To say that a lot of changes are going on behind the scenes, may be a bit of an understatement. However, I’ve found that the minute I promise a big change, it always ends up taking a lot longer to complete and becomes much less dramatic when that change finally does hit. SO… I’m not going to promise anything or throw out any completion dates at all. Just wait and see what happens to this site in the near future.

I’ve also been on a design rejuvenation kick recently. There are times in your life where, suddenly, everything just seems to take a leap forward and take on new meaning. I had been in a design rut for quite some time, but the dam finally broke and I’m discovering new inspiration which has enabled me to push my boundaries. This is due in part to a fantastic RSS feed list, some really great design books, and a personal decision to reinvent myself as a designer. God has been good!

And just so this post has something substantial to offer, check out Fontsruct.com. This site allows you to design your own fonts online! Pretty neat! I was also introduced (via his blog) to font designer Jos Buivenga. Check out this interview with him if you have time- it was a refreshing read.

So… I’ve switched over to MobileMe for email. I was somewhat weary of the transition of .mac to MobileMe by Apple earlier this month, but my fears have been abated. The interface is stellar- very minimalistic and extremely easy to navigate. Finally- I have a web-based front to access my email, address book, calendar, photo gallery, and 20gb of file space for me to store and access files at will from anywhere that has an internet connection. What’s more, all of this pulls from information that is synced directly from my computer at home (sorry guys and gals: MAC only). That’s mighty groovy in my book.

Sure there are a few shortcomings, the primary of these being that mail has no external IMAP support, and you are forced to use the @me.com (or @mac.com if you were a previous .mac subscriber) domain for your email. However, these aren’t deal breakers for me anymore. Awhile ago I wouldn’t have touched my .mac account for email. Frankly, the interface stunk and didn’t have a lot of interoperability. Now though, its worth the switch. I have routed all my email accounts to forward to this account. You can still reach me via my email at Vigilant Studios or Pulse of Thought, but you’ll be getting responses from my @me.com account instead.

To me this doesn’t break branding protocol (though many would argue differently that they MUST have their domain name in the resolution of their email address). Obviously large corporations or organizations with 10+ people will still want to use their native domain name, but for those of us running independent businesses where we are are the only employee, the ‘@me.com’ email resolution works quite well. Unless you are a very old corporation who got in early on the domain registering bandwagon, you aren’t going to be able to get a domain that is 2-letters long. It’s just not going to happen. If memory serves me correctly, all 2-letter permutations of domain names were taken by the early 90’s. Also the ‘@me.com’ is generic, non-associative, and easy to remember. For me this is a huge plus- the ‘@vigilantstudios.com’ was getting a bit rough to use as an address… While it makes sense and pushes people towards my web address, its not easy to tell someone on the fly or over the phone. Generally it results me having to spell it out multiple times, and even then there’s bound to be room for error. With ‘@me.com’ there’s virtually no room for error.

That’s my take, and I’m sticking to it!