Thursday, January 18, 2007

Week 2 - The journey continues

This weeks gone by so fast, its been a bit of blur. Been working on some smaller tasks this week buts its still been quite fun, and I've got some interesting stuff lined up for next week. At Igloo, every Fridays 'pizza day' and I must say the distinctive taste of a squad pizza makes you crave for it all week, especially since its only 5.50 (Yes Im a bit of a tighs a**...) . But give it a couple of months and I assume I would've had it over my head.

As far as learning experience goes, all the designers here are quite exceptional at what they do. Which is a great motivational force to try and better myself to be on par with everyone. This jobs great and I'm really starting to get used to the early mornings and working for most of the day. My Mac (now equipped with my handy tokidoki Dunny vinyl toy ) is becoming easier and easier to use, not that I've ever doubted the intuitiveness of a Mac. Whilst it doesn't have the guy from the Mac Ad (or the guy from Ed as far as I'm concerned) greeting me every morning with 'Hello I'm a Mac!' I quite prefer it that way, or else I'd have to obligationarily beat him with a shut up stick. Anyway the Mac design is great!

Been working with more of that Web 2.0 look and hopefully I'll have full grasp of it soon. Also been opening up Flash all week and got access to some cool components, and been doing some more actionscripting as usual. By the end of this month hopefully I would've brushed up on all my skills set. The guys here are all still very friendly and very helpful its great. I got a feeling the pace is really going to pick up, so I might need to push myself soon. Also it almost slipped my mind! the Igloo Incubator book just got sent in yesterday and the quality of the book (physically and the work) looks really great and of a high calibre. I'm really glad that this is the enviornment that I'm surrounding myself in.

The learning curve is continuing *Insert an eskimo reading a design book in an Igloo here!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

The First Week

Three more hours and I would've officially worked here at Igloo for one full week.

The nostalgic flashback. 5 days ago.
Battling out the first two days with a mixture of morning sickness, fatigue and a burning desire to eat my by Mac by the spoon full. This is my story.

Entering the studio for the second time after my interview, I was still thoroughly impressed by the studio layout, the sleekness, the array of crazy posters and the free breakfast
kitchen. I was greeted by a bunch of great people, both as professionals (admin, designers etc.) and as individuals, everyone was very welcoming and carried an awesome vibe. They weren't just being friendly to the new guy for 10 mins.

Firstly I am introduced to the world of Macs and as a budding designer it was my secret shame that I've always used PC's. Getting introduced to time sheets and working at lightning speed the nerves started to kick in. But at the same time I was starting to get adjusted and started gaining invaluable experience and started to learn so many things it was 6 hours into work. Particularly my introduction to tween classes it was bloody brilliant. The environment was very laid back but professional at the same time, with Chopper jokes being called at least 3 times every hour.

The next three days became a lot easier and I was working on a couple of different projects already it was great. Eventually I was pulled into learning how to create your typical Web 2.0 elements and getting re-acquainted with my old friend Flash and actionscripting. At this point the Mac was beginning to comply with what I wanted to do and my discovery of the F9 key and how to print screen the Mac way was a milestone that was worthy of a paper mache plaque made out of recycled Big Mac wrappers.

A combination of producing great work, working with great people and working in a great place I am sure I made the right choice to choose Igloo as the place to do my internship over the studios. PS. in case your wondering the senior designer doesn't have a gun to my head at the moment nor is he bribing me, but that would be nice...hmm...I think working here is a reward in itself, well it is genuinely a great place to be working!

The young padawan is still learning from the Jedi's! Insert Star Wars kid video here. This blog entry was a bit pansy I might need to "harden the f. up!' for next weeks entry.



What would a blog be without nifty some pictures to illustrate.