I started toying with the idea of having a richer desktop about a month ago. I was inspired by all the wondrously rich and often pointless computer displays one sees in films (I don't mean Alien, rather Independence Day, Quantum of Solace, et al), where there's literally more data than one can process streaming away in the background for no apparent reason. Feasibility aside, I'd have no problems having a desktop background which was animated - not a wildly fast one, it has to be said, but one that wasn't the same ol' static thing minute in minute out. On top of that, it's handy to have useful information displayed on your desktop. All sorts of things could fall under this category of useful; Disk usage, Time, date, news feeds, yadda yadda yadda.

I now have 5 serious jobs on my plate. And not enough time to do them.

For those who don't know, I'm currently caring for my 8 month old son full time. The idea was that I could do design tasks in my *spare time*, but even more so than when I had a job, I have no such thing. Caring for a child takes your time and energy both when he's awake and when he's asleep, when you catch up with all the critical house work and making ready for the next day's baby care.

If I had one design job over the space of a month, it might be doable, but I've recently gotten 4 new jobs in, and one can't really afford to refuse work if one expects to make graphic design their full-time career. The truism that work breeds work really does hold true.

So, Itzacon V went off without a hitch, leaving very many satisfied punters, and relieved and happy organisers. I was part of the committee this year, designing the brand identity and all related media for the event. This meant I had an access-all-areas pass, and got to see how my work was being regarded by the regular punters and staff alike. Everyone seemed pleased with it, which was highly gratifying.

Here's how it all happened;

The Brief:

Poland has a great history of surreal expressionist art, dating back to the interwar period, when futurism and cubism were at their height.

As laudible and interesting as that is, it's probably not the style that you want to apply to a movie poster.

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