I’ve been trying to convince Ciri that I could have ADHD.  Ironically, I spent the past decade constantly defending the fact that I did NOT have ADHD – I just had air-headed moments… lots of ‘em.  The reason I am finally admitting I may have it is so I can try out some of that medication I keep hearing about.  If it works, great!  If it doesn’t, than maybe I don’t have ADHD after all!  Win-win.

One of these conversations ended up with Ciri saying I should get a shirt that would warn people about my ADHD-ness (since she convinced me not to try the meds).  The first thing I spit out was this:

ADHD, I haz it.

Immediately after, Ciri came back with this, more accurate, depiction of my shirt:

ADHD, I haz-oh shiny.

Anyway, so yeah.  No meds for me.  Apparently, I have no discipli… Oohh. Twitter/Flickr/Facebook/RSS feeds!

UPDATE: I am not sure why I drew the shirt, that is supposed to be for me, as a woman’s shirt…  oh well, women get ADHD too, right?

By now, you understand my passion for all things design.   Interior, landscape, industrial, graphic – I can’t think of any design discipline I don’t enjoy.   The problem is that I need to narrow my passions down to just a few, “true,” passions.   It’s really annoying being a 27 year old and not knowing where you want your career to go.   I know I want to be an industrial designer, but where exactly will my focus lie?

If I can bring anything to the blogging world it’s my struggle to overcome my lazy, procrastinating, scared-to-fail attitude to eventually do something with the skills I know I have.   So, here we go.

Wooden Puzzle

I finally realized, after some deep meditation and thorough discussion with Ciri – and a little with Izzy, too – that I am very much a kid at heart.

Izzy has a toy that no child grows up without – you know, the five rings that go on top of that cone thing.   Guess who plays with it more?   Not Izzy.     It’s an interesting toy that is really simple yet teaches babies so much of the world they live in.   It’s an interesting design and concept.

I decided that, with an Industrial Design degree, I want to design toys for kids of all ages.   Puzzles, board games, heck – maybe even video games (think small, like Iphone apps, or Homebrew stuff.)

I’ve always been an inquisitive person – my Dad would get frustrated with my highly opinionated ideas on vehicle design and engineering (he’s an “automotive technician/entrepreneur”).   It’s that opinionated inquisitiveness and childishness that I believe gives me the strength and the right mindset to design fun, interactive, and maybe even educational toys.   Sounds backwards, I know, but I’m working on a couple of things right now that I hope will prove my point.

As for my journal, expect to see more posts on designing games and toys.

It’s a relief to finally know my true path.   That sounds kind of cliche and silly, but I’ve been the “jack of all trades” type of guy for too long, and I am severely annoyed with that moniker.   I want to be the “master.”   No more jack.

Like the new look?   I know what you’re saying, “didn’t he just redesign everything about a month ago?”   Yes, I did.   I realized that I was going in the wrong direction for my blog.   I had WAY too much going on.   Simplify.

Although, not a completely minimal design, the new layout is cleaner and intuitive.   My old logo is not gone, I just need to recolor and resize it so it will fit in the new area.

Some things I want to point out pertaining to design:

The first navigation you see is Pages at the top.   This takes you to my separate pages displaying specific content, like the Shop (working on that too – shirts and stuff) and Photo Albums.   This is laid out at the top in larger font to attract your attention.   I think it’s a very easy layout and I hoped that it wasn’t too confusing with the separate navigation on the right and below.

The right navigation is quick stuff.   You want to contact me, boom, there it is.   Search?   Right there.   Subscribing to the blog is MUCH easier with this new link.   It links to a page, which will also get changed around, that lists the different subscriptions available.   The point of this section is to provide fast and easy access to the entirety of the site without long lists of links.   The search function is a big help to giving readers quick access to content they want to read about.

Finally, the Category navigation.   This might be the straw the broke the camels back – for some.   I actually like it; it is a great way to discover new material on my site.   The search tool allows readers to find something they are looking for.   The category navigation provides readers with material they aren’t looking for.   This is important: if they aren’t looking for it, don’t make it obvious.   Make it available, but don’t force feed it to them.

The sidebars are a pain in the ass.   I want to display sooo much content there, but there is never enough room at the top.   When I browse other blogs, the sidebar is usually cluttered with so many widgets and lists that I just ignore them.   I am guilty of this crime, which is why I didn’t like the dual sidebar with the previous design.   I was trying to display too much info.

The sidebar should be for small bits of content or links.   If they’re too big, they take up lots of primo real estate.   I’m still struggling with perfecting my own philosophy on sidebars, but I think I am headed in the right direction now.

Lastly, the most important area, the content.   The content is why you come here.   This must be easy to read and easy to follow.   Nothing is easier to read than black text on a white background.   It can be boring sometimes, but it’s something that can’t be helped.   Sure, sometimes you can use contrasting colors effectively and still be aesthetically pleasing, but like I said, nothing beats black on white.

Also pertaining to the content layout is the meta data.   The title, date, comments, and tags all have a place.   Do you know where this place is?   It’s hard to figure out a good layout that isn’t the same old layout.   I tried for something different on my last design and I really liked it – it’s not perfect, but it’s a good start.   There may be too much going on – the Share This button may push it over the edge, so expect that to get moved somewhere else.

That’s about it. If anyone wants to use this theme for their blog, it will be provided free at FiveMediaDS.com later this week.   There are some finishing touches I need to go though in the code before I can put it up.   I am going to try and convert it so it can be used in a Blogger blog as well.

As always, let me know what you think.