1. "You knocked it out of the park, man" In response to Reply # 0
The grayscale graphic that appears right as the page loads is really nice. Gives a sense of personality and illustrates exactly what you do and the purpose of the website.
I like the color scheme and the transition effects a lot. What type of platform are you using? Did you use a framework of some sort for the code?
And that Blue Jays refresh was amazing. I'm kind of a uniform geek so I really appreciated it. The color refresh and the shadows underneath are nice touches. And the more 'modern' jerseys with the logo dead center in the middle of the uniform works for me.
I have an old portfolio and something I did recently.
10. "RE: You knocked it out of the park, man" In response to Reply # 1 Wed Jun-23-21 01:55 PM by Heinz
>The grayscale graphic that appears right as the page loads is >really nice. Gives a sense of personality and illustrates >exactly what you do and the purpose of the website. > Thanks! I was actually worried about that pic and was thinking of getting some better ones taken. I thought it may look too laid back for someone looking for a director position even as a creative.
>I like the color scheme and the transition effects a lot. What >type of platform are you using? Did you use a framework of >some sort for the code? I did this on WIX to be honest. I just found a template I liked and totally changed it. Tried to make it simple and as much of my own as I could make it. I don't code nor do I really like doing web design. I don't know how y'all do it. When my company asked me to do sites back in the day transitioning from mainly print to web was frustrating. Still is.
> >And that Blue Jays refresh was amazing. I'm kind of a uniform >geek so I really appreciated it. The color refresh and the >shadows underneath are nice touches. And the more 'modern' >jerseys with the logo dead center in the middle of the uniform >works for me. > Thanks! I basically tried to reference and modernize some of their past uni's and put my own spin on it. Hopefully it translates that way.
>I have an old portfolio and something I did recently. > >My personal portfolio is https://chriscjamison.com/ > >And for my new web design company, the URL is >https://ccjdesign.com/ > These are dope man. I respect anyone who can do web, theres so many moving parts to think about. I do not envy y'all. I think the only thing I would add is looking for new mockups that are as crips as the website. I took the time to really find those free ones, theres many. I can post a bunch of links if you need. But yeah I would take the time to find mockups that all give off the same vibe and look for your work so its all consistent. It really goes a long way for the overall look. Great work keep it up!
16. "I appreciate you liking the websites" In response to Reply # 10
When I was learning about web design, I thought of focusing simply on graphic design but print and identity work requires an eye that I didn't understand at the time. Web work was easier for me to get into because I just took what I noticed from video games. LOL.
About the mockups, did you mean for ccjdesign.com or the other site?
And please post your link to mockups. I used Adobe Stock for mine, but their selection wasn't quite as high-quality as I would have liked. I'd be grateful if you shared the links.
17. "RE: I appreciate you liking the websites" In response to Reply # 16
>When I was learning about web design, I thought of focusing >simply on graphic design but print and identity work requires >an eye that I didn't understand at the time. Web work was >easier for me to get into because I just took what I noticed >from video games. LOL. > Yeah I totally know what you mean, I would always forget about the user part and even to this day I keep treating websites like a static print layout. Web is definitely an art form.
>About the mockups, did you mean for ccjdesign.com or the other >site? > For the CCJ Design site. Dope sites they just need better mockups to showcase them.
>And please post your link to mockups. I used Adobe Stock for >mine, but their selection wasn't quite as high-quality as I >would have liked. I'd be grateful if you shared the links. > >Thanks again for looking them over.
Yeah when I jump on the computer tomorrow morning I'll reply with a list of where I go. You know whats funny I started to find really dope shit on Adobe Stock. A lot of the good ones you have to pay for but I think if you sign up you get 10 free downloads. Mockups are like fonts, sometimes they can take forever to find the right ones for a designer or for the look of your project.
6. "Man I really do appreciate that but to be honest" In response to Reply # 4
It took me years to get here, and this portfolio I've been working on and off for over the past year and some change.
Taking the leap into music as management, A&R and creative director really showed me that I HATE having to trust other people or put all my eggs in one basket like you would do developing an artist. It would be different if I was at a label where you can treat artists like content but when you tie yourself to one or two artists it really fucks with you. I say this coming from a freelance designer who would only have to rely on myself and knowing my own work philosophies and ethic. When I worked with artists a lot of red flags pop up thet you ignore because the product is good. I don't regret doing it because I am very proud of the shit I worked on and the relationships it created whether real life or work relationships.
Anyways my point is, I didn't get to this point of knowing that what and where I wanted to work in and on until a few years ago after a few disappointments in music. A good friend of mine and fellow designer was in the same position and was tired of the things he was working on and I saw him transition into the things he loved. I started to ask him questions of how he got there mentality and he just asked me the simple question, "what is your real passion that you would love to be working on?"...and it was baseball. Anyone that knows me, knows that is my biggest passion other than design. I realized can take all my love for design, business, marketing etc that I learned as a freelancer and in music into sports design. So I started to scheme and look at my past work to see how I wanted to present myself. Did a lot of research of other peoples portfolios and did a deep dive into the world of sports design. Found out who the big names were and found the communities, and thats how I started to formulate my plan.
It sounds like a simple question to ask yourself but honestly how often do we ask ourselves that when we are busy just trying to have a career in design. There's not reason why we all can't do both until that passion is making us more money that where we currently are. Keep at it and keep it simple. Ask yourself does your portfolio show people that DON'T know you exactly who you are and what you want to offer as a creative?
11. "As far as bucket lists go, I actually jacked that idea from a fellow des..." In response to Reply # 4
A dope designer in sports that I found while researching that world had it on his page. I thought wow that is a brilliant way to showcase your interests, and the type of work you are looking to work on and how your services or skills can translate to all of them. So I emailed him and said "Hey I hope you don't mind but I'm going to flip your bucket list idea into my own version of it" and he was appreciative of that and I now have an open dialogue with a designer I admire.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79560 posts
Wed Jun-23-21 10:22 AM
5. "That Bluejay swinging the bat is hot af. I want that on a shirt or cap" In response to Reply # 0
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
7. "Thank you! I actually initially wanted that as a alt patch for the Jays ..." In response to Reply # 5
but it just didn't feel right. Ended up playing with the colours and thought this would be amazing for one of Toronto's minor league teams in Dunedin. Usually they just copy whatever the MLB team designs are in a really bad way since they shared the same name "Blue Jays". I thought this was a neat way to have their own identity without changing their name. I think I am going to do a whole case study for that as well.
13. "Some quick thoughts" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Jun-23-21 03:30 PM by maro
First off, nice job of pulling a tight portfolio together. I am always looking for solid portfolio examples, as those of us in the Design world know, it's a pain to pull together. Yours is really good.
a few comments / questions / opinions.. take with grain of salt from a fellow okp designer.
• While aesthetically pleasing to some degree, the light-serif font you are using across the site makes it very hard to read..
• Another copy point.... your tone feels varied. Some sentences are pragmatic and concise and other times it's super casual ".... the design nerd in me..." Less is more with copy, I would suggest tightening it up so there is less to read and leans more professional.
• It's not clear to me that your Blue Jay case study was a gig or just something you did on your own... either way, they should hire you if they haven't cause its a home run my man.
14. "RE: Some quick thoughts" In response to Reply # 13
>First off, nice job of pulling a tight portfolio together. I >am always looking for solid portfolio examples, as those of us >in the Design world know, it's a pain to pull together. Yours >is really good. > >a few comments / questions / opinions.. take with grain of >salt from a fellow okp designer. Always open to different views on my work > >• While aesthetically pleasing to some degree, the >light-serif font you are using across the site makes it very >hard to read.. Word? I've tried it on all browsers and it seemed fine to me and I have bad eyes LOL
> >• Another copy point.... your tone feels varied. Some >sentences are pragmatic and concise and other times it's super >casual ".... the design nerd in me..." Less is more with >copy, I would suggest tightening it up so there is less to >read and leans more professional. > Yeah I felt like I got wrote too much int he copy of the case study but I wanted to get my thought process out on it. I tried to keep it as minimal as possible but looking at other case studies I think I didn't go overboard.
As far as tone, you aren't the first person to bring that up to me. I tried to keep it loose and creative but also at times keep it "professional". I suck at writing copy, you will never hear me claim that ever but I didn't want it to be too corporate. I know that's weird because the world I want to enter is sort of corporate and the one job I really want is owned by a giant corporation but that's not me and that's not what I am offering. Despite my tone it's my skills, mv vision and ability to execute and I've done that on all levels of freelance, corporate to smaller businesses. That's why in my testimonials that I am adding you will see a variety of people cosigning from Executive Vice Presidents in music to communication strategists who work in the health sector to other designers who respect my work. I am trying to brand my self as something much different than the cookie cutter designer.
>• It's not clear to me that your Blue Jay case study was a >gig or just something you did on your own... either way, they >should hire you if they haven't cause its a home run my man. > Nah it was a pure passion project but I wanted to take it serious as if it was an actual design gig. I wanted to showcase that I can put that thought and research into it and execute it on a very high level.
>• Your blog? > Yeah it's not ready yet I just have that tab there for now.
>Great job, thanks for sharing. > >werd. Thanks I really appreciate you taking the time to look at my work, means a lot.
22. "Had a meeting with the EVP's" In response to Reply # 0
The president and evp's reached out after posting this as an article on LinkedIn. I'll update when more things develop but it was a really great meeting.
========================================= I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and not having much to show for it. (c) mad
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79560 posts
Fri Dec-03-21 01:23 PM
37. "details man.. you had a few things on the table" In response to Reply # 35
congrats regardless
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
39. "I’ve been talking with their VPs" In response to Reply # 37 Fri Dec-03-21 03:40 PM by Heinz
And made them aware that I want to create a Creative Director position there since it oddly has never existed. All that is currently available is a Junior Designer role unfortunately so i turned that down to creative direct/design on a project to project basis with them…for now. Going to be working on a bunch of really amazing projects and convince them they need a CD now and that it’s me. Meanwhile all that was in limbo I was suggested for a CD position for Masai and his company. Interview with him and his team went great and I am in the running for that. This would be for his charity and personal brand. The possibility of working directly with a leader like that would be amazing to be around and soak up all the gems. He is a really cool ass guy and I would love to work there plus I would be able to do both. If I took that junior designer role with the Jays I feel like I would be selling myself short and doing myself a disservice. But my dream job is a step closer and If I can be the organizations first ever CD i would lose my shit. I’m going to do it.
36. "Hey Love the LL Hats" In response to Reply # 0
I know head of Merch for Rock the Bells. I am tempted to show it to him but wouldn't want that to end up with a cease and desist (which I don't think would happen or make sense but you never know).
Do you mind if I do?
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
40. "That’s not my brand. Thats a good friend of mine from the city" In response to Reply # 36 Fri Dec-03-21 03:39 PM by Heinz
He’s pretty well known among those streetwear designers. He’s done collabos with Ronny from KITH and Anwar from Carrots. I did the baseball inspired side patches. I appreciate the love.
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