jim thomson | freelance design | portland, or

Does music help you pass the time at work? The grating background music that I was forced to listen to nicely sums up the type of work I did at my first set of jobs. All static walkman radio in my neighborhood landscaping job, mind-numbing metal during my short order cook days, looping muzak tapes at my retail jobs and cliché Italian lounge music while serving at the Olive Garden.

Working at a computer in an office or my home office offers the relieving freedom listen to what you want after years of an audible prison. It is your ultimate jukebox with unlimited quarters. I do have officemates, so headphones are not the most professional accessory, but in design and production, it can be a necessity. What do you listen to at work? What helps you pass the time or improve your productivity? Here are a list of mine. Hope you enjoy.

SomaFM
Hands down, the best choice for streaming radio. It is perfect if you don't have time to weed through your music library. I first discovered SomaFM in nine years ago in college. Pulling all-nighters in the computer studios, I would have gone insane if I didn't have one of the stations cranking out magical ambient music. SomaFM has many stations of electronic genres, my top picks are Groove Salad, Secret Agent and for the upcoming holidays, Christmas Lounge. There are no ads, so be sure to donate or purchase the app.

Pandora
The smart streaming playlist with a bit of control. Pandora is really a great service. If you spend time educating Pandora what you like and don't like, you can get some amazing hours of listening pleasure. It does take some babysitting at first, when it times out and for the occasional dud of a track. There is also a 40 hour time limit per month. Check out my recent Pandora activity in the right rail widget.

Grooveshark
Is a great service for finding music specific music and adding it to a playlist. I use it more when I am craving a certain artist or song.

Library
Of course there is always the music I have on hand. I like a lot of music that I don't need to futz with, or use to subconsciously distract me from my work. A few albums I like to keep in the queue for this are; Nu Jazz Collection, Ultra Lounge and the Vitamin String Quartet.

Box.net is a great, free online storage service I use for sharing documents with clients, backing up files, working remotely on the same files and compiling music. Every once in a while I will get stuck on a song and repeat it all day while I work. Try them out here:



There are literally hundreds of choices out there for music services. Tell me what you listen to and what service you use while working, driving, house work, etc.

We are just about finished with a little redesigning of my condo. I'm really happy with the results. The main goal was to get rid of the germ filled carpet. We repainted the walls and cabinets. And added new hardware to the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. New faucet in the kitchen. The floor we installed is IKEA's Tundra laminate. I was a little worried about the durability of the flooring but have been very surprised with the results.

The IKEA Expedit desk shelf system I already had and bought it to help divide my large living space in my condo. It ended up consuming the space more then dividing it. I was able to take it apart and push the pieces flush against the wall plus Jen's extra shelf of the same brand completed this wall of books and work space. I added short legs to the shelves so they could sit above the baseboard heater. My tabby spends most of her time in the bookshelf and now that it has 'central heat' she isn't going anywhere.Before

After



Before

After








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What I'm listening to right now:
Lady Sovereign - So Human

Labels: Design, Remodel

It has been a very busy last few months. In addition to remodeling my condo for the last five weeks, which is nearly finished (pictures to come in the next post), I have also been pretty busy with freelance projects.

Hope you like what you see and support the services that these guys have to offer. They are all local and doing well swimming upstream through this recession.

World Wide Products Inc.
They supply wholesale aviation gear to flight schools and other distribution facilities.


Peca Atelier Jewelry
Lisa has a regular full time job and is doing some freelance, hand crafted jewelry on the side. Check out some of her work here or browse her etsy site.


Third Angle New Music Ensemble
I am donating my time to help update their website and promote this season's concert series for 3rd Angle. The website was already developed when I started and the concert art work was designed by Mayor/Reed.


Royal Mini Storage
This is the most recent site I created. If you are looking for some public storage on the Northeast side of Portland, RMS will set you up.

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What I'm listening to right now:
Ben Folds Five - You Don't Know Me (feat Regina Spektor)

Labels: Volunteer, Web Design

The monthly publication, Fresh Cup Magazine, did a write up last month on one of my friend Leah McMahon and her coffee shops in the Portland area. The article was on her connection with customers.

Below is a screenshot of a screenshot of the site I created. Check out some of the print and logo branding I did for her as well. Oh, and don't forget to grab a warm cup of coffee from Leah (Silk Espresso locations).

This has been a sad Summer for the entertainment business. Growing up a latch-key-kid and being raised by the Brady's, babysat by Mr. Roper and having siblings like Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick, it does bring even more sadness that this great Director has passed.

Even though he stopped directing at the turn of the 90's, what Mr. Hughes left for us was some of the most classic comedies to date at least for my generation.

Watching way too much TV may have not been the most positive influence on my social life, but I do know that it did help my creative side in writing and shooting my short films.

This weekend in Portland is going to be in the cozy 70's but I am still going to have a 'Hughathon' to send John off in style.

And most importantly, he made geekieness cool.

I just came across a set of work by Dina Goldstein placing Fairy Tale princesses in modern day situations and given new light to 'happily ever after.' I love the staging and concepts of the series. The set came to her as she witnessed her daughters' infatuation with the story book heroines. You can view the entire series here.

I've never been much of a photographer. I have always just done my best in post production to make the photos I take a little better. I also found that having an extremely large memory card for the camera helps. If you have a trigger finger, you are bound to have some great shots out of the mess.

I've been especially disappointed with any landscape scenery photo I take. It never compares to the vast scene I experienced with the full spectrum of my own eyes. So I've often taken panoramic pictures and stitched them together. It used to be a painstaking process in photoshop back in the day. Since Photoshop CS, a new feature called Photomerge has been added to get past most of the rocky steps. I also found that Panoramic Factory ($80) works really well for a fully automatic method with some touch up in Photoshop.

To create panoramics for free, you can also follow this handy tutorial at Lifehacker.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Parque del Retiro, Madrid

Atocha Railway Station

Alcazar-Gardens, Seville

Port de Alcúdia, Mallorca

On Top of Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Barcelona From Park Guell

Labels: Design, Panoramic Photography, Software, Stitching