Tag: events

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Professional History: Where I Came From


After creating the last video post, I realized there needs to be a bit more clarification as to where I actually came from, professionally. A bit of professional history, if you will.

1) COLLEGE:
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. I worked all through college both in the design industry, as well as, the hospitality industry as a Bellman/Valet (You need to pay the bills somehow).

As my college career was wrapping up, I interned at Cramer Krasselt as a Brand Design Intern. I had the opportunity to work with some talented designers and marketers. I helped in the rebranding of massively large corporations and assisted in business development. Along with working at CK, I also had a Design Internship with Mindspike Design. A design firm with enormous potential and experience guiding my talent and nurturing my passion. Needless to say, internships sometimes come to an end. So, where did I go?

2) PUBLISHING:
It’s always difficult to transition from college to the “real-world.” It was a tough market. Just when I thought it was getting too tough, a firm called NovoPrint, plucked me out from the void. I started as an entry level designer working on B2B publications for Chambers of Commerce throughout the nation. As time moved forward, I moved up the ladder. I started out as a “Designer,” then “Sr. Graphic Designer,” and ultimately “Art Director.” All this happened within a span of 4 years

As I moved up the ladder, so did my responsibilities. Not only was I in charge of the designs coming out of the design department, but I became responsible for the rebrand of the company; no easy task for one person to be sure. However, my experience as a Brand Design Intern a few years before; assisted me a great deal in this internal venture. Once I successfully rebranded the company, I became responsible for the marketing of the company along with the sales department.

Continue reading “Professional History: Where I Came From”

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Infographic: Resume

(Click image to zoom in. Right click; save target as to save)

About a week ago I created my first infographic. That first infographic chronicled my life, interests, professional path and education from the age of 15 to 29. The “Life Infographic” was met with critical acclaim. A lot of people enjoyed reading and viewing it. Of course they did, we’re all visual people in nature.

Within that last post, I mentioned that I was attempting to create another infographic chronicling only my professional career, more of a visual resume. Well, I’m happy to announce that the “Resume Infographic” is completed.

The “Resume Infographic” is composed of three main sections:

• Section One:
At the top, you will see the title of the graphic, my name, title and contact information.

• Section Two:
Probably the most visually appealing graphic of the document, the work wheel. This graphic represents the work timeline from 1999-2010 and wrapped around the wheel is the visual chronicle of my work history separated by colors. Lines coming from segments of the wheel define where I worked and the job duties I had.

• Section Three:
At the bottom of the infographic is more of a linear timeline of my career path. Color of the timeline corresponds to the place of employment just like in the work wheel above. This timeline is simple, linear and gives you a different representation of work history.

The “Resume Infographic” is created in a tabloid format for ease of printing. I heard a few responses from the previous infographic that it was a bit large and hard to read, even after zooming in. I took that criticism and changed things up a bit in this infographic, making it more printer friendly.

As far as the next infographic to come out; well I have no idea what it’s going to be just yet. I’m working on finding a subject matter. And of course, if you have a suggestions, don’t hesitate to let me know.

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Infographic: A Visual Chronicle of My Life

For a while now, I’ve been looking at a lot of “infographics” on the Internet. Mainly, they’re graphics about science, politics, financials and whatever. But recently, I stumbled across someone’s infographic that has detailed his life from a certain age; chronicling his education and interests. What a great idea! I have been wanting to create one for myself for years. Well, I finally have.

Simply titled, “Life Infographic,” this particular graphic chronicles many facets of my life from the age of 15. Why start with that age? Well, it’s the start of my high school career; the start of the passions and interests I have today. Plus, I don’t think anyone would be interested in all the little bits of life before that.

There is a lot in this graphic, so let me give you a bullet point of what you can find. (From the top-down.)

• Location: Simply, where I have lived during the course of the timeline.

• Education: Shown in the background, this layer represents where and when I went to school and for what.

• Professional Skills: The warm colored bars depict the skill sets and knowledge I gained during this time. It also shows how long I used these skills.

• Career: Basically where I worked and what job I had.

• Age: This is the important bit. The age timeline is what everything in the infographic is based upon.

• Interests: The cool colored bars depict the interests I had outside of the career path and professional skills. Things that I was/am interested in as hobbies or general interest.

• Events: Significant events that have happened to me at certain times in the last 15 years. The interest bars rise up to interact with the professional skills and interests to give you a better representation of where certain skills and interests come from.

Well, that’s the ride around the block for the infographic. I have to say, the most difficult part of this process was determining what goes into the graphic, how to represent the flow, and oddly enough, what colors to choose. I really loved creating this infographic, so now I am in the process of creating another for only my professional timeline; kind of like a visual resume.

I hope gain more insight into who I am, where I came from and what interests me. But most of all, I just hope you enjoy it.

(Also, I need to give an inspiration shout out to the person who created LifeMap. Viewing this finally got me to create my own.)

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Applying a Political Speech to Technology: Agnew Knew

I was listening to a mix by Deadmau5 tonight and he included a speech by Vice President Spiro Agnew while in Houston, Texas on May 22, 1970. It’s a pretty profound speech about the times during the Vietnam War.

The speech has elements that hold true, in most instances, to what is happening today; and by that I mean technology. I figured I would post an edited version of the speech here. The speech really rings a bell for me every time I hear or read it.

Yes, I know it has political connotations to it and by all means I don’t really want to enter into a political discussion. However, if you sit back and read this excerpt and apply it to our contemporary lives with technology, it adds another meaning entirely; and that’s what I’m trying to get at.

“Sometimes it appears that we’re reaching a period when our senses and our minds will no longer respond to moderate stimulation. We seem to be reaching an age of the gross, persuasion through speeches and books is too often discarded for disruptive demonstrations aimed at bludgeoning the unconvinced into action. […] Subtlety is lost, and fine distinctions based on acute reasoning are carelessly ignored in a headlong jump to a predetermined conclusion. Life is visceral rather than intellectual. And the most visceral practitioners of life are those who characterize themselves as intellectuals. Truth is to them revealed rather than logically proved. And the principal infatuations of today revolve around the social sciences, those subjects which can accommodate any opinion, and about which the most reckless conjecture cannot be discredited. […] The student now goes to college to proclaim, rather than to learn. The lessons of the past are ignored and obliterated, and a contemporary antagonism known as “The Generation Gap.” […]” – Vice President Spiro Agnew, Houston, Texas – May 22, 1970

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Recap: The Marriage of Figaro

I recently had a wonderful opportunity to go see the Skylight Opera Company’s rendition of The Marriage of Fiagro last week with my friend Matt. I have to say, what an amazing performance across the board.

First off, the opera was performed in English. Yes, different from the original Mozart composition, however, having it performed in English really helps out in the overall understanding of what specifically is being said during the performance. English did not really have that much of an adverse effect in the performance. There were a few points where you could tell the performers had a difficult time saying an English word instead of the original Italian, but they pulled it off admirably.

The orchestra was comprised of woodwinds and a piano. Going into the show, I didn’t know how this would play out, musically speaking, but it seemed to work very much in favor of the performance. Not too loud, not too soft; just right.

Art direction was pretty well executed. The costumes and make up were brilliant and historically accurate. Stage design was adequate to fit the needs of the performance, however, I think the painting could have been a bit better. Stage lighting was excellent. Great mood setting blues and yellows.

The performers were excellent, all of them. I would like to point a few out. Diane Lane who played Cherubino, Alicia Berneche who played Susanna, and Tanya Kruse who played Countess, all have some of the most amazing operatic voices. And last, but certainly not least, Susie Weidmeyer, who played Barbarina, has a stunning operatic sound and a great solo in the second half.

Overall, the performance was amazing, the night perfect and the company fantastic. I highly recommend you spend some quality time taking in one of Mozart’s greatest operas at the Skylight. Act quickly, for they’re only performing it until Valentine’s Day.

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Recap: Gallery Night – Winter 2010

I just got back from a whirlwind tour of Gallery Night in Milwaukee, in the Third Ward. First off, my friend Bridget and I got a late start to the evening. So, we were a bit rushed right off the bat. No bother though, we knew where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see, which helps a lot during a Gallery Night evening.

Our first stop was to the Milwaukee Public Market for some letterpress prints. Very cool prints, however, they were few and far between. Color was spot on, although, I wish they were a bit larger. Overall, cool prints.


Our second stop, after the Public Market and Starbucks, was Cranston in the Marshall Building on Water Street. It’s one of my standard stops during Gallery Night it seems. But, out of all night, it proved to be the most fruitful. I didn’t get a chance to see who created the prints, like the one you see, but they were amazing. So beautiful were the colors, the aesthetic, texture and imagery. These prints were simply intoxicating. What a great find tonight!

After Cranston, we head over to (Shoo) for some beautiful, vivid landscapes. I guess there were custom Chuck Taylors, but I didn’t see them. After which, we ran over to the Dye House for a Bob Marley photo exhibit. Standard portraiture, nothing that hasn’t been done before.

Unfortunately, time was not on our side and we had to head back. It was a cold night and the coffee’s that we got, helped out a great deal! I would like to throw out a personal thanks to Bridget for being an amazing companion on the whirlwind Gallery Night tour.

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The Inaugural

So I wish I could come up with something a bit more poignant and well thought out for my first post on ebreakdown, but I really can’t. I can tell you the events that have lead up to this blog, however.

The name ebreakdown came about 10 years ago now. It’s a shortened version of elegantbreakdown which is the moniker that I go by. The name was developed after listening to INXS’ Elegantly Wasted album. I was in love with that band and fell in love with the album name, but the word “wasted” is a bit risque. So, “breakdown” came about. This blog is simply the next and most recent step in the evolution of my online presence. I have had many blogs in the past and what I have realized is that it’s just too many to keep track of and consequently I failed at keeping track of them. I then decided to create one master blog for myself. One that I can feed most, if not all, of my satellite blogs, social sites, and other environments into. So, this is what we have here. The master blog. This is the place to go to find out what I’m up to.

I provide this sort of service to many of my clients. Basically a new media package. A funnel of information into one site that can be fed into satellite platforms. It only made sense to do it for myself, right? I had sometime today to make that happen. Believe me, it’s no easy task. There are way too many sites, some with two-way integration and others with one-way integration. It took a while, but I made it here.

So, what will you find here? You’ll find Twitter updates, RSS updates from my Google Reader, Last.fm updates of music that I’m listening to, photo posts, location posts and many other things. What sort of content am I going to post? Well, a whole myriad of things really. Items relating to design, art, branding, music, technology, movies; elements of my personal life including places I go, people I meet, things I get and you get the idea.

So, I guess that’s it for now. I now have to get some food and get ready for a party tonight. A sparkle party at that. (No, I don’t own anything that sparkles)

My name is Leif.