Author Archive for dianefg

Some kind of wonderful

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Don’t you love the feeling that you just discovered something amazing. Even if other people already know about it, the smile it brings to your heart at that moment of discovery is almost tangible. Meeting people with artistic talent and the gonads to follow their dream and make it a reality is always hugely inspiring. When someone shares their talents with the world they automatically bring joy and hope to those they encounter. Stumbling upon this book by super-talented and genuinely nice human, Steven Dunn – illustrator extraordinary, was exactly that kind of experience. There are 26 brilliant woodcut images in “The New Zealand Tramping Alphabet Book”. It’s colourful, interesting and most of all fun for the young early readers to look through and talk about. I wish I knew more people with small kids learning to read so I could continue to post them all over the world. If you’d like a copy or see more books by Steven, please leave your details in the comments section and I will pass them on. He’s written and illustrated other beautiful books. I hope to get copies soon and add them here.

;-)

How’d they do that?

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Those folks at Adobe really know how to freak my freak. In the best way. Dironic is currently on assignment with an energetic team and learning all sorts of wonderful new things. Today we were experimenting with some of the latest features of Adobe CS5 – holy cowboy. There is so much more in all the packages. Hats off to the developers. Photoshop may have turned 20 years old recently, but the new spring in its step is more than uber-impressive. The entire CS5 Suite crammed full of new features.

One of the biggest drawbacks of having worked off site for such a long time is the tendency to get stuck in a rut. Keeping up to date with current trends in design is terribly theoretical when gleaning info from mags and the web. Learning by doing – now that’s the best best way! As I am sure readers have gathered from this blog, Dironic’s quest for knowledge, information and experience is immense.

Today’s brief flirting session was just the tip of the new features iceberg. Roll on tomorrow and more to delve deeper and play.

Next quest – find some new projects that require more stretching of the creative muscles and pushing of the CS Suite boundaries.

Balance?

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

get the balance rightI am astounded by the fact that there are over 31 definitions for the word balance on Dictionary.com. I am no closer to understanding what it actually means. Is it just another buzz-word or is it an attainable goal? Hmmm? Either way, balance is something we seem to be striving for all the time.

Perhaps it stems way back to our toddler days – learning balance meant the difference between walking and falling. Walking meant more mobility, freedom, exploration, adventure and learning. Falling also taught us things – learn to balance or feel pain. And as we grew up we were presented with more challenges and were required to learn more skills that required balance. Riding a bicycle, making friends, exams, parties. Again, every time we improved a new skill we were rewarded with new experiences and more access to the world around us.

My favourite definition has to be “To sway or waver as if losing or regaining equilibrium.” Balance is not a fixed state.

Balance is a movement and we should keep moving in order to maintain it. Keeping balance in our own reality is what is most important.

In essence, balance is what keeps us from falling on our bums!

PS: Thanks to Depeche Mode‘s “Get the Balance Right” for being the theme tune in my head during the writing of this blog.
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What a difference a day makes

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

It’s the second half of 2010. Where has this year gone? Ours has been so full of learning and honing new skills that some days I think we’ve lived 5 years in the last six months! Sadly, some of our favourite projects have come to an end over the course of the year. But as the saying goes – when one door closes, another opens… and this has most definitely been the case. We have taken on some amazing new projects over the past month and have been loving the work, the exploring of new technologies and the learning.

“Life keeps happening in short intense bursts, interspersed with periods of anxious waiting for what’s next.” A tweet from @TLAdotcom

This was how we spent most of the first half of 2010, but I am happy to say that right now things are way more settled and we have a greater sense of calm. We are taking on work we love and loving the work we take on. It’s great to be in a space physically, spiritually and emotionally where you can take a deep breath and exhale at length, be present and bathe in the sense of calm achievement to the fullest.

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A new week = new opportunities

Monday, June 14th, 2010

I know a lot of people dread Mondays. I love my Mondays. It represents a new beginning, freshness, hope and the opportunity to learn and achieve something new. Life is so full of surprises. Whether it’s your turn to lead the way or if you’re just along for the ride, opportunities are endless. I am looking forward to an amazing week. I wish the same for everyone. My first challenge is to be able to recognise the opportunities when they present themselves and grab hold of them and enjoy the ride when they do.

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Hello… hello? Is this thing on?

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

A new day. A new adventure. This is a very exciting development for the folks at dironic.com. We have been in the design business since 1997 and this is our first fully functional website. We know we’re entering the race late, but it’s been so interesting observing from the side lines that we decided we need to take a little dip in. Holding thumbs that everything we have learned via osmosis helps us get most of it right. Here’s to the steepest learning curve ever.

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