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The Podcasts that I am Listening to currently

The Futur by Chris Do

This podcast is a from the previous group that makes the previous video I posted. Within this podcast what I really like about is how the style of it is. When I listen its as if I am just listening to them have a natural conversation.

Perspective Podcast

What I really enjoy about this podcast is how Scotty is such a cool down to earth guy. The podcasts are not 60 plus minutes like some podcasts. In his short podcasts they are always good and straight to the point and you gain something from them. I definitely recommend checking them out.

 

Creative Pep Talk

I absolutely love this podcast and the friendly voice of the host. Also the amount of confidence a creative person can gain from listening to this podcast is unbelievable. I will admit when I first started listening to this podcast I was not as confident in my work as I am now. Andy definitely is a gem with this podcast. I definitely recommend check it out.

 

Drunk on Lettering

This is another fun podcast. In this podcast you will hear roxy and phoebe interview amazing letter artists from instagram on their podcast. While doing the podcast they are drinking and its pretty fun. To me I get the vibe of you going out to have drinks with a friend.

 

So these are the podcast that I listen to frequently. I do have others that I am subscribed to but I wanted to share ones that I actually listen to. If there are any that you’d recommend please feel free to contact me and share.

Why Your branding Sucks and you should’ve hired an actual designer

Your branding sucks but you may not think it does. The reason why it sucks is because you wanted to be cheap and do it yourself. Also you may have thought you know I’ll just find someone who can do it for me cheaply. Well you know that it does not benefit you to go the cheap route.

Just think of how your car, shoes, bed and etc would be if you always bought cheap things. Because your brand is a symbol of what you stand for. A great example is Rolls Royce, Ferrari and many other cars of the same type. They stand for elegance and many other things and will continue to do so.

The reason they will continue stand for those things is because they did not take the cheap route. They also have realized how important branding is in all aspects. Another great example is Apple just think how the world would look at apple if they started making cheap plastic phones without caring about design.

You know that it wouldn’t have helped them at all in the long run. The same thing can be said for the Apple Watch if they did not pay attention to the details not many would’ve cared about them long term. Also it fits into the overall culture that Apple has created with their brand image, company image and etc.

We as people tend to expect certain things from Brands. Whether you want to believe it or not that is truly the way how things are. If you go into certain stores you can expect to wait and or be treated rudely. So therefore there really is no need to get upset or be surprised by that. There are little things that we have to stop overlooking.

If you are starting a dog food company that sells food that is beneficial to making a dog have a shinier coat you would invest in good branding. Because there is a certain market that you will have to appeal to. Also there are certain stores that you are going to want to sell in. Because you want to more than anything be where the customers/ clientele would be.

So stop being cheap and afraid to invest in your businesses overall image. You may not see the value in it right now. But believe me long down the road you will be glad you did. Just look at how upset people were about Ubers logo change. You want to have people get upset over you changing your logo because the one you have was so good. Another way to go about that is to have no one noticed that it changed. How many people were upset about Walmart changing their branding?

Think Different

Thinking different is what a lot of people like to in-vision themselves doing. But the act of actually doing it can be difficult. But you want to not be scared of doing things differently. If you are doing things in relation to what you actually want do.

The aspect of doing things in accord with what is true to your own nature is golden. Whenever you are listing to yourself life will be more enjoyable. When I was younger I listened to what those who were around me were telling me to do. But you know what I did I decided to take time to listen to myself.

The experiences we have in life and also the people we meet in life can either teach us or harm us. So take the time to remember thinking different is ok. There is nothing wrong with actually thinking outside of the box instead of being limited by it.

What has happened in my life recently

Well a lot of good things have happened in my life recently. I have started a new job at FedEx office. Before I was working at officemax. At officemax I worked in the print department. The experience that I gained from working at officeMax as not bad. A lot of the things I learned I still will continue to use.

The coworkers that I had from officeMax especially my supervisor he trained me very well. We had a great relationship because he taught me a lot about designing in the real world. Another thing was the types of jobs that we did for customers. I also while working at officemax I was freelancing at Herman advertising for awhile.

The other day I just sat back and thought about how my life has been over this past year. When I all of the trials and tribulations that I experienced wanted to break me I smile. I smile because they are nothing to me now and are so easy. Then I take time and appreciate myself for surviving them.

At FedEx the culture is so much better and it at first was overwhelming. By overwhelming I was pretty touched by the amount of care that is taken into consideration when hiring people, the training and also how my coworkers take the job serious.

The Moral of the story is that you may be going through a tough time or in a job that you’ve been with for awhile and no longer enjoy, but you know what get out of there. There should be no reason for you to go into your job and get emotionally upset. The major thing I would say is to go where you are appreciated and not tolerated.

Learn to use what you’ve learned in a current position to propel you forward. Also do not be afraid to talk with people and network. When you take the time to talk to people and get to know them you will have an even better life. Remember that the conversation is not always about you.

You cannot knock the hustle

If you have heard this phrase before you may or may not know what it means. But let me explain this to you. Because hustling has many different meanings. The one I am talking about is people who are putting in the work to achieve their goals.

When you are a person who puts in the time to achieve your set goals then you are hustling. Because you can sit and think about what it would be like to achieve the goal or work and get it done. So you do not want to knock or in other words dampen their progress.

 

Gaming Meerkat

If you do not know what meerkat it is a platform similar to periscope. Meerkat is a livestreaming application where you can broadcast to the world. But there are things that are not allowed on there and one of them is nudity. If you do plan to use meerkat there are somethings that you have to take note and I’ll explain the darkside to you of meerkat and how people find a weakness in a platform and use it poorly.

Well on meerkat if you become very active on there and a regular part of the community you will become familiar with people and the regular streamers. I will be the first to admit I am having more fun on meerkat than I would periscope. What I like most about meerkat is the comments do not disappear, show and tell and the cameo feature.

On meerkat you will notice there are people who are gaming the system that needs to be improved. The system is a point based system. The system gets abused every single day. There are people who go around liking and restreaming and following everyone. The reason they follow everyone is so as soon as that person is live they can be the first there to like and restream and then leave.

Liking and restreaming on meerkat gets a person points. The more points you have the higher you can go up on the leaderboard. The leaderboard is basically like a scoreboard for sreamers on meerkat. Some people got there through hard work and others got there through gaming the system.

The way that the meerkat points system reminds me of how youtube had to redo their algorithm when the reply girls found a weakness in the system. So meerkat needs to get on this and re arrange how the point system works. The points feel as if its basically a game and a rush to get to the leaderboard.

When you find a weakness in any social platform I do not see it as building longevity. More or less you are looking for a short term gain. This short term gain is one that will not last. The reason it will not last is because you are not creating a strong connection.

The way I go about using meerkat  is I will like and restream the people who I like. Sometimes I will just like their stream if I do not feel its worthy of sharing with my followers. Then I stay in their stream and participate. By participating and sharing your voice you are getting to know the person. You are having a conversation with them. If you don’t think you have the time to do such a thing then you have to rethink your strategy.

So with all this said if you are or if you do plan to join meerkat just know there are people who game the system using like and restreaming. The point that people do it on meerkat is pretty sickening and for some its an addiction of habit. The main reason is the leaderboard. If they get high up on the leaderboard they’ll be happy. But my thing is I don’t care about being on any kind of leaderboard if people do not know who I am through a connection I took the time to create with them.

Because at times I have thought about throwing in the towel with meerkat and moving to periscope. But the time I have put in with meerkat and knowing a lot people and making a lot of friends there it would be stupid to throw it all away just because of an action done by people. If you join a social media network become a part of the community don’t just take advantage of the system and bring it to its knees.

Someone can always do it cheaper

If you are someone who has the mentality of I can find someone to do it cheaper you need to take a look at yourself. By that I mean why would you think finding the cheapest option is the best. Would you want to find the cheapest tattooer and get a shitty tattoo? I think not..

Because always the cheapest option is not the best option. You want to take the time to invest in what you believe in. By that I mean you want to not skimp on what matters. If you were to lets say have your friends son who has no skill in design creating a logo for you just because it is free.

Just take the time to think of how much your branding is apart of who you are. Especially in business its not something to be taken lightly. Time and time again I see dozens of businesses that took the cheap option. The cheap option is not a bad thing. Because if there is something you want done but cannot afford it at the moment take the best option.

Another thing is that if you cannot afford it is to save money so you can afford it. This is a simple solution to many things in the design industry and many others. But with all that said make sure you are not cutting corners just to skimp and save money on important things. You would want someone who knows what they are doing to do the best job possible.

 

Being afraid of your work not being good enough

Well recently  I was graciously bestowed with the opportunity to join dribbble. As we all may or may not know that Dribbble is a pretty big deal. The reason is because of the work on there how its so good and whatever else you want to say about it. I had thought to myself I don’t know if I am able to hang with those people in regards to designing.

But I said to myself you know what you are able to hang with them. Because of the amount of work that I have been putting in and also perfecting my craft of graphic design and calligraphy. A good example is the people you hang around you end up becoming like. So if you are forcing yourself to jump into the scene of amazing design work you will Do your best to match that quality that is set.

This is not something that only applies to graphic design. You can experience the same thing in any field. Because the level of quality and standard that is set. Always you have to keep the thought of that everything I do will reflect me as a person. Just think for a second how you would look at a landscaper who does a half ass job. You would more or less think they and anyone else who works with them is a poor worker as well.

So do your best to avoid falling into the trap of not thinking you are good enough. Because the only way for you to become better is to hang around people who are better than you. Spending time with those who are better than you may be scary at first. But you want to take the time to learn how they are and do as they do.

In regards to dribbble I am going to start posting work there soon. I will have to learn more about it first before I move forward with using it on a more consistent basis.

Michael Bierut Talks Brand Design & The Key To Creating Logos

I always love seeing new videos from Michael Beruit he always has such a great handle on passing the knowledge he’s learned. Another thing I was shocked a little was when he said when a client comes to him he always asks “whats wrong with what you got?”.

With all that said you have a great weekend and thanks for dropping by.