In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his/her level of incompetence.
[Dr. Laurence J. Peter]

As an independent graphic designer, I’m a one-person business — such a simple hierarchy. The only rising I can do is to constantly increase my knowledge and skill level, and to offer more services to my clients. The evaluation process is as simple as the hierarchy — if I rise to my level of incompetence, I won’t be able to eat or pay the mortgage. I call that, “employee motivation at its root level.”

That isn’t, however, my only motivation. I enjoy the process of working with my clients. Also, I simply enjoy the thrill of figuring out something new. Learning more about weblogs and getting better at Flash design and production are two of my something-new explorations for this summer. In the past twenty years or so, I’ve gravitated from T-square and triangle on a drafting board to electronic design and production. Too bad I didn’t invest money in the Apple or Adobe companies early in that process. The only hand-rendered work I do now is for illustrations. I do mainly pencil or pen & ink.

First Objective
To familiarize myself with web-log setup and administrative interface by starting a simple, out-of-the-box, personal blog.

The interface and look-and-feel of this blog aren’t mine. This is a WordPress blog and the designer has his name and link at the bottom of the page. This first step into web-logging was accomplished in about 45 minutes. The first objective has been met.

Second Objective
To itemize essential topics of basic information that I need to learn pertaining to definitions, basic functions and restyling.

WordPress.org will be my starting point. Some of the vocabulary is, for me, like reading a medical chart for a cardiac patient without knowing what “atherosclerosis” means.

Also, I’m a documentation reader. Many people learn by trial and error, but I’m afraid I’ll miss knowing about some cool feature if I just play around and not read the owner’s handbook. That comes from driving a second-hand 1962 Ford for years without knowing I was supposed to have the oil changed. It didn’t have a handbook and nobody mentioned it to me. I thought I was supposed to put in a quart of oil every time I filled the tank. I traded it in on a 1967 Barracuda fast-back that did have a handbook. Wow! What a learning experience.

“Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.”
[Kobi Yamada]

This is a bright, clear Saturday morning — as good a day as any to take the leap into something new and unknown. This is my “learning how to use a blog interface so I can create my own design” leap. I’m trusting that I can soar beyond the learning curve before I reach the ground. Right now, I’m on a big updraft.