Some of you make be wondering why I am so darn vocal on the minted challenges and why I bother to help other design improve their craft. It’s actually something I learned from my husband and his geek culture. He’s a hardcore programmer and loves this ‘open source’ world out there. The general idea is you put some code or an idea out there to a community of people who love the same thing you love. You say here take it, use it, make it better and give it back to the community. You’d be amazed at what can happen when people start thinking this way. I’m not into the whole programming thing, but I really like the concept of their community. As a 10 year novice to the design world. There are so many hurdles and hoops I had to figure out to get to where I am. I just figure why let all that information I gathered go to waste when someone else can use it and not have to waste their time like me. So that’s where I found the goal of my blog. It is to help designers find answers and resources to common problems so that they can freely go and design something. I’m no expert, nor will i ever claim be one. So take what you can from this and well if it helps you, great! My job is done.
Something you should probably know about me is that I’m highly competitive. Yes, the thought of ‘Do I really want to help someone else win?’ has crossed my mind every time I see a fantastic design pop-up on my monitor. Because of my competitive nature, I strive for the best and if I don’t compete against the best I will never achieve my goal. The best boss I had, I hated, because he was real critical of my work and I wasn’t use to people giving me an honest critique. But looking back, I now realize I grew so much as a designer during that time. So don’t be afraid of negative comments. Learn from them.
Enough of this. I have to check for more designs. Hurry! Go design something!


Mariam Naficy
January 29, 2010
Amy,
We and the Minted design community love you – thank you so much for injecting so much enthusiasm and great ideas into our midst!
Mariam
Amy Fontes
February 2, 2010
I’m glad you are out there! I didn’t get into design until I was 35, and know I have a TON to learn. Also, being a mother of a two year old, I don’t get nearly enough time (if any) to dedicate to researching new design trends, techniques, etc. So to have people like you who are willing to share makes me thrilled!!! I think as long as an individual doesn’t steal from you (meaning your designs or “style”) then there should be no fear in “teaching” what you know to others. Thanks again for all your help!