Designers V. Suits

Ok I'm back, To my faithful readers, all zero of you, sorry it took so long. I have been working hard on a freelance project, building a flash site for a motivational speaker. Sounds funny but when you're paying New York rent you will do anything for money short of working the streets. My work at AOL has been going pretty well lately I have been actively engaged in a large company wide project that I should probably not discuss but it is a major shift in the direction of the company. Which brings me to a great point about the nature of the corporate design world and the inherent battle between the designers and businessmen. Now before I embark on this argument I should let you all know that I am not at all opposed to making money. However I think advertising degrades good design. In my experience at AOL I have seen pages being crippled by heinous advertising. In some cases ads take up one third of the top of the page. If that wasn't bad enough there are flash ads that expand over the page, play video and play the most odious music. Now again I do like making money, but there is a point at which a healthy bottom line just isn't worth it. As a young designer I may have a youthful idealistic view of my field. I believe that a positive user experience is the most valuable thing a designer can provide. On the other hand making money is really the point of any on-line company. So there is this battle between the suits who want to create a healthy bottom line while the designers champion the importance of good design. This clash can only be resolved by compromise. The nature of our business doesn't allow for the existence of only one of these parties. This is perhaps the most valuable lesson that I have learned this summer in my first real corporate design experience.

My First Post

What's up everyone, This is my first post and its probably going to be a short one because I'm real busy latleyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Whoa holy crap did you see that I just fell asleep on my keyboard. Reminds me of my freshman year of college. Anyway, In this first post I will explain a little about myself and why I decided to take up blogging. My name is Trevor Farella, I am a Digital Design student in the infamous DAAP program at the University of Cincinnati (go ahead check us out, we pretty much rock). I twenty or twenty one years old depending on who's asking and have just finished up my sophomore year in a very intense design curriculum. Currently I am in New York City working for America Online LLC or if you don't know what that is we are company that does AIM (ROFL, LAMO but seriously I hate AOL short hand, don't do it! It degrades the English Language. I have had some pretty rad experiences out here and seeing as I have a lot to talk about I thought I would write it down and share my experiences. In this Blog I will talk about what ever is on my mind for the current day so DEAL WITH IT. Just kidding, I will right about design, politics, music, my experiences and on occasion things that just really make me mad. Also I am a huge believer in quotes of the day, so I will be posting one with every entry. Since the people that are actually smarter than me are limited the quotes will be limited to Jesus and Steven Hawking, because I only believe in quoting people who I concede to in intelligence. If you haven't noticed I am also a little sarcastic and a bit of a cynic so take that into consideration when reading my blog. Hey people I'm just here to have fun so ENJOY YOUR SELF. Holler at your boy, IM OUT. (Drops mic and exits stage left)