Furlough week to do list

This week, I get the honor of an unpaid vacation! I am actually pretty excited about this, but I can see how it is a burden on others -- especially those who have to do my work when I'm gone. There's nothing we can do about it, though, except roll with the punches. So, what am I going to do on this week of unpaid leave? I'm glad you asked!

• Apply for unemployment. Apparently I can get some money from the government while I sit on my ass for a week. Who knew? (And before I hear griping about taking government money -- I am just as entitled to it as everyone else who is unemployed. It's probably going to go straight back to the government in the form of student loan payments anyway. So there.)

• Do my taxes. I usually put this off until the last possible day, but I should probably do it sooner. I hate taxes, and mine aren't even that difficult!

• Figure out my health insurance/401(k) stuff for Gannett. I officially get health insurance on March 1 and I need to fill out some paperwork or something. I've also been delaying transferring my 401(k) accounts. I tend to put off what I don't understand. Being a grown up is hard!

• (Now for the fun stuff.) Spend some quality time with my new Kindle Fire. It is a pretty new toy, and I intend on reading/facebooking/words with friending/angry birding like crazy.

• FINISH my damn high school T-shirt quilt. I have been putting this one off for a good 6 years, and it needs to be done already! If I roll through that, I might start my college one, but I don't know if I'm ready to give up wearing some of my Marching Mizzou T-shirts.

• Last but not least is visiting one of my best friends in Madison, Wisc. She just got engaged (and I'm maid of honor!!!!), so we are going to obsess over wedding plans, try on some dresses, go see one of her plays and watch the Oscars hopefully! I haven't been able to watch the Oscars for a few years, and I miss it so. 

Sounds like a pretty good week to me!

Building bridges, building a new life

I haven't posted any of my work lately, but I really haven't been proud of anything either. My time in Springfield didn't really produce anything stellar, but since I've come to Des Moines, I've gotten to open up a little bit. Having superiors who know a thing about design and have your back is a huge factor. I wouldn't have even attempted the page I am about to show you if I didn't have people helping me or supporting my design. I like Des Moines.

Anyway, here's my latest. It's a Sunday front page for the Springfield News-Leader. I got a good eight hours to work on it, and I think it shows. The story is about a community college that is starting to offer more remedial classes in reading, writing and math for students that need a little extra help. I thought of my college days and how much I highlighted things. I even highlighted things on the hard copy of the story before I started designing the page. I kind of inspired myself.

Right click and open in a new window/tab to see a larger version.

The challenge with the centerpiece was trying to figure out how to incorporate the lead photo with the rest of the package. Springfield doesn't do a lot of cutouts, and that is what I was worried about when submitting the design to the editors. With the background dropped from the photo, though, you could focus more on the student in the foreground and what he was writing, which could very well be the text hovering above his head. I only wish he were holding a highlighter (I could also do without the deck headline), but I can't win at everything.

The miraculous part is that the editors in Springfield loved my design. I was really worried, but my bosses at the studio had my back. And they didn't even need to back me up!

A look back at 2011

OK, so 2011 wasn't my best year. Parts of it really sucked, but parts of of were absolutely amazing. Basically it was a huge roller coaster of emotions, life-changing events and self discovery. Here's how it panned out:

January

• One of my best friends got married. It was the first wedding I had ever been a part of and the best wedding I can imagine for two people who worked so hard to get there. 
• Work at the Savannah Morning News took a turn for the worse with two copy deskers in the hospital and two more open positions that took forever to fill. I worked a lot of overtime at both the paper and my second job, which was a completely different entity.
• On the plus side at work, Newseum picked up my first front page for its "Top 10" feature.

February

• As the snowpocalypse was hitting the Midwest, I was designing another awesome front page that got chosen by Newseum.
• I turned 23 and celebrated with a few willing coworkers.
• I got preventative skin cancer surgery. It takes forever to heal. Read: still not 100%. 
• Over the course of this month and the next, I became great friends with a girl who lived near me. We became each other's only true friends in Savannah, and I psuedo-got a puppy out of the deal.

March

• The newspaper launched Morris' new content management system, Content Watch. It was horrible and at least six months from go-live ready. The desk worked very hard to work out the kinks, and succeeded on most accounts over the course of a few months.
• Two of my best friends came to visit me in Savannah for their spring break. Things we did include but are not limited to: a haunted pub crawl, getting hailed on, Savannah things and a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was a fantastic time.
• I survived my first round of layoffs at the Savannah Morning News. It shook me, but the copydesk didn't lose anyone, just two empty positions. Work got harder, and it became more difficult to stay positive. I tried my hardest.

April

• I visited an old high school friend and her daughter in Memphis during the Memphis in May concert series. I saw Jason Mraz live in concert, and my life was completed.

May

• My college "Quartet" got together in Kansas City for a weekend. We had a lot of fun, and I ended up cutting off all of my hair into a style that not only makes me look grown up, but also one that I will be keeping for a while.
• Work calmed down a bit, and I decided to stick it out for a while longer. 
• I bought a new laptop for freelancing/entertainment purposes. 
• I won a Georgia Press Association award for my work on the photo illustration cover of the 2010 election guide.

June

• I moved from my apartment complex in west Savannah to a refurbished house/apartment in downtown Savannah.
• I went to Ireland to visit a friend who was studying abroad. We did a driving tour of the island, and it was one of the best vacations I'd been on. 

July

• I drove to North Carolina to see some more high school friends and hang out on the beach.
• The last Harry Potter movie premired, and a huge part of my childhood ended.

August

• My cat, Maia, got sick again. She is on drugs on an off for the next month an a half.
• I survived my second round of layoffs at the paper, but a lot of other people didn't, including my immediate manager. I started looking for another job. 

September

• Three rooms of my basement apartment flooded with sewer water. 
• I said goodbye to Maia, as her health greatly deteriorated. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.
• I redesigned my website for the Society of News Design conference in St. Louis. I was a networking queen.

October

• I saw another good friend get married in Columbia, Mo.
• I went back to Mizzou for the school's 100th Homecoming celebration. 
• I interviewed for several jobs, and I took one at the Gannett Design Studio in Des Moines. I turned in my resignation to the editor in Savannah (and my freelance job), as did three others in the matter of a week. 
• My apartment flooded two more times. I used the fact that the management didn't fix it after the first time to get out of my lease.
• Another good friend visited me in Savannah before I had to say goodbye to the beautiful city.
• The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, and I cheered them on every step of the way.
• My best friend in Savannah has a baby shower, which makes it harder for me to leave her in Savannah.

November

• I left my first job to start my second one (with a minor stint in Springfield, Mo., in between). I moved my stuff to Des Moines in an epic roadtrip of epicness, and I moved myself to Springfield. 
• I took part in the age-old tradition of banging Big Mo at the Missouri vs. Texas football game.
• I found a roommate in Springfield, who is also moving to Des Moines.

December

• My new roommate and I find an amazing house to rent in Des Moines. 
• My non-healing surgery doesn't heal even more. I go on antibiotics only to be allergic to them and end up in the emergency room with hives, etc.
• I rang in the new year in Kansas City, which is much closer to me now, with my college friends.

So, 2012, let's make a deal. I will go on less trips and pay off some of my bills if you don't be as much of a bitch as 2011 was. Deal?

This Postsecret postcard ran today. I can't help but agree.

InDesign > Quark

I gave it a chance, guys. I really did. I opened my mind to this strange new program. I set aside my Adobe bias for a little while, and I learned about Quark. What I have concluded is that InDesign is far superior. Not only does it have more bells and whistles, but it enables you do do things quickly. Want to use the text tool without trying to click a tiny button? Just press "T." Want to access the type within a text box? Just double click. For some reason, Quark has made all its keyboard shortcuts so convoluted that you need three hands to perform them. Making type bigger requires a shortcut of four keys, and there is no easy way to move from the positioning tool to the content tool without accessing your tiny-ass toolbar up in the corner.

Basically, I'm on Team InDesign. I should make T-shirts.

Design program overload

Naturally, when you start a new job, there's a training process. Each company/newspaper/etc. has its own way of doing things, and that's cool. It's what makes them all unique. What I didn't figure out, though, was that I jumped on this design studio bandwagon a few months too early. I agreed to help out in Springfield, Mo., before they rolled into the studio in Des Moines, and the process of "rolling into" involves more than what I thought.

All through college and even at my job in Savannah, I used Adobe-based programs: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. I'd always heard the switch to Quark wasn't too hard, but I never thought I would have to switch at all. I'd always considered Quark the lesser of the two — the more outdated design program. So I was surprised to learn they used it here in Springfield. I was even more surprised to learn that when the paper rolls into the studio, it won't be designed through InDesign or Quark, but something called Layout Champ, which is a subsidiary of CCI, the Gannett-wide, web-based content management system. Learning the content management systems shouldn't be too hard, though, considering the Content Watch debacle in Savannah and how we all pulled through that.

There's also the Mac/PC aspect of the switch. I worked on a PC in Savannah, and I'm currently learning all the Quark stuff on a Mac. However, they will soon be switching us back over to PCs for the switch to CCI. But I have my own Mac at home. Ridiculous.

So, these next few months I am going to be learning a system and a program that I get to throw away come January, when I will learn a whole new system. I know I am probably making a bigger deal out of this than I should, but I just find it amusing. For now, I feel like I'm going into design program overload. I tell you what, though. I am going to be a design program champ when all is said and done.

Design program overload.

Quick and dirty website

This is my home page. You can find it at LyndseyNielsen.com.

A few months ago, I posted about how I was planning on creating a website for the upcoming SND conference. Well, the conference has come and gone, but I did still slap together something to display some of my design work. You can find it at LyndseyNielsen.com. Now, this is my no means the best portfolio website in the world, but I think it is a good display of how my design can translate onto the web. I am especially proud of the fact that I didn't go overboard with the code. It is really simple, and the only thing I borrowed from other sites was the code for the lightbox on my clips page. You can find the lightbox tutorial here.

I also crafted some coordinating business cards to hand out at the conference. I definitely didn't hand out as many as I should have, though. What do you think? What could I improve on? Feedback is more than welcome!

Everything will fall into place

Hello blog readers! I have to admit, as I am writing this, I am feeling a little guilty about keeping you in the dark about everything that had been going on. I had to for a number of reasons, but I am sorry nonetheless. So, let's rewind a little bit.

In memory of Maia Nielzichbacherott

On Sept. 16, 2011, I lost one of my best friends. Maia was a part of my life for such a short time, but she helped me get through a lot with moving to Savannah. She was my only friend here for a while, and I love and thank her for helping me though it.

Maia's digestive sicknesses took a nasty turn and the vet eventually boiled down her diagnosis to some type of cancer in the intestines. Keeping her alive with chemo was just not an option, so I had to make the hard decision of letting her out of her misery. I didn't do it alone, and I thank all my friends for helping me through the ordeal.

I decided to cremate her remains and bring her back to Columbia, so Allie, Jayme, Amanda and I could all send her off together. It was more for my benefit than for theirs, I think, but I got real closure spreading her ashes at the Big Tree in Columbia.

Here's the Tree in April 2008. We didn't take any pics the day we commemorated Maia.

SND Conference, Sept. 20-Oct. 1

I was lucky enough to attend this year's SND conference in St. Louis. The city was really the perfect place for it to be. Not only did I get free room and board, but I was also able to use my mom's car for the weekend. On the whole, I was a cheapskate, but I still learned a lot!

The panel that will stick with me the most was actually the first one I attended. It was about doing more with less in newsrooms that are dwindling down to a few designers. I learned about what the res of the country is doing and got a couple of ideas to bring back to Savannah, even though they probably won't work out because the staff is almost too tiny to function as it is.

I saw other seminars and learned a lot from people who have been in the business for a lot longer than I have. I actually talked for a while with the people at Gannett, who are consolidating their design into five design studios across the country. I was skeptical about the idea at first because it is so easy to cut off communication that way. Having worked in two traditional newsrooms, I had a lot to ask about. In this digital age, though, it makes communication that much easier. And they are trying to keep as many natives as possible in the studios so that the designers are at least somewhat knowledgable about the area they are designing a paper for. I do have to admit that I did have some ulterior motives for speaking with them, too.  We'll get to that later.

My apartment saga

I moved into my new apartment in July. I had the highest hopes for it. I knew it was a lot older than my other apartment (more than 100 years older), but it was cheaper and in the Historic District. Then the first sewage flood happened.

I'm not going to get into the gory details of the flood or post pictures (ok, maybe just the one...).

The nasty remnants of flood No. 1.

The flood spanned three rooms and a hallway. That first time, the contractors had said that it had happened previously, too, and they would ask the property manager if they could run a camera to fix the problem. Manager said no, and it flooded less than a month later. And then less than a week after that.

After the third flood, my property manager got a quote from a water extraction company assessing the damage. It was at least $3,300 and included ripping up the baseboards and tile flooring to avoid mold and mildew form growing. Manager said no and hired people to clean the surfaces of the floors, leaving the water underneath to rot. Finally, though, they decided to run a camera to actually fix the problem rather than just clean up the mess. They left a hole in my floor for almost two weeks with a piece of plywood on top. After about a week and a half, they cut the plywood to fit the hole, but I still have no tile over it.

A blessing in disguise

So, given the things you have read already and what you may or may not know about my current work situation, can you guess what comes next?

During my 6 days off for Mizzou's homecoming, I was rented a car to drive up to Des Moines, where one of Gannett's design studios is located. I don't think they know how lucky they were to snag me, but the design director talked to me on the phone, and we set it all up. By the end of the day-and-a-half interview, they offered me a job. It was one of those interviews where you know they are going to hire you even before you talk with anyone.

The job involved me living and working in Springfield, Mo., for two months before I move up to Des Moines when the newspaper goes live at the studio. They'd pay my housing in Springfield for two months and storage for my stuff in the city of my choosing.

I didn't respond right away, namely because the signing/moving package wasn't anywhere near what I'd need to move across the country again. (You all know how that one turned out.) They gave me the weekend to decide if it's what I wanted. When the director called me back on Oct. 17, and I negotiated for twice as much for moving and even a pay raise. Then, I took the job.

That's right, folks, I'm coming back to the Midwest, and I couldn't be more excited. Everything seems to be falling into place. With all the crap that's been going on with my apartment, there's really no doubt that they'll let me out of the lease. And while I wish she were with me, even moving without a cat would be easier.

I keep going back to this quote on a magnet my mom gave me when I moved to Savannah a year and a half ago.

"Everything Will Fall into Place"

Life is life a giant puzzle. Though our futures may not be clear or turn out exactly as we expected, each of us has the strength inside to put the puzzle together — we just have to look for the right pieces. It may seem impossible, but keep striving. Life's pieces have a way of falling into place when you least expect it.

— Renee M. Brtalik