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About Me

My name is Edith Chan. I am a designer and illustrator based in Seattle, USA. I love dreaming, writing and drawing. Pencils and paint brushes are my magical wands giving my imaginations form. I was born and brought up in Macao, the first and the last European colony in China. Living in Macau gave me the opportunity to explore western and eastern arts. I have spent most of my life in this little city, until 2007 I moved to the United States and started this blog to document my adventure in America. You don’t have to be a Blogger or Google member to leave comments. Please take a moment to let me know you were here. Thank you and have a beautiful day!

The World with One Language

 

Learning a foreign language can be frustrating. When you are attempting to acquire a new language, you have to learn a whole bunch of new vocabularies, pronunciations, grammar, slangs, idioms, etc. It’s literally a life-long process to acquire a new language.

How cool would it be if there was only one language in the world?
Everybody would just speak the same language and communicate with each other effortlessly regardless of race. Is it really possible? Of course it is; take a look at how Beagles talk to German Shepherds, and how Superb Lyrebirds sing with Kakapos. If animals can share the same language with the same species, why can’t we?

With only one language in the world, we won’t have to worry about language barriers anymore. Therefore, we could travel around the world, work across the globe, read the original versions of the most famous literature from different countries, and meet new friends from diverse backgrounds. Moreover, companies will have more business opportunities, because they can produce commercials in just one language, and expand their market across the globe. As far as medicine is concerned, western and eastern medical researchers can exchange thoughts and ideas, learn from each other, and work together to fight incurable diseases.

Everything has two sides. Of course there are both advantages and disadvantages to only having one language in the world. Translators could lose their jobs; local businesses could face fierce competition from international giant companies, etc. However, in the big picture, I think it’s a good thing to unite all languages.

With the development of human culture, many countries promote diversity and equal opportunities by fighting racial discrimination. I think that unifying language is the best way to totally eliminate racial discrimination, because the fact is that people don’t discriminate against skin color; people discriminate against the language you speak.

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Is Freelancing Really For You?

 

Freelancing sounds like a dream job to many people, because you can make a living by doing something you like to do, and you can have flexible working hours, work remotely, address your own opportunities, have more variety in work, earn your own rewards, and you will be treated with respect. Above all, you can get away from numerous office policies. But is freelancing really for you?

When It Comes To Business

Creative talent is like a unique gift. However, in reality, creating pure art is not always good enough to earn a living. If you want to secure a stable income, you will most likely have to produce commercial art that fits the market. When you are producing art for commercial purposes, you will need to keep abreast with the market trends and new technologies, know how to market yourself, learn to communicate with noncreative clients, create arts under limited conditions, accept criticisms, and make compromises.

Some people choose to be a fine art artist in order to keep their creativity fresh. Some people go for commercial art for a stable income. I manage to have a good balance of both.

What Does It Take To Be A Freelance Designer?

Business Skills - It’s sad to say that having both talent and creativity is not enough to be a freelance designer. Freelancing is pretty much a one-man show. Therefore, you will not only be a designer, but also a business development director, a project manager, an account representative, a marketing coordinator, an accountant, and a filing clerk. You will be amazed at how much you will learn by freelancing!

Initiative - Freelancing is like running your own business. It’s nice that you can be your own boss, but on the other hand, you have to take the initiative to create a business plan, market your business, manage your budget, follow up on projects with clients and vendors, and maintain a long-term relationship with your clients.

Conquering – “Graphic design is to conquer, conquer, and conquer!” – My instructor at design school.

Freelancing is all about conquering. You will need to conquer technical problems with hours of research, unrealistic deadlines with days of sleeplessness, financial pressures with marketing to increase business, technological gaps with continuous upgrades to computer programs and continuing education to keep your skill set up to date, etc.

Planning

If you decide that freelancing is for you after weighing out the opportunities and risks, sit down and write a business and marketing plan. Freelancing is like running a business. The more you plan and prepare for your business, the easier your freelancing business will reach success.

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The Karate Kid

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Chinese kung fu is like a super power to me. If you were a Chinese kung fu master, you could jump very high and far, attack and defend several people simultaneously, and beat armed people with bare hands. You could literally build up a special kung fu army and conquer the world! It’s hard to that the spirit of this powerful skill is actually about defending peace, not destroying.

In the movie of The Karate Kid, 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) moved from US to China and got bullied from local kids with Chinese kung fu. Dre turned to a secret kung fu master, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), and urged to learn Chinese kung fu in order to fight them back. Instead of just teaching Dre kicks and punches, Mr. Han also taught Dre maturity and calm. During the journey of learning Chinese kung fu, Dre has learned to stand up for his fear and realized that kung fu is about fighting for peace.  

The Karate Kid movie is a big hit, not only because Jackie Chan is a real Chinese kung fu master, but also Jaden Smith is a very talented young actor. As you know, Jackie Chan is famous for his kung fu performance. Even though he doesn’t fight much throughout the movie, he definitely ensures the action quality of the film. As far as Jaden, I knew that he is Will Smith’s son for a while, but it was the first movie I watch him. Well, I have to say that I am totally impressed by his talent. The Karate Kid character requires both acting and action performances, and Jaden has totally nailed it. The audience in my theater gave him bursts of applause during the final fight.      

Some people criticized that the name of the movie is confusing, because the movie has nothing to do with karate but only Chinese kung fu. Other than that, I think this is a good movie and is worthwhile watching.

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Family Day

As we grow up, we may not be able to spend as much time as we used to with our families, because we are always busy with school, work, social events, etc. Therefore, it would be a good idea to set one day just for the whole family to catch up, eat, and have fun on a regular basis.

In Chinese culture, family value is very important. Traditionally, Chinese people like to have their family days once a week, usually on Sundays. On a typical Chinese family day, the whole family, including your parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, will meet and have lunch at a dim sum restaurant. You will need a big table if you have a big family. If you have a really big family, you might even have to book a private room just for lunch, which has 2-3 tables. Can you imagine that?

After lunch, the grown-ups will usually chat or play mah-jong, while the kids will hang out and play games together. During the evening, women, like your mom and aunts, will make dinner together. Family day ends after the family finishes dinner at their grandparent’s home. Then everybody will go home.

Nowadays, Chinese families might not be able to meet as often and do as many activities together as they could because of the change in life style, but people still try to meet and catch up with the whole family every one or two weeks.

I like to have family day once a week. On that day, I completely take off from work and enjoy the day with my family. How about you? Do you like family day? What does your family usually do on that day?

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Edith Chan edit post

What’s New About Me

It has been a while since the last time I updated my blog. Today, I have 10 exciting things to talk about:

1. Edith Chan Design Website Goes Live

I am excited to announce that my website, Edith Chan Design, has officially launched. It has been a long road from planning, design, production, development, to the launch today. With this website, I am able to showcase my artwork, share my design tips, and get freelance projects online. Go ahead and check out my website here!

2. Work From Home

In my last blog, I mentioned about resigning from my part-time job. Well, it turned out that my boss offered me to work from home in order to keep me. So, right now I am working from home. That way, I can secure a stable income but also work on my freelance projects and go to school at my own schedule. It’s like having the best of both worlds.

3. Design Project

In early May, I was fortunately enough to get an identity design project for Southern Post, which is one of the biggest newspapers in South China. You can see detail of the project here.

To be honest, I wasn’t very confident when I first accepted the project, because the timeline given to me to finish the project was very short. I was required to design a logo and a T-shirt in 5 days. However, the project turned out to be very successful. My client loved my design the first time around. No revisions! How about that!

4. Photography

Photography was one of my favorite subjects when I was studying in university. However, because of the high expenses of required equipment, I had to eventually give up on photography.

With the new era of digital camera, I decided to get back to photography and was able to get a DSLR at a very good deal. Moreover, Mason is interested in learning photography too. I expect a lot of photography trips with Mason in the near future. I will publish my photos gallery on my website later. Stay tuned.

5 Badminton Club

I joined a badminton club in early May. Yes, I admit that I barely knew how to play badminton before, but I thought that it would be good to do a sport and interact with other people on a daily basis, and that it could balance my life and remedy the shortcomings of working from home. The good news is that I can play much better now, thanks to the badminton lessons that Jenny gives me.

6. Graduation

I am going to complete my Graphic Design Certificate Program this summer. Frankly speaking, I enrolled into the program with lots of doubts and uncertainties. I am proud that I am able to make it this far.

7. Tuition Subsidy

Macau is giving 1,200 US dollars for its residences who are studying abroad during last year. Well, it’s not a lot of money, but it’s very helpful to a poor student like me.

8. Mexico Trip

Mason and I are traveling to Mexico to celebrate my birthday in early August. I am very excited about this trip because Mexico is famous for beautiful beaches and sunshine, which make it a perfect location for a holiday get-away. We have even bought snorkeling gears and new swimming suits. That’s how much we look forward to going on the trip. By the way, we are thankful that Jenny is  willing to take care of Sushi for us during our trip. Sushi has promised that she will be a good girl. Hehe.

9. Home Office

I have been suffering from back pain and shoulder pain for long hours of drawing on computer. Today, I was finally able to get a new office chair that fit me the best. The chair has lumbar padding to support my back and adjustable armrests to support my elbows when I draw on a tablet. I am very happy with my new chair.

10. My Big Day

As you know, my birthday is approaching quickly, don’t forget to get me birthday presents!

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花灑 Shower

作曲: 王菀之
編曲: 雷頌德
填詞: 林夕

為了要博世界讚美
便苦惱 害怕永遠也做不到
忘掉了偶爾懶理世界或會更好

I am in distress for fighting for recognition from other people,

being afraid that I am never gotta make it.

I have forgotten sometimes it’s better to get lose.


期望要有這個與那個
像匹布 被剪碎飛舞
盲目了兩眼也但求 要拾到

Endless expectations just like bolts of clothes being cut into pieces, flying all over the sky.

I manage to pick up all the pieces until one day I go blind.

*何必要做奴隸
無需要為失去了的執迷
輪流涼或暖像四季
做人做過世 漫長年月有路軌

Don’t be a slave

Don’t sorrow over what you have lost in life

Sadness and happiness take turn in life just like the way seasons do.

You should know that there is still a long long way to go. How about play by ear and see what will happen.

人總想擁有東西
要是代價高 越令心中牽繫
擔憂要是無謂 拿花灑洗禮
la......*

Every one is living for something.

The more costly the thing is, the more you want to have it.

It won’t help to worry too much. Let’s refresh myself in a shower first

La…………

為了要與某某愛上
便希冀 為了挫折過 便緊記
全為貢獻過 要有報答 便有對比
全為看中過 發覺看錯
便生氣 甚麼叫天理
忘掉奮鬥過要隨緣 信命理
In order to be in loved with someone, I made wishes.

In order to make setbacks paid off, I learned the lesson.

I have forgotten not to expect anything no matter how hard I’ve tired, because everything is already set in fate.

REPEAT*
la......
梳發自在自在齊齊坐
拿去它都總可去站去跑 無謂靠甚麼

La………

Let’s come sit down and relax on the couch together

Go stand up or go for a run if you want. Don’t depend on anything.

何不將一切拋低
志願大過天 亦像世上螻蟻
星星永未流逝 如只可感嘆它美麗
得到也是無謂 負擔高過天際

Why don’t I just throw everything behind?

I should know that I am just as small as an ant, though my dream is as big as the sky.

The star is fading away, but I can only sign for the fading beauty.

It’s nonsense to after it. The burden is way too heavy.

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Past, Now, and Future

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As you may have noticed, I haven’t updated my blog for a while. It is because I have been extremely busy. There have been so many things going on in school and work that I hardly realized that March has already passed. Here, I would like to update you on what had happened to me in March, what I am busy with right now, and what my plan is for the future.

A Taste of My Dream

The biggest thing that happened to me last month would be start accepting project as a freelance designer. I have only done some small projects so far, but already feel like stepping closer to my dream.

Work and school are in full swing already so I hope that I will be able to spend some time on my portfolio and my new website next quarter.

“Unless you move, the place where you are is the place where you will always be” - Ashleigh Brilliant

I came across this quote yesterday and feel that it’s especially true for my current situation. 2 weeks ago, First Mutual contacted me for another interview, but I turned it down. I knew that I was not ready for an interviewing challenge yet. I had lost my faith.

I couldn’t believe that I would blow away the same opportunity again and again, as if I had made no progress in the last 2 years at all. What a loser! I finally realized that I will never be ready for a new life if I stay at my current job. The job does me no good; it only limits me from learning the language, meeting new people and fitting in in the new culture. I fully understand how hard it would be to get a job in this economic climate and that I can be unemployed for quite a while if I quit this job. However, my soul is worth way more than 800 bucks a month. I wish I had noticed this earlier, but better late than never. I decided to work 2 more months to save up more money, and then quit the job in mid June. Can’t wait to have my life back.

What Will be In Store For Me?

After June, I plan to focus on learning English, studying web design, experimenting with digital art, and developing my freelance website. I don’t know if this is my calling, but I have learned that you will never know what is right until you learn what is wrong. I will keep my fingers crossed.

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十年前金融風暴破產 泰國股神改賣三明治成功另闢天下

 

東森新聞報 更新日期:2007/06/21 18:23 記者:記者陳玉芝卅編譯

十年前在亞洲金融風暴中受創嚴重,泰國股神斯里瓦的金融事業徹底破產,負債超過10億台幣,不過他並沒有失去對生命的堅持,改賣三明治,現在不但已還清所有債務,新的店面還陸續開張,成為三明治大王。

泰國遭受金融風暴後,很多人不堪一夕破產選擇燒炭和跳樓,但當年被稱為泰國「股神」的斯里瓦,為了生存選擇重新振作,連續好幾年在大太陽底下沿街叫賣三明治,現今有了另一個封號,人稱「三明治大王」。

斯里瓦在股市風光時期,一天最高獲利可達上千萬元。斯里瓦說,「所以我的生活大變,從富裕跌落普通層級,那對我很困難嗎?是啊,我曾不習慣,我家人也不習慣,我的員工也不習慣,但最後我們必須調適自己去適應這個狀況。」

擁有美國德州大學財務管理的學歷,斯里瓦和妻子育有兩女一男,金融風暴後,他的豪宅開發案瞬間崩盤,負債超過新台幣10億元,如今靠著頭腦與汗水,建立了獨樹一格的三明治王國。

斯里瓦說,「今天如你所見,我能大笑,雖然我過去很有錢,我是經歷破產的人,但今天我經營小小的公司,還在曼谷街頭賣三明治,我將再開店,我覺得超開心。」這個三明治傳奇的精神,值得許多人效法。

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Typography Class - 2

 

ilt_wallpaper_goudy_v02

The Typography class is finally over. Some people described the class as a boot camp, and it’s totally true. By far, this class is the most intensive class I have ever attended. During last quarter, I have made numerous sleepless commitments in order to complete my projects. Here, I would like to share some of the interesting projects with you:

1. Personalities of Types Project

In this project, we were required to use different font, size, color, and composition to express six emotions, actions, holidays, and countries, respectively. The whole point of this project is for students to better understand the characteristics of various fonts, so that we would know how to pick a font for a design in the future.

I have fallen in love with this project. After this project, I started observing and analyzing every font I came across in daily life.

2. Page Layout Project

This was a page layout project which required students to incorporate what we have learnt about Typography into a one-spread magazine design. This project gave us hands-on experience on how to create and organize different elements on a page. The challenge of this project is to create three different concepts by using the exact same elements. Irene wanted us to have a taste of the real world experience where clients always prefer a designer to provide more than one concept for them to choose from.

3. Book Cover Design Project

My final project is to design a book cover for the Typography and Composition class. Interestingly, no requirement or specification was given to the students in this project. Irene said that it was harder to work with a client who doesn’t have any preference than a client who can outline what he/she exactly wants. Therefore, I had to do my own research on potential audiences and industry trends before I could start the project. Finally, I was able to create a trendy looking book cover design that caught the eyes of the whole class.

Throughout this class, I have not only learnt typography, but also how to conquer difficulties as a professional designer.

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Typography Class - 1

 

love-typography-a-lot-black

“No, no, no...the letter A is too far away from the letter R!” I didn’t feel comfortable with the unbalanced spacing of the letters when I looked at the logo “PRO ART” on my exercise book. I am not usually frustrated by these kinds of things before. However, after attending the Typography class this quarter, I have learned more about types and became more critical when it comes to typography.

Typography is the art and technique of arranging, designing and modifying types. It plays an important role in graphic design and is an essential skill for every designer. We can find typography everywhere in our life. But have you noticed that every element of a type, including font, size, color, spacing, angle, etc. is used for a reason?

In the first Typography lesson, the instructor, Irene, told us the history and traditional technique of typography.  Listening to the evolution of typography, and all the weird typographical terminology, like upper case, lower case, leading, etc. suddenly made sense.

In the class, I also explored typeface anatomy. I never imaged that even a simple letter would consist of so many parts, like serif, crossbar, bracket, counter, ear, bowl, loop, hairline, etc. In order to understand the characteristics of different fonts better, Irene taught us how to trace different fonts with markers and tracing paper. It was fun to experiment with the most traditional method of creating and modifying fonts. Nowadays, even though there are so many advanced designing programs, tracing by hand is still the major method for designing and modifying fonts.

I had a lot of fun with my first kerning and tracing assignment. I look forward to my next lesson.

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Edith Chan

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      Currently I am available for freelance work. I am located in Seattle,WA but not necessarily limited to the area, I work with clients from all over the world.

      Should you need identity, animation, graphic and web design work, please feel free to contact me. You may find more about my portfolio on www.EdithChanDesign.com

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