John Cade

You’ll have to forgive me - I broke my blog at some point over the last two weeks while trying to updgrade Wordpress, and I left my readers with the dreaded “php errors” for viewing.  Maybe after reading the list of what has been going on over the past few weeks, you’ll understand why I neglected to fix it.

• I moved into my new place in Green Hills two weeks ago.  Other than listening to extremely loud traffic while in bed at night (clarification:  the traffic is normal.  the windows are super thin), I absolutely love the place.  The lady who owns the house, and lives downstairs, is a great neighbor.  Thank God for that.  Also, it only takes me 10 minutes to get downtown during rush hour.  Couldn’t have selected a better location.
• During GMA Week, I attended a preview of the Music Builds Tour with Switchfoot at the Wildhorse Saloon.  For anyone who has never been to the Wildhorse, Jon Foreman said it best:  “This is a nice country bar.  That’s what this is.”   As always, Switchfoot was incredible.  I never miss an opportunity to see them live, and neither should you.
• Meredith and I also attended the Dove Awards at the Grand Ole Opry.  It was my first time in the Grand Ole Opry House, and it was definitely a unique experience.  Sitting through a live taping of that magnitude is a very surreal experience.  Even though I was actually present at the awards show, it felt as if I was watching it all through a monitor.  Everything ran like clockwork.  I was able to see Switchfoot play for the second time in one week.  They played “This is Home” which is going to be featured on the Prince Caspian soundtrack.   Do yourself a favor, and listen to it on their myspace page.
• May 1 and 2 were my first two days as an employee of LifeWay (actually, it was just orientation).  My official title is Internet Producer, and I will be working in Digital Media Publishing.  I was able to meet a lot of great people and get familiar with the 22 acres or so of land that the campus sits on.  Second only to the Tennessee state government, LifeWay is the largest property owner in downtown Nashville.  If you need any advice on surviving the hiring process with a large organization, feel free to shoot me a message.  After three entire months of conversations with one, I know a thing or two.
• Meredith and I will be married in exactly two weeks.  I can’t believe how close it is!

Please excuse the missing images and sound files throughout my older posts.  I’ll work on getting those back up withing the next few days.

As with any profession, being a designer has its ups and downs. My success is defined by my creativity and how other people perceive my art. There are no rules to follow. It is more exciting than desperately trying to meet a sales goal or struggling to increase the bottom line of Company X in hopes of receiving an annual bonus. Don’t get me wrong, corporate jobs are equally as important in most cases, and many people who have them enjoy them. However, the biggest perk of designing for a living is that it isn’t monotonous because each project must be unique. Therefore each day is unique. And so on.

With this freedom, however, often comes frustration. I’m not referring to ‘designers block’ here. What I’m talking about is much more frustrating than that. It’s the disconnect between the finalized design and the quality and accuracy of the display of the design in its final environment that can cause frustration. Let me give you a real life example.

I was assigned to design an identity for a youth group retreat called Wired. Naturally, Nathan and I went through all of the ways we could work wires into the logo, hoodie, and banner designs. We sent a few comps to the client, and they responded with a few minor adjustments. With those adjustments made, the design was done, and everything was sent off to be printed.

This is where I start to get nervous. How will everything turn out?

I ordered the banners onilne. We had never seen a banner that this company has printed. To boot, they are located in California. This alone is enough to make any designer worry. Ordering a 12 foot by 5 foot poster, sight unseen? That’s ludicrous! I thought so too. But this company was extremely affordable and their turn-around time was 24 hours. Alas, we ordered them, but not without hesitation. While Nathan and I discussed everything that go wrong, the posters were shipped, and came back perfect. We were amazed! We couldn’t have asked for better quality.

We also placed an order for some hoodies around the same time that were scheduled to be printed and picked up on January 17, one day prior to the event.

• Problem #1: On the 17th, the order wasn’t ready.
• Problem #2: The printer says “We have never printed a design across a zipper like this, so we are going to have to have to cover the center of it with a piece of tape.”

At this point, I’m thinking

Fabulous. Rather than splitting the design down the middle and making a new screen with everything in tact, you’re just going to knock out a line down the center of my design?

What’s the worst that can happen though, right? Zippers are thin. So it can’t be that bad.

But it can. What’s wrong with this picture?

The knockout is two inches wide, at least! It looks like a roll of duct tape was used to do it!

Outrageous! Why did I let this happen?

Now that is frustrating. At least I can take something from this situation though. Next time someone says “We’ve never done this before”, run for the hills!

As a side note, the incredibily beautiful model in the picture is my fiance. Thanks, Meredith!

Part 1

One of the perks of having a design job in Nashville is the client base that I am surrounded by.  I’ve been working on some website comps (in design speak, website comp = photoshop template) for Warner Brothers Records.  They recently signed a new comedian who will be releasing a CD on February 12 of this year.  I have been given the duty of taking previously designed album artwork and turning it into a website and online store.  It’s too early on in the process for me to make those designs public, but I thought I would give some insight into what I’ve been working with these past two days.

It’s hilarious!

Gladys Hardy, an 88 year old from Austin, Texas, was made famous by calling the Ellen show and making some nonsensical and extremely funny statements.  Here’s a clip of one of her infamous phone calls:

However, there is much controversy over who this Gladys Hardy person really is.  Even the local newspaper in Austin couldn’t track her down.

Funny thing is, it doesn’t take a newspaper reporter to figure out who she is.  Since we work closely with ‘Gladys Hardy’s’  label, we get the inside scoop.  Just ask a designer!

Part 2

It’s snowing!  This was taken just outside of my office.

I was fortunate enough to find a job before I graduated from college.  I work with a friend of mine, Nathan, who started a busy little design company called Anthology Creative.  We share an office with Crowdsurf, but they never come to work, so we basically have the place to ourselves.  Even though they never show up, they decided to paint their half of the office dark blue.  This has inspired Nathan and I to make a few changes on our side of the office, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet.  Who really wants to spend their weekend painting?  However, it might do a little for the creative atmosphere of the room.  Here’s why my desk looks like:

     
I’ve been trying to figure out more ways to make the space look more like ‘mine’, rather than an empty desk I throw my belongings on every day.  My computer is usually propped up by one of these laptop stands, which my soon to be mother and father-in-law bought me, but I left it at home today.  The bookends, which are compliments of my Grandma and Grandad D., add some flavor, but it’s not nearly enough to fix the bland state of the entire space.  So, would someone please buy me this poster so I can take up some of that wall space and have a useful tool at the same time?

Please leave a comment with your suggestions…I could use some!