photo by cindy47452 with modifications by me.

This issue has been vexing me for months. I had my site (almost) exactly how I wanted it at jessicamullenslifestream.com/xx. Then I realized that my ‘personal brand’ would be much stronger if I was using my jessicamullen.com domain. So I put it on the to-do list to switch over, probably about 4 months ago. This week, I finally did it! The hardest part was figuring out how to do it right–I have thousands of posts in my database & it was causing all sorts of WordPress dashboard import/export problems. Here is what I finally came up with:

1. Backup EVERYTHING. First, export your xml file from your WordPress dashboard. This step is practically worthless though, if you have a large amount of posts. Next, copy your ENTIRE WordPress installation directory from your FTP. Finally, make a complete backup of your database. I chose to not compress my database backup, but you may have success with a compressed file.
2. Point your new URL to the directory you will be putting your new files in. First I had to transfer my domain from another hosting company, Yahoo. Once it made it over, I assigned it to my cPanel as an addon domain. During this process I chose a directory for that URL to point to.
3. Copy your database to a new database. This I did in phpMyAdmin. Find your active database, & simply copy it to a new database with a new name. It should be an option under “operations”.
4. Go back to your cPanel & add a user to the new database. I’m not sure if this is totally necessary, but it’s what worked for me.
5. Download the most recent version of WordPress & update your wp-config.php file with the new credentials – the new database name, user & password. I tried using SimpleScripts through Bluehost to install WordPress but that was a nightmare. Upload the WordPress files to the new folder on your FTP that you designated when you assigned your addon URL.
6. Upload your theme, plugins, & uploads folder. I still can’t figure out how to get the old posts on the new site to point to the new uploads folder. Any ideas on how to remedy this?
7. Go back into phpMyAdmin & open up your database to start editing entries. All of the entries you need to edit should be in the wp-options table. I had to change the site URL entry from jessicamullenslifestream.com to jessicamullen.com. Then find any other entry that references your old URL and change it to the new one.
8. Try loading your site! If it doesn’t work right away, try logging into your WordPress dashboard. If that works, then you might just have a problem with your theme.
9. Fix up your widgets, sidebars, & plugins. I had to re-enter my widgets & sidebars (maybe, my memory is hazy here!), but my plugins made it through the process unscathed.

That’s all there is to it! I would love to hear if you have any easier methods or suggestions for improvement, since I have to do this again several more times in my near future…

Kelly & I just moved from the east side of Austin to the south, from a 3 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom apartment. We had massive amounts of THINGS to get rid of, much of which we had accumulated to fill a house that was too big for us! We decided to be much more intentional with the interior design of our new place.

Kelly sold most of our furniture & useful things on Craigslist, & we donated around 15 bags of clothes, accessories & kitchen items. But I was still left with boxes of photos, trinkets, & mementos. I wouldn’t say I’ve reached a state of minimalism yet, but with Kelly’s help I am well on my way. I think that my amulet to ward off attachment really helped! Here are a few things I learned from the move…

1. Get rid of the easy stuff first. Photo doubles, picture frames, matchbooks, gone. I found it helpful to sort out the empty ephemera first, because I needed to build up some momentum to keep going!
2. If you’re not sure about keeping something, put it in a pile to look at close to moving day. You’ll probably feel a lot less attached to it with an impending deadline!
3. Keep only your nice things. And then use them. Kelly had me choose between keeping a crappy plastic cutting board and a beautiful wooden cutting board made by my dad. I was all, “no we use that plastic one all the time!” and then I wondered what the hell I was saving the nice cutting board for, Thanksgiving or something?
4. Get rid of things you’re REALLY. NOT. GOING. TO. USE. I live in Texas. I wear a layerable series of hoodies throughout the mild winter. It snowed once last year. I do not need four heavy winter coats. In Illinois, I had an excuse. In Texas, I now have one winter coat.
5. Make a pile to digitize & toss. I had to bring my photos with me to the new place, so I could figure out how to part with them. I ended up photographing my photos! I tiled them all together & photographed them with a nice camera so I could preserve the memory (in my lifestream) but get rid of the paper. Want to see my adolescent life? A MASSIVE amount of photos below. If you have any tips on letting go of things, please let me know! Click the images for larger view.

read more…

I studied graphic design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001-2005. During that time I created a wealth of work that I have been dragging around with me the past 5-9 years. I had no plans for the big portfolio folders hiding in the closet–I intended to drag them with me for the rest of my life, I guess. But we’re downsizing to a much smaller space, & getting rid of things has been getting me high! I decided to photograph all of my undergraduate portfolios & projects to share digitally here, so I can cast off the weight of student work forever! This is going to be a long ride, keep your hands inside the trolley! (& click the images for a larger view!)

Foundations (2001-2002)

Before one is accepted to the 3 year graphic design program, one must take a year of foundation design & drawing classes to weed out the slackers.

Drawing
I drew this still life for my final project in Drawing 1. It took 31 hours!

The original polaroid of the objects:

The rest of these make me smile:

Design
I didn’t keep much from my foundations design courses… I had the curse of bad craft.

Photo
This is the only project I kept from the B&W photo class I took. I still love it! It makes me laugh. Student art at its finest.

Graphic design

I didn’t keep anything from my first graphic design class, because I was such a terrible, lazy student. But I kept these from a class with Jennifer Gunji that changed my life.

7 Sins
I became an illustrator when I took an imagemaking class with John Jennings. That was the class that made me wake up & pay attention in school.

First graphic design interview portfolio: boards/loose papers in a box

After another year or so of GD classes, I got a job as a student designer at the university counseling center. I also started making decent work in class. I started loving school! I made friends with my classmates & we had out of control makeout parties. Well, one anyway. Oddly, I don’t remember ever actually interviewing with this portfolio.

Although the boards-in-a-box method is heavy, it is far superior to the method you will see later in this post. Why? Because the work is easy to see with no distractions.

Calendar design!

Poster design!

Book design!
For Rick Moody’s “Boys“.

Counseling Center design!
A poster for eating disorder awareness week

A flyer & newsletter

A tshirt design & resource packet cover.

Graduation interview portfolio

I became a decent designer & hurriedly put together a book of work to take with me to Chicago on interviews with big, shiny design firms. I was excited for the real world! I had an open mind! The company who hired me gave me a 6 pack on my way out of my interview!

This portfolio method of glossy-pages-in-enormous-binder is a total bust. The pages are simply too reflective to see the work properly! But it did the trick, & after getting hired at my first (& only) 9-5 job, I never had to use it again.

don’t mind the pizza box under the trampoline

It took me an extremely long time to get remotely decent photos of this book. I considered some abstract options.

Ultimately I photographed this beast underneath the trampoline. But first! My resume:

Folk rock concert poster:

Kronos Quartet makes another appearance:

I had lots of fun making this set of promotional materials for a faux Andy Goldsworthy visit:

A proposed invitation to our senior exhibition:

More counseling center work. A system to promote a workshop series:

The Counseling Center logo!

Poster design:

Proposed identity system for the Urbana Indoor Aquatic Center:

Invitation to junior show:

Invitation to a portfolio review:

Book cover exercise:

Newspaper ad:

Typeface book covers:

Illustration time again! Panels to illustrate Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eldorado.”

An illustration project I worked on as a collaboration with John Jennings for his book The Hole.

A spread for Ninth Letter:

Earliest paid web work! The Japan House website.

A web piece for Ninth Letter, featuring artist Shahzia Sikander.

Another web piece for Ninth Letter, featuring work by author Richard Powers.

And thus concludes my portfolio review! What did you think? Do you keep your old schoolwork or portfolios? Do you think a photo writeup like this is enough documentation to throw the paper out once & for all?