Want a kick-ass portrait for your portfolio? Let me help you out. Between now and Jan 5th, I’ll shoot your portrait for free (actually in exchange for a critique).
Details
You bring the idea, and appropriate props if needed. I’ll bring the photo stuff. Email me to set up an appointment. We can shoot in just 15 minutes, or for a couple of hours if you want. I’m totally open to make this work. Portraits are a great way to show your personality and professionalism. You must set up an appointment via email at least 24 hours in advance. I have 3 colored backgrounds (white, black, and red), and plenty of lights. We have a great space in the new studio to shoot, but I’m open to almost any location.
What you need
Yourself. Props as needed. Some time. An idea! I’m also requesting that everyone that I photograph provide me with a critique of my website (portfolio), business cards, or branding in exchange for my time and services. This critique can be of any length and in any format excepting face-to-face (written, audio, video, dance, play, etc).
This summer (actually I already started) I will be working with Mozilla on the Firefox User Experience team. I couldn’t be more excited or happy. Firefox is a great product that has around 370 million users worldwide. This is a huge audience for which to design and will come with many challenges. I look forward to tackling these challenges head on with all that I have learned about design. I also hope to learn more than ever about designing in the real world, working with real people, on stuff that will actually be in the world and used by millions. It’s scary as hell and I love it!
Reflection Thus Far
In thinking about the past (almost) two weeks, I can already seen how things have changed for me a bit. I’ve started to understand how UX teams might work in real world companies, specifically companies that are developer centric. Furthermore, I’ve started to understand the unique challenges that come with designing open source software. There are so many people involved, so many opinions, and so very many valid use and edge cases. It’s superbly interesting and a little overwhelming. I’m starting to look through my toolset and understand what tools I have that can best be used within a community such as Firefox. My colleagues (wow, that’s awesome to say) have blogged about some of these things as well. I work with really smart and amazing people. I’m very grateful for their help and support thus far.
The first week here I was a sponge, running around trying to soak up as much information as possible. It also happened to be an intensive work week where we had all of our remote people in the office. It was a really great week where I learned quite a bit about how things work at Mozilla and the direction that Firefox was taking. I also got to participate in many quick design meetings where we discussed and ideated on designs. Furthermore, I was able to give my opinion on some Bike Sheding issues and I really felt welcomed.
This week (my second) I’ve started my first project and helped the team on some other stuff. Limi and I filled a bazillion bugs for the Firefox Papercuts issues (see his presentation on the topic). So now I have a great grasp on filling bugs within bugzilla. My new project involves doing a good amount of research on what the next generation “home tab” might look like for the web. I really like this project thus far as it really allows me to stretch my imagination and think about the future of the web and how it can be better designed for people.
So far, I’m having a great time. The Bay Area is fantastic. Mozilla is really great, and I love the people on the UX team. Plus I’m working for an organization that has a dino head for a logo. How cool is that!