moving!

so we are moving over to the new layout! yay! so go check out nataliekafader.com/blog-action! thats where i’ll be posting all my picture adventures, design projects and other random tid bits.

a little bit about the new layout and site:
the new layout is still through wordpress, but instead of using wordpress.com i installed wordpress.org’s custom package. whats the dif you ask? well wordpress.com is  super easy and kind of a pre-fab set up with different layouts and themes you can choose from.  there is some room for customization  with colors and whatnot, and if you pay a small fee you can do a little more customization like different fonts, and access to some css. with wordpress.org you download their package of a basic layout that you can customize through css pages basically creating your own theme and layout.

the new site actually started out as a project for my web design with dreamweaver class, we had to create a custom wordpress site using wordpress.org, custom css, plug-ins, and the whole thing has to be responsive (meaning its adjusts the layout and set up depending on what size screen it’s being viewed on). i was having trouble trying to figure out what kind of site  i wanted to make for the project then the most obvious idea struck me, redo the blog, duh. i’ve been wanting to redo the blog for a while and i even did some customizations a few months ago but i was never really satisfied with the limited amount of things i could do to both the layout and style. so it worked out pretty well that my class was explaining exactly how to do the things that i wanted to do.

so i hope you like the new site! it was an awesome learning experience and i would totally recommend using wordpress.org if you have a little knowledge of css but want some experience to learn more.

friday

happy friday! yay! so i’m almost to the point where i can relax, but i’m not quite out of the woods yet school wise. but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel which feel good (like you wouldn’t believe!) i’m hoping to finish up my projects this weekend, and be able to kick back and have some fun at bay to breakers on sunday. i’m actually running it this year with a number and everything!

by this time next week it’ll be officially summer and i’m sure i’ll be on to the next crazy project!

happy weekend!

 

website!!!

oh.my.god.

nataliekafader.com is a fully functioning website now! i’m so excited! i wanted to create a portfolio site totally from scratch to work on both my web design and coding skill and i feel like it turned out pretty well. there are of coarse things that i want to improve on especially as my knowledge of jquery, javascript, and php increases, but for now i’m stoked.

there is also a link to the “blog” on my website so you can get a sneak peak at what the new blog design is going to be like! that ones not quite finished yet but, totally getting there!

so i’ve been kinda of MIA for the past couple weeks, oops! life has gotten a little crazy lately at both work and school. my days have gone something like this: get up in the morning, go to work, come home work on projects for school (or work sometimes), remember to eat dinner work some more until i realize it’s 2am, and go to bed, then i do the same thing all over again.

the semester is ending so i’ve got two big projects to finish plus i need to get all my paperwork in to apply for my certificate! my website for my portfolio development class is actually due tomorrow, and that has been the biggest challenge trying to design and build a website that i am satisfied with from scratch. i am probably my own worst client, i change my mind about everything constantly, i always feel like things can be tweaked and made better, i get big ideas about what i want to do but then get scared that i won’t actually be able to put it into practice. but its coming along and i think as long as i work all day i’ll have it done by tomorrow, eek!

my other project for my advanced web design class is a custom wordpress site, so guess what?!?! the blog is getting a customized make over! yay! thats not due until next thursday and it may take another week or two to figure out if and how to transfer all the content from here into the customized site, so i’ve got a little more time on that .

so thats whats been up, when everything is finished i’ll definitely be posting about it, until then enjoy the rest of the weekend (oh and happy mothers day!)

because i’m probably a nerd

so i guess i have way too much time on my hand what with a job, school, and taking weekend excursions to music festivals, but i who needs sleep when you could stay up way to late rebranding? ha! me!

i wanted to come up with some stuff to be able to use on my new portfolio site, and (spoiler!) blog redesign.

 

off to the desert

i am excited for my much needed vacation, tomorrow morning i will be jumping in the car with some good tunes for the road trip down to indo. i spent the whole week scrambling to get work and school work all done before i left as well as trying to avoid hearing too much about the festival from friends who went last weekend. but everything has finally come together and i couldn’t be more pleased. hopefully i’ll get some good photos, dance my legs off and spend some quality time with friends! see you on the other side!

 

the final count down

well folks, we are entering one of my favorite times of year, music festival season. and again i will be kicking off with the coachella valley music and arts festival. weekend one has just started and i’m feeling a little anxt-y having to wait a whole week for weekend 2. but i am still super excited.

i was going through all my pictures from years past and i had a thought that “these are not very good pictures” i should really try to take better pictures this year. but then i was struck with another thought, (it was actually something someone at work said today) kids today spend so much time taking pictures and posting about where they are and what they are doing that they never really get the experience of where they are or what they’re doing. its like they want that nostalgic feeling of how much fun something was, but they want it right then as its happening, and for everyone to know about it.

so, solution… take good pictures of things that matter; my friends, a good set (if i can get close enough) the beautiful desert, but don’t get out of the moment to make it happen. also i wont end up with a bunch of blurry picture that i’ll never look at again.

foody colors

photo sources {citrus} {beats} {popsicle}

 

about logo design

i saw this video today from Off Book/PBS and just thought it was super interesting especially since i have been doing logo stuff lately.

keepin’ busy

 

i’ve been keeping super busy lately with a bunch of projects, school, personal and client. so i thought it would be fun to share a few little snippets of what i’ve been up to lately.i’ve been doing a lot of logo work it seems like lately; reworking the logo for ZP for some t-shirts they want to get printed, (remember this post about the company and original logo) as well as doing the branding for an eco lighting company. then theres school, my portfolio development class has proved to be a lot of work especially since i want to design my portfolio website from scratch, but it’ll all come together (hopefully by the end of the semester). and i’ve been having some fun making a calendar, a bunch of girlfriends and i are going to take a road trip this summer so i thought it would be helpful to have a fully illustrated calendar of where and what we are going to be doing! ha! i obviously have too much time on my hands.