I have to say that ever since I started designing at 15, I felt the crap from the design industry say… a year after freelancing. At first, I enjoyed designing my own stuff but when it came to projects for clients, it completely made me strongly hate designing for a good 3 - 4 years since I first started. That’s when I said I’d shoot myself if I ever got into Graphics Design as a career for life, I still feel that way.

There are so many things about designing that makes me hate it, yet I do still love some parts of it..

Dislikes:

1) Lack of creative freedom: There is a huge lack of creative freedom (in general) when dealing with clients. When I’m dealing with clients there are the good ones who give me full creative freedom but there are those who do not. I don’t mind suggestions about a design but if I’m placed in a box and limited by many specifications of theirs, I don’t feel like the work is mine at all. The worst type of clients that I had are the ones who “think” they’re designers by making me add changes to the design that makes my initial design a complete disaster.

2) Lack of respect: There’s a huge lack of respect most of the time among designers. I’ve gone through the “if you design my website for free, I will give you free exposure”, “can you design a free logo for me?” and so much more. The worst I must say was a client that said I charged too much, and when it was time to pay the invoice, he told me to take my pennies, 1 word: hypocrite.

3) SELL OUT DESIGNERS: Yes, I’m a bit ashamed to be called a designer because there are soooo many designers who are sell outs. They’re truly the ones who give designers a bad name. These are the designers who are willing to sell their self dignity & soul to suck up to their clients or “higher power” for MONEY.

After 4 years of freelancing I’m going to finally say I’m fed up. I’m not taking on any client work that will make me hate designing. I rather be my own boss, and since I’ve found a niche that allows me to do that (designing blog designs ) I’m ditching a lot of client work, the only client work I’m accepting are from the clients I enjoy working (because they respect me and my design directions). It’s a shame, all of that work thrown away but I’m not going to go through the crap that comes along with freelancing.

French Culture
I think I fell more in love with French Culture after taking two courses about it @ the University of Toronto. Who knew?

What’s what?
Le Violon d’Ingres by Man Ray, Ceci c’est pas une pipe by René Magritte, 2 - 3: Paul Gauguin, 4 - 11: Amelie, Point Neuf - Brassai, Steps Montmartre (Escaliers) - Brassai, Brouillard, Avenue De L’Observatoire , Fog Night in Paris - Brassai, Paris Sous La Pluie - Brassai.

My project that I’ve delayed since the end of high school (2006) is back >> indiekool.com.
It’s kind of slow at the moment, but I’m going to add tons of music reviews and random stuff along with searching for more interviews. I haven’t checked my email address for indiekool in ages and realized there were some PRs requesting interviews and such time to revive the blog!Also: With a little bit of SEO work, the site ranks on the first page for “indie culture”

I’m currently working on a social media network. (For those who don’t know, an example of a social media are blogs. They’re blogs or websites where people can share info, opinions, etc)So my idea:
Most of my blogs are going to be more focused on art & design (culture, entertainment and all of that stuff that can fuse in with art & design). The goal is to great a huge network (probably 50 blogs, it’s all about quality over quantity!) before I graduate: in 4 more years. Goal:
Not a lot of people know this, but artists & designers can “market” their stuff much easier online. It’s more effective & cost efficient. If marketed right, one can start a freelance career much quicker. Since the art & design field is so interesting and dynamic - perfect for me, I want to start something new(ish) after graduation relating in that field.I specifically chose the niche art & design because it’s what I love rather than for profits. If I wanted to make the big $$$ out of a similar idea I would have taken the route of business, real estate, financial niches which are soooooooo boring.

How:
There is a very boring and somewhat complicated technical explanation but in general: social media is increasing dramatically, even you notice it! A lot of people are going to blogs and other online forms of media for their entertainment or educational purposes. With blogs increasing daily (by amounts and traffic) social media is the greatest way for an artists & designers to get more exposure for their work.

Social media can provide: exposure to targeted audiences & increase of search engine rankings.

YAY
So I somewhat figured out my future career job/business since it’ll provide me with the time to work on my own personal projects since maintaining a social media network once established is not a lot of work at all. I’m going to fuse a social media network with nufrosh (media solutions rather than media designs?). I’m then going to focus on specializing designs for blogs - which is easy since I’ve designed well over 100 blogs in the last few months!

If I can grow the network perfectly for after I graduate, I can then offer complete free online marketing & website set-ups for talented artists & designs who cannot afford it since… 1) It can all be done within a few weeks with very little work!

Stats For Network So Far:
- Four PR3 blogs
- Four new PR0 blogs
- Two new blogs in the making
- TOTAL: 10 blogs