Today is Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The week leading up to the annual celebration is a busy one in southeast Louisiana, with huge parades, parties, and flocks of tourists flooding into the region.
Sarah and I opted for a less-busy holiday this week by heading to the mountains.
Today from a cabin in north Georgia, a short note to wish you a happy Mardi Gras wherever you are and share a few things that I worked on recently.
LinkedIn Banners
Canva is quickly becoming a go-to tool for creating graphics and, even, finishing maps.
Last week I shared a map of my hometown of Slidell, Louisiana, that was finished using Canva — a first for me. Here, another recent use of Canva in its more typical fashion: As a graphic design tool. Specifically, using Canva to create new banners for a LinkedIn profile.
Primary Banner
Purple & Gold Alternate
Variation No. 1
Variation No. 2
There is a low barrier to entry with Canva, which makes it a lot of fun for those of us who are not necessarily graphic designers by trade. Though I would contend that cartography is a form of graphic design — especially modern, digital cartography — which makes cartographers, in fact, graphic designers.
Nonetheless, asides aside, Canva is an approachable application for users with any kind or amount of design experience — including none at all. It is free to get started with Canva, too, and can remain free if you are comfortable operating within the limitations.
Portfolio Refresh
New year, new ... portfolio?!?
No, it's not a complete overhaul, but I did spend some time cleaning up my portfolio recently.
The biggest change is how the projects are organized on the splash page. Previously there were a number of standalone projects taking up space on the page. Adding new categories helped consolidate all of the work into eight distinct project types, eliminating any one-offs.
It was a simple effort and an attempt toward minimalism. Check it out here:
To create and maintain the portfolio, I am using Adobe Portfolio. If you have a web portfolio, what platform are you using to service it?