desidioms

the elements of web-type

so, it's been almost five years since i graduated from university - graduated the communication design program - and yet, the book, "the elements of typographic style" is again infiltrating my desktop. but instead of the wooden desktop i used to work on - the one full of scratches, sticky with spray mount and decorated with the out-of-the-line markings of prisma colors - it's my 2-d computer desktop, with the rotating pictures of my nephew and my cat.
this time, it's the the elements of typographic style applied to the web. finally, something to reference when our programmers tell us we have to live with their inability (or lack of professional accountability) to make our body copy look halfway decent.

design donkey

hard-working designer or art director - doesn't see the sun from november to april, except for some weekends and holidays. works from start of day, straight through, past the 5:30 mark, and still comes to work the next day.
design donkey works this hard bc of the little shimmer of light that shines from award shows and community recognition. it's like a mule every once in a while getting an apple in its trough.
i could go further with the desidiom-alogy: who's the farmer, who's the horse, who's the cat who gets to sit in the farmer's house to drink milk... but i have lots of work to do.

team

team - two or more art directors/designers, copywriters, production artists, and a creative director, possibly some account execs, that work on a project together

sometimes a team can be difficult - especially with designers - who can be more than willing to share ideas and collaborate on a project and who can turn around and want total autonomy aka "ownership" on another.
we have egos. we have those projects that we really really want to win a place in CA with our name underneath and our name alone. maybe that's just me. and maybe all i've met are designers that feel the same way - strong designers with strong books. and when the project is yours - you don't mind getting external input - but its your decision whether or not you want to take it - its not something you have to agree on.
i read the school of visual arts CRIT blog this morning, and there was a discussion about collaboration, with many pro and con opinions posted in commentary. one of the comments i read mentioned something that hit home - since i encountered the same problems in school. someone not pulling their weight. and of course, on the contrary side - there are always those in collaborative efforts who try to pull too much of the weight.
but don't get me wrong - there are a plethora of reasons that support a team atmosphere - but in my experience, the best environment is one where there's multiple designers working on individual projects in close vicinity helping each other out whenever they can. they should replicate this more in design school, and i'm not talking about the "group critiques" bc those could just be stages for some students to say what they think the professor wants them to say.
if more design schools tailored their classes to mimic the design firm setting - where in class, lets say a mandatory design lab, you worked on your designs among other students doing the same. little cubicles where you can turn to joe, and say, "hey, what do you think of this" and to marie and say, "that's really cool, what if you..." - bc that's what it's like in the real world - unless you're freelance.

harder than cracking the creative suite

cracking the creative suite or drag and dropping CS

translation: insanely hard, difficult, impossible or nearly impossible
ex: "tickets to coldplay were sold out. finding good seats was harder than cracking CS"

apalachicola basscat

like a G3

"like a G3" = slow.
ex. "hurry up, you're movin like a G3"

desktop & webstage

desktop = a designer's personal space
ex. "he's totally infringing on my desktop"

webstage = a web designer or programmer's personal space
ex. "look, i am the expert on search engine optimization, so please get off my webstage"

custom photography

custom photography: something ordinary made cooler - like this nokia 8801 phone.
i discovered this phone this morning, and i want it bad. the keypad slides up when you tap it, and slides back down when you tap it again. it's super-sleek made of stainless steel and scratch resistant glass (specially reinforced glass over screen) - and along with a collection of better-than-your-average-ringtone ringtones, it boosts an internal digital music player (AAC/mp3) and an FM radio. it has camera and video capabilities, bluetooth, and most anything else you could want.
this phone is so custom photo.

RSS me

"keep me in the loop" or "please update me on the details of this situation" or "can you give me an 'ETA' on the project?"

step off my wacom

"step off my wacom" = "you're invading my personal space, please go away and stop bothering me" also "look - i've got things under control, if i want help, i'll ask for it"