Thankful

I am thankful that I don't design logos like this:



On the flipside, I would like to get that paycheck, cause I'm willing to bet it's more than what I make in a year. But still.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Leaves!

Because it's November 20, and my windows are open...

Because fall is the most awesomest season. Ever. Don't even try and argue...

Because if this Abstract City post doesn't get your creative juices flowing, well... I don't know what to tell you.

Things that don't suck--they blow!

Now that I am with iPhone, I pay special attention to all the cool apps you can get (As does my husband, although for very different reasons: "ANOTHER iTunes purchase??!"). NYTimes app? Love it. Starbucks app? Check. iShoes app? Hello, have you met me??

But today I stumbled upon Blower, an application that, well, blows. From mashable:

We know how hard it is: birthday after birthday, those stubborn candles aren’t extinguishing themselves, and your poor lungs aren’t getting any younger.

Help comes in the form of an iPhone application called Blower which actually moves air through the speakers of your iPhone (strictly speaking, the same thing happens when you play music through those speakers, but let’s not be too harsh on the novelty part of the application).

Hunh. Alright, I'll admit, you can really wow your friends and family with this one: "Look what my phone can do!" But seriously folks, watch the video. There's no way I am putting my precious phone that close to flame. No way. I'll blow out my birthday candles the old fashioned way, thank you very much.

More shoes!

Sometimes all you need is a statement shoe. Tory Burch, truer words have never been spoken.

Did somebody say shoe font?

I'm not too sure why they just didn't call this font "Tracie."

Duhn duhn duhn (Cue ominous Friday the 13th music)

It's Friday the 13th.

Normally, I'm not one for superstitions (although, you certainly won't catch me breaking a mirror on purpose. And once I had to technically shoplift an umbrella so I didn't have to open it inside--I worked in visual merchandising [which is a fancy term for dressing mannequins], and I was working on a display that needed umbrellas. Rather than open one up in the store, I took the umbrella--technically unpaid for--and opened it outside).

Where was I? Oh right. Yeah, I guess you could say I'm just a wee superstitious. Because let's face it: lots of bad things could happen on Friday the 13th.

So what better way to celebrate this ominous day (does one celebrate Friday the 13th? Or does one merely observe it?) than with a bad logo? Behold, the new Photoshop logo, my friends (which, according to the 2007 time stamp on Brand New's post, isn't really so new after all--serves me right for not upgrading to CS4):



Hunh. Apparently the criteria for designing the new logo was to use all kinds of Photoshop filters. Filters that have many great uses... logo design NOT being one of them. Musings about Adobe's Older PS logos, from Brand New:

What was beautiful about it, was its almost fascist execution where nothing strayed too far and, as well, rarely overlapped. Even with the addition of the Macromedia product line, Adobe found a way to render everything under a single visual umbrella that on the surface may look simplistic, but I dare anyone to attempt tie the complex brand architecture with a prettier, simpler, broader design.

It's pretty unfortunate that the graphics program standard for so many people is represented by... this.

Says Adobe:

To represent this rich family of products, Adobe is introducing the Photoshop visual logo. This logo will soon appear in all Photoshop-related marketing, so keep an eye out for it. The Photoshop logo on a product, service, or technology, represents the rich legacy, technical quality, and attention to detail that has made Photoshop the gold standard in digital imaging.

Or, as The Dude might say, "It really ties the room together."

OhNoTheyDin't just quote The Dude!

Tragic, tragic misuse of Photoshop, logos, filters, and Big Lebowski quotes.

In other words, the perfect Friday the 13th post.

New work (plus a small Twitter story)

So this past summer, I went to my first Tweet Up--that's a Twitter Meet Up for those not in the know--in New Haven (they're actually held all around the state; since then I've been to Tweet Ups in Fairfield and Hartford as well). While I was there, I met Ed Kuryluk, who just happens to live up the road from me. Ed runs Hey Fairfield, a site where users can discuss issues that pertain to Fairfield. I thought the idea was great (I had been on the site prior to meeting Ed), however it was really lacking in the brand department. Enter traciedesigns.

I wanted to get my hands on this project because A) it seemed really cool. B) Ed seemed like a pretty cool guy. And C) There was no logo--I could start from scratch.

And start from scratch is just what I did. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the new Hey Fairfield:



And, I know I'm all pro-Twitter, but come on, people! This is what Twitter is doing: it's bringing together people who otherwise might not ever meet, and creating relationships. Ed and I converse fairly regularly on Twitter now, we've been to other Tweet Ups, and met even more people, and are building those relationships as well.

Yay, Twitter! And yay, Hey Fairfield!

Birthday baby

My youngest is 2 today--I can't even wrap my head around that. Time flies when you're having fun.

Happy birthday, my sweet baby girl.

Can you hear me now?

This Sunday, I'm proud to announce, the traciedesigns phone fail is no more. That's right, new phones were procured by the entire Valentino clan, including (drumroll, please) an iPhone for yours truly.

First of all, how on earth have I lived this long without this device? Seriously, I was never a hater, but this thing does everything short of making dinner for you (and I'm sure someone is hard at work on an app for that).

Let me tell you that this phone all but paid for itself within the first few hours of ownership: a glowstick app (break the glowstick, then shake the phone to make it light up) completely amused 2 very cranky children to no end. Thank you, iPhone.

Oh, and the fact that it makes phone calls--the fact that we actually HAVE service in the house--is the icing on the cake.

This is definitely one party I'm sorry I was fashionably late to.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yeah, that's right, I posted this from the phone. Cause these days? That's how I roll.