Nicole DiFilippo - Athletic Therapist

As designers who will spend much of our careers sitting in front of computers working there are many common health issues that we could face. Prolonged sitting and lack of movement can cause mobility issues and pain throughout the body as we age.

Common Injuries

• Almost all are due to overuse and poor posture
• very easily treated with early intervention
• Therapist Assisted Stretching/Strengthening & Mobilization along with Self Strtching

Carpel Tunnel

• Compression of the nerves passing through your wrist
• Burning, tingling, itching or numbness in palm of the hand and the fingers. May find weakness and feeling swollen.

Thoracic Outlet

• Compression of the vessles passing under your collar bone/over your 1st rib and down the arm
• Numbness of the entire arm and hand. Pain often changes posture. Deep ache/pain in the shoulder and arm. Decreased circulation.

Eye Strain

• Eyes can become strained after staring at a computer screen for a long time, particularly if working in bad light
• Can be cause by improper eye wear
• Burning, tightness, sharp pain, dull pain, watering eyes, blurring, double vision, headaches

Sciatic Nerve Irritation

• Compression of the sciatic nerve generally due to the piriformis muscle
• Deep, sever pain starting low on one side of the back and shooting down the buttock and the leg. Pain increases with prolonged sitting.

Some Self Help Tips:

Computer work involves every little change in body position. Lack of movement and prolonged work in the wrong position leads to disfunction. You should take a 5-10 min break every hour

Wrist exercises

Neck and shoulder exercises

Back exercises

Device assistance exercises

Most importantly remember to move!

Jason Bouwman - Compass Creative

www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbouwman

jason@compasscreative.ca

www.compasscreative.ca

Jason Bouwman is an alumni of the Sheridan Technical Illustration program. Before coming to Sheridan Jason took Industrial Design at Fanshawe College.

Jason's family emigrated from Holland. His father was a hard working man and passed a traditional "work for what you want" mentality on to Jason. While at Sheridan, Jason worked on some personal self-promotion projects to get his name out there.

After graduating Jason got a job at Howard. When applying for the position Jason was asked if he knew Quark Express. Though Jason had no experience with the software he told the owner he know it, Figuring with his sharp mind he could quickly learn. After quitting Howard Jason started focusing on his freelance work.

Working out of his basement Jason had much bigger ideas then just being a freelance designer. With house payments and a family to provide for Jason decided he needed to take the next step. He told his wife the next few years would be tough with many long nights. Thus Jason started Compass Creative.

Jason has a very humble and modest view on life. Though he has worked hard to build his company and build contacts, he views each opportunity and step in his life as a gift. It is also important to find that balance between work and family.

Jason read a book called "First Things First" By Steve Coney. It was about time management and focusing on what is important to you. The message he took away from it was, "Discover and know what is important to you. Dedicate time to what is important. Identify what is important. Live your life as a compass with direction not by the ticking of a clock." This is his philosophy on life and the meaning behind the name of his company.

Businesses don't want websites. Businesses want sales,  donations and results. A website is a means to an end. a website is a way for businesses to sell something. But remeber customers don't owe the business. To succeed in this industry you need 4 key assets passion, skill, market, and integrity. Only with all of these will you have true success.

A few Compass Creative work samples:

Catherine Baird - Dashboard

catherinegracebaird@gmail.com
www.catherinebaird.com
www.linkedin.cim/in/bathrinebaird

Cathrine graduated form the Sheridan Web Design Program 11 years ago. This was during the ".com" crash. In the last 10 years Cathrine has worked for Ecenticarts as a designer, Henderson Bas as an Art Director, Semegaushe in Paris France as a senior Art Director, Draft FCB, and is currently at Dashboard as ACD.

 Ecentricarts was a great first step. Cathrine has a passion for fine arts. She had creative freedom as a junior designer and great opportunities.

Moving on after 5 years she had no real experience in advertising. She went to Henderson Bas, one of the companies she really wanted to work for. She Adcanced from senior designer very quickly(3 years).

After Henderson Bas she moved on to Paris, taking a sabbatical from Bas. She targeted companies she wanted to work for but found it hard to work in another language.

After returning from Paris she got a call from an associate from Bas to work for Draft. She is now currently working at Dashboard and freelancing.

Cathrine developed winefox a wine site for readers of the Toronto Star at Dashboard. They Created the name, logo, and character just to make a website. They wanted it to be different from other wine sites.

ING Direct is probably the company Cathrine has done the most work for. She worked on simplified animated videos for ING to be uploaded for YouTube videos. She had to storyboard and learn basic flash animations because it was what she was asked to do.

  The Design industry is always growing and changing:

• There was a lot more free range back when Cathrine started because clients didn't know about design and didn't watch as close.
• Its a very different job to be the one doing the work then being the one managing projects.
• It's an ever evolving environment. You have to keep learning.
• To win awards now agencies need to create videos and submit their assets. 

Big, Medium, Small agencies or Freelance?

Working in a big agency there are benefits. You can learn slowly and lots of people around you. Big agencies have good reputations and look good on a resume. You also work with big name clients. Money just kindof shows up you dont have to worry about money for projects.
Down side. Your portfolio my only get a small amount of work because you may not do as much design as doing production. You could end up getting lost a little bit and you could end up stuck in production. There tends to be some segregation. You don't see what's going on in the traditional side and interactive isn't integrated well. Interactive can take a back seat and may not get used to its fullest.
Ex. Taxi, Sid Lee, Tribal.

Medium Agencies (under 100 people) you kind of get the best of both world. You get to work on some big companies. You also do some small names though. the benefit is culture, you start to feel like a family. Your boss feels like a friend. Not as structured or corporate. It can be chaotic. Doesn't have the same budget as the big agencies.

Small studios are a very close community. Some small companies can make great names for them self. As a junior designer you get a lot more opportunities but it means you have to be really good at your job because you my not have a senior Art Director to help you. You could have your own customers right off the bat. You really have to preform.

Freelance is really about your personality. How important is the security of a pay check? You may work for 2 weeks then not work for a month. also you have to manage your money. Business end of financials can be hard to keep up with. If you don't track stuff like HST you could end up owing money to taxes. It can be complicated or simple if you know what your doing. Can also be a very rewarding opportunity. You can also do contract work for big and small companies and charge big bucks. You get recognition for your work without the politics of the office.

A few last tips to success:

1. Be a really, really good designer 
2. Understand and love technology
3. Learn video, flash animation, and more...
4. Understand ux (user experience) and ia (information architecture)
5. Know what you're worth

A few Dashboard design samples