured out to Gili Trawangan which is a 3 hour boat ride away from Bali for 3 days of diving, snorkeling, and surfing. I can’t wait to go back to Indonesia and to take the opportunity to visit the many different islands that make up Indonesia.

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?

2010 has arrived and I haven’t really had any deep thoughts about any goals or aspirations for the new year. I do not even feel obligated to reflect on 2009 at all. I am really excited to look to the future and I am looking forward to a new year. I have never made a serious new year’s resolution in the past, but with a new decade I figure it is time to put an end to that.


Professional goals for 2010:

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)

This past week I have made the switch from PC to Mac. It was only a matter of time before it happened. I already have an iPhone and an iPod, so 17-inch Macbook Pro was next on the list, right? Right! My decision to switch from PC to Mac was purely based on simplifying my life. One piece of technology that is capable of fitting and organizing my career and my personal life on the go.

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.



For the next few weeks I will be writing from a new blog: Ant Does Sydney, to document my life here in Sydney. I will be going out and experiencing Sydney, Australia and then coming back here to share with everyone what I have gotten up to.

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!

As some of you may know I’ve been in Australia for the past month or so now. I haven’t found the time to post on a regular basis and I’d like to apologize for my lack of consistency on the blog. Since I have been quite busy lately I thought it would only be fair to share with you all what has been keeping me so preoccupied. If we are friends on Facebook then chances are you may have already seen these photos, if not here are some photos of my first month in Australia.

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 January I stumbled upon an internet contest and the grand prize seemed pretty awesome: Win a free trip to Sydney, Australia and work and play there for a year. I am not one to enter contests but this one just seemed too good to be true! So, I followed the entry requirements and made a 60 second entry video.

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!