My name is Jeff Roberts and I've been involved in artistic endeavors all my life. My true passion is in the digital realm, but working in graphite or colored pencil still stirs my soul.
Digital media and related topics are what I think about most often. It seems I'm constantly considering new ideas and how I might approach these ideas in a digital format. It's common for me to dream something up, decide on an approach and let-fly to see how I can deliver on my creative thoughts. I've got to admit that it's just plain fun to move ideas from an imaginary space to a virtual space.
Building these constructs, whatever they may be, is definitely an act of creative will but it's fueled by a healthy dose of technology experience as well. If there's anything within these pages that move or inspire you, feel free to contact me any time. I'd love to hear about whatever is on your mind.
Visit www.jeffroberts.info for more information
My current development environment is Adobe's Creative Suite CC. Although the suite is comprised of many products these apps make up my primary workflow:
I have strong confidence in my coding skills using HTML5 and CSS3. Like many designers I grew my skills within XHTML v1.0, HTML4 and CSS2 and made the jump to HTML5 and CSS3.
ItsaWebsiteThing.com has been coded in HTML5/CSS v3 as an example of these skills and both the HTML and CSS validate as indicated by the W3C validation badge located in the footer of each page.
For freelance project management I use ProjectLibre as my primary tool to build Work Breakdown Structures and associated project schedules. For enterprise projects I use Microsoft Project since MS Project is typically found within these larger environments. ProjectLibre very closely resembles MS Project in all respects.
I use Grindstone 3 for time tracking and reporting.
For more information relating to my professional experience and background please visit www.jeffroberts.info.
I am not like this because I am an artist; I'm an artist because I'm like this.
Clean - Literally and Metaphorically
Color
The Most Useful Color: Black
People That Fight for Their Ideas But Know When to Accede
Visual Excitement
Responsive Design
People with Opinions
Detail
Visionary People
Composition - The Great Intangible
Music
Big, Loud Machinery
SEO, Analytics & Typography
The-making-of has definitely been one of the most personal experiences I've encountered and that surprised me.
I just did not anticipate how important it was going to be at a gut level. It's difficult to explain but it's just personal. I wanted the site itself to be somewhat understated and not overwhelm the artwork. But I also wanted it to have a style all its own. I wanted white-space to be the overwhelming color but didn't want it to be overly bleak. I had to fight the urge to add visuals that one might expect and stick with my initial plan and vision.
I wanted a one man art show – my website needed to echo an artist being featured at an art gallery. I wanted big walls, big spaces and to feature my work and not the art gallery, or website in this case. I've added a few words to help with artistic interpretation but I'll let the viewer decide its true value.
John Lennon tells a story of how he met Yoko: He passes by an art gallery, sees that an exhibit is underway and decides to have a closer look. One of the exhibits was a ladder that led to the ceiling where a magnifying glass was suspended by a piece of string. John climbed the ladder, looked through the magnifier and there on the ceiling in miniscule letters was the word "yes." Yoko was the artist and it was her exhibit. The rest of the story is well known.
I want ItsaWebSiteThing to be Yoko's exhibit. I hope you enjoy your visit and that the word "yes" finds its way into your thoughts.
I'm like this.
It's a website thing.