Some of you may have noticed this website and my other websites being down the past two weeks. Simply put, my old hosts did a runner on me… all of my websites and email stopped working and there was no one to contact for support, my hosts simply vanished. Luckily enough, I had a full back up from just before I left for my trip around the states which meant I had nearly all of articles and comments, bar from a few that I have now salvaged from Google’s cache.
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It wasn’t easy restoring the websites as the databases were quite large and had to be uploaded using some crazy back end language that I had no idea how to use. I really owe everything to Kyle McDonald, a workmate from Carrot Creative, for restoring my websites so a HUGE thank you goes out to him! We’re now with the hosts Media Temple though we may have to upgrade our plan soon (just got an email this morning). There are still a few kinks we are working out but I presume everything will be back to normal on all three sites by Thursday this week.
Emails Not Received 11-22nd January
If you have sent an email to me anytime between the 11th and the 22nd of January, I have NOT received it so feel free to resend your email. My apologies for this, it has been outside of my control.
I <3 NY
Some of you may know I’ve just moved from Sydney to New York to start working full time for Carrot Creative, a new media marketing agency specialising in media strategy, design & development. To put simply, the past two weeks have been crazy amazingly great, bar from my hosts vanishing.
From the work (if you can call it that) we do during the day right through to the nightlife there really isn’t much time to sleep and for someone like myself, who doesn’t watch TV, this is awesome. From the bars, to the parties, to the gallery openings, movie premiers, concerts and so fourth, New York really does live up to its name of ‘the city that never sleeps’. I do <3 NY.
I <3 Carrot Creative
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I also love where I work… The team that makes up Carrot, as seen above at my welcome party, are not just your work team but your weekend buddies too, which makes Carrot a very comfortable & fun place to work. Add that in with the opportunity to work with the world’s most vaunted brands and I must say, I consider myself very fortunate and am not taking it for granted.
Aside from the social aspects, I’ve also enjoyed learning how an agency works and some of the nifty programs / apps that keep it running smoothly (Jing, Basecamp, Adium, Cyberduck, Google Docs & Gmail) … though there is a lot more to learn.
On another note, this Thursday is Digital Dumbo #12 One Year Anniversary (unfortunately it’s already at capacity) which I am very much looking forward to:
Digital DUMBO was created to bring together the digital minds of DUMBO and the greater NYC area to network, showcase local talent, educate, and facilitate idea exchange. New to Digital DUMBO? Check out our Facebook page for past news coverage, photos and information! You can also follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.
Getting Back To Blogging
The good news now is that after nearly three months of no blogging, I’m refreshed and ready to go. I’m also in talks with a partner to help me run the site which if all works out, will mean more posts for you! And when the time allows, a site redesign! More info on that later.
Getting Back To Design
I’m also getting back to designing and have got some new clients lined up… I am currently (or soon to be) working on a packaging design for a natural energy drink, an identity design for a fitness company, a logo design for an internet faxing company, a logo design for a high frequency sound device that saves animals lives and a truck wrap design for enviro-friendly air cleansing system. It’s good to be back!
Computer Arts Articles
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Keep an eye out for Issue 171 of Computer Arts magazine as I’ve written one (or two) typography related article(s) that will be appearing in there. It’s on sale now.
SYA Website Now Online
Late last year I posted some of my recently completed work and amongst some of the work posted was the website for Sikh Youth Australia, which is my largest web project to date. At the time it hadn’t been coded but just last week it was launched. Some of the content still needs to be added, along with some other tweaks but in the most part, it’s completed. You can check out the site by clicking the image above. The coding was done by kiidesign.
Thank you!
Also, I wanted to thank the subscribers and visitors who have stuck around for the past 3 months, I appreciate it! If you haven’t already:
- Join the Just Creative Design Fanpage (keep up to date with my posts)
- Join the Just Creative Design Group (promote your own stuff)
- Follow me on Twitter (get design links tweeted daily)
- Befriend me on Facebook (stay connected)
I Heart NY Photo © Jesse Jacobs.
I’m very envious of all your opportunities to travel. Hard work pays off doesn’t it?
You’re also very lucky to still be able to freelance while working at this new agency! I’m curious, was this negotiated prior to your hiring? Would you still have taken it if you weren’t? Where I work we’re not allowed to freelance, and being pretty green to the industry, I’m not sure if this is rare, or common among agencies.
Thoughts?
Hey Jacob,
Welcome Back! It’s really been long time since I read your last post. Would love to read your latest posts and experience at Carrot Creative.
Good Luck, 🙂
Wow man, you’re like a designing machine. I’m starting to lose my inspiration at the moment, just can’t get my ass into gear. Maybe that’s a sign I need to take a break. Glad to see more posts, good luck with Carrot Creative!!!!
Can you get me a position at Carrot Creative! I’d love to move from the UK to NY!
It’s great to see you back! I always look forward to your articles. I wish I had thought of cached pages when I needed something while your site was down…
Have you discovered an extra day in the week to cram all that in that none of us know about?
Good to hear New York’s treating you well. All the best.
Good to hear the updates. I hope you really enjoy your days in NY.
It sucks when hosting companies behave in such a way. I am going to take a backup of my blog right away!
Good to hear what’s going on Jacob. I really enjoy your blog, so I’m glad the hosting issue is taken care of. Good luck with Carrot Creative!
Welcome back! We missed you!
I’m glad to hear that you are doing so well 🙂
I noticed! Glad to see everything is back to normal. Just goes to show for you and everyone. ALWAYS store back ups!
Hi Jacob, it’s Jesse. Just wanted to say thanks for using one of my photos, I really like how you used it! Glad to hear you’re loving New York as well. I checked out your work, nice stuff! Take care!
Sucks to hear you had such a nightmare with your hosts, they should at least give some sort of warning if they’re about to vanish! I’m glad you had a recent back-up though, as some others have mentioned it goes to show how important regular back-ups are! For those that aren’t quite sure how to do it a short and sweet guide went live on my blog the other day – The Super Easy Guide to Backing Up WordPress, that’s assuming you all use WordPress 😉
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying working at Carrot and loving NY, I hope to visit it some day! Good luck with everything, I look forward to reading more posts 🙂
Congrats on the move! I bet you are happy to be back in action-you def. had a lot of things going on all at once. I’m going to check out your review of the Unlimited Freelancer too.
Hey Jacob
Good to have you back and always good to read your blog, especially for a newly started Graphic Designer as myself.
I know it is a bit late now and that their website doesn’t look as flashy as Media Temple’s but I have never had any major problems with Hostgator as a hosting partner and judging from your hosting needs they should also be able to cover your needs and saving you some money at the same time….. this is just a friendly heads up, as I am not affiliated with them in any way.
Keep up the good work….. wish I was in NYC instead of Cayman Islands…. I know it sounds crazy but the lack of culture and work here is not made up for by the always warm weather (including occasional hurricane and as of last week earthquake!)
Keep your pencil sharp!
great to have you back!
Hi!!
Welcome back…
with love
rupam from assam,India
Obviously you are up and running…. but for the future, you might want to contact technowebworks.com They host 100% of my clients sites and have been absolutely amazing over the past 10 years.
Just saying.
B
Welcome back Jacob, it’s good to read your blog again!, at the same time you were moving from Sydney to NY, I was moving from Peru to Adelaide, so I know what you’re feeling about your new city!
That’sgreat Jacob! NYC has always been one of my favorite cities. You definitely should see Wicked and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway when you get a chance. GREAT!
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Welcome back:) Nice to see your blog back:)
Thank you all for your kind words.
Tom,
If you ever do find that day, do let me know.
Natasha,
Yes it was negotiated prior to the hiring, I probably wouldn’t have came if I couldn’t freelance, but who knows. It is quite common to not be able to freelance, but we both have different interests / clients so it’s not a problem. And yes certainly hard work does pay off.
Callum,
Thanks for the link for the backup post.
Jesse,
No worries, it was good to see the logo in use rather than just the logo so thank you!
Jacob,
MediaTemple seem to be doing a good job, I may be upgrading yet again but we will see. Thanks for your recommendations. I’m sure Cayman Islands has its perks too 😛 Thanks for your comments.
Brian,
Thanks for the recommendation.
Network,
I do plan to see some Broadway shows when here so thanks for your recommendations.
Victor,
I’ll point you to this article for some good advice.
So glad to hear the site is up and running!! You make working in NYC sound like a dream, I’d like to build on my experience and hopefully be able to realistically work there one day.
Any tips?
Welcome back. Issues like this is why my site is not even up yet even for mere e-mailing purposes. I had an old blog that I would like to jumpstart again but cannot because the host vanished and the domain is locked so now I have to try and get the main domain registrar to verify me (I hope they have my SSN on file so I can do that because the phone number they have is my old cell that has not been active for about 3 years now). I aam over that now.
Ultimately I will be going with the same host David Airey uses for his site based on talking to him about their reliability. They also passed my litmus tests when I e-mailed their sales asking their view on censorship and how they deal with DMCA take-down notices.
@JacobCass…hahah yeah thanks. I saw this awhile ago, but I have forgotten about it, so thanks for giving me a refresh. I guess it was a little ridiculous to ask you for advice when you probably get asked every other email.
Hope your tenure at Carrot Creative is a good one! Lates
Congrates for your move from Sidney to New York…I’m also considering mov ing my office to a newer one..but not sure where should I move…:(
I really like the carrot creative picture, it’s black and white but totally fresh and live 🙂