[gvaldivia-blog]

Free iPhone Mockup PSD

Here's a free iPhone mockup I made in Photoshop. I took a picture of my lovely fiancee holding the phone, then re-traced it in Photoshop for extra crispness. Thought I'd share it with you guys, maybe some of you find it useful. 

Feel free to use it anywhere. Just let me know when you do, I'd love to see what you guys do with it :)

You can download the PSD here and name your price for it.

[gvaldivia-blog]

Newest, Latest, Best.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite guys on the entire Internet, Jeff Cannata —co-host of The Totally Rad Show and Weekend Confirmed.

After a über-successful Kickstarter campaign, Jeff set out to create his own show, titled Newest Latest Best with Jeff Cannata. I was lucky enough to design the logo for his show.

The logo is a fun and friendly monogram for the show's name (NLB), which symbolizes all the newest tech, games, comics, etc. The tile of the show is displayed in a banner surrounding "NLB". In a way, "covering" all the newest tech, games, comics, etc. The arrow expresses momentum and the trend-reporting aspect of the show.

Combined, the logo uses isometric perspective to display the name in a memorable and playful way.

[gvaldivia-blog]

3 Apps That Make Designing Better

I love designing. It's my happy place. It allows me to get into a zen state and play work for hours. Lately, I've been using a few apps that make designing even better. So, I thought I would share them with y'all.

Slicy

This app will change your life —it certainly changed the way I design. Basically, Slicy takes your PSDs and automatically slices up the layers you name as filenames (e.g., "[email protected]"). You can even set it up to auto-export slices on save. This is extremely useful when designing mobile apps since it handles all the asset exporting for you and it forces you to be pixel-perfect in your PSD. I ♥ MacRabbit for this. 

Skala Preview

The awesome folks at Bjango not only write amazing articles about design, but also make really, really useful apps like Skala. I use Skala for size reference when designing mobile apps. It syncs with Photoshop to mirror your window on your phone or tablet. This app, combined with the iPhone stand of your choice makes for a great dual display workflow.

Hazel

Noodlesoft's Hazel is one of the best productivity tools out there. It basically watches over a folder(s) of your choice and it can trigger automated actions for the files in that folder. For example, at Automatic we don't support @1x assets for the iPhone app (since it's only available for iPhone 4S and later) so, after saving a PSD, Slicy exports both @1x and @2x assets automatically, then Hazel watches that folder and deletes all files without "@2x" in the name. Magic!

Follow me on Twitter and tell me what are your favorite apps.

[gvaldivia-blog]

Automatic — Your Smart Driving Assistant

A few months ago, I made the move to San Francisco, CA to join a tech start-up named Automatic. Since then, I've had the pleasure to work with a stellar team of amazingly talented people, aiming to redefine people's relationship with driving. 

Automatic is a Smart Driving Assistant that uses a small little device that we call The Link to connect your car to your smartphone and do 4 things: 

Help you save money on gas.

Tell you why the 'check engine' light comes on.

Call for help in a crash.

Automatically remember where you parked.

At Automatic, I am responsible for the look and feel of the product, including the iPhone app, website, packaging, etc. I work alongside the always amazing Ljuba Miljkovic to determine the simplest and most delightful user experience and interaction design.

Launching this product has been a thrill. Seeing people's positive reaction to the product we've spent so long building is very rejuvenating. I'm excited to embark in this journey with everyone along for the ride (⟵ See what I did there?).

Follow @automatic on Twitter to stay up-to-date with product announcements. And if you haven't already, pre-order Automatic, we will be shipping the next batch this July.

[gvaldivia-blog]

Let's Have a Talk

Lately I've been finding great amounts of inspiration on the web –-isn't it great when what is commonly the vessel of the worst sarcasm and anonymous cynicism ends up being a positive force in one's life? Well, I thought I would share with your some of the talks that I found most inspiring in the past few days.

In no particular order (except awesomeness) I present you the great Gary Vay•ner•chuk. Though, most of you guys might be aware of who this messiah entrepreneur is, it is worth repeating and highlighting one of my favorite talks by the guy. Luckily, not only is he an ever-growing source of knowledge and inspiration, but also a super generous guy who is not afraid of helping people in order to make the Internet a better place for everyone.

Next, we have Bret Victor, a speaker with an impecable track record at companies like Apple. This talk will not only blow your mind but, if you're anything like me, inspire you to look at the world and every day chores in a whole different light. Though what he says it's not revolutionary, his implementation of those ideas is. 

Finally, we have an inspiring TEDx Phoenix presentation by one of my favorite designers, Kelli Anderson. With her adorable charisma, she presents an exemplary approach to outside the box thinking with an array of projects that will delight and inspire you.

[gvaldivia-blog]

Making Moves

After a short but juicy stay with the great folks at Mad Mobile, I am making the move to the west coast and joining the InTheMo Interactive team as a Lead Designer over in Los Angeles, CA. While there, I will be polishing www.inthemo.com (currently in alpha) and lead a team of designers as we embark on a variety of client-based interactive projects. 

I am happy to be a part of a company with a vision and a specific problem to solve. I am also excited to join the community of designers and innovators in the West Coast, a step I've been wanting to make for a while.

However, with this move comes the inevitable farewell see-you-later from great friends and family in the always sunny Tampa Bay. I have had the pleasure of meeting and working alongside really talented people who have been an incredible inspiration and definite role models. The bright side is that I will be back often.

Moving across the country has been an interesting process. Though I am very much familiar with change (born in Cuba, raised in Costa Rica) it never seizes to amaze me how traumatic and drastic becomes the process of self growth necessary to take steps like this.

Despite of it all, I am packing light. I'm bringing my laptop, iPhone and a good ol' bag of serendipity along for the ride.

[gvaldivia-blog]

Portfolio Facelift

So I decided to re-design/update my portfolio site. If you've known me or followed me for a while, this should be no surprise. I have shown a trend to redesign my portfolio a couple of times a year. Sometimes even more often than that. And I do this for two reasons. One, because I need to update my work. Two, because I am often ashamed of what my site looks like, even after I gloat about for a month or two after creating a new one.

I am sure I'm not the only designer who has no problem designing for others, yet when it comes to designing something for myself, I revert to the first grade when I had to label my notebooks and couldn't find myself to write it perfectly in cursive, so I asked my dad to do it for me –- which reminds me, my wedding is coming up and with it, lots of struggling to design those invitations. 

Regardless, I've decided to give my site a facelift, because my career has made some very dramatic changes in the past few years and I have been continuously growing as a designer in a daily basis. I've decided to move away from representing myself with an icon/logo even though this one is very dear to my heart.

The site focuses on my work and nothing but my work. There's plenty of my online persona in other avenues like this one (whazaaap!) and pretty much every social media created by man. I am also able to highlight the mobile work that I have had the pleasure of creating in the past couple of years.

Finally, the main purpose of the portfolio redesign was to make it responsive. A web design trend that is very much in tune with my recent endeavors. The site is optimized for most devices, including iPhone, iPad , tiny laptops, medium size laptops, huge laptops, desktops, big desktops, and ridiculously-sized-overcompensating-for-something-else desktops.

Like always, I am eager to hear your feedback. So if you got something to say, make it a poster or a song --depending on how much you have to say-- then holler at me and tell me what you think :).

[gvaldivia-blog]

Here's an Emmy nominated ABC Action News special about domestic violence featuring I Own Me in about minute 32.

It is unreal to me how much legs this campaign has found. With the overwhelming support of the community and our loyal client The Spring we have accomplished great things! And this is just the beginning... 

[gvaldivia-blog]

From Mobile to Mobile

It is a week of exciting new ventures for me. After a short but thoroughly enjoyed run at Momentum Mobile, I have decided to move on to new challenges. Going from mobile to mobile, I will be joining the folks at Mad Mobile next week where I will have the pleasure of working with a few of the biggest brands around and bringing them up to date with the mobile atmosphere.

In my short time at Momentum, I had the pleasure of working with great people who have taught me invaluable things and given me the tools to find serendipity and Mad Mobile along the way. When I first joined Momentum, I was excited to be a part of the ever-growing mobile industry and since then, my excitement has not faded one bit. I imagine, the feeling of working on mobile apps today is similar to that of people working on websites 15 years ago.

This world is definitely motivating and exciting and I'm planning to stick around as long as I can. Whether it is mobile development, design, agency, or startups. I'm here to stay and to stamp the 'mobile' title somewhere (SFW) in my body.

So, as I get ready to start in full gear, I will be finding inspiration at the Front End Design Conference this Friday, July 22nd. If you will be there, please say 'hi', I love to meeting new people!

[gvaldivia-blog]

A look into Google+

About a week ago I was invited to Google+ and like many others, I was skeptic. The world doesn't really need another Facebook. I thought Facebook had figured out a model to survive the social network's disposable nature by opening their doors to third parties and offering them valuable access to their customers. Though, I still believe that to be true, Google+'s potential is intriguing.

Initially, the most off-putting aspect of Google+ is its undeniable similarity to Facebook. Some might say, 'why reinvent the wheel?' but I think this brings an unfair comparison between the two. Google+ is different than Facebook in many ways, but I'll let a Google exec tell you about them. As a user, I see that Google+ is bringing a new way of socializing to the internet.

In the past few of years, everything in the Internet has geared towards customizing your content. Sites like Digg and Facebook and their respective dugg and like buttons have given editorial power to the online masses. Then, sites like Netflix and Pandora have taken your opinion and adapted their content to fit it. Internet users are constantly filtering the obnoxious amount of online content to fit their needs, and with globalization this extends to our network of friends.

Google+ allows you to filter your friends the people you know and it does this perfectly. Organizing your "friends" into "circles" is not a new concept. Even Facebook tried doing this not too long ago. However, shaping your social experience around it, is very revolutionary. This combined with the enormous reach of the Google empire can create the next way we share our lives online.

Though it's very nice to praise Google, this is the Internet, therefore I must bitch about what's free and why isn't it better. Case in point, Google+ is Facebook's younger brother who, if carefully placed in private school, will outsmart his older brother's accomplishments.

First off, Google needs to embrace their image and embrace other services. Why can't I sync with Twitter to see if the people I follow have a Google+ account? Same with Facebook. Remember, for one to succeed, the other does not have to fail. So, please Google, connect with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger, and all the others. It's a no brainer.

Second, Google needs to integrate its awesome tools with my G+ account. Just like they did with Google Chat, but across all their apps. Allow me to sync my YouTube videos with my account and have my G+ profile be the portal where to access all my services. Kinda like the "links" section, but not in a 14-year-old-ui-developer way. Let's emphasize it a bit more, will ya?

Third, give me professional pages and events. How awesome would it be if I could link my Google Calendar with a specific event in G+? What if I could immediately share a specific Google Calendar meeting/event with a specific G+ circle of friends? This integration with the rest of the google services that I already own is what gets me most excited. For example, my G+ contacts must sync with my Gmail contacts. Google, this must be something you're working on, right?

Finally, stop it with the invite only bs. Google+'s only value is in its users and what they have to say. Without that, it becomes really hard to defend it over Facebook, which already has everyone that I have ever met or wanted to meet and their dogs.

Regardless, because I am part of the Internet, I will continue to bitch while using the service and enjoying its benefits. I am excited to see where Google takes this and I am certainly hoping it doesn't become the next Buzz fiasco. Google is a great company and has the power to do great things, I will expect nothing less. 

[gvaldivia-blog]

So, apparently the folks from Portfolios and Art Cases decided to feature my portfolio book in their promotional video (around 2:50). I absolutely love finding my work at random places on the internet, which to my surprise happens more often than not. 

Anyway, this is very flattering and a great surprise. Thanks guys! :-)

[gvaldivia-blog]

I Own Me has been by far the most rewarding project I have been involved in. Watching an idea grow from the drawing board, brainstorming session to a fully realized advertising campaign it's an incredibly surreal experience. I'm too young to have children, but I imagine the feelings are similar –no worries, I'm fully expecting to be overwhelmed when I have a kid.

But this campaign is special. I didn't come up with a clever tagline to grab customers and sell a certain number of products –a move that I always felt guilty about. This campaign has affected people in a deep way. I have personally spoke to teens who have identified with the imagery and the message of the campaign. That is priceless... literally.

The process of seeing an idea bloom from a sketch, to a billboard, to a person's relationship is simply surreal. I am very grateful to be a part of this project along with the folks from Ad 2 Tampa Bay and am very excited to present it at Ad 2 National next week. 

For more info, visit www.iown.me

[gvaldivia-blog]

Eurotrip

I'm going to Europe!!

Yes, the news might bring you a sense of apathy and disillusion. I understand. I've been there. But, you must understand, I am an art school geek who spent years (plural) of his live looking at pretty pictures in Art History books imagining what Europe was like based on the scent of the pages and the chosen typeface for the particular section. Ok, maybe that got a bit too personal. I apologize for that.

Anyway, I will be going to Europe for 2 weeks in early September. My plan is to visit England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. I will make it my goal to update you of my findings and document as much of the trip as I can. 

What I'm most looking forward to: Venice!

What I'm least looking forward to: 8+ hour plain ride. Yikes!

[gvaldivia-blog]

So, I started a blog... again

It's not the first time (and probably last time) that I start one. This time, I hope to be more consistent and frequent but isn't that every excuse of all the half motivated bloggers out there? I've been through all of them: Blogger, Wordpress, you name it! Somehow I think tumblr will find a way to draw me back to it more frequently than the previously mentioned. 

I'm not expecting a Pulitzer by this blog's end, rather just document my experiences in my career's baby steps and my constantly shifting personality.

Until the next post!