The idea of collaboration is a relatively new one to me. I’m used to working as an individual, or for a client. One person doing work for myself or a client. It wasn’t until last summer, when I graduated from my degree that I got my first taste of team work, working at Fresh Made Media.

Perhaps you have a great idea for a product – you’re excited about transforming your idea into something real, something people will love. There are a lot of steps required in achieving this goal and each will offer its own unique challenges but the hardest of all can be taking that first step.

Fellow web designer, and MA student, Kyle Gawley talks about overcoming the first hurdle of getting a project… starting it. For anyone with an idea for a project, this should be required reading. So go read it. Now.

For some time now I’ve been working on various projects, most recently Simply Written. This has had an unfortunate side effect, it has resulted in me neglecting reflection upon the work I’ve been doing.

Over the course of the last year and a half I have spent a great deal of time working on web based applications, primarily ReferenceIt and, more recently, Get Invited. These, combined with other projects at more conceptual stages, have helped me to identify some key fundamentals of my work.

The latest release by the guys at A Book Apart, Design Is A Job takes a look at making your job better. In just 135 pages he covers a wide range of topics. If you’re at all interested in bettering yourself this book is well worth a purchase.

Last Friday I had the fortune to be speaking at Creative Camp, hosted by the wonderful people at Media Zoo. It was something I was both looking forward to and worrying about in equal measure. I was looking forward to it for the event itself, and for the talks I’d get to enjoy. I was worried about it because I was a part of the event itself, and I always worry when I have to speak.

Helping others is something I care a great deal about, but it’s also one of the things that quickly grows to frustrate me. It’s disappointing to see that people seem so willing to exploit the generousity of others rather than improve themselves by attempting to accomplish things themselves first.

The journey from concept to completion can be a long one. In some instances it never ends. Looking at such a journey can be overwhelming, so how do we cope? By thinking big, but taking small steps.

I’ve been spending some time getting to grips with my iPad as a device for more than just consumption, but also as a tool for content creation. This is both easy and difficult, as a lot of what I do boils down to code.

Wee_ is simple for a developer to use, but requires a little explanation when used by someone without that background. To that effect, I’ve put together a little post on the basics of Wee_ as I learn how to use it for both my developing freelance site and my portfolio remake.

Tami Olsen is an author and games developer, who has been spending some time getting to grips with how to use Wee_ CMS, a personal project of mine. Her post on the topic serves as a good starting point for getting to grips with the newly released version of Wee_ CMS.