There's no stopping on Snow Days

For those of us on the east coast, we have been recently hit by a snow storm, which caused plenty of places to shut down. Yes, New York City jobs are closed....most. Now after shoveling, what is a person to do besides relax? There's plenty to do for all those graphic designers that want to keep themselves occupied on a snow day after you finish your hot chocolate. Here's a short list and I'm sure there are more you can add to. Feel free to comment on more to do.

Freelance- Some designers are freelancers so there's no such thing as a snow day, but to those who work a full time day job, you can look for extra jobs to do or work on those jobs that you finally have time to do, but couldn't for whatever reason.

Personal Designs- This is the most fun, because there are no limitations. You can experiment and create whatever you feel like working on. This is the best time to catch up or learn new techniques. Design is always evolving, so who knows maybe you'll set the next trend or perfect what's out there.

Read design blogs- Yes, you can do this during a lunch break, but now you have time to read all the blogs that you want. You can participate in any discussion that you think is worth commenting on. Maybe there are articles that you find very intriguing, either way it is an option and it always good to rest the creative mind, especially if you happen to be in a creative block.

Search for inspiration- This is similar to the option above, but not every blog has inspiration posts. You can search through various portfolio sites and see what is out there. Who is the next designer to inspire you to try something different or help push you?

Practice tutorials- Whether you read a tutorial from a magazine or online, it is good to learn something new and try incorporating it for your own educational purpose.

Work on your portfolio- Update your portfolio. Redesign your portfolio site or simply showcase your new work. It's always a good idea to keep up to date with it.

Build a snowman- This one is just for fun. It's not everyday that you have the option to do so. This can be your creative outlet.

There you have it, a short list of activities to do on a snow day. If there are more that you would like to contribute then please comment.

SNOWBOARD GRAPHIC DESIGN CONTEST

That's right ladies & gentlemen, there's a new contest out there brought to you by the good people of Forsnowboarding and Grafik Armor. I hope you're ready to get your design on, because no matter what it's still winter. Spring may be coming around the corner, but until then you may want to create some kick ass snowboard graphics.

Here is info from the Forsnowboarding regarding this contest:
"Forsnowboarding and Grafik Armor are proud to announce their first collaborative project together: Snowboard Graphic Design Contest. Beginning February 15th, 2010, we invite all snowboarders and designers to create their best original snowboard topsheet graphics using our supplied templates and submit them to our official gallery to be judged by a panel of artists, designers and industry professionals. Guest judge for this competition is none other than Mike Orduña AKA Fatoe.

Grand prize is a custom one-of-a-kind Grafik Armor Snowboard Decal Wrap with the winners graphic. Second place gets a Grafik Armor Snowboard Decal of their choice from Grafik Armors current line-up."

As you may already know I featured Fatoe as one of my inspiration posts(Visit blogpost here) It's definitely cool to have a judge who has experience creating some awesome graphics. Good luck everyone.

Here's the link to the contest
http://www.forsnowboarding.com/snowboard-graphic-design-contest/
To view what designs are up in the running.
http://forsnowboarding.posterous.com/