2010 was definitely a year to remember. With so many amazing things happening, I was sorry to see it go and say goodbye. Here’s a quick recap of some of my 2010 highlights. Hopefully 2011 is as much fun and productive. Read all about it after the jump

Peru – 2010 started off with a two-week trip down to Peru, South America with my wife Christa.  She had to head down for research, so I decided to tag along and do some sightseeing.  I couldn’t think of a better way to start the year, splitting our time between Lima, Cusco and Machu Pitchu. Best of all, I was also able to break in my new Nikon D90 by taking over 3000 photos.  Now while I wouldn’t dare ask anyone to look through that many pictures, you can see some of my favorites here.

NEW OFFICE - In the beginning of the Summer I traded in my room in an empty apartment and upgraded to an office @ 2424 Studios (A converted warehouse full of designers, photographers, artists, businesses, etc.) Located in Fishtown at the corner of York and Gaul streets, right off of I-95, and convenient to public transportation, 2424 Studios consists of over 80 work studios and/or office suites that range from 350 to over 6,000 square feet.  Love my new space, tons of great people, very inspiring and creative space to work in.

POPTENT – This was definitely one of the cooler, unexpected new things to come into my life in 2010. Poptent is a kind of a creative crowd-sourcing agency who hooks up brands with creative types to create spots…and if the brand picks your spot, they’ll throw down some cash for.  I wrote/directed commercials for two brands, HoodieBuddie and Amazon Kindle, and was not only able to beef up my directing reel, but flex some creative muscles in between design client projects. My HoodieBuddie spot received an honorable mention and my Kindle spot won first place for the Editor’s choice awards.  In addition to the two spots I did in the 2nd half of the year, I was also chosen my Amazon in December to write & storyboard two video concepts for the Kindle based on Amazon ideas. Looking forward to creating more content for Poptent in 2011.

KEY ART – 2010 was also the year I discovered my latest and greatest passion, Key Art design. Designing posters and packaging for movies combines my two great loves, Film & Design..so I guess it was only a matter of time before the two of these things collided to make magical music together.  I hit the ground running by having the fortunate opportunity to design four posters in 2010.  The SXSW poster for Lebanon, Pa, Gerrymandering poster for Tribeca Film Festival, as well as two more of Marc Erlbaum’s projects, Café and A Buddy Story.

Looking to triple that number in 2011, so anything less than 12 posters this year will be an utter disappointment.  The good news is, it’s still January and I already have one more under my belt.  Check out the newly-completed poster for the Sundance film, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles.

SUFFERANCE - 2010 also saw the beginning of the road for my first Feature film, the Horror film Sufferance I’ve been writing with long time friend and collaborator Matt Casale. Even though we’re still putting the final touches on the script, I will definitely look back at 2010 as the year Sufferance was born.

Would love to see the project produced this year, but with a ton of developing and fundraising on the horizon, 2011 will at least be a fun and busy year of pre-production.  You can keep up with all things Sufferance on Eventide Productions’ site or FB page.

At this point, I’m sure most of you have your own portfolio site and/or blog up and running, but that is just the beginning when it comes to sharing your design skills with the world.  Here’s 5 (free) things you can do to help spread your portfolio across the web.

FACEBOOK PAGE – OK, this one’s a no-brainer, as most of you already have a personal FB account. Creating a page for yourself is quick and snappy, so I’ll skip the details.  Once the page is built, create a few photo albums (i.e. print, logos, web, etc.) and add your work.  The big advantage of using a social network like Facebook, is you can tap into your existing personal network to promote your work.  This is especially helpful to those of you who are just starting out and are looking for word of mouth recommendations.  Now that your fb page portfolio is up and running, just keep in mind that updating work consistently is important, but even more importantly, make sure you  share that work with your network any chance you get. Take a step further….you can link your Facebook page to a twitter account, so everytime you update your fb portfolio, your twitter status will reflect it.  Neat, eh?

GOOGLE IT - Let’s face it….Google is taking over the world.  No need to fight, just give in and exploit it for your personal gain.  There are a few ways to utilize google, beyond the basic search engine.  In my opinion the most effective is the Google Local Business Center.  Here you can add the basics about yourself or business such as location, contact info, website, etc.  But beyond the basics, you can also add up to 10 images, so pick your 10 best examples, and add them to your listing.  Now, when people search your area for a designer, not only will they get your basics, but they’ll be able to see a few examples of your work right in your listing. Here’s my listing.

FLICKR ACCOUNT – Create a Flickr photoset for your portfolio (or better yet, create one for each section of your portfolio).  Besides being a great place to share photos, Flickr has a ton a great groups that allow you to share your work with all kinds of people. Remember, it’s not enough to just add you upload your work to Flickr – You need to stay active in the Flickr groups….You never know who’s floating around the Logo Design Pool.

DESIGN SHOWCASE SITES - There are a bunch of great Graphic & Web showcase sites out there.  (Sites like Logopond, LogoMoose and Web2.0) Do a quick google  search and before you know it, you’ll be exposing your portfolio to a whole new section of the web.

ALTERNATE ONLINE PORTFOLIOS - It’s great to have your own website and/or blog, but why not utilize other design portfolios that are already established and have a steady built in traffic flow.  Crowd Sourcing and Community design sites have begun popping up all over the place and most of them allow you to host a showcase page.  StyleApple, CrowdSpring and Blur Designs are just a few of these sites, with new ones launching all the time.

Well the results are in from the Amazon Ad Contest, and my entry “Wish List” came in 2nd place overall.  First place went to Angela Kohler and her ad “Kindlicious.” After the initial disappointment of not being named a winner, I’m definitely truly excited that we were named as a finalist and that we just missed the top spot.  I’ve added the spot to the video section of the site, so if you haven’t seen it, you can head over and check it out.  You can also shoot over to Amazon’s site to check out all the  finalist videos.