That’s right, I’m school-bound once again. Two more years of weird sleep schedules, assignments, cliques, teachers, and too many people walking around in pajama-bottoms.

Joking aside, I’ve decided to go back to school for Graphic Design. Over the past two plus years, I’ve felt that though I’m reasonably good at programming, it’s not really what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve had a good run at my current place of employment, but I feel that it’s just not the direction I want to go in the long-run. You see, as I worked along side everyone I constantly felt myself obsessing over certain points; namely UI design, usability, and common sense in design.

I’m going on a bit of a hiatus this week posting-wise. It’s not that I’m burnt out or run out of ideas (I can usually pull something out of my ass).

I’m actually working on somethings related to this site, and having the extra time would help.

This is the seventh and final part in an ongoing series of articles that depicts my process to becoming a graphic designer. I will reiterate that this is not a sure-fire guide on how to become one, but merely my process which I am sharing to the general public.

Though this is the last article of this particular series, trust me when I say there will still be many more.

So I’m nearing the end of my first major project. Well alright I’ve had many projects in my life, but this was my first professional project. I was … many things in my project: Lead Developer, Lead Architect, Psudo-Business Analyst, Negotiator, Trainer, Mediator, Whip-cracker. The list goes on.

As the project is finally winding down, I feel it prudent that I write down some of the nuggets of information that I have gleaned from the experience.

Follow along and learn with me as I half-rant life tips.

Everyone’s done it. We get lazy, we’re pressed for time, or we otherwise don’t care enough to standardize our stuff. I can note this most prevalently in code, but it easily extends into design and every day life.

I cannot claim to be innocent of this crime, nor would I. It takes effort, experience, and an iron will not to cut corners in everything you do.

I was once a student in college. During one of my summers I had a summer placement where I was put in charge with creating an entire CMS-based website for a certain not-for-profit company. To that note, there was not CMS, so I was expected to create that too. This company had many facets, most of which had their own way of doing things. I had four months to do this, and I was on my own. Did I mention that it also had to have a total multi-tiered user-management system thrown into it as well? Like I said, I was supposed to create a CMS-powered website.

Suffice it to say, things didn’t go well.

I had an amazing 20 minutes of utter relaxation at work the other day. I didn’t even realize it until it was nearly over, but I think I’ve solved the equation. As it turns out, I think I finally understand why coffee shops are so damned relaxing.