One of the big holes in my workflow is version control for creative assets. Specifically, .psd, .eps and various other image source files. There are many version control systems for code specifically that exist with lots of GUI client options but there is only one viable commercial solution for creative assets which is Adobe Version Cue. I personally have my own problems with Version Cue I think the app is bloated and for designers who are using tools outside of the Adobe Creative Suite this application is just not an option. Enter Dropox. Although currently in invite only beta, I’m already seeing the massive potential this service has for designers. Dropbox is not a version control service specifically but to me personally this is perhaps it’s strongest feature. Dropbox comes with Windows and Mac installation packages which give you the ability to create a Dropbox sync folder on your desktop, you can choose to work directly out of this folder or copy assets over to this folder and Dropbox instantly begins to sync the folder to your online account, keeping records of every change to the file. If you find that some changes to a file need to be reverted to a previous version you can log on to your Dropbox account, view the change history and download a previous copy of the file, for a designer this is huge, instead of creating multiple versions of a file you can simply draw from a series of changes if you need to. Dropbox is giving 5GB of storage to it’s beta testers right now, but I would gladly pay to have more storage and use this service as an actual repository for my project work. If you’re a designer, keep your eye on Dropbox for when they launch I think you’ll really like what this service can do for your project workflow.
I find it both odd and cool that almost a year ago this month I wrote this post and this week I bumped into this. It’s great to see Google finally getting into this space and also giving someone like me both an easy and interesting way to display data that is both meaningful to me and to others.
The worst part about being sloppy is not the low grade work that you produce, but rather the perception
of yourself that you build. The more mistakes you make, the greater your reputation grows as someone
who just doesn’t pay attention to the details. There’s nothing earth shattering about this fact, but
it’s something to think about because it really does not take long for someone to label you and the
work you do as sloppy, that’s the scary part.
Now that FOWA and Barcamp Miami have blown through South Florida, I wanted to take a couple of minutes and post some thoughts about the two events.Barcamp Miami this year was definitely a success, last year we had about 60 attendees, 3 presenting stations about about 10 or so presentations. This year we jumped to 300 registered attendees, 6 rooms and about double or triple the amount of presentations. I can’t thank Alex, Brian, Chris and Mike enough for their work the event would have not been possible without their efforts and a big thanks has to got to Carsonified for letting us squeeze in with the conference, I spoke to Ryan Carson briefly while setting up and he was really supportive of the whole event. Unfortunately I was running around alot so I didn’t catch alot of the presentations, but I was impressed with what the guys from a.viary are doing, I really think that application is going to do well.FOWA was great as well. I didn’t attend any of the workshops but was there for the talks the following day. All the presentations were excellent, but I think the real value to conferences like these is the inspiration you get from attending. For me personally I really like to get my “wheels spinning” from attending events like these. The people you meet, the exchange of thoughts on various ideas really helps you sort of flesh things out in your head. I will also say that it’s just great to have a large conference like FOWA come down to Miami, it sort of legitimizes this area in terms of what alot of us at Refresh and other initiatives have been trying to do for the past couple of years, it gives us exposure and let’s other people know that there is more to South Florida than just beaches and palm trees. So I really hope to have both of these events happen again in conjunction next year, thanks again to everybody.