August 7, 2006

7.4: Cat’s Advice and Her Favs

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 9:19 pm

Whew! Cat’s a Busy Designer!

Cat Morley

I’m not going to list all of the places we’ve been with Cat. From OZ to design for the Queen is enough said. Tonight questions are a little closer to home.

Cat, What do you do when you’re not sharing your great links and ideas at Successful Blog?

I still have clients in the wings (the last ones before taking off into
unemployment), I keep Designers who Blog running. I’m project manager for NO!SPEC which means I deal with design orgs when spec competitions come up, I send out letters of protest and galvanize people to send out letters, etc. As project manager for Creative Latitude I confer with my team before we update, deal with new authors, come up with angles, etc. As the president of Proscodi I put together committees to deal with each element of setting up a design org, I meet other heads of design orgs, go to meetings, etc.

What advice do you have for new bloggers and young designers?

Bloggers - it always takes more time than you planned so be sure to write about something you love. And be prepared to walk away if it’s taking up too much of your life.

Designers - there is not enough room here for all the advice I’d give to a young designer, so the top priority would have to be:

    - Get a degree. The best one you can afford. And then some.
    - Learn about business, accounting, dealing with clients,
    communicating, public speaking, hiring, etc.
    - Learn to write. The majority of the designers I know have appalling
    grammar. Myself included.
    - Latch onto a mentor.
    - Never stop learning.
    - Get a life. Preferably your own.

What design work online do you point to as well done?

Illustrator: (Von created the icons for Creative Latitude) -
http://www.vonglitschka.com/
Web designer: (Nigel designed the Creative Latitude website) -
http://www.commonsensedesign.net/
Blog designer: http://www.pearsonified.com/

One more part to go. Cat tells her BIG IDEA.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
Interview 7.1: Meet Cat Morley, World Designer
7.2 Interview: Cat Morley Becomes a Blogger
7.3: Cat, the Toothpaste, the Queen and Everyone


Filed under Business Life, Community, Design, Interviews, Successful Blog |



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24 Comments to “7.4: Cat’s Advice and Her Favs”

  1. August 8th, 2006 at 3:15 am
    cat said

    Liz,

    “Cat’s BIG IDEA”

    Every time I get to the bottom where you talk about the next one, I find myself looking forward to it. Even though I’ve been involved in the interview, I think ‘Ohhhh, I wanna hear about that too’. Silly, I know. But it’s how you write, tugging me on to want more.

    Megga thanks for this. It’s been a real treat!

  2. August 8th, 2006 at 6:18 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hey, Cat,
    That’s saying something. Thank you. I’ve enjoyed this way of getting to know you. I just can’t imagine how long it would have taken to find out all of this information. You’re whirlwind of action.

    Whew! I repeat. Whew!

  3. August 18th, 2006 at 2:01 am
    Nigel Gordijk said

    Hi, Liz.

    Many thanks to you and Cat for the kind mention on your blog. It’s very much appreciated.

    Cheers,

    Nigel Gordijk

  4. August 18th, 2006 at 5:26 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Nigel,
    How nice to met you! Of course, you are no longer a stranger now. Now you are a friend. Welcome to Successful Blog. I hope I’ll see you around as much as I see Cat.

    You’re welcome here. Good people always are.

  5. August 18th, 2006 at 5:40 am
    cat said

    Hey, that’s great Nigel dropped by.

    If anyone needs to hire a fantastic web designer, snag him now before he gets away.

  6. August 18th, 2006 at 5:41 am
    ME Strauss said

    I think that’s a great idea!

    We should have a Designer showcase here next weekend. What do you two think?

  7. August 18th, 2006 at 5:56 am
    Nigel Gordijk said

    Is there an emoticon for blushing, because I could use one right now!

  8. August 18th, 2006 at 5:58 am
    cat said

    Designer showcase? How would it work?

  9. August 18th, 2006 at 6:01 am
    ME Strauss said

    Nigel,
    That’s such a lovely color on you. I wouldn’t worry about it. :)

  10. August 18th, 2006 at 6:05 am
    ME Strauss said

    Cat,
    I did a Blog-to Show (like an auto show) once where we showed a linked screen shot and the blogger wrote a short description of the blog and 2-3 sentences of advice for bloggers.

    What if it was one a day for a whole month? And it included a screenshot, favorite project links,
    what the designer shines at, and the kind of clients the designer works with.

  11. August 18th, 2006 at 6:10 am
    cat said

    Nigel, everytime I see a new web site design, or logo design, or any design on your portfolio, I go “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh” so nice!

    Turn your head Nigel, I’m going to share a bit.

    Check these out:

    Creative Latitude –>> http://creativelatitude.com/

    I may have been a part of the team, but the design is all Nigel. We knew what he was made of and kept hands off. Yeah, I’m pretty bossy but it wasn’t difficult. Nigel knows his stuff.

    Nigels site –>> http://www.nigelgordijk.co.uk/

    Look how it’s created. Everything right there at your finger tips. Clean. No confusion.

    Go to this page and pick a design, any design –>> http://www.nigelgordijk.co.uk/work.shtm

    Do I hear an “AHHHHHHhhhhhhh” from everyone?

    Ok Nigel, you can look now.

    :-D

  12. August 18th, 2006 at 6:13 am
    ME Strauss said

    ooooo, aaaaaah, WAY Cooool,
    I think I like this man even more now.
    Talent is so sexy.

    Did I just say that? :)

    Beautiful work and you kept Cat’s hands off too!
    Hmmmm. :)

  13. August 18th, 2006 at 6:16 am
    cat said

    “What if it was one a day for a whole month? And it included a screenshot, favorite project links, what the designer shines at, and the kind of clients the designer works with.”

    I think that will work. It would take a bit of time to put together though.

    How many SB family members are designers? How would you gather a range in? How would you decide ‘who’ ?

    Maybe have the SB family submit their favs?

  14. August 18th, 2006 at 6:20 am
    ME Strauss said

    Every time I put out a call, people are shy about submitting their favs. Once I even went to Designers Who Blog to find some. That’s how I knew about you when you came to the Blog-to show. :)
    OR
    We could make every week a designers’ showcase — say every Saturday — showcase 1-2 designers from Designers who Blog. I forgot to add earlier that I’d want them to give advice to new designers and new bloggers who don’t know design at all. Maybe like a mini interview.

  15. August 18th, 2006 at 6:21 am
    cat said

  16. August 18th, 2006 at 6:22 am
    ME Strauss said

    Don’t say so much, Cat.
    I can’t take it all in at once. :)

  17. August 18th, 2006 at 6:24 am
    cat said

    Did my post not go?

    Drat! Sometimes … grrrrrrrr.

    And it was such a good comment!

  18. August 18th, 2006 at 6:26 am
    ME Strauss said

    It came, but there were no words inside it.

  19. August 18th, 2006 at 6:28 am
    cat said

    “Beautiful work and you kept Cat’s hands off too!”

    Since it was such a huge job, we all had our chores. I beleive I was asked for my opinion … twice? (isn’t the passage of time grand?)

    And I’m sure Nigel was more than glad to spend his time designing, and ducking whatever I threw at Nt.

    Yeah, we were pretty stressed out.

  20. August 18th, 2006 at 6:30 am
    cat said

    “Did I just say that?”

    Yup, you did!

    And now I have to run and cook dinner. It’s friday night already.

    I made chicken broth yesterday. Today I’ll cook it into leek, potato and chicken soup. Yum!

    brb …

  21. August 18th, 2006 at 6:31 am
    ME Strauss said

    There is good stress and bad stresss Good stress is called estress.

    That just popped into my head from a kid’s violence prevention book I worked on. I think being in publishing exacerbates a shcizoform disorder . . .

    Sounds like you, Nigel and Nt had plent of stuff to keep you out of trouble. :)

  22. August 18th, 2006 at 6:35 am
    ME Strauss said

    Ladies and Gentlemen
    Will you look at that? We have five days of interviews with this woman talking about all that she can do and then she says . . .
    I made chicken broth yesterday. Today I’ll cook it into leek, potato and chicken soup. Yum!

    All of that AND SHE COOKS TOO!!!!!

    Hey, Cat, won’t you give the rest of regular humans a hint of something you can’t do?

  23. August 18th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
    cat said

    LOL! Liz, when you interview designers, ask them if they cook. I’m sure you’ll find that a majority have cooking as a hobby.

    Cooking is another creative outlet and easy to keep up with. You gotta eat, right?

    When I started ‘Designers who Blog’, a couple of my forum friends (designers) asked me if they could start up ‘Designers who Garden’ and ‘Designers who cook’.

    Of course I said ‘YES!’ as I’m eager to jump in and have fun. Both are hobbies of designers. Not all designers, but a whole heap.

  24. August 18th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Cat,
    I knew there was a reason I liked designers. They like to garden. So do I. They like to cook. I like to eat. :)

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