Short Film

A friend of mine passed this video on to me. My favorite is the first 2 minutes. Check it out.

http://films.thelot.com/films/33348

(sorry I am not all that computer savvy that I know how to post a video. When John gets home I will have him show me)

Enjoy!

shorts make me happy

these from favorite furniture folks from Chicago, BluDot!




and more are popping out all over the woodwork...

of course, they might have been there all along and now I am just newly excited about them. my 30th birthday present to myself is some video editing software... any suggestions on what I should get?

what do you call yourself?

As I am a very happy camper, having just been sent to my very first company sponsored professional event, and I am newly super enthusiastic about being a designer again, I have been thinking lately about what I call myself...

the options are:
1. designer
2. creative consultant (that has been my preferred freelance line)
3. multimedia designer
4. graphic designer (for family, etc.)
5. art director (which means very different things in different places)

I like the generalness and ambiguity of 1., plus the fact that it doesn't restrict itself to a. the computer, b. commercial purposes, c. a specific discipline. I do tend to say "graphic designer" to my family, because web designer is now synonomous with pop-up ads, and people seem to get "graphic designer" in a way that "web designer" or "multimedia designer" leaves them flummoxed.

I am happy to know that the AIGA is struggling with a similar issue. As they switch their official name to "the Professional Association for Design" (while keeping the AIGA logo), I have to think that "Design" in this case seems too ambiguous, and perhaps misleading... Many illustrators/artists wouldn't tag themselves as designers, while their discipline does clearly fall into the realm of "Graphic Arts".

Maybe we need to go back to arenas of expertise. Can I call myself a "creative"? Should I buy "happyandcreativeeveryday.com"? Can my title be something to aspire to as opposed to being an exact descriptor to what I "do"?

Ball Buster

This was in a DJ Shadow song I think... I thought it was made up but apparently it's for real.

poynor at the ICA

Poynor, a witty contributor to Print magazine, Design Observer, Emigre magazine, and author of many bright things including No More Rules, is speaking at the ICA.

AIGA members get special discounts... Want to get me a ticket John?

I'm off to Barcelona...

These folks (who Beth introduced me to) as well as Camper = I will move to Barcelona



I think they might be a bigger band than Bang Camero, but I am sure they put on just as hopping of a show... I'm from Barcelona

simple

I came across a few sites today that I wanted to share. I am sure all you artsy fartsy people have seem them, but in case you haven't take a sec to peek.



It's a cute little site. Very simple. Check it out. oneword

THINKblog

some heavy duty "marketing" reading. The devil may be in the details, by the soul is in the strategy....
THINKblog

happy and optimistic

Neuroscience proves that Ann is a smartypants!

Creating Passionate Users Blog

I guess we "made it"

Run to your local mall to pick up some Guitar Hero 2 shirts that somebody, somewhere designed for some reason. Don't worry, they're available both in slim fit, and 2XL sizes.

My Other Favorite Blog

My best friend (and wife) Nikole Torres has started a blog focused on uncovering cool/well designed things for parents and their kids.

She's only been doing it for about a week but she seriously has blogging fever and already has a bunch of great things on there. Including a diaper bag from our very own Ann Karash and the cutest little hat by Beth Carron.



www.nikolet.com

Ambient Lover's Cups

Check out these cool cups our friends at MIT are working on.



LED's on the matching cup light up when either person is drinking.

Did you ever wonder where your Levis come from

Did you ever wonder what a 20 hour shift at a factory feels like? Well apparently you need clothes pins on your eyelids to stay awake - China Blues is playing at the MFA this wednesday at 8:30. I am intruged an ready to be horrified. Anyone care to join me?

Helvetica : the movie

update!!

April 11
MassArt Eventworks, Boston MA, USA
Student exhibit, Q&A with director and designers.

who wants to go? I might get tickets this week!

happy panda day

and because I forgot to mention it on "mitch is awesome" day... happy belated!

our birthday beth!

RED/WHITE

the first draft...



with plans for post-production...

steven and I caught the few moments of sunshine this morning, and did some red/white theme filming on the way home from breakfast. the basic idea here is red/white in the everyday, general city themes, little glimpses of color, and I hope that the tricks I can learn with post-production software will help me pop out a little more vibrancy.

anabelle

just in case you missed her...



{ update }

aaahhh ... what's the deal with this?

what's more annoying than when you are really excited to see something and you come across a bogus sign like this?

come on Chiquita's, it's already 03/07. what is the deal with that?

i have been trying to send some clients your way, and i have nothing to show them. how do you expect me to pimp my bitches?

kisses!

the first fragrance for technosexuals

introducting CK in2u : or how not to market to the blogging generation

from today's NYT Style section:

"Last year, [Calvin Klein, the company] went so far as to trademark “technosexual,” anticipating it could become a buzzword for marketing to millennials, the roughly 80 million Americans born from 1982 to 1995. A typical line from the press materials for CK in2u goes like this: “She likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on. It’s intense. For right now.” [yes, the last sentence might be my favorite part]

read the article

there is a website project that goes along with this campaign, and I am curious to see what they do with it (social networking, group participation, and they have started a shorts contest for film students...)

Oscar shorts at the ICA

Since the Oscar-nominated Shorts usually disappear into the ether (and as Boston gets few, if any festivals, except the Black Maria at the MFA), I was pretty excited to see that the ICA will be showing a shorts program this (and next) weekend...



Read more about them (thanks to the Daily Nebraskan!) here

{UPDATE}
I was pretty excited about the "remind me" feature with the ICA events listings... turns out, they don't work so well... Here is my reminder email below: there isn't even a mention of the event, the time, and the only indication of what it could be is from the reply address!

Guinness: A Short Film Called Hands

Guinness Hands

Very cool stop motion video ad for Guinness and a cute site too with a fun "build your own" section.

Pillow Fort

Mehmet Irdel and Seth Jablon, both of R/GA fame, have teamed up to form a design company with an emphasis on creatively rewarding projects, specifically record covers, logos and posters.

I'm sure these boys will be doing some very cool work.

The Pillow Fort site is still being developed but for now you can check out the Pillow Fort MySpace page to fill that hole in your heart.

Vintage Looking Soap Labels

Nikole made some great homemade soaps this past Christmas and I made some labels to go along with them. Unfortunately the labels never made it onto the soaps but that has less to with my laziness and more to do with the fact that they didn't need any help form me.

Nikole–maybe you can post some photos if you have them.

So why am I talking about this now? Well I've decided to try to post some I've made every week and I strongly encourage everyone else to to the same, whether it be a doodle, poem, flash script, typography, whatever just something creative you've done.



Let me know what you think.

By the way... we recently surpassed 200 posts!

the first 47th short...

Francis Ford Coppola is holding a contest: create a movie in a minute or less that represents the idea of "Wine for Everyday Life." Although my own favorite is the pink sparkling wine, I have a general idea on the "rosso" and "bianco" theme... and I am a sucker for the inspiration of a contest!

Anyone else interested?

Stranger Than Fiction Visual Effects

I recently watched "Stranger Than Fiction" (site by Big Spaceship) which was a pretty good movie, but what left a more lasting impression on me were the visual effects.

Diagrams where overlaid and worked into the pictures to illustrate what was happening in the story. The main character works for the IRS and has a very efficient technical mind and lives his life the same way. Although I don't think the visuals where essential to the storytelling they did help to enhance it and for me they where a great visual treat that I've been talking about for days.

The work was done by MK12, one of my favorite motion graphics studios and I can't stress enough how flawlessly they executed it. From the typography and design to the animation and camera matching (including great depth of field and masking effects).

Check out the clips of the intro and end credits below, or better yet, rent the movie.




Stranger Than Fiction Intro




Stranger Than Fiction Credits

Treehorn Tonight!