By intention or accident, you’ve reached my blog. Lucky for you, you’ve hit the first entry, so you haven’t missed anything yet.

I created patrickgarvin.com for a few reasons:

1. I wanted to showcase my portfolio.
2. I wanted to “stay current,” as it were. I noticed that other graphics departments wanted their artists to know a myriad other skills, languages and programs in addition to infographics, interactives and illustrations. HTML and CSS were the most ubiquitous skills sought after, so I thought I’d start with those and move my way down the list.
3. I like a good challenge. I wanted a project through which I could learn those and get feedback from my friends and colleagues who have had more experience with those languages. The more I got their feedback on how I could most effectively and correctly use HTML and CSS, the more incentive I’d have to push myself. In other words, I wanted my trial and error to be on display so that I could cull the wisdom and input of anyone who might see it. Thus, as the site progresses, I look forward to people saying, “Wow, I thought Pat’s site was clean before, but look at what he’s done with it.” And the web geeks can say, “Yeah, and his CSS isn’t sloppy anymore, either!”
4. Similarly to #4, I wanted a place where I could post projects when I venture into other programs and languages.

My vision for the blog is to use my personal experiences as a jumping off point engage in a discussion about, among other things:

So, enjoy, post on Facebook, retweet, tell your friends and get the word out. I am a graphic artist, and will be writing about graphics, of course, but I expect that these will be discussions in which all people can join, even if you’ve never made a bar chart.
–PMG.