Working on the official Timfolio website has been an enlightening process. I was already fully aware of my incredibly unique ability to be a pain-in-the-tooshie client for myself — second-guessing and redesigning every comp I present to myself and yelling at ear rattling levels in both disgust and amazement — but alas, progress is made, I manage not to fire self and the good fight lives to see another day.

Here’s a quick peek at what’s to come:

My aim for the site is to present the various web and print items I’ve produced but almost as importantly, explain the path and mindset I had throughout the process. With this, my lovely personality with shine through, of course! I like to have a good time and make people laugh around the clock, but I also take what I do seriously. Showing off my personal blend of the two — there is a piece of you within everything you produce, right? — is an important part of who I am, what I do and where I want to go in the future.

Stay tuned to my “Timfolio” Flickr set for updates down the line, just in case I don’t blab about them on here first.

In order to make progress, it’s extremely important for young designers to know where the best of the web have been and, just as importantly, where they are headed.

Cameron Moll pointed out the best example I’ve seen so far of one of the best ways to perfect your craft. He says “Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal” but what I gathered from it was not the literal “rip the code and use it as your own” copyright infringement mess we see too often on the web. Instead, find those you think are the best in the business — whatever your craft may be — and learn their style. Find out what it is that allows them to do what they do so well. Then, as you progress, break off and find your own style.

Coming from a big family, the best example I can think of is when a younger sibling looks up to an older sibling. I had one big brother I would follow around all the time, emulating his words, actions and everything. He’s left-handed, so I even tried to do that! (The parental figures were very against buying left-handed scissors, so I had to settle for being a righty) I wanted to do what he did, talk like he talked and act how he acted. I’m sure it was annoying and probably frustrating at times for him, but eventually, as I matured, I found my own style. I can tell the differences and similarities between us and it makes me smile thinking back to what it took to get here, and how much better off I am for having him to set an example.

In that sense, I’m continuing to follow those I consider the best in the business, and trying to hone in on my inner Jason Santa-Maria, Andy Clarke, Elliot Jay-Stocks and Happy Cog co-founder and web standards Don Corleone, Jeffrey Zeldman. Thanks to Twitter and these designers’ openness to sharing the processes (By way of events like An Event Apart, which I was fortunate enough to attend in June, online articles, webcasts and even detailed website design walk-throughs) up-and-coming designers are able to break into the field, even if they don’t necessarily have an art or programming degree. Some of us learned the bare bones methods in school — B.S. in Information Science right here — and get all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at content-focused designs and more sites relying heavier on information architecture and usability over flashy, quirky, looks-better-than-it-performs (that’s what she said!) wastes of space on the internets.

Speaking of Zeldman, the 3rd edition of Designing With Web Standards was just shipped off to the printers. The screenshots Jeffrey Zeldman, author and web Don Corleone, posted on his Flickr account look some kind of wonderful:

The web world is exciting right now:

• HTML5 and CSS3 are starting to be accepted in most modern browsers.
• The bible of web standards is getting a newer, webby-er edition next month.
• Innovation in web design and art direction on the web is thriving.
• Local web communities (RefreshDC is quite fantastic) keep the discussion constantly going, in an effort to keep standardistas and their sworn enemies in communication with as few e-fisticuffs as possible.

Good web design is on the rise, going mobile and getting web geeks hot super model women. (Ok, one of those is likely untrue)

I’m glad to be involved in something I’m growing even more passionate about. The web is becoming increasingly important in every walk of life.

We each have a choice: get left behind or join the cause.

I choose the latter.