Yes that’s right, iDay is almost upon us. It will be a magical day and with any luck won’t end in mass rioting and martial law. Friday, June 29th at 6pm (wherever you are in the U.S.) the so-called “Jesus phone” will land at Apple stores and AT&T stores. Apple’s iPhone has seen more pre-release press than any consumer electronic product in history. I know this because I’ve read a fair share of it. In particular, some of my favorite podcasts have given it net-time, namely the podcasts of the TWiT network and the Apple Phone Show podcast. I will say this: Scott, if you read this, I hope your zeal for the iPhone will be vindicated my friend. If early reviews are an indication, the iPhone will be just as amazing as many have hoped.

Unfortunately (or maybe not), I will not be among the throngs clamoring to get their paws on the phone. Not for lack of wanting one mind you…it just hasn’t been approved by committee (read, wife). Perhaps all is not lost.

Just the other day, a great moment happened at my house. An iPhone commercial came on TV and I “made eyes” at committ..er, I mean my wife. She, in turn, rolled hers. It was then, that the most angelic sound I’ve heard happened. My 3 year old daughter yelled “iPhone dada!!!!” (yes four exclamation points) That’s right folks, I’m bringing her up right. Apple good. Microsoft bad. Alas I shall be iPhone-less for now.

Anyway,for all of you devotees waiting in line…let’s be careful out there.

JM • posted 11:42 am

written by JM

Back in February of this year, the AWESOME people at the Iconfactory and ARTIS Software released a game called Frenzic. It’s a great “puzzle” game that many have described as resembling Tetris. I checked it out and have been hooked ever since. It’s a Mac only game (HAHA!) that has an online component in that whenever you play a game, your score is automatically sent to the Frenzic site. This aspect of the game has helped build an ever-growing community of obsessed gamers.

As you can see in the sidebar of my blog, I am currently at number 7 and was as high as 5 at one point. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that cracking the top 3 will be impossible. Alas, there are things that need designing and an adoring family that require my attention. It does make for a nice, albeit sometimes frustrating, diversion from the tasks of the day. If you’re a Mac user, go check it out… but don’t blame me if the work starts piling up.

JM • posted 12:21 am

written by JM

Defy Creative began several years ago as a “idea” that I had about creating my own design studio. I think many of us dream about working for ourselves because of some freedom we might achieve, especially in this line of work. In contrast, few of us realize how difficult working for ourselves really is. Like Uncle Ben said, “With great power comes great responsibility”.

Over the years I have worked on side projects in addition to my “real job” that have helped finance the slow building of my studio. As anyone who has endeavored to start an enterprise, resources are usually the hindrance—not the lack of zeal or ideas. Things have improved on that end which has led to some exciting news.

Today, many are using rich media in presentations of all kinds. Specifically, churches have and are moving away from the traditional hymnals and incorporating screens and projectors into their worship services powered by computers running different software. MediaShout is one such program that uses video and images to add a new dynamic to the worship experience. In the spirit of that, Defy Creative will soon roll out its first video collection made expressly for MediaShout. The final touches are being applied to the project, so be sure to stay tuned here for more info on a release date.

JM • posted 9:10 am

written by JM

Earlier this year my friend Terry and I were discussing the state of the youth ministry in our church. Who’s Terry? Oh, sorry… how silly of me. Terry is the youth pastor,worship leader, and associate pastor of my church. You see, we had a serious problem… no kids. Many things had been tried over the years to expand the youth ministry but I fear that we might run out of internet if I try to tell the whole story. I will say that we had kids at one point but they all grew up… go figure.

After several weeks of showing up with no kids I finally tell him, “I’m not sure if you’re ready to hear this, but it may be time to try something different.” I tell him my idea and in March of this year we began a video podcast called WildfireTV. I was very excited about working on the project because it would allow me to work on video editing and motion graphics. Now, video editing is somewhat new for me and I quickly realized that this was a bigger challenge than I had first thought.

That’s when it hit me. A greater appreciation for all of the little videos that you see on the web from all the video sharing sites. Sure, many of them are silly, meaningless, or downright terrible. However, someone took the time (and sometimes a lot of it) to shoot, edit, and share their creation with the rest of us…for good or ill (and I do mean ILL). Think about that when the next viral video hits the interwebs and gives someone their fifteen minutes of fame.

Please check out WildfireTV on iTunes and let us know what you think. Not only is it fun, but you might *GASP* learn something too.

JM • posted 11:24 pm

written by JM

Today was the kickoff to Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) where more information about the next release of Mac OS X Leopard was announced. As anyone who knows me can attest, I am an unabashed Apple fanboy. Being that means any time there is a Steve Jobs keynote, I’m all ears.

Some of the news was a little dull since we first heard about this version of the OS a year ago. There were some new revelations but more can be told about it once there is actually something to play with in October.

More exciting for me (being a designer) was to see that after the keynote, Apple.com revealed a new design across the entire site. The new design features a reversal from heavy doses of white, to black, reflecting the look of the packaging on their professional apps and products. All-in-all I give the look of the site high marks.

The problem I have is that many pages that I frequent have become difficult to find. For instance, Apple’s Quicktime movie trailer section, I would say, is among the most heavily trafficed pages on their site, yet I had a hard time finding a direct link to it. There are other sections of the site that suffer the same problem. Not so great for a company that is known for great design, especially in the arena of user interface.

Having had a little practice at designing web pages, I can appreciate how difficult it is to nail down a great user interface as well as gather all the info in a coherent manner. My most recent web page design is for New Life Christian Center at nlcconline.com, which happens to be my church. It’s a work in process but it’s one that I’m proud of because with each redesign, I reach another level of difficulty. I invite you to check it out and see what you think.

In the coming months, there will be some exciting changes taking place with the identity of the church and I plan to document the process here. Now, I’m sure there was something I was supposed to be doing… oh yeah, drooling over more Apple gear. Yes I’ve got it bad.

-JM • posted 10:06 pm

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OK, that’s a bit of an understatement. I have been comtemplating starting a blog for a while now but I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just some passing fad. (Just saying that may mean that it will pass out of fashion next week.) The thought that I was “only a little late” struck me as funny since blogging has been around a lot longer than many of us realize.

Posting thoughts, news, and other information from a computer for others to see began in the 80’s as one can find out from the Wkipedia article on blogs. That was short-lived and in the latter half of the 90’s, it became more closely recognizable as what we know today. Around 2001 blogging became mainstream and here we are. That was probably about the time I first heard the term ‘blog’ and even then I wasn’t sure what it was.

Fast-forward to 2007 and you have my first entry. My pastor, who I love dearly and respect a great deal, began blogging last year. For crying out loud, the man is one of the most ‘tech-challenged’ people I know and he jumped into this before I did (BTW, I’m a graphic designer and consider myself somewhat handy with a computer). Perhaps that just means that he had something to say before I did—but I digress.

So there you have it, my blog. My plan is to have a little bit of everything here; words, pictures, video, etc, and on any number of topics. Not the least of which will be to shamelessly plug myself and my design studio—Defy Creative (more on that later). I hope anyone who reads it will find it funny, interesting, and anything else good that comes to mind. I think it will be fun. Now the party can get started…after all, I’m only a little late.

-JM (bigdaddymac) • posted 8:55 pm

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