I’ve been fiddling with some ideas for magazine layouts recently, I’m really trying to hold myself back from subscribing to alot of magazines I’ve just become aware of but I’m currently too poor to be able to afford them…! ahh woe is me.

It’s so nearly Christmas that I’m a little sad that I’m still unemployed! Well i guess I’ve only been looking for a couple of months now, but it feels more like a whole year!

Anyway, here is an idea for a magazine layout… fashion themed magazine, and to be honest not quite finished yet, but I’m just about to start work on something a little different so watch this space!

Over the past few weeks i have been applying for jobs pretty much anywhere i can, but i have found that the best interviews and companies i have been to have been found through Gumtree.com. (and also yay for no agents!)

I had an interview on Friday with a magazine designer called RedHouse Lane based in Tottenham Court Road and wow! It was just so good! On first impressions the building was just, really, smart. The receptionist was very friendly and didn’t judge me when i got stuck and couldn’t open the door, and the man who interviewed me i can honestly say was the nicest guy ever.

Everyone who has interviewed me has been in my position before, trying to make it out there in the big wide world of design, yet very few have spoken to me like i was a real person and some of them i would even go as far to say spoke down to me.Yes, i am young and inexperienced in studio but im not an idiot, and im really trying.

Well this guy was just brilliant. ^_^ He didn’t make me feel nervous and i am the most nervous person in the world, and he even gave me advice on my portfolio and living in london.

Anyway for a long while i have been interested in layouts in magazines and books and i’ve said before its mainly because i like how each page has a theme all of its own and this is focussed around the content on the page.

Its something i first looked at in my self elected project pdf, (NOTE: please don’t be mad at me, its still not finished yet but i’ll post some under construction screen shots later.) and its now something that i am experimenting with now, having been for the interview and seen the many ways that a company such as RedHouse Lane can communicate a message or a theme through several different ways based entirely on a pages layout and appearance.RedHouse Lane are officially my idols!

The job position was for a junior magazine designer (Yay! I’m excited even writing it down!) the salary is negotiable but between £16-18k, i hope for 17k but to be honest i would take 15k just so i could work there. I couldn’t pay the rent… but i could work there!

Its weird how you think that you yourself are the inspired one looking for a job, until you find a job which inspires you and then it just swings you in a different mood about things. Hooray is all i can say.

I have had alot of time on my hands recently, even though i have had loads to do i have found myself with lots of spare time… mainly sat infront of the computer for hours with nothing that im supposed to be doing. Anyway, I was on digg and found this post on “50 Ways To Be A Better Designer” there are alot of obvious things on there and if you can be bothered to read it all there are some helpful things included.

Maybe its just me being a noob to the design world but i am always trying to think of new ways to improve myself and my work.

Annoying as it is, as soon as i have finished creating improvements to my website or my portfolio i want to change it all again as i pretty much always think of something better as I’m working! It’s alot easier with the brand i have now though as i can just “trick” myself into thinking I’ve changed the site by uploading a different background image!

Here is me (re)installing Adobe CS. Horrible memories! I was so slow on the uptake that i never actually got round to getting CS2 versions of everything and i went straight from CS to CS3 which was wonderful. But now going 2 steps backwards seems a little ridiculous, not to mention the fact that i now can’t open all the indesign files to use them in CS.  

Yes, i am aware that you can save them for older versions of programs, but funny enough i didn’t anticipate that InDesign would STOP working when i installed Leopard!! So having versions of every InDesign file i’ve ever made saved for every version of InDesign “just incase” seemed a little excessive!

Anyway, speaking of “just incase”… i just bought a 500GB external hard disk, just incase i do decide that having to use InDesign CS is a little bit too stone age and that i would rather revert back to Tiger than spend another second in an outdated program, well now i have the space to back up everything thats on my computer…. well just about everything!

Here is the moment my computer actually let out a long /sigh…

So i installed Leopard on my imac g5 yesterday, and when my mr told me he had bought a 5 person version and would i be interested in getting in on the deal, i obviously said yes. However, even though i watched the promotional video of it on the Apple website i didn’t desperately want it because i always say *everything* electronics based (computers, games consoles, phones, ipods etc etc) are always really glitchy when they first get released, and i should wait and do it later when all the kinks are smoothed over.

However, my mr assured me, that he is installing it first anyway so he will be the guinea pig. Sounds simple enough, so then after he has used it he posts it on to me and then i would forward it on to his parents where it would stay.

As you saw yesterday, when it actually got here i was so excited that i just install it and go nuts as it was awesome… until i went to use InDesign and it wouldn’t open. Great. Well as you also may know, i am currently in the midst of making a promotional something to send out to people to encourage them to employ me, if i cant open my programs how is that going to happen? nightmare! 

Well i now google “CS3 doesn’t work with Leopard” and i get loads of results. Turns out, Adobe didn’t get round to product test CS3 with Leopard. Umm why not? Given that Mac’s are clearly design orientated computers, if you go to any design studio they will be running Macs, why on earth wouldn’t they test what is arguably the most crucial piece of software for a Mac? 

Well now i realise that given that their isn’t a fix for CS3.. and believe me i trawled the internet looking for a patch… that i should either downgrade back to Tiger (yes i know) this means i would have to use my restore disks, back everything up and prepare to have to wipe my computer, re-install all my programs/fonts/music etc. which lets face it, right now, its not sounding like such a favorable option. OR install Adobe CS to use while they (take months to) fix CS3 and wait for a patch. or Atleast a cracked version of InDesign. /sigh.  

Ew downgrade it is then, how hideous! 

Mmm delicious shiny new leopard! Hooray for the 5 person “family” pack, i don’t have the money to fork out the £85 just for myself, as I’m sure everyone knows i am saving to get a flat (deposits are expensive!) but £130/5 is cheap, how could i resist!?

Have a peek at the defining moment, my computer switching over to Leopard, i managed to get screenshots of the first few moments. Yes i was bored, but i had just sat and watched it install for about an hour!