Culture matters. It’s the bond that keeps a country from war. It’s a source of pride. It makes history. Culture affects whether your coworkers are productive or disgruntled. It’s what many companies lack. Beer, ping pong, and shiny iMacs are not culture. So what is? Having lunch together, laughing with each other, being honest, supporting one another, and working together as a team are all parts of a positive culture. Stifling ideas, insulting coworkers behind others’ backs, being secretive, and getting drunk on a weekday because work sucks is also culture — negative culture. What keeps us working? Positive company culture. How do people who work at companies with a positive culture differ mentally and physically from their counterparts? Let’s… Read More
I was going to write about how awesome product design is for Valentine’s Day, but I had a lot of work to do and that idea got scrapped fast. It’s been about a year [of my second term] at NASDAQ, and I’ve learned how much I really enjoy product design. It’s the perfect combination of visual design, UX, and code. I was at first hired as more of a straight-up web designer, but with time I absorbed information about research, user interviews, new frameworks, plugins, and best practices from my coworkers. I grew from a person with the possibility of being something into someone who designs products that are utilized by (hundreds of?) thousands of people in a short 12 months…. Read More
It’s been a long while since I last blogged. I’ve been crazy busy, working my ass off at NASDAQ as a Product Designer. I tackle big UX problems daily; our team is redesigning a ton of NASDAQ’s web apps. I’ve learned that UX really fulfills my needs. I’ve always enjoyed designing and coding, but I also love designing the perfect application that affirms the target users’ mental models. Therefore, this year, I’m going to try to focus on becoming a great Product Designer.
Hello everyone! It’s been the usual long time, and I’m back with more life experience for you to partake in! In June of 2011, I was hired as an Interactive Designer at a small startup. After working there as a freelance contractor for about nine months, I decided it was time to find a new workplace. My decision wasn’t truly necessary if you just look at the hard facts: my salary was acceptable for the average entry-level American designer, I had flexible hours, a good computer, a steady workload filled with interesting projects, friendly workers, and guaranteed a full-time position whenever the company was able to switch its workers from freelance to permanent. However, behind each of these facts was… Read More
Hello, dear internet! I’m back again after a lengthy amount of business! I’ve been occupied with work and other projects such as designing sprites for a game that should be out early next year. I have also been taking on website design work when possible. I’m always open to new projects, so if you need a new website designed and/or coded, feel free to contact me! I also moved to a new apartment last week! It’s very small, but fits within my budget and provides me with a great challenge: how do I fill 275 sq ft of space without feeling cramped? I decided to go with red, white, and black as my theme. Incidentally, the very Swiss, incredibly popular designer… Read More
Hello again, internet! It’s been a while and I’ve been incredibly busy as of late. In the past month, I ended my time working at NASDAQ and began working at a small app design company. So far it’s been great, but let’s save that topic for another post. I graduated from SVA in May and decided to fill the time previously spent doing homework with freelance work and classes. I took on 3 projects at once and signed up for 2 NYU classes and my usual weekend Japanese class. I soon found myself incredibly tired and overworked. I snapped at people often and lost a lot of sleep. After a month, I decided to work at balancing out my schedule… Read More
I just graduated and jumped right into the work force. Some people take trips around the world for a year, but I found no need to do so. I don’t like planes, and I definitely don’t like traveling by myself. Many of my friends took one or two years off after finishing high school, so didn’t graduate at the same time as most of my close friends. Even without taking a year off (also known as a gap year), I feel fine. I like to work, learn, and earn money, and unless I had great equipment and a knack for stock photography, my trip would go strongly unfinanced. I also don’t like the idea of leaving my mom & cat… Read More
Hello, fine internet. How are you? I’m doing great. As you can see, the new site design is up and things are working pretty well. I’m QA-ing the site all the time to make sure everything works in multiple browsers and OSes. QA is a daunting task, but is definitely worth it. The 100 times you spend checking every page assures that the thousands of by-chance viewers see nothing but beauty. I’m thinking of more ways to make this site interactive, especially with the gallery. Evernote has been my best tool for keeping all of my website ideas organized and visible. I always sketch out my ideas before implementation as well to hash them out before spending an hour or… Read More
It’s been a year, and my style has vastly improved. Because of this, expect a style change soon. I am graduating next month and will have one extra day to myself (plus a lot of free time normally spent doing homework!). I’m very excited. I will soon have a PDF of my portfolio online thanks to Issuu. So far, my portfolio looks great and I feel like I have done well with it. I need to buy paper for the cover, but the inside is mostly finished. In total, it’s 82 pages. I wasn’t expecting to feature so much work, but I found that I liked enough of my old projects to put them in as well. There are still… Read More
Kyuubei, Kyuubey, or Kyubey. However you spell his (?) name, he has singlepawedly destroyed my idea of magical girls forever. Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a show that starts out so clichéd, but slowly develops into possibly the most intriguing, DEPRESSING magical girl show in the history of anime so far. There’s already a list of theories surrounding the show and it’s only up to nine of 12 episodes. I don’t know what kind of stuff will happen in the last 3 episodes, but so far three girls have died, Kyuubei has gone from Luna-like to what psychologists would label as insane, and magical girls have been defined as soulless shells. Since episode three, there have been crying and sunset… Read More
Happy new year, everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying it so far! I’ve been getting back into the swing of school and catching up on all my projects. One of these projects is obviously this website! I’ve updated the web design section as well as the graphic design one. The Shop link also finally works! HOORAY! I’ve been changing the way the store looks and hope to update it again soon. There’s so much work I have to do and not enough time to finish everything I’d like to finish. I’m graduating in early May, which means I have to start thinking of where I will work next if NASDAQ doesn’t keep me. I’d love to keep working there as… Read More
When I was six, I remember every Easter being a large event in which we all wore our best clothing and went to church, followed by a wonderful Easter dinner. Thanksgiving was a time to eat turkey and spend time with family; everyone would drive to my grandmother’s house and take part in assisting her with cooking and conversation. Christmas was a time to bring gifts over and once again eat with family and have a wonderful time. However, it seems that modern times have cost us our traditional love of holidays. Now, holidays have become a yearly sale for merchants. Easter brings eggs and rabbit window placements with pastel trimmings, Halloween brings ghosts and pumpkin window displays, Thanksgiving (if… Read More
Hello internet! It’s been two months and I’ve decided to update you on my very busy life. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of stuff and haven’t been visiting you. For example, I went to a La Roux concert last week. IT WAS AMAZING. I love La Roux because of their musical influences. Their songs have an 8-bit-synth feel with a bit of English choir mixed in. Elly Jackson sounds just as good live and the rest of the band is great too! Apparently the show I went to was the last one on their two-year tour! It’s nice that they’ll finally get to go home. The tickets only cost $20-$25 and the show was packed. There was even a… Read More
Everyone gets to a point where they wonder whether it’s better to get a degree in graphic design, illustration, or whatever fine art they offer. I’m always going back and forth about whether I’m doing the right thing. I’ve been in art school for 3 years, working the entire time, and I’ve noticed many things. I work so that I can fund my many art school purchases and eat daily while also saving up a cushion in case I can’t find a full-time job out of college. While working, I usually have to spend 3 days of my time at the job and 2 days in class. I become exhausted quickly from working on homework, leaving little time for sleep… Read More
I have an old notebook in which I used to paste pictures of clothes I liked. I’m getting rid of it to start a newer version in an unlined sketchbook and decided to scan the pages I liked. Here they are:
Recently, life has been a tad complicated, and music has helped me stay awake and get through it. My friend also constantly insulted my musical taste (ironically, he has NO idea what I listen to), so I was determined to expand my musical palate. I have a 32 gig MP3 player to fill, and I previously only had about 10GB of music. Compared to most people, that’s not a lot at all! So, I decided to look for more music I like. Coincidentally, Scott Pilgrim came out around the same time, which made my search a little easier. My two favorite songs, by far, are Scott Pilgrim by Plumtree and Black Sheep by Metric. Scott Pilgrim Black Sheep There are… Read More
A while ago I promised ya’ll a preview of First Grade Math. Here’s the first online version. I’ll be posting them over at Q, my Tumblr. It stars Circle, Square, and Triangle. I truly love Triangle the most. So crazy. <3
Spam has become considerably more annoying. I suppose I should be glad, considering that the more spam I receive, the higher my ranking on Google is. However, I still find it insanely annoying. If you decide to become a blogger and buy your own domain, please remember to install a spam-blocking plugin. In other news, I am still without a new phone. However, I may be getting a new computer so I can start working on something other than a laptop! Hooray! But I don’t know. I think I need a few weeks to think it over. A workstation would definitely be awesome for sitting down and getting things done, but there is always a question of placement, as sitting… Read More
I’ve been very busy as of late with my NASDAQ internship and summer classes. I’ve been learning how to silkscreen. If you’re curious about the process, head over to YouTube and pick one of the billion silkscreening tuts. Last week I made my first set of books in class. The joy of silkscreening is that you can mass-produce your own art. I made a set of 8 accordion books. I only needed one, but decided to make more for the heck of it. No idea what to do with the other 7, though… Maybe someone is interested in buying one? Here’s what they look like: The front cover First page The inside I loved making them and will be making… Read More
OH SHOOT. I’m updating the site, so the gallery is in crazy mode right now. What do you think? any suggestions? Let me know! I made the new theme using several new things, including the now infamous border-radius and box-shadow CSS selectors. For more info on those, go to CSS3.info! Wonderful place. I learn so much on there. CSS3 is amazing. If you google it, you’ll see things about new things like animations and transforms. CRAZY STUFF. Sadly, most of it only works on Safari’s webkit browser. Hope you’re enjoying the much-needed change! Also, the VAL typeface is a free font. I believe it’s on Squirrel-fonts and several other sites. It’s quite pretty. PEACE!
At my new job, I’ve encountered hundreds of business cards. I work with a card scanner to enter data into a gigantic database. I’ve noticed that some cards are much easier to work with than others. Here are some tips to make your business card great. 1) Make your margin at least ¼ inch wide in each direction. I’ve scanned several cards, only to find that the words were cut off because the margins were too small. 2) Use a clear, thick sans-serif font. If you don’t, your cards become illegible by humans and machines alike. The less manual entry, the better. Use strong faces, not thin types that can be easily misread. 3) Write out your company name Don’t… Read More
Hello, fine people! How have you all been? I’ve been gone for a month or so, but I haven’t been slacking on anything besides homework. I’ve been working, living, and I even managed to upgrade my MacBook. I was thinking about buying a new one, but I honestly don’t like the color or the battery of the unibody aluminum MacBooks. So, I decided to buy a 650GB hard drive and 2GB of ram and upgrade the system myself. It was actually pretty easy. I did run into a problem replacing the hard drive, though. This is a Torx screw. You encounter these when you try to replace a hard drive. I had never seen one before this, and didn’t have… Read More
Even in a normal economy, looking for an internship can be really tough. Over the past month, I think I’ve sent out nearly 20 resumes and only gotten a response from one company. That company turned out to be almost 2 hours away by train, so I had to politely decline. Sad. I found a pretty cool site the other day, One Day, One Internship. I think it’s nice that they take their time out to research internships in different states for students and those looking for entry-level stuff. They also have a website for regular jobs. How sweet! I have a lot of things, such as new sketches and a billion comics, but I’ve been kinda busy, not to… Read More
The Global Game Jam is nearly over in many parts of the world, but it will surely not be forgotten. If you’re wondering what it is, then check out their website. The basic rules of GGJ are to make a game in 48 hours. The game will be judged and the creators of the best game will get it published. Most people enter for the sake of hilarity; there are honorable mentions and recognition for games with hilarious titles and the like. My friend Señor Arturo participated in the NYU group, while my friend Dave was in the FullSail group. Sadly, Señor Arturo didn’t have up a puppycam, but Dave’s group did. You don’t know about PUPPYCAM?! HOW DARE YOU! In… Read More
Don’t you love when you have a great idea, so you draw concepts and go all out, only to find that nothing’s gonna happen? Here’s some stuff I drew for unfinished personal/other projects. Projects unnamed to enhance confusion.
So recently I noticed that there’s a lot of graffiti in random places. I went to my school and checked out graffiti near the toilets and decided to finally take some photos. I think this is something I might continue in the future. Here are some shots: Pretty cool stuff, I think. Interesting how people choose a place that only part of the world can see (since bathrooms are separated by genders here). While on the subject of bathrooms, what about some bathroom signs that are cool? This site compiled a list of 96 cool bathroom signs. Pretty awesome. Alright, gotta bounce and work on that gallery now! ♥
here are the mannequins that inspired my newest deviantart upload. Here’s the finished piece. Nice weather lately, eh?
beginning daily drawings… today I am well. I bought this book in koreatown a few weeks back, it’s really cute and convenient. I can actually stick to it too. Daily Drawings lately I’ve been keeping a tiny artistic diary. the size makes it easy to not get bored and I keep it in my bag pocket. I have to figure out how to upload pictures, though. blah.
I managed to scan some things I drew recently
School starts today, yeehaw! I will probably begin drawing things in class. I’m going to make sketchbooks on cafepress, so get ready~! I’ll add pictures to the art section very soon. SCHOOL YAY SCHOOL Dear school,
I’m adding old posts to archive things. Hi! I’ve been really busy with work and school prep, so I haven’t had much time to update this site! If you didn’t know, I own my own shop. Click the shop button to go to it! Or click this here sentence ♥ *In the next few weeks I’ll be adding more of my arts!* If there is not framey awesomeness, CLICK HERE. In other news, Gossip Girl is on. Weird show. Why do people call it that bad? It’s actually pretty interesting. I read a few of the books and parts are completely different, but they’re interesting changes. It’s good to have changes. Gossip Girl finished. I don’t watch One Tree Hill…… Read More
Welcome to the CATT Suite, where I put up stuff and junk. I’ve been sooo busy lately! It’s so tiring doing all this work. I have so much to do. Here’s a list: *Grandpa’s site *My own site *2 different people’s website *My job, fixing HTML and stuff *Friends & family *Find an apartment *Plan trip to Japan! *Design t-shirts for sale here *My other blog located here I have a question about salary/ hourly work. How much should one charge for freelance graphic design work? I was thinking of charging between $15 and $30 because I’m still in college…?
So I’ve updated the site again. New domain and everything. How do you like it? You do, right? Yeah. So lately I’ve been intensely busy. But I did take a good class that made web design something I do more frequently. I also resesigned a city government site. They loved it, but there are always people who get in the way… But I do with what I’m given. Third year is nearly gone. Already thinking about my portfolio for April. What should I do? Gahh. This place needs moar pics. I think I’ll post up random shenanigans I find. Seriously. For example: Yeah. Hahah! Um… I find a lot of silliness like this. I hope you enjoy my random links…. Read More