I had heard of Kiva before… received invites via e-mails and read blog posts, but it wasn’t until I saw this Pod aired on Current that I decided to participate. After jumping in and choosing an entrepreneur to lend to, I really got hooked. The site is clean, friendly and very usable. So far, the experience has been positive one. I recommend checking the pod out, and participating, if you can.

As I pointed out in a post just a few months ago I recently joined the super-awesome team at Viget Labs. I’m not just saying they are super-awesome, you can see for yourself here. Along with all the fun design work I have the privilege of working on with them, comes the Viget Inspire blog. It was an idea that was conceived before I joined the company… a series of blogs that focused on specific audiences, rather than one blog trying to knock all the pins down in one throw. I will be honest… when I saw the comp of Inspire in my interview process a little gong rang in my head and I said to myself… “snap, this place is for me”. Recently the whole initiative has gotten a lot of attention on the web, both for the content being written and for the stunning designs. Even the Web Designer wall posted an entire piece on the process. Overall, It is kick-ass to be a part of the whole thing.

So, that brings me to the point of this post, if you like what you read here on Bad Ass Ideas please take a moment to check out the stuff I am writing for Viget Inspire ( you can find my past posts here). While there is no rhyme or reason yet to what I post on that blog versus this blog, I am making it a point to never double post and to post as often there as I do here. My colleagues at Viget are also fantastic bloggers and have written some enormously engaging and interesting information. I recommend you check that stuff out too. And not just on Inspire, there is great stuff across all four blogs . You can subscribe to a master feed of all four blogs here.

Last Wednesday I visited the graduating Design Students at my alma mater James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I really enjoyed my visit, the students were inquisitive and (judging by the work displayed in the hallways) very talented typographers and creative thinkers. The conversation raised many interesting questions and started some engaging conversation.

Since I was in school “Creative Hotlist” has been the destination online when seeking employment opportunities for the overall creative industry (not just the web industry). Their online description is:

Creative Hotlist: Job Searches, Portfolios and Recruiting for Graphic and Web Designers, Writers, Photographers and Illustrators.”

When I do a basic nation-wide search on this site my results include all sorts of different occupation titles. All but a very few of these job descriptions require some knowledge of web or interaction design, and more than half are in the web industry.

While at JMU many of the students asked about “PDFs” as a means of sending their work to employers. I found this very interesting because every place I have worked since graduation has had a minimal requirement of an online “web presence” for consideration of any design position. Other alumni who were present seemed to think that PDFs were a fine practice for sending out work, and having an online portfolio was really more of a “web designer” qualification or an addition to your overall portfolio. This advice concerned me so I asked a designer who worked at a predominantly print studio what they expect prospective hires to send and the response was what I expected. They told me they accepted PDFs, but often did not even look at them or consider them because a web portfolio is more convenient to view when looking through tons of applicants. It also shows that the applicant is versatile. Should we as an industry advise students that the bare minimum is acceptable?

With so many jobs in the creative industry moving towards the web, shouldn’t there be less of a divide between the idea that there are “web designers” and “print designers”? Shouldn’t the basic understanding of interface & interaction design, user experience and information architecture be a requirement for all seeking design jobs and not just those seeking web jobs? Should the industry not try and encourage students to stay ahead of the curve and strive towards the future.. (even if it is a little more work and sometimes really uncomfortable for those old-schoolers)?

I’m not writing this post as a way to alienate those who don’t understand those concepts but to inspire them to broaden their horizons and realize design is design no matter what the media. The creative industry runs parallel to advances in technology and in the future there will even be more lines blurred between print and web. So why not get a jump on it?

I sat down on Saturday morning and put together a resource list in response to many of the questions I was asked on my visit to JMU. Basically I went through my feed reader, & books … and typed it up into wordpress until my eyes bled. So there may be some room for improvement, if you take a look at it and have suggestions for additions, feel free to comment or contact me. I hope that the list serves as a helpful starting point for anyone approaching the exciting industry of Web Design.

It’s hard to decide on how many pieces to showcase in your web portfolio. As a designer I know there are lots of factors that go into choosing the work you decide to display… versatility, creativity, exciting clients, recent challenges, technical capabilities, and experience. While I had been advised in the print world to limit my work to 10-12 pieces it is incredibly common to find web portfolios that feature 25+ projects. As a web designer it is very tempting to add EVERYTHING one may have done, especially when the web provides an interface that makes it so easy show years of experience in just a few clicks. So how many pieces of work should a web designer include in their online portfolio?

I have asked tons of designers, art directors, and creative professionals for answers and had lots of discussions. While the answer is a matter of opinion, the most impressive response was from Greg Johnston the Senior Vice President and Creative Director of Ogilvy PR’s Creative Studio in Washington DC. Greg is an old school Bad Ass (Matthew Carter style). He knows his stuff, has a pony tail, rocks out, and has played a leading creative role on many big-name accounts that make me drool. I asked Greg to sum up his response for this post because it is the best I have heard yet, not only because he has the experience to back it up, but because he provides solid reasoning.

I just saw someone’s portfolio who had brought a lot of stuff to show. I gave them a break because they were from out of town and wanted to make sure they “didn’t forget anything in case they needed to show me more of their work.” That’s usually a sign for me that someone thinks that all their ideas are good ones.

Editing your own work is probably the hardest thing to do. Your work is like your children––you love them all equally. So you have to really remove yourself from all the special circumstances that lead you to create your ideas. Yeah, like I said, it’s tough.

I believe you should showcase 10-12 samples of your BEST work, regardless of how you got there. That’s all I show after 27 years of creating ideas. (And I believe just because you’ve been doing something for 27 years doesn’t mean you’re good at doing it.) My best work. Some of it I did over 20 years ago, because the ideas still hold up. Some of it I just did last month.

Having looked at hundreds of portfolios––online and offline––I usually can tell after 5-6 pieces if someone is good. I judge their work not only on the quality, but their ability to know the difference between really good work and stuff that’s just OK. You don’t need to show everything you’ve done since kindergarden. That’s what Mom’s fridge is for.

Be hard on yourself. Be objective. Act like you know nothing at all about what you had to go through to get to that idea. Now you ready to edit your own work.

Which is what you should be doing every time you create ideas.

I want to thank Greg for the time he took to write all of that down, and I hope that advice helps others struggling with making those decisions. I will be taking all of his points into much closer consideration for the redesign (re-align) of this site… that I am working on right now.

Evening Tweed
Four design students got together in 2006 and started this design collective. There is type that makes me drool dripping all over this site. They have nice taste… worth your time to check out.

A Texas Designer’s Map of the World
DJ Stout, a designer from Texas was asked to participate in illustrating a map which would include designers from all over the country to illustrate their respective areas:

“Of course I was given the Southwest,” says Stout “which includes the great state of Texas and a few other insignificant surrounding states.

Stout pulled off this vintage style with uncanny wit. Love me some nice poster design.

Logo Design Love
Clean, well designed, and all about logos. What is there not to dig on with this blog? I’m a big fan of Brand New, but Logo Design Love is actually throwing a bone to the web community featuring a lot of online-only brands.

Wear Palettes
Perhaps you are in a rut using Kuler and getting fairly similar results over and over? Try this blog… color combinations inspired by fashion photography. Great place for ideas.
Via ABF

GlenzTees
I’m an old-school fan of Threadless. GlennzTees is a threadless designer who has branched out on his own. I like his designs because they are funny and thoughtful.

Aisleone
Lately I can’t get enough clean design. Grids, whitespace, and sen-serif typefaces… this blog is chalked full ‘em. Nice source of inspiration.