Chris Monaccio

My site is currently jacked…

Chris — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:25:53 +0000

I’m not entirely sure what happened, but my site got a bit jacked up recently. I’ve been able to get it back to a stable state, but some of the widgets I’ve been using are generating errors in the side-bar. I’m actually working on a new site design, so I’m going to leave these for the most part and start fresh in the very near future.

Are business cards necessary?

Chris — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:47:46 +0000

So I’m reviewing my “wants.txt” document today. This is a list of all the material achievements I wish to have in life. For example: “2 vacation properties.” I noticed another, “Professional Business Cards”, and thought about it for a second.

What would the point be in designing a business card really? Is it worth the effort? I already have a website that I direct acquaintances to, so why do I need to waste paper and time designing a physical card? It dawned on me then that the business card is in fact, out-modded. I even feel like I’m late to the game on that. Between your website and your ability to retain contact info on any given smartphone, I can’t think of many instances where a traditional business card would be necessary. Internationally perhaps?

Insight

Chris — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:00:37 +0000

My girlfriend Chrissy said something very interesting tonight. After explaining to her that I’m interested in listening to the Richard Feynman Lectures on Physics, she says to me, “You’re the only person I know that would learns physics to relax.” I’ve never really been described that way before.

Hello to Media Box Studios

Chris — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:48:02 +0000

Until the end of July, I was under contract to a brilliant gentleman named Alex Alexander. Since May however, I’ve been searching for a new job. But I had this idealistic goal that it not just be “a new job”, I want more than just a paycheck at this stage in my career.

I want to work with other talented designers and developers to learn as much as I can and build up any deficiencies in my skills. I want to work within an organization that isn’t focused on only a few clients but that is constantly getting a variety of work from many areas. I want to work with people that are passionate about creating work that isn’t just good enough but is creative and fun while solving the immediate problem of the client. Most of all, I want to gain experience in an organization that is 100% focused on design and multimedia rather that being part of an in-house team of designers. I want to see the inner machinations and routines of this type of organization and witness their approach to this industry’s unique set of business dilemmas.

Having as little professional experience as I do and given our current economic climate, it has been very difficult to find any positions, let alone a position that met my own lofty requirements. After a string of rejections and unfulfilled leads, I’ve been hired by Media Box Studios! I had an exceptional interview and decided at that point I couldn’t work for anyone else. I was persistent, but not annoying. It paid off and they took a chance on me! I’ve been hired as an intern initially and will (hopefully!) be brought on as a full Multimedia Developer very soon. After the first week I can honestly say that I love it. The commute is gorgeous and traffic-free. My coworkers are brilliant and talented. The office is cozy, inviting, open, and cube-free. I even get a 3 day weekend because we work 4 10-hour days. Somehow I got everything I asked for, and I feel very grateful and lucky. I wake up and look forward to the day’s work. I wish everyone could feel like that about their job. I can’t wait for Monday and I’m really thankful to everyone on the Media Box Studios team!

Girl Power Emblem

Chris — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:19:44 +0000

Part of my girlfriend Christine’s job is to organize after-school events for children at a property managed by the organization she works for. One of those programs is specifically for young girls, called “Girl Power”. She wanted an emblem for the program that could be used on shirts, posters, flyers, etc. and would symbolize the nature of the program, to empower young girls to be self-confident and follow their dreams. This is the result.

Being male, it was very difficult to create an emblem that didn’t espouse a stereotypical view of what young girls found interesting. It took many revisions and sketches to find a happy medium of what excites young girls but that also demonstrates their potential without being superficial. There were to be no images of make-up kits or playing with dolls. Instead, concentric hearts, surrounded by unicorns, topped with a beautiful tiara, cradle the inner passions and potentials of a young girl today.

Link Roundup 06/30/08 – 07/11/08

Chris — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:58:36 +0000

This is going to be a bit bigger. Due to last week’s festivities, I didn’t finish this post and decided it would be better just to roll it up into this week’s roundup. Hope these links are of some help to someone!

A Passion for Paper

Inspiration: Andy Gilmore Design

Don’t Let Fear Make Decisions

10 Things About the Working World I Wish I Knew in College

The Secret to Landing Clients Nearly 100% of the Time

Marketing’s Wheel of Misfortune

Achieving “the Package Deal”

Poking Holes in the Long Tail Theory

12 Realities of Pricing Design Services

Wal-mart Gets a Facelift

Customer Service. Duh.

Adobe, Google, and Yahoo! Make Searching SWF Files Easier

Knowing What You’re Not

National iPhone 3G Activation Failure Due To Apple’s “Short Tether” System?

Truth Behind the Energy Star Label

Starbucks: Can you Smell Their Desperation?

The Four Day Work Week: Is it a Good Idea?

Making of the Obama Print

“Brand U.0″: Why your Personal Brand Matters

Photoshopping Military Might

Effective Use of Blog Sidebars

ASIS International Chapter 151

Chris — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:25:04 +0000

Visit Site…

This site template was created for the Fredericksburg/Quantico area chapter of ASIS International. It features a CSS flyout menu for navigation and members may translate the page into Spanish using Google’s translation service. The design is simple and the pages act as templates as no content was provided at the time of creation. The code is well-crafted and utilizes many techniques I have recently learned. It was good experience and I hope to build upon it.

Link Roundup 06/23/08 – 06/27/08

Chris — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:52:27 +0000

Great Advertising Inspiration

Five undisclosed features of Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Sears is now officially too incompetent to even take your money

AIDES Condo ad from ffffound (NSFW)

Amazing Wall-E Retro Posters

How do I start investing for retirement?

2008 Toyota Matrix Designs

Study of Wealthy Confirms Classic Joke

Social Networking Will Become Business As Usual

The Employable Web Designer

36 Beautiful Business Card Designs

Arrows, Lines, and Improving Your Photoshop Workflow

Flexible Layouts: Challenge for the Future

Link Roundup 06/16/08 – 06/20/08

Chris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:51:19 +0000

I’m going to start posting interesting links that I find through some of the websites and blogs that I visit on a regular basis. I’d like to do this around the end of each week, mostly to add some fresh content to the site on a weekly basis. I realize it’s Thursday, but I’ll most likely be out of town tomorrow and so I’ll post this today. Anyhow, here’s cool stuff I found this week:

Abduzeedo Wallpaper of the Week #10

Series I Savings Bonds vs. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities

Freelance Freedom #57

Micro-transactions: Making the Experience Portable

Very Little Love for Marvel

Sketching in Code: the Magic of Prototyping

New work in my portfolio!

Chris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:59:32 +0000

I’ve taken some time out and added past and recent projects to my portfolio, including some 3d models created during my time at DEI, the titles to “Warcraft Pwned my Life”, and a photo I did a considerable amount of retouching to. Check them out over in my portfolio!