Part of my passion for design is being challenged and pushed beyond my current abilities, whether it’s in design, coding, or typography. I think we’re at our best when we’re inspired by a challenge or stretching. There are several influences in my life to that effect. One is a very talented designer and photographer, her name is Jane Johnson from Jane Johnson Photography here in Central Oregon. First, she is an amazing photographer, you can see her work here. Second, she has an amazing talent for designing personal, outside of the box, and unique custom WordPress blogs. The challenge to me was to take her photoshop mockups and make it a WordPress blog. This is pretty much a PSD to WordPress process, but because of her very custom ideas for the blog it becomes a challenge. Now through this process I’ve really advanced my knowledge in several areas like PHP, CSS, and JS. So, despite being challenging it has really helped me to grow as a designer and coder. I always look forward to the next project that we do because of the end result. You can view some of the work here: http://www.customphotographyblogs.com
Another influences for me is the design community as a whole. Each day I wake and check my twitters and RSS feeds, and each day there’s something the really grabs my attention or I just find amazing. I always find myself looking and wishing I could do those things. Well, thanks to the design community I can. People are willing to share there projects and knowledge and for that I am very thankful.
My question for you is, are you being pushed? Are you ready for a challenge? or are you just stuck in the same old ways and never growing or developing a passion for your career.
Who or what pushes you?
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These are encouraging posts – keep them coming.
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Nice post Mike. It’s a good reminder to keep pushing to be better. Go hard or go home. Riiight?
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mikeb Reply:
August 10th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Exactly Philip! If your not going to push yourself, why even do it. Pushing yourself will make you better.
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Great post Mike! Sometimes we become too satisfied with what we already know. The more you push yourself the more others will be inspired to push themselves and as a community we will grow at such amazing rate.
One funny way I get inspired to push myself and step out of my normal comfort zone is through my wife. She gets bored and tired of seeing and hearing about the same types of projects and is constantly telling me to try new things, and take on different types of projects. lol. May not be the most reason to push myself but it definitely works
A follow up on this could be why its better to collaborate with fellow designers/developers on projects that you may not be fully capable of doing instead of outsourcing things with no interaction back. We can learn a lot from each other.
Once again, great post Mike!
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Great point Josh, the people close to you can be a great motivator, sometimes the best motivation can come from them. I agree on the collaboration with fellow designers whether locally or online, and I hope to get to that point of doing that.
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@Josh – My wife is a great motivator for me as well. She always gives me honest feedback and encourages me to keep going. I love her for that.
The design community, as we know it, is a truly amazing asset that has grown consistently over the past few years. And with the popularity of twitter ever increasing we are sure to keep growing. But for me, putting on my shoes, getting in my car, and leaving my house to go connect with other creative people is what pushes me the most. Getting to talk with them and listen to what they know and what they can share is awesome.
I’ve just recently, within the past few months, taken a more active role in this whole “community” thing and I love it. Ever since starting Chat Creative it’s given me a boost to do more. So now I’m looking to head up a local group called “Refresh” here in Dallas, and possibly even a “BarCamp” next year. I just love getting to meet other people, and I think that is what pushes me.
Thanks for the great post Mike.
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[...] the other half of the project, I build what she designs, see my other post on the process we go through to build these custom blogs. We use WordPress for all of the [...]