Don't Call it a Comeback...

...I've been here for years.

It's been nearly 2 years since I've truly been active here at deviantART. The reasons I left extend beyond the drama surrounding the termination of the yellow alien, and while I'm not sure I'm really all that interested in making a return, I felt it was time to make my presence felt and let you all know what I'm up to these days.

All Work, No Play?

Almost 2 and a half years ago, just about the same time my participation here at deviantART dwindled, I started a new job in a new city. I moved my whole life from a fairly small city in Rochester, NY to the hustle and bustle of Boston to work as a UI Designer at Harvard. It's been nothing short of a spectacular ride so far.

My job is fulfilling, fun, and I work at the most well known university in the world. Not only that, but I get to work and play in one of my favorite cities, regardless of the cold winter months which I'm very much used to, growing up in Buffalo and all.

Conferencing

Moving to Boston and working at Harvard lead me to yet another change in my life. I started going to conferences. It started with SXSW in 2006 (which I will be attending again this year for the 3rd time in a row) and it's blossomed into one of my favorite things about being a web designer. The best part is, I'm not only attending conferences now, but I'm also speaking at them too.

I was lucky enough to be a part of a panel at last year's SXSW called The Influence of Art in Design. At the end of this week, I'll be giving a short talk at the DC Design Talks on design principles. In July, I'll be speaking at the Higher Education Web Symposium in Philadelphia, PA. And in August, I'll most likely be speaking again at a conference in Seattle that is still in planning stages.

This is not only a big step in my career, but it also allows me to visit friends all over the country, and to meet new people in the design world. It's fun, exciting, and I not only help other people learn, but I get to learn a bit myself.

Personal Projects

As far as my own projects go, I've been fiddling with my camera as per usual. I have a Leica D-LUX 3 and I love it. It's just enough camera for me since I don't know a whole lot about manual settings, but have access to most of them on a somewhat compact body.

I've been doing some web projects on the side as well as some t-shirt designs, so hopefully I'll have more on that soon. I've also been dabbling in the iPhone area, working on 2 separate iPhone native applications (the UI at the moment). I'm hoping to learn some Objective-C so I can start on making these applications a reality once the official SDK comes down from Apple.

Pixel art. How I've missed you, oh crazy art form, you. Hopefully I will explore you once again in the near future.

Twitter

Have you heard of Twitter yet? It's a quick way to let people know what you're up to. Kind of like IM or IRC, but broadcast to anyone who wants to listen.

If you want to know what I'm up to, you can create an account for free and follow me. I can't guarantee it'll be interesting 100% of the time though!



Latest albums listened to:

Burial - Untrue
Timbaland - Shock Value
Faithless - To All New Arrivals



I keep track of all my useful links on Ma.gnolia these days, so check out my account if you want some good stuff.

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`splat
Patrick Haney, not a sausage
Designer, developer, deviant.