Original Design Gangsta

Came across this today, and it might just be the funniest thing I've seen in quite some time:


I love how Pantone 187 runs through his veins.

Word of Mouth

I just received the new issue of How Magazine yesterday, and upon flipping through it, I found a poll: "Do you send out self-promotions around the holidays?" There were supporting quotes for both sides, but the one that really stuck with me was the last no answer. The person pretty much said something along these lines: "I'm embarrassed to admit that in the 12 years I've been doing this, I've never sent out any type of self-promotion. Almost all of my work has come from word of mouth."

And this is embarrassing, how?

Anytime I get business that has come from a past client, friend or colleague, it makes me almost giddy with pride. I feel that my name wouldn't get passed on if I didn't provide a stellar level of service (because I know I wouldn't pass on someone else's name if I didn't feel that way about them), so I must be doing something right--right? Every time I get a phone call, or email from someone who has gotten my name from one of my clients/friends/colleagues, I want to throw that person a party. I certainly am not embarrassed to admit that the majority of my business comes from word of mouth; and I hope that I can continue to boast that.

So thank you, thank you, thank you! to all those who feel that my services are worthy of passing on to someone else! And who knows... maybe one day I will throw a party; with the skills of all my many clients, it will definitely be diverse, if anything (and of course, fun... cause I am known to throw a bitchin' party).

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

Ahhh... just got back from a much-needed week off spent up in Cape Cod (contrary to the above photo, the majority of the week was sunny and beautiful. This was one of the few pics I had that didn't have one of my kids in it :). I spent the week relaxing, catching up on some reading, and getting inspired. I have some pretty cool projects that look like they may come my way, so I'm excited to channel some of my vacation-inspired creativity towards them.

Now, if only I could take a vacation every time I needed inspiration...

Bookmark this!

Mattio has this uncanny ability to find the weirdest, and the coolest websites. The other day he found a pro-breastfeeding Cafepress site selling t-shirts that say "Eat at Mom's." Completely random, yet hysterical. But he also came across a "mom" blog--basically an online community for mothers (something I've been thinking about doing for quite some time... if only there was another couple of hours in the day!), and also Mashup, a site who's slogan is "Social Networking News." Eh, not really something I'd check everyday, but...

The reason he pointed it out was because he found this post on it: Web Design Toolbox: 50+ Tools for Web Designs. Basically a list of different websites for developers and designers.

The first part of the list is basically cheap competition for me: DIY websites. Definitely not my cup of tea, as I'm a firm believer in "you get what you pay for." And if you're looking for a cheap, copycat site with an overused template, then by all means. But I'm a firm believer in individuality.

But the rest of the list, well... it's pretty freakin' cool. The developer side has links to pages that will create automatic rounded corners in CSS, or test your site in different browsers. But what really got me excited was the designer side: sites where you can create custom color palettes (brilliant!), links to sites with free icons and buttons, inspiration sites for web designers (which to me, are priceless). It's a pretty cool list to have stumbled upon.

Oh, and a quick softball update: Last week, my daughter's softball team won the state championship, beating West Hartford 3-2 in 7 innings. I am so proud of this team--it's a great group of girls and I'm glad mine was a part of it.

Digital plastic surgery

Awww... look at Faith Hill on the cover of Redbook Magazine:


She looks great, doesn't she? Of course she does, she has like, a bazillion dollars to hire only the best hair and makeup people, not to mention personal trainers, chefs, and the like.

Apparently Redbook isn't doing too poorly either; they must have beaucoup bucks to hire only the best Photoshop artists, for behold Faith Hill sans retouching:



The sad thing is, she looks kind of, well, her age for one (which a quick search says she'll be 40 this year). But she doesn't look that bad in this picture. Unfortunately, in today's society, crow's feet and flabby arms don't sell magazines--sad, but true.

I've always admired actresses like Kate Winslet, who--besides being my birthday twin--has sworn off any photo retouching when it comes to magazines. Because while we all might enjoy a little digital lipo (oh, come on, it's completely painless!), it's somewhat refreshing to see "real" women on the cover of magazines, flabby arms and all.

Years ago, I used to work for a trade publication, not only laying out the magazine, but coordinating files for the printer as well. I also had to, on occassion, sit with my boss and go over cover shots. Then I would watch as he took his red pen to the poor model:

"Get rid of all blemishes--birthmarks and beauty marks included."

"Whiten teeth and eyes."

"Smooth laugh lines..." and so forth. I always, always felt terrible looking at his remarks--especially since nearly all of the models we worked with were drop-dead gorgeous. Ever since then, I've always looked at magazine covers and model photoshoots with a grain of salt.

Ah, the power of Photoshop.

Time flies

I can't believe it's the middle of July already--where has the summer gone? Anyways, just a quick post to apologize for not keeping up with the posting... it's been a crazy couple of weeks; old projects, lots of exciting new projects (which I will keep you up to date on), and softball.

Yes, that's right softball. My oldest's team just last night won the District 2 chamionship! They have this weekend off, and then it's on to the regionals all next week. So I'm looking at another crazy week filled with old projects, new projects... and lots of softball. And I will enjoy every minute of it.

Go Fairfield!

This guy's my hero

I always have to give major props to a man who understands a woman's foot, and her obssessive quest for the perfect shoe. Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Kenneth Cole... and just today, I've added another name to the list: Michel Tcherevkoff.

Michel Tcherevkoff is a photographer (with a pretty impressive list of clients, if I do say so myself), who was shooting cosmetics one day, and was using flowers as props. He looked down at a leaf and saw a shoe:

“The print was lying upside down on a table,” he recounts, “and I said — although no one was listening to me — ‘Hey, that looks like a shoe!’”

(Seriously, how cool is this guy? I thought I was the only one who say shoes in every day objects!)

Long story short, he started building these shoes out of flowers--and obviously photographing them, tweaking in Photoshop along the way. The photographs are now staring in a book: Shoe-Fleur, out in September. The end result is absolutely amazing: exquisite photography, gorgeous subject matter.


Unfortunately, the book's website isn't up and running yet, but you can read the article--and view a small gallery--here. I definitely plan on checking out the book this fall, if the couple of photos in the gallery are any indication, it just may be love at first sight.

Rat-a-whoo-ey?

Back in 1995, I was a recent college grad with no kids. But when the movie Toy Story came out, a friend and I ran to go see it; we were both intrigued by the animation--which was (and still is, in my opinion) groundbreaking. With my new degree in graphic design, I was completely fascinated with how the animators at Pixar acheived the level of exquisite detail that they did. That, and the story was pretty cool, too.

Fast forward (gulp) 12 years and 2 kids later: today I took the girls to see Ratatouille, the latest Pixar creation. My kids wanted to see it for all the reasons any kid would want to. I, on the other hand, am still drawn to the animation. And yet again, Pixar never ceases to amaze. Truth be told, the story didn't look all that great (it wasn't really that bad, but I've seen better--and worse, for that matter), but the animation--it was incredible. There are times when you could swear you're looking at a photograph; it's just that real looking.

Last year I took my oldest to the Pixar installation at MoMA; again, utterly amazing. To see familiar characters as they started--as simple sketches--and the detail that goes into the development of not only the characters, but the "sets" themselves; it was so cool. The time, effort and energy that goes into creating these movies is evident in the quality of the animation itself, but to see how everything starts out is almost overwhelming.

After walking out of the museum, my daughter turned to me and said, "I want to work for Pixar."

Not a bad career choice, kid. Not bad at all.

Party time, excellent!

So last night Mattio and I trekked on up to Portland, CT, for the 32 Annual Connecticut Art Directors Club Awards Show: Design Ain't Pretty. I mentioned in an earlier post that the stationery I designed for Saturnia had won an award, so off we went to the show last night to collect the goods.

This was the first time for both of us, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. When we arrived, we checked in, mingled and ate. All the award-winning entries were on display, so we checked everything out, including the competition (when all was said and done, there were 6 awards of excellence and 2 silver awards for the stationery category). There was some really awesome--and inspiring--stuff all around.

When it came time for the stationery award, they announced there were 6 awards of excellence, then they ran down the list. It was incredibly nerve-racking. We ended up taking the last excellence award--not bad considering a) what I was up against; and b) it was my first year even entering.

When we left, they handed me my award:


The only thing I bummed about, was that I filled out all these forms to enter, and then more forms when I won, and they still did not get my information correct; for not only the display showcasing the stationery, but the evening's program as well. Somehow my company got mixed up with another, and another art director's name was added to my stationery:


Ah well, after all was said and done, it didn't ruin my night. I was in some pretty good company last night, the competition was fierce, not only for the stationery category, but for everything.

Congratulations to all the winners out there!

Home Improvement

Riding around town I can't help but notice all the home improvement going on: there's a sign on every other lawn advertising painting, driveway sealing, pools, landscaping... the list goes on and on. Obviously now is the time to do it; Connecticut's cold winters and unpredictable springs make it pretty impossible to, say, repave a driveway.

But what I have noticed in recent years is that all these home improvement signs... well, they suck. There's one that I saw just recently that stood out in particular:


Oh, Brothers Pool, how clever you are, using the 'L' in pool as the side and bottom of... a pool. The only thing is, when you're driving down the road at, say, 30 miles an hour, you're only given a window of about a couple of seconds to process what you're seeing. And the first time I saw a sign advertising a Brothers Pool, I did a double take--now, I know deep down the sign was for a pool company; and yes, I will admit to at times having a dirty mind, but that sign looked to me like it could have said Brothers Poo.

I know, I know, the water gives it away; of course it's a pool company, silly! But seriously, now every time I see one of their signs, I have a little Beavis and Butthead moment and think, "heh heh, Brothers Poo."

Now I'm sure that Brothers Pool puts together a fine product, but my first impression of their logo is ingrained in my head as Brothers Poo. And I'm pretty positive that is not what they were going after when they created their logo.

Other signs are not quite as drastic, but still pretty bad nonetheless--I'm all for using some kind of icon with your logo, but perhaps it doesn't need to be so obvious (yeah, I'm talking to you, builder with the 3D logo/house). After all, a lot of these services (pools notwithstanding) are for improving the looks and curb appeal of your home--why not improve your company's curb appeal as well, and create an identity that's easy to read, looks good, and doesn't make potential customers giggle like a bad 90's cartoon?

Muchos Gracias!

I am currently doing some freelance work for a small design firm, who just happen to be interviewing for a full time employee. While I was working in their offices last week, a package came. But not just any package, it was one of those Edible Arrangements. And it wasn't just any old Edible Arrangement, it was chocolate covered fruit. But it was almost mutant fruit--the strawberries were literally the size of small apples.

Sidebar/Edible Arrangements plug: if you are ever looking for a great edible gift, Edible Arrangements is the most delicious! Every time I have been on the receiving end, they never fail; the fruit is always beyond fresh and yummy, and the presentation is fantastic. Well worth the $$$!

But back to the story... so Edible Arrangements had been delivered--so what? Well, the person who sent it was one of the job candidates, who was sending it as a thank you! Holy cow!

My first immediate thought (besides how many strawberries can I get away with eating without looking like a pig), was, huh, I feel cheap. I haven't formally interviewed for a job in a very, very, very long time (with the exception of freelance gigs.. but somehow that feels different), and the last time I did, I can tell you that I did not send any type of food as a thank you.

So the bar has been raised. Or has it? Of course, everyone who worked at this firm joked that this person had just guarenteed themselves the job... but is sending an expensive basket of fruit really the way to seal the deal?

Food for thought... (heh heh heh)

Mini me

Last week, my 12 year old had a project for school that involved creating a postcard. She did this elaborate drawing/paper collage for the front of the postcard, but then kind of stopped when it came to the back. This might be a good time to mention that she is very computer savvy; she's pretty proficient in the Microsoft Office suite, knows what she's doing online, and even gets frustrated at her grandmother's dial-up service ("Mima, your internet is so slow! Why don't you just get a cable modem??!"

But back to her project. She kind of frowned at the postcard, and explained that she needed it to look like a postcard, but wasn't sure how to do that in Word. No problem, I reply, your mom's a graphic designer (at which point she just rolled her eyes)! I opened up Quark and showed her how to lay out a page to look like the back of a postcard. Then I opened up my font management program, and showed her how to open up different fonts. Then I went to do something in the next room.

When I came back, there was a couple of discarded printouts on the table. I asked what they were, and I kid you not, her answer was that she was unhappy with her font choice, and went into the font management program and played around with some other fonts. My heart melted a little.

Then just yesterday, she was working on another project, this time on Mattio's computer. She wasn't quite cursing, but she was definitely mumbling under her breath. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She then went on this rant about "Dad's fonts", and how he doesn't have a font management program and she was entirely unhappy with her font choices. I almost cried.

My little girl is becoming a font-addict, just like her mommy...

London Bridge is falling down

Have you seen the new logo for the 2012 London Olympics? No? Well, feast your eyes...


Wow, huh? It's a bit... Andy Warhol. Kind of... bright, and definitely... non-traditional. My first thought was, "ew!" Upon closer examination, my thoughts are still "ew!" but now with good reason: it doesn't say anything about London. I'm certainly not saying that you need an image of Big Ben, but I don't know... it looks a little more Depeche Mode circa 1981 (alright, so they're British) than London 2012.

The even bigger issue here is that the people in London hate it. Despise it. Have a petition out to redesign it. Even more outrageous? The price that was paid to the firm Wolff Olins to design it: £400,000 (about--GULP--$797,120 American dollars. Ummm... note to the Olympic committee: I'm available).

But the funniest part of all of this is the Daily Mail has a contest going to see if regular Joes can design a better logo. Guess what? They can't. Actually, I'm reminded of that hilarious scene in European Vacation, when Chevy Chase can't get out of the traffic loop, so the family is stuck driving in a continuous circle all day: "Look kids, there's Big Ben."

And the Millenium Wheel. Oh, and look, there's the Tube. I realize that these are not graphic designers (The Mail actually brags about the amount of time spent on these logos: not much. Hey Daily Mail: no kidding!), but these designs aren't much better than the original. There are a few (using the term "few" loosely here) that stand out a little more than the rest, but nothing to write home about.

The final nail in the coffin is that there was a commercial produced introducing the logo. The logo moves in the video. The bright pink and yellow logo moves in the video. Calling all epileptics: don't watch this video! That's right, the logo is inducing epileptic seizures.

Seriously, Olympic Committee: Call me.

And the winner is...

Me!

It's design awards season, and I'm not shy about entering my work. After all, I work really hard at what I do, ensuring that each of my clients is getting a quality piece--print or web.

So I'm thrilled to announce that the Saturnia stationery (check it out in my portfolio) I designed is a winning entry in the Connecticut Art Directors Club 2007 "Design Ain't Pretty" Awards. I didn't enter a lot in this contest (unfortunately, these things add up to be quite expensive), but I'm really happy with the way the whole logo/stationery system/website came out and I couldn't be happier that it was recognized by a jury of my peers.

In related news, the Saturnia website is getting ready to launch soon. You can view the temp page here, but don't worry, once the site goes live I promise to let you all know.

Happy Friday everyone! I, for one, know that I'll be celebrating this weekend!

Hel-effing-vetica

As I'm sure many designers do, I have a love/hate relationship with Helvetica. It's a gorgeous font--that's completely overused. Every time I think about using it, even if it's the perfect font, I feel a little lazy. It's so easy to use Helvetica, because as I stated above, it's a great font--so like a good pair of diamond studs, it goes great with just about anything. But when I do end up using it, I feel like I could be trying a little harder. What happens is a vicious font circle: I try about 200 other fonts, only to go back to helvetica.

So I came across this article on helvetica over the weekend. It's a pretty breezy read; actually, it's a 10-slide slideshow. A little background on the font, how it's used for logos and marketing (lots of big name companies in there: Target, American Airlines, the NYC Subway...), and some comparisons to Helvetica knock-offs (yes, I'm talking about you, Arial and Verdana). And because I'm the font lover that I am, I thought I'd share.

In related news, Mattio found this (not exactly G-rated) t-shirt a while back. He went to order it for me, but they were sold out. Unfortunately, they've yet to make more, but man, these are my sentiments exactly. Even if my house is G-rated, and I can only wear it to bed, how awesome is this shirt? :)

Our lips are sealed

So I was just flipping through InStyle magazine, when I noticed a trend in some of the advertising: lips. But not just plain lips, these are heavily glossed, sexy lips, biting various objects. "Come hither" lips. Seriously, these are some sexy lips. In the first third of the magazine, there are no fewer than 4 ads featuring... lips.

Max Factor has 2 full page ads ina row depicting said glossed lips biting a gold necklace in one, and a piece of rock candy in the other. Nowhere in the ad does it mention Max Factor, instead, there's a website: areyounaughtyornice.com. The next ad, a good 15 pages away, is again selling make up; this time it's Chanel lip gloss, and the lips in question are biting a pearl on a gold necklace. Revlon has a pair of lips another 15 or so pages in, but this time there's a face that goes along with them, and they're not as heavily glossed. The last pair of lips are located in an ad for Midori on page 163; again, these have a face attached, but they are still heavily glossed, sexy lips nonetheless.

Maybe it's my hormones... who knows? I also noticed a ton of ads of diamonds. Hmmm... lips and diamonds; somewhere out there is a psychologist that would have a field day with that one.

John Mayer's plan to save the world! (Or just clean it up a bit)

I have to admit, I have somewhat of a crush on John Mayer. He's a talented singer-songwriter, and (I think) a pretty engaging blogger. Oh, and he hails from Fairfield--nothing wrong with that! So every once in a while, I'll check up on his blog.

A couple of weeks ago, he started blogging about going what he called "light green:" rather than everyone going out and buying a Prius, and wearing clothes made of hemp, and adding solar panels to their houses, and taking environmentalism to the complete extreme; he suggested baby steps. Essentially, pick one thing about your life that you can change, and start there. He even offered the John Mayer-designed "introduction of products that are cheap, easy alternatives to cut down on plastics." Brilliant--I'm always glad to see a celebrity lend themselves to a great cause.

Well just the other day I checked in with John again; and there he was blogging about his "light green" theory (the term light green, as it turns out, was kind of... used. So he picked a song title instead, Another Kind of Green, from the John Mayer Trio album). What struck me as cool--as a designer--is this guy is already thinking about logos; he's got a couple of pictures of sketches. We even have the same taste, I immediately gravitated towards the one he likes, before reading that he liked it.

I'll be checking in more often to find out what else John has up his sleeve; as I said above, I'm happy to see a celebrity lend his/her name to a great cause; to have this kind of follow through is amazing. In the meantime, I'm going to do my part and take baby steps... we're pretty good about recycling around here, maybe I'll get a little more diligent about bringing my canvas bags to the grocery store, instead of taking the bags they offer. And I really hope that anybody out there reading this can offer to do the same: find one thing about your life that can be changed to help the environment, and stick to it!

Happy Mothers Day!

Just wanted to take a moment to salute all the moms (and moms-to-be) out there celebrating today... May your day be filled with love and happiness... and not too much housework! Happy Mothers Day!

Embrace your inner nerd

I read this on Graphic Design: USA's May newsletter, and it made me giggle:

Avant-Nerdism is gaining steam and will hit the mainstream in 2009. "Avantnerdiwhat?" you say. Zandl Group researchers, the ultimate trendspotters, define the term as "a stylish, cool or social person who engages in nerd culture; especially one who purposely embraces nerdish qualities with full awareness of the irony and/or symbolism of their action." Irma Zandl says this is the new creative class, with a "compact, eco-friendly, quirk and smart" aesthetic. Avant-Nerdism taps into retro style and reflects a more European sensibility. Avant-Nerds are highly social; they merge a participatory DIY mentality with nerdy interests to make art, music and happenings/events. They ironically re-appropriate nerd culture, transforming the formerly nerdy into Avant-Nerdism. The aesthetic is influencing fashion, industrial design and interior design. Instances include the geek band Weezer, The O.C.'s Seth Cohen, and the rise of Spelling Bees and Wii and Cheese parties at hip bars and locales.

But then I started thinking of all the hipsters out there, the ones that are defining music, clothing, and culture in general, and it makes sense. Today's nerds aren't just smart programmers, they're programmers who listen to Arcade Fire while wearing slogan tees and cords, skateboarding to work. They've traded pocket protectors for trucker hats, super-scientific calculators for Wii.

So while I certainly don't recommend trading in your car for a skateboard, try embracing your inner nerd. You never know what cool thing you might discover.

Gotta love that research!

Wow. It's been a while since my last post. My apologies for the long lapse of time... last week I was sick with a nasty head cold/fever, and unfortunately I was stuck in bed for a few days. Then I spent most of the end of the week playing catch up... It's been crazy.

But now I'm feeling much, much better; the sun is out, it's a cool 70 degrees, and (with the exception of last week) spring is treating me well.

As many of you know, I've been working on a site for a clothing boutique down in Greenwich. It's been a lot of fun, especially the research part, as I get to go to all kinds of trendy, upscale sites (Barney's, anyone?). Too add to my joy, just last week I started working on a site for a similar store in Westport. More research--woo hoo! The downside to all this virtual window shopping is that it's just that: window shopping. As much as I'd love to drop over $200 for the perfect pair of jeans... that's just not in the cards right now.

Oh well, when Mattio sees a $300 shirt on my screen, at least I can say it's all in the name of research. Too bad I'm not doing any work for any shoe stores...