Josh Sager Media: Creative Technologies Blog

Okay so that’s a little cheesy, but seriously there is a lot going on in Pittsburgh concerning Web, Art, Design, and Development. Over the last 10 years Pittsburgh has developed into a hotbed of niche communities.  I only wish I could represent them all in this post but I only know what I know. It seems there’s a group for just about anything.  Which is great! As knowledge workers we no longer have to suffer alone slowly sinking in solutions that are just out of reach. There’s a strong community ready to help support the every day web warrior.

Last night just further confirmed in my eyes that we’ve got to have one of the best communities in the country. It’s seems like every month I’m learning about another niche technology group that’s been meeting for several years.

More than Meets the Eye

So if you’re keeping tabs and are looking for something to do stop by any one of these fine user groups. Again this is NOT a complete list.  Only things that I’ve run into.

Organizations - Meetings - Gatherings

• Flash Users Group
• Refresh Pittsburgh
• Pittsburgh Dev House
• Hack PGH
• PHP Users Group
• E-Learning Guild
• Drupal Users Group
• Pittsburgh SEO Group
• Pittsburgh Internet and Marketing SEO Group
• BlogFest
• Cold Fusion Users Group
• Artist Imaging Resource - Screen Printing
• Dr. Sketchy
• Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators
• Pittsburgh Film Makers
• AIGA
• Tweet Ups
• Drink and Draw
• Pittsburgh Web Design Meet Up
• Build Guild
• DorkBot
• PGH Coding Dojo
• Geek Night
• Western PA Linux Group
• Java User Group
• .Net User Group
• PCUG

Annul Events

• FlashPitt
• Web Design Day
• Podcamp Pittsburgh
• Art and Code
• Handmade Arcade
• Pinball Championship (okay it’s not art or code, but come on that’s awesome!)
• AIGA Portfolio Reviews
• Various Gallery Crawls
• 3 Rivers Arts Fest

These are just the things that I’m aware of in the Web, Art, and Design scene and it’s growing every day. If you want to see what’s happening, need advice on a project, or just want to talk shop with other people who understand “you do computers?” and “dis one deer draws perty pitchers n’at” is not a accurate description of what you do for a living get involved.

A big thanks to Bittersweet Harvest for shooting and posting this video.

Tomorrow is FlashPitt 09 and I’m totally pumped!

My slides are ready, my jokes are horrible, and I’m all prepped and ready to go. I’m boiling with excitement over geeking out with some of the greatest people in the world. I’m really looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.  And I’m especially looking forward to the geek debates that I’m sure we’ll have over primanit sandwiches. So Cheers to FlashPitt eve, and all of the wonderfulness that is about to ensue.

P.S.

This year I’ll be doing a workshop on Intermediate ActionScript 3.0 and a session on Creative Interactions: Flash Experiments.

I hope to see there.  There’s an excellent line up this year and it would be insane not to come

Last Friday I was asked to participate in with a panel with other local designers to evaluate student (college level) portfolios for AIGA Pittsburgh. I was very flattered by the inattention and humbled by participation of designers. There was representation from many leading agencies as well as top level freelancers. It was interesting to see how similar we all were. Despite our backgrounds, our career paths, and our training we are all very passionate about design and wish we could help others benefit from our mistakes coming up in the industry.

What was Missing

Working at a college I’ve seen my fair share of portfolio shows and everyone seems to have a theme. This one was really no different. Most of these students have never met one another. They were from schools across the State, but they all shared very similar approaches, concepts, practices, and deficiencies.

The students for the most part displayed adequate skills with software, basic layout, and design. But the one thing that seemed to be missing was thought. Outside of one student, the others showed their books and only final pieces. As a talent evaluator I’m more interested in how a designer arrives at their solution then I am the solution. Looking at finished work only gives you one part of the puzzle. The photograph could have made the design; maybe the designer go lucky; possibly a fluke logo etc…

The thought shows intent as well as the purpose of their ideas. It is my opinion that over time most designers can be trained to make adequate layouts and to stay within a certain comfort zone of colors and type. Repetition and coaching to most designers to that level, but good ideas and concepts can take a composition from plain layout to a masterfully communicated message.

Portfolio Do’s and Don’ts

• Do show your thought processes
• Don’t harp on your negatives when showing your book
• Do display passion in your work
• Don’t relay on class activities as portfolio pieces
• Do take the initiative to look out into the world and solve a
  design problem
• Don’t compare yourself to your classmates look outward
• Do know what type of work the agency you’re applying to does and send them that kind of work when considered for a position
• Don’t create a blanket portfolio and send it everywhere
• Do continue to make more works after college
• Don’t think you’re done learning

I’ve got only one word to explain the experience.  WOW!

What is Pittsburgh Web Design Day?

Pittsburgh Web Design was a one day conference organized by Jason and Val Head of Refresh Pittsburgh and On The Fridge.

My Impressions

This was a top notch one day conference. Jason and Val really out did themselves. The speakers were fantastic, the space was wonderful, and Franktuary + perogies = awesome!

The Speakers featured local and regional web guru’s with some sort of tie to Pittsburgh. I was really amazed at how each session referenced, echoed, and built on prior sessions reinforcing concepts, philosophies, and techniques. It was like a symphony of awesome information.

I am truly honored to have been apart of it. The speakers were Geoff Barnes, Chris Cashdollar, Val Head, Whitney Hess, Jason Robb, myself, and Samantha Warren.

The entire day was chalked full of great conversations, new friendships, stimulating debates, and all around good times. Did I mention Happy Cog was there (Chris and Kevin Hoffman)

The Story of a Web Project

I was floored by the positive reaction to my session. When I was putting it together I had my doubts. Thank you all for your positive feedback, suggestions, and conversations.

As promised I’m posting my slides accompanied with a few other documents to help you establish your own processes.

I am releasing all of the following documents under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Slides
Client Questionnaire
The Why of Web Design
Process Chart

Once again I want to thank all everyone for the great time and especially Jason and Val for the opportunity.

Thanks for a great brush up guys and gals!

I’m very pleased at how well all of you did and I hope it was helpful and can lead you toward your next actionscripting goals. We covered a lot of material and did almost everything exclusively with code!

If you’re still hungry for more actionscript Pittsburgh has a great Flash Users Group that meets the 3rd Thursday of every month.

Keep flashing and drop me a link of your work every now and again.