Little Fixa

Saturday, March 17, 2012

My first Little Fixa Project

I recently purchased a chest of drawers off eBay with the plan to fix it up and make it my own. I had never done anything like this before and I had no idea what to do once I had the chest. As the chest was old it smelt like mothballs, I did some research AND found out how to get rid of the smell. I emailed Fiona from Lilyfield Life Blog and she was kind enough to email me back with how to get rid of the smell, it worked a charm. Next was to get the materials I needed to fix it up, I went to Bunnings to buy paint, sandpaper, and everything else I needed. I took a drawer with me so I could explain exactly what I wanted to do, the man serving me at Bunnings told me how to sand it back, paint it and the process I needed to take in fixing it. It was great help because I really had no idea what to do. The last thing I needed to make the drawers complete were new handles as the current ones were not the look I was after. It took me awhile to find what I wanted and I was lucky to find them in a vintage shop in Marrickville That Vintage Shop, they had a great range of drawer handles and I bought some clear glass crystal knobs.

Steps into fixing up the chest of drawers:

Step 1: Getting rid of the mothball smell, Wipe down the chest with water/bleach solution and leave it in the sun for a few hours to air.

Step 2: Fill in any dents with putty

Step 3: Sand the chest back, not completely but enough so the shine of the old paint has been removed

Step 4: Wipe down chest as to get rid of any dust

Step 5: Paint 2 coats of undercoat paint

Step 6: Sand the undercoat paint back slightly

Step 7: Wipe down chest as to get rid of any dust

Step 8: Paint 2 coats of top coat paint

Step 9: Attach new handles

Finish :)

Below are pictures of Before & After and also a few progress shots.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Inevitable Change for Retail

I’ve spoken about it before but we are now more then ever immersed by technology, how we go about our every day business is completely different to how we would of done it a decade ago. We are forever changing and adapting especially for the young generation. The article Change for the Better is a perfect example of how traditional retail shops need to keep up with the change around them.

One thing that is changing in retail is more shopping is done online, I know for myself that I shop more online then do in stores. I have a few reason why I do this. 1. I want things that I can’t get in Australia. 2. Most sites have free shipping. 3. The Aussie dollar is pretty good at the moment. 4. Generally its cheaper for me to buy internationally even if I have to pay for shipping (take for example my pair of J brand Jeans – I can buy them in Sydney at David Jones for nearly double the price then I can get them on Shopbop for with free shipping). There are other reason why I shop online but the main ones I listed.

The article is great as it compares The OrotonGroup and David Jones. The OrotonGroup is a perfect example of moving forward and not letting the inevitable change of competition and technology disadvantage it. David Jones however is making excuses for not doing well – my belief is move on, except that change is unavoidable and how we shop is different. Take action and make ways to improve and get people into your stores if business is slowing down.

The New Retail Blog is simple and straightforward. The article is set out nicely and is easy to read. I would like to see some links on the page to the suggested articles that the author read if they were available online. The article is very relevant to what’s going on right now. There has been constant talk on the news about the change of traditional retail stores. Its great to see people commenting on this topic because it will gradually start retails to change and compete with online stores. I know that if Australia stores lowered prices to that of the same as online retails I would buy it in the store.

What is your opinion on this? How do you shop?

Online News Article:

http://www.newretailblog.com/change-for-the-better/

Is the hacking term misused in this article?

I saw the title of thisarticle Can 50 Hackers HelpSave the World in One Day? and it immediately grabbedmy attention. I was thinking this sounds interesting what is it about. As Istarted to read the article I had a little grasp what they were trying toachieve but I was not 100% sure.

The article is lacking trulyexplaining what the event is really doing and how it is doing it? In the secondparagraph “The goal is to get coders, designers and other creative types tostart applying their talents to the non-profit and social good sector”. Itexplains what they want them to do but what exactly do they want to achievefrom this for the non-profit sector. I think it’s a great cause for thenon-profit sector but this article is missing crucial information. By using theterm hacking my view is that they are doing something illegal as hacking is aterm I know as used as breaking into a technology system either by lookingaround or taking something with out the users permission. The actual definitionfrom the dictionary ‘use acomputer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system’.

This article could do a lotbetter by giving examples of what they will be doing so the reader can reallyunderstand what they are trying achieve by this event. I think it’s a greatidea as they are taking hacking to the next level and using it for good. Ifpeople can use their hacking skills to help non-profit and the social sectorits amazing. Over the last decade we have become consumed by the internet andby using hackers skills for social justice is something very positive that generallyhas been seen as something frowned upon.

I often read articles onMashable but I have not noticed this before a disclosure down the bottom ofthis article “Disclosure: Mashable is a media partner of Hackfor Change”. So it gets methinking that this is advertising for the event which is great and wouldbenefit the event but the article is very misleading. Looking at the commentspeople seem to be just as confused as I am. As someone mentioned in the comments, Is it hacking or programming?

Againno one seems to know what they are doing. I believe the idea of this article isgreat but at the same time it is damaging to the cause. I think a lot of peoplewill disregard this article because its not clear and seems to be misusing thehacking term.

Whatdo you guys think?

Online News Article:

http://mashable.com/2011/05/25/hack-for-change/

Extra articles:

http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/431/Hacktivism?cid=23227#overview

Monday, October 17, 2011

Making life easier

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog entry Steve Jobs view on "What He Loves". The reason I wrote the blog entry was because the article I came across inspired me. Since Jobs has passed I have read a number of articles praising him, mentioning how he changed the world and there are also some negative posts pretty much saying ‘what’s the big deal’. This article is not about my opinion on what he has done but a different look at someone else’s opinion on how he influenced their life. The recent blog post by Tim Carmody ‘This Stuff Doesn’t Change the World’: Disability and SteveJobs’ Legacy was very touching.

The article is about how the technology and devices that Jobs invented has improved someone’s life. Carmody has an autistic son “He has a thoroughly well-loved iPod Touch, filled with videos and apps that have helped him learn to speak and augment his ability to communicate”. It was great to see a different side of praise for Steve Jobs not just the normal ones I have been reading about how he changed how we use phones, computers, computer graphic programs etc.

The article has a lot to offer: the writers opinion on how Jobs has influenced his life, quotes about how devices are helping people with disabilities, I particularly like the interview referenced that Jobs had with Wired in 1996. The article also has comments that are quite interesting and related topics are also listed. What I did find misleading was the first picture it made me think that a mother was writing the article until I looked at the author did I realise it was coming from a fathers perspective. This is not a huge deal and I’m sure they were showing how we use iPhones to communicate but maybe they need to reconsider this for next time.

Online News Article:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/steve-jobs-disability/

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Was it ever like Mad Men?

Things have changed since the Mad Men Era according to the article HAS THE ERAOF THE ECD COME TO AN END? The role of the Executive Creative Director (ECD) is taking on a new form thanks to realm of media having changed dramatically in the last decade. Though after some research I’m starting to wonder if this is even the case.

Just in case you are not familiar with Mad Men I’ve posted a YouTube video for the trailer of the fictional lead character Don Draper by Exeter Street.

The role of the creative director was coming up with The Big Idea, they were the forefront and had their creative teams working behind them. The creative director could then lead into a role of the ECD being responsible for the whole creative department so did this mean that they came up with ‘The Big Idea’ or would just oversee ‘The Big Idea’. In the full article Kennedy refers to “BWM's Belgiovane, ECDs are without question more business focused now, and the fiscal performance of the agency is just as important for the ECD as it is for the CEO”.

The article is well written and is a sum up of the full length story DEATH OF THE ECD? I do believe that the sum up could have been a bit longer to focus on what the ECD does now compared to what it did in the 80’s and 90’s. The comment in the sum up article is interesting in the readers version on why the ECD was created. The author can take this into consideration, would be great to see a response from the author. The layout and design of the B&T news part on the website is very straightforward. There is not much to distract the reader from reading the article which I find myself benefitting from as I am able to concentrate a lot more compared to other news sites. It includes one picture in the style of the Mad men show. On the right hand column the article has two advertisements one for subscription to B&T and the other by an outside company, it has a comments section on what other articles have been recently commented on – this is a good idea because it takes the reader to other news related articles. There is also a twitter following and newsletter section. I enjoy reading articles on B&T because it is generally topics that I am interested in.

Online News Article:
http://www.bandt.com.au/news/has-the-era-of-the-ecd-come-to-an-end

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Am I an artist or advertiser?

Is advertising Art?

I have a Bachelor of Visual Arts and soon to be a Masters in PR and Advertising, I worked as a graphic designer for the largest in-house advertising agency in Australia. Is there a conflict of interest. Am I an artist or an advertiser? This latest article Cansomething as commercial as advertising be considered art? By Peter Biggs (CEO of Clemenger BBDO and Clemenger Proximity Melbourne) has made me think about what I do and in some sort of way am I selling out via advertising.

What I really loved about this article was how Biggs referred to advertising from the 1950’s and 1960’s is now considered art “…They’re not hanging to sell product, but to create a mood and atmosphere. Or, you could argue, as art”.

As time goes by, change happens and people grow older, what was an advertisement to my parents generation is now a artwork for my generation. I believe that art and advertisement overlap. I agree with the cases stated on the YouTube video that advertisement is to sell something and to get consumers to buy or participate in something, but isn’t art the same thing. Art is for sale, artist want a reaction from people and in the end if they don’t admit it they too also want to make money from the art they have created.

Would it be wrong to say that Advertising stems from Art? (After writing this question i came across this article Is advertising Art? Pretty interesting.)

The article on Mumbrella was very interesting for me as I come from an artist background but have gone down the advertising path. It is well written and in all ways grabs my attention. Mumbrella is a very crowded website but I think if the news article is interesting enough it doesn’t bother you. It includes subscription to the top social media networks on the right hand side, the latest comments to other news articles are also on the right hand side which seems to be a growing trend on websites now. It also has other news article being featured on the left hand side and of course advertisement on the page and a comments section down the bottom

Online News Article:

http://mumbrella.com.au/can-something-as-commercial-as-advertising-be-considered-art-59350

Friday, September 23, 2011

Everyone's talking about the new update to Facebook

There have been a number of online news articles about the updates on the Facebook changes. One in particular has been by The Daily Mail “Facebook blog is inundated with thousands of protests as users start Facebookgroup 'We Hate the New News Feed’”. Most of these complaints are about the new News Feed section.

The first thing that happens when Facebook updates their website is the Facebook status updates are all the same, everyone is ranting about how bad it is and the second thing that happens is the dislike groups to get Facebook to change it back. These seems to be the same process every time they change something major on the site. The last time I remember they changed it everyone hated it and eventually we all did get used to it and start to love it. So what’s the point of all this ranting when we will just get used to it again. I must admit it did annoy me a bit but because it changed my privacy settings and I had to go back in and figure out how to make it the same as last time. Sometimes change is good, it helps us grow, learn new things and in technology become aware of what the internet is capable of.

The online news story is well written and included images such as a wireframe of Facebook new music playing feature and then a screenshot of what the current Facebook looks like with the Newsfeed. It also have some images just so you know who Mark Zuckerburg is I don’t know if this is needed as there is already a lot going on The Daily Mail website. There are a few other pictures of some other updates and a screenshot of Google + now the competition for Facebook. The Daily Mail website later down the page gets a bit distracting. In the second image that i have included you can see how over crowded the section is, I think that could work on that section to make it less distracting. There is a comment section at the bottom and the latest person who commented seems to think the same thing I though Leanne from Dorset says “I’m not gonna lie but everyone always moans when Facebook updates everyone moans for a bit then after a couple of weeks they get used to it...then when it up dates again its the same old story...”. So it makes me think next tiome facebook updates something are there going to be lots of news articles about the users complaining they don’t like it. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Screen Schot of the Daily mail website

Online News Article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2039726/Facebook-changes-Thousands-protests-We-hate-new-news-feed-group.html

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Steve Jobs view on "What He Loves"

The latest Apple announcement was sad Steve Jobs quits. We were all hoping the next Apple announcement would be news about the iPhone 5 not that the mastermind behind apple is retiring. The Wall Street Journal published an article “Find What You Love,” Steve Jobs’ at Stanford University a talk that he gave to students at Stanford inspiring them not to settle “You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach as never let me down and it has made all the difference in my life.” The heading is inspiring “Find what you Love” as Steve Jobs is admired its great insight to read about how he found what he loved and know that you can love what you do. It was a perfect heading for the article as it represents everything it is about.

The article is inspiring as it makes the reader think about the bigger picture, if they are not happy with what they are doing then do something about it. Rework your life to make it how you want it. Life is to short to just go along with things and hope it works out. I believe if you want to live a full life you need to make it your own and style it to the way you want it. Jobs has summed it up about life “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life”. He is also realistic about life and knows you should live it to the fullest while you can “Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true”.

The layout of The Wall Street Journal Article is simple. It has the heading up the top then a tab underneath the heading with Article and next to that Comments. At the time of viewing there are 68 comments with some inspiring comments such as from the reader Bill Dueease “Jobs is living proof that when you do what you love and love what you do everything works out….”. This is a great example showing how the readers are emotionally involved with the article. The article works well online as it is on the appropriate site, it would have been nice if there was a video of Jobs giving the talk to accompany the article. Overall I believe it to be a great online news article well worth the read.

Online news articles:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576520690515394766.html?fb_ref=wsj_share_FB_bot&fb_source=home_oneline

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Cleaning up London: DIY

Just as quickly as the riots came and destroyed the streets of London, local volunteers were cleaning them up. It will be a total city/town/area renovation and clean up with the locals providing support and funding to ease the pressure off the individuals who have lost everything. The same way the riots were organised the clean up was organised through social media.

There are a few news articles focused on the clean up and how people are coming together and helping anyone they can. The Daily Mail has written an article about the volunteers in the UK. The article gets straight to the point and makes it about the volunteers "Where youths had roamed the streets with bricks and bats just hours earlier, a new army had appeared. Invoking London’s famous ‘Blitz spirit’, volunteers responded defiantly to the worst violence the city has witnessed in decades by rolling up their sleeves and helping in the clean-up" (The Daily Mail). The article focuses on the community spirit and everyone coming together to help the affected areas.

The Daily Mail had put together a well-written article that looks at the after mass of the London Riots. Not only have NICHOLAS MCDERMOTT and WILLIAM JAFFRAY the authors of the article written about what the locals have been doing and quoting them they have included some inspiring photographs and also devastating photographs. As devastating as it is to see how the streets of London have been destroyed its amazing at the same time to see the amount of people that have volunteered to help clean up and put the streets of London back together. They captured the moment when they mentioned the help Dave Cox owner of a TD Sports store had received "Something unexpected happened. As Mr Cox surveyed the carnage, a group of volunteers arrived and offered to help him clear it up. In less than 30 minutes the smashed glass was swept away and the shop restored to a semblance of normality. Then with cheery waves, the helpers were gone to help the next stricken business. ‘It was fantastic, I was very emotional actually,’ said Mr Cox. ‘It proves there are still some good people around.’" (The Daily Mail).

The article is well structured it has a catchy heading reinforcing the message I believe they are focusing on “even though you destroy us we have double the troops to clean it up, nothing can get us down”. The article has sourced photos that capture the scene of Londoners coming together and it has also included photographs of the carnage. Opening the reader’s eyes to see really how much has been destroyed and the reason there are so many amazing volunteers helping to clean up the streets and local stores. The Daily Mail website is easy to navigate, it has a navigation toolbar on the top of the article allowing the user to access other articles and sections the website provides. Something impressive is the Facebook like button – over 3000 people have liked this article, which is pretty impressive for one article. At the time of viewing the reader comments were currently unavailable, this is disappointing as I am always interested in what people think about certain articles and seeing as over 3k people have liked the article there are bound to be some interesting comments.

Online news articles:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024035/UK-riots-2011-500-Londoners-offer-help-clean-rioters-mess.html

Monday, August 15, 2011

DIY Home Office: Made By Girl

I came across this blog Made By Girl a while ago, Jen Ramos blogs about interiors, art, architecture, fashion and bits and pieces that inhabit her life. My blog post is about her DIY Home Office. Jen's blog is really well structured; its main focus is the photos though she does have a small description of her satisfaction about completing her home office. She has five different blog entries dedicated to her home office renovation. In her final blog entry about the home office project she has referenced her before photos so the reader can see what it was like. When you click on the before link it takes you to a blog entry with a brief description and if the reader scrolls down to the bottom of the blog entry before the comments there is a section with suggestions of similar pages you might be interested in. This is great as the reader can see three other post related to her home office renovation. The suggestion pages are an ad on widget powered by LinkWithin.

LinkWithin Widget

Jen really engages the reader by adding little extras to her blog post and also commenting on the photos she has taken, little descriptions of what she has done, needs to done or a basic comments.

Before Jen started her DIY Office, she really thought about what she wanted and needed to do, here you can see her DIY LIST. A DIY list before you start doing something I think is very important as it can make the whole process easier.

I absolutely love how Jen's new office has turned out, its bright with lots of natural light, roomy, quirky, colourful add on’s, and also very organised with lots of storage that makes the office look neat and tidy. If only I could make my office look like this. If I ever do revamp it I will be sure to blog about it just like Jen has done with before shots, progress and after as well as adding my own creative touches.

DIY Home Office webpage

Inspiration before starting

Before revamping starts

Progress shot

Progress shot - loving the wallpaper

What an amazing transformation