Written by Téa Brennan, on October 1st, 2007, in Latest Projects.
LinkArtist Multimedia have just completed the website for the WACOSS 2008 Conference. This is powered by CMS Made Simple, and has led to another project, redesigning the main WACOSS website.
Written by Téa Brennan, on September 22nd, 2007, in Tech.
Let me tell you how I came upon BioShock: a new client liked the 1950’s dark, art deco feel to it, and asked me if I had seen it as a reference for their site design. So, being the ever-selfless businesswoman, I decided to spend some time playing the game to see how it felt. And a conversation like this took place:
Me: “I know I have made it when I get to justify playing games for a client.”
Jason: “No, Téa, you’ll know you’ve made it when you get to charge clients for the hours spent playing the game”.
Man he’s a smartarse.
A couple of weeks later, I have just, right now, finished playing it. And I have to say, I think… I have found the perfect game. Not too hard that it alienates me (Hello Far Cry-where-I-played-the-last-level-in-God-mode-because-I-have-carpal-tunnel-and-suck), and enough depth and choice to the story that keeps my goldfish-like attention span.
I really don’t know that I can fault this game. There are so many ways to play it (and apparently the ending reflects *how* you played the game…of course, I am always the good guy and can’t bring myself to play the bad guy… so I am just going on rumour :))
Anyway, if you haven’t played it yet. DO. IT. NOW.
It is creepy. It is intelligent. And, it is currently 12:35am and I don’t know that I can sleep just yet because I may just have nightmares. But boy, is it fun!
Check out the demo here.
Written by Téa Brennan, on September 1st, 2007, in Latest Projects.
The glo3 website is the first site that utilised CMS Made Simple.
Téa also did the illustration of the machine that you see on the front page.
Written by Téa Brennan, on August 31st, 2007, in General.
Written by Téa Brennan, on August 28th, 2007, in Design.
I have just contributed a guest post on Shane & Peter’s great business blog. Go here and check it out!
Written by Téa Brennan, on August 24th, 2007, in General.
This is how working at home can fuck you up. I have projects going, but I’m having a procrastination day. They suck.
This is my last hour of what I have accomplished:
1. Played Guitar for the first time in 4 months. Hurty fingers. Ow. Resolved to play guitar more so fingers no longer hurty.
2. Chewed on my guitar pick and thought about playing the piano in the other room (that I have also neglected), but then resolve that I really SHOULD be at my desk.
3. Had my 3rd cup of coffee.
4. Watched the Doodlebops on Disney, even though Jules is having a nap (those are some freaky lookin’ characters).
5. Played with my mobile phone.
6. Hit refresh on my emails, hoping that someone has emailed me in the last 30 seconds (my email is set to check every 5 minutes - thats TOO LONG WHEN I AM PROCRASTINATING! But too distracting if I am working, so I leave it at that.)
7. Made sure that I am ONLINE on all my IM software so that someone will rescue me, even though I really should be working.
Ugh, I hate days like this.
Written by Téa Brennan, on July 30th, 2007, in Design | Development | LinkArtist.
Since the launch of Justine’s site, I have been working nonstop! If I have been an antisocial beyotch, well, it’s probably because I have literally had to turn off Skype and IM to be able to sit down and concentrate for a block of time. I am really very pleased with the progress I am making since relaunching this site (I will be doing another design as soon as I find the time — my portfolio page is horrible and I need to get on that!).
Right now, I cannot think of anything I would rather be doing than working with my clients, making web pages, and just generally having a ball of a time.
Anyway, I can give you all a few sneak peaks at what I am currently working on:
1. Glo3.com.au
This is a really nifty Australian invention that utilises ozone to completely sterilise and clean boots. Obviously we wouldn’t be keeping it in our wardrobes because it is an industrial thing, but it can be used to dry ski boots, mining boots, and all sorts really. This site is powered by CMS Made Simple and I also illustrated the model on the front page, based on the client’s CAD drawings. Pretty nifty, huh?
Anyway, you can have a look by clicking on the image:
2. Anna Rose Photography
This is currently a work in progress, and one of the many photographers that contacted me after the launch of justineungaro.com . What’s great is that Jen is actually Perth-based and is sweet as pie… so its great! Anyway, because of issues with iiNet there is only a splash page up at the moment, but I think it gives you at least a sneak peek at the direction of the site:
3. Trista Lerit Photography
Another project that I am very excited about! Trista loves florals almost as much as I do, so she’s let me design something purdy and ornate. It is still only at the mock stage, but I thought I’d show you a sneak peek anyway:
I am also doing a few other projects like a CD cover, but I can’t show those yet.
Oh, and I have been asked by the ABC to be profiled as someone with a “cool job”. Will tell you more when I know more!
Written by Téa Brennan, on July 6th, 2007, in Development | LinkArtist.
I just want to get all geeky for a little bit and gush about a new Open Source CMS I have discovered, called CMS Made Simple. I have been a big fan of Open Source software for years - I use Wordpress here, and have utilised many diferent solutions for different projects.
The two main Open Source CMSes - Joomla and Drupal - while both very powerful - are more often than not overkill for most basic sites that I produce. If you want a full blown CMS with loads of features, both of these will do really well. But I also find them immensely frustrating for many simple tasks. Most of my clients simply want to update pages, perhaps an image or 2 and a file or 2, and maybe want to blog. I was struggling to find a good solution, without hand coding my own or forking out tens of thousands of dollars.
Then, I discovered CMS Made Simple. No bloat, no hassle. As a designer it is flexible enough to make the sites look great, but also powerful enough to be infinitely expandable. And, to top it off, it is a beautiful example of keeping style separate from the content, meaning that it is really accessible to boot.
The best feature that I have found with the CMS is the ability to browse for add-ons (modules) from within the admin panel. One of the most annoying things about the bigger CMSes is finding the time to test and search for new add-ons, and I love love love that I can just click to install it, try it out, and remove it just as easily. Absolutely Fantastic stuff.
Because I am often a one-person development team, I get really excited when I find things that can save me time, and ultimately, save my clients money, and I think that CMS Made Simple is a project that I will throw my weight behind.
I have a few more that I want to test before I commit, but this one is very much a contender!
Written by Téa Brennan, on June 18th, 2007, in Design | Development | General | LinkArtist.
I have had a few exciting projects this week, but the main one that I want to tell people about is the new website for Justine Ungaro, an awesome photographer based in Los Angeles. She has been really sweet throughout the whole process, and it is clients like her that remind me why I gave up that public service career.
click above to visit the site
I have also done a little bit of tweaking of the main part of this site. Yes, I know, the purists and pedants among you will gasp at the thought of a different design for every page, but for me, it seemed like a nice way to showcase my design ability. Yes, its a little lazy with tables and such, but hey, sometimes, tables just work. So meh 
Also, because I tend to get all creative with designs all the time, if I feel the urge to redesign something or try a new colour scheme, instead of doing my whole website now I can do a page. Yeah, it breaks rules, yeah, I know, blah blah, but hey…it’s fun, right?
ummm, not much else that I can divulge at this very second, have been doing a fair bit of Lisa stuff and some other things that I hope to announce shortly, but it’s all loads of fun!
I have also been trying to fit in time to practise the piano and learn some new songs… but there just never seems to be enough time.
Oh, and Jules got a toddler bed. I am sad because my baby, right now, is sleeping in a big boy’s bed. 
Written by Téa Brennan, on May 25th, 2007, in General | Site info | Tech.
I got an email from my friend, Former President James Taylor this morning that said:
Hey Téa, just had to share…
I’m disappointed that Trevor didn’t include the screen cap in the lecture notes (I think he respects your IP ;P), but go to page 11 of this PDF and check the references.
We had a look at online writing in Journalism class the other night and, for an example of a personal blog, what came up on the big screen in the lecture theatre but ‘Trash Talk with Tealou’.
I laughed heartily
Just letting you know that your inner most rantings now have even more academic merit
JT
The attached PDF, sure enough, referred to my website as an example. Holy Shit. It is so funny, and also weird, because I have also been copping some flak from my sister and her mates because I called her suburb shitholesville on my blog and they only just found out about it. Heh.
Its funny how you can go on a journey with a blog. It has chronicled some ups and downs, from moving house to having children, to being in the public service and wanting to glass the Town of Esperance in the face with the nearest bottle, to writing about Politics and world affairs, and the odd random quip between me and my equally insane soulmate.
I know it may sound strange, but its not often that my web life and my real life collide. I know it may sound funny when I make my living on the web, but really, it was always just this thing I do, representing my thoughts at the time, random observations about various things, and I have never actually thought that anyone read it, let alone putting it in a Journalism class.
I can think of maybe once or twice where something I have written in the heat of the moment has gotten me in hot water in the “real world”, like the time I upset the in-laws, and I think my mother reads occasionally… and a previous employer called it “Undergraduate but well written” (thanks Jeff!)… but its always just been a place where I let off steam, and a place where I attempt to log what life was like in my 20s. When my grandchildren google me one day, they will see that I was not always reliant on other people to wipe my arse (with the exception of this brief time), and was actually an ok human being.
I actually quite like that little bit of acknowledgment, particularly from a lecturer at my old University. And its not an ego thing, its not even out of a desire to share my stories, but just to have someone that is outside my immediate group in the blogosphere and circle of friends say “hey, look at this” - well, thats pretty cool.
It makes me think that I am kinda on the right track.
Even if my sister’s friends from Leda want to smash my face in for expressing myself, so what? Nothing they write will ever be used in a University classroom. So there.
And Leda IS a shithole.