KLIM Type Foundry

Local type designer. Some exceptional typefaces here!

original image by Zak Henry

Well that was excellent!

Saturday saw the first ever Auckland Barcamp. It was organised by Ludwig Wendzich - a high school student and all round awesome young man! (South African, too!)

Having never attended an unconference I didn’t really know what to expect. I can tell you now I was very pleasantly surprised! I love the fact that it’s an event that allowed everyone to be involved. It’s less one way and more of a discussion. There were plenty of people gagging to present about a number of different things. These are the talks I attended:

• The Future of the Web
• Catch up on the state of digital tv in NZ
• DIY CSS Frameworks: A conversation on CSS design patterns
• Spaghetti or Meatball: a discussion on the BarCamp Tshirt Design Process
• Charles

There was also a fair bit of ‘hallway discussion’ which is the heart of an unconference.

It was an excellent day and it was great to bond with about 75 other like minded people! I cant wait for the next one! And the next one is rumoured to be a sleep-over, too!

The Media Design School gig went very bloody well!

They want me to guest lecture again for next years intake of students. They also want me to be on the ‘advisory panel’ which is a panel of ‘industry professionals’ who will help crit the students end of year projects. This is golly good - and very bloody scary…

Imagine: I’m going to be helping sculpt the minds of your future employees. Ha! At least I don’t have to teach them how to drink, I think students are pretty good at that by default.

Thanks Media Design School, for giving me the opportunity to share a little of my knowledge with your students! (And for making me blog again…)

A few years back I wanted to attend Media Design School. I know a fair few people who have attended the school. They tend to produce some pretty good talent. It’s good to know that these sorts of establishments are starting to teach some proper web technologies. The introduction of Webstandards and CSS development is an awesome step in the right direction - and I believe that they’re going to be introducing a little more emphasis on accessiblity and general best practise…

I know this because I’m going to be guest lecturing at Media Design School this week. I’ll be focusing on advanced CSS and accessibility techniques. If all goes well it could turn into a regular affair.

Needless to say, I’m very bloody excited! I love sharing what knowledge I have with as many people as I can. Teaching the future web developers of NZ will be an honour and a treat. I can only hope that some of my passion for the web will rub off on them!

Yay for the web and the future! :)

So I’ve just changed ISP’s. I’ve been with Xtra for a while purely because they have a shit-load of people working at their call center which means my endless stream of issues were getting dealt with in a timely fashion. The problem - as you’ve no doubt noticed - is that Xtra sucks.
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If you live in Auckland you know it takes a lot to get the locals out. Aucklanders are far too busy doing bugger all to actually get involved with anything around their fair city. So it came as a huge surprise to see the awesome turn out for this month’s Auckland Web Design Meet. Perhaps it was the promise of free beer and pizza that forced the 65 odd people out in the shitty weather.
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If you don’t already know - there is a pretty strong rivalry between New Zealand and Australia especially when it comes to sports events. Well it’s now not too different in the web arena.

Starting in July 2007 there will be a Web Building Deathmatch.
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During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’ll be growing a moustache. Thats right…I’ve completely shaved off my beard (sob) and have started growing a moustache.

No - this isn’t complete madness on my part, it’s actually for a good cause. All the proceeds from this event goes towards the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.
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I’ve been living in New Zealand for over five years now. I left London very much against my will. I was unable to secure myself a working permit for England and my working holiday visa had expired so I had no choice but to bail. My folks had immigrated to New Zealand while I was doing my OE so I didn’t have a home in South Africa to go back to. That’s how I ended up in this fine country…
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I haven’t been to the Kings Arms in ages…I cant actually remember what the last gig was I went to there…Last night will definately be one of the gigs I’ll never forget.

Manda and I went to see the Dresden Dolls last night. It was fucken awesome!
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