Tag: work

I <3 Monday

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Today is a good day.

As in the best day I have had in aggggeeeessss.

A while ago, I submitted t-shirt designs to a few shops and online. Just because I hate the idea of stuff I like, lying around doing nothing, so I just sent them off in a PDF to see what would happen. Well a company (not going to name names incase it goes tits-up) in Edinburgh, got back to me and were intrested about purchasing the designs to sell. Also a company called threadless, have emailed me to say there is a real chance they could be selling two different designs.

*SSSQQQQUUUUEEEEEE*

I am so happy and hyper and generally I am a big shouty mess. I am so excited. Even if this doesn’t go well, I at least have some experience at meeting actual proper clients. I don’ t think I have ever been so excited, and so proud of my work. If I wasn’t at work I would post something, but I am at work, your not seeing anything.

Alllssssoooo, been asked to contribute to a new Scottish Punk fanzine which is starting in the next few weeks. Which will be so much fun. I am getting some MP3s sent through via email to review. YAY!

And I am going to write an article to be submitted for Sky’s internal customer service newsletter. I don’t know whether that will go through.

ANNNNNNDDDDD, I am writing a 10,000 word fiction for a competition.

And that is all without even touching my college work.

I don’t know the meaning of over-work obviously.

Funday?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So, today the most productive thing I have done this weekend is posting two Vlogs on Youtube and read Twilight.

I have Flash open, so I have gone through the motions of trying to get work done, but as of yet, I have made no progress. As for everything else, nadda been done there either.  😦

*sigh* I remember being at primary school, and I always did loads of work, and even did extra credit stuff, I was such a geeky kid. Then as I grew through high school, that resolve to doing loads of work, fell apart, and I found my self starting to fail subjects. Like English. I always write and I love reading, but yet I flunked higher English. It wasn’t that the stuff was hard, it was more challenging, it was that I couldn’t be bothered. Everything felt like too much of an effort. Which just left me frustrated

Well this frstration has continued through the rest of my education, be it the Vet Nursing or the Graphic Design. There have been a few years, where I have done really well, but most of it, I have just barely scraped a pass. And I get more frustrated and beat myself up. And that makes want to do work even less. Its a nasty circle, and I don’t know if its ever going to end.

The one thing that has changed, is that I am now feeling that I no longer HAVE to do college to be successful. Surely if I am creative, it will speak for itself and I will get work. But from looking around, things aren’t that simple and most employers in the creative sector require you to have some sort of formal training. Which is infuriating. I mean if someone has a good eye for design, or a good style, then surely that should be better than a certificate?

Doesn’t skill out-rank grade? It irritates me to no end, that if you want to be successful in this world, then you need to have to have some kind of college degree. I’m not wanting a formal job, I am pretty much decided that I am going to freelance. But I guess only time will tell if that will work or not.

*sigh*

Check out my latest Vlog:

Calm before storm

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I am at work and I am so chilled out.  I work on the phones, for a television company (who shall remain nameless), and I have been getting technical training, so that I can help more of our customers sort out their problems, rather than transfering calls.

What happens is we get this training in a classroom, much like school, and then we spend two weeks taking nothing but technical calls. And right now, I am in the middle part, as I have just finished the training about 20 minutes ago. 🙂 So I am on the phone, for the last hour of my shift, taking my normal Customer Services calls, and to be honest, it is totally dead.  And I am really excited about starting to take tech calls tomorrow 🙂 , as in really cannot wait. I guess its just because I am trying something new, so it is always exciting. I am just happy its not billing, because I like techincal, but I cannot do billing for the life of me.

The one thing that is important with working on the phone, and even moreso with tech, is how you explain something to a customer. Which is how graphic design works, its how you communicate  the information. Its one of the things I have learnt, working for such a large company, customers only take in what they want to. So I suppose an important thing in what I do, is finding a way that all the important information will be taken in by whoever looks at it.

Because of the industry I am planning to go into, I am very big on reading the small print, but that is something I have learnt working here, as well as creating my own advertisements.  People absorb what you tell them to, and people use that power against the very people they set out to have as customers.

By not displaying information as clearly as they should, people don’t even read important things such as contracts and small print, because they are boring. They just want to watch their new tv, not sit and read through a book of terms of their contract.  As a business who serves the public, is it not important that we tell customers EVERYTHING, and not just the good bits to make a quick sale.

At the end of the day, if you are honest and upfront, a client or customer will respect you for giving them all the facts. Just because there are conditions to your free broadband, does not mean that is anyless of an offer if we tell you of the conditions.

I believe that the public should be given as much information as possible, by us, as in businesses, so that the can make the best decision. And people who withhold information, should get charged, as we need to defend the public. They have faith in who they deal with, too many people take advantage of that faith.

**sorry for rambling, but its a thought which has been in my head a long time, and I think that it is something that should be openly discussed. **

Holiday Work?

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So I’m off college for two weeks. 🙂 And I have decided ro do a lot of work, to catch up on everything.

So first proper day of holiday and I wake up at midday. Which leads to me lounging around and doing nothing till I venture out for work later on. So, kind of not productive, when you consider other than making a toasted cheese sandwich, this blog is the most productive I have been all day. lol

Oh well. I’m going to try and get some stuff tonight when I come home from work. Gonna put on the Watchmen DVD, and just relax, and play catch up on everything. 🙂 Well, I am going to sit and get my thumbnails sorted for my graded Unit. I got a C last year for my Graded Unit, so my aim is to blow that result out the water this year. So far, the project is a lot cleaner and a lot more detailed, I just hope I can keep that up 😕

I suppose it was my birthday weekend, so I’m trying not to be so harsh on myself, as that usually brings what little motivation I have to a stop. So I’m trying to not stress out about it. I am going to try and sort my room out tomorrow, because it is covered in sketchbooks, clothes and empty fag packets.

I know, its such a sexy image 😛

xx

Get Down With The Sickness

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Uch 😦

Still not feeling much better, if anything I am feeling worse. It started off as the flu, which then turned into a rather nasty cold and finally it is an ear infection.:/ Its my birthday this weekend, and I can sense it’ll be in my bed. Not so nice, likes.

Anyway, I am having a wee break from doing work, or trying to do work, and been having a wee look through the internet, to try and find inspirational websites for influencing my website I’m designing. I am bad enough doing things normally, without feeling half dead.

So this is just a quick update, whilst I try to get motivated again. But I found this website during my ambling.Its a site by a guy called Adam Amaral, I like the hand drawn menus and things. Check it out – http://www.adamamaral.com/

Technology=life

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Most of the last few days, I have only been on the PC, if it was needed. The reason is, that I am choked with the flu. I feel horrible.

But it did make me think how I would live without technology. I mean it is impossible for me to imagine my life without my computer, tv, mobile and X box. It’s crazy. I want to know when did I become so emotionally attached to such items. I used to be attached to my wee stereo but that was it. Now, I carry my mobile and iPod everywhere. I am also connected to the web, for most of my day. Because I email clients and printmakers a lot, I always check my emails.

It’s almost like a compulsion. Unless I am really ill, I can’t survive on silence. I don’t know if it’s because I am usually so busy,  but I struggle to relax. apparently this is a common thing, these days, with a lot of people struggling to relax, because society, these days requires us to not switch off. It’s like we always need stimulation from somewhere. It’s crazy.

Hoping to get work as a graphic designer, I am going to be spending  a lot of time on the computer, that is something that is not going to change. That is not necessarily a bad thing, because it is something I need to do. I just need to be able to switch off a lot more. So that I can relax. At the moment I work and relax using the internet. I need to be able to feel that I can switch off from the web. Not really sure how to do that though.

Uber Stresshead

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment
So, here I am sitting at work, and I could really do without being here for 5 hours, answering the phone to people who think I am thick as shit.

I still have a big gap of research to do for both my Graded Unit and Art & Design Project, and I can’t do any of it, whilst I am here. Not even when its quiet, I would need to be able to put my pen drive in the pc, to save images, and I can’t do that. Mostly because the ‘powers that be’, seem to think i will steal data from the pc. Which is understandable, I guess, if not a little over cautious.

I got my photograph taken in the photography studio at college, which was exciting. It was taken by students, but it was still cool. Never really done anything like that before. We were told we would get a copy of the photos, which would be cool. I need some full shots of my self, as I have never felt more comfortable about my body. I think that has to do with the fact, that for the last few days I have been forcing myself to look in the mirror every day. Mostly because I need to love my self. I know it sounds stupid, but I’m sick of being told that I am wrong for the way that I look. I have always been large, and its time for me to be happy for that.

Up and at’em.

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Well I’m up anyway.

I’m sitting here, still trying to get this design theory done, and what do I do? I decide to open up a website. I was sitting around last night, and I was thinking that I need to do something different, get an actual piece of the internet, that’ll represent me completely.
And that’s when I thought of Psychobabble. The word itself means, something that may only make sense to one person. And that’s kind of representive of me in general.
The word itself came into my head, when I was walking home after a dead end shift on Kana, which is the Sky Help Centre, where customers can email in, rather than phone. It was everything from, ‘you bastards for not refunding me for a box office i never watched, but never told you there was an issue till now’, to ‘I am 18 and want a job in your Uddingston call centre in Glasgow’. But it was a nice break from ‘my sky isn’t working cause there’s snow on the dish’. Ugh. SO anyway..,I was thinking I need a way to get out of this job, so really need to jump on the whole freelancer, lets get my own work thing.

And thats when I started thinking about what kind of website I would like, well it would be slightly crazy and bright. The reason I am starting on the website is because whilst I have limited knowlege on building a website, I have no idea how to get a domain name, etc. So that’s the main point of this. I learn more when I just work through things myself, so thats what I’m attempting.
See how it goes.

Its something I have NEVER done before, so it may all go dramatically wrong. But I’ll never know if I don’t try. So wish me luck.
In the next coming days, the logo will be done, and I’ll be getting hosting and domain name sorted, hopefully.

Summer fun

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Not exciting as it should be this year, mostly cause I’m having to be restrictive with my cashflow. :/

Plan is to force myself into being creative regularly. I know it sound odd, but I really cannot mess up college again next year. So by motivating myself over the summer, I hope that I can continue it into college.
My aim is to create 2 pieces per day. That includes when I go out places.
It can be traditional or digital, as long as I attempt to do something.
Hopefully, when I get in the swing of things, I will continue this work ethic.
Thats what it is, because its no longer just a passtime. I am hoping to make a living out of this. So I need to stop kidding on and be serious.

On a good note, walked the two miles to work today, which sounds good. If I hadn’t lazed around all weekend doing very little, cept eat.

I swear I am two steps forward, one step back.
So that this has a better feel, I will also be posting any creations on here and all my blogs. This is to show I am an active worker, and to create like a show of my work.