Edward Gorey

Just in time for Halloween, here's a writer and illustrator who really gets the grim and dark. Edward Gorey is an award-winning author of incredibly playful storybooks in the style known as "macabre."

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Gorey calls his work "literary nonsense," much like Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. He is gothic, but quirky; whimsical, but unsettling. He pairs youthfully elegant drawings with bizarre and horrifying story lines: death of children, infestations of creepy critters, etc.

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According to Gorey, he dabbles in the dismal because, "If you're doing nonsense it has to be rather awful, because there'd be no point. I'm trying to think if there's sunny nonsense. Sunny, funny nonsense for children — oh, how boring, boring, boring. As Schubert said, there is no happy music. And that's true, there really isn't. And there's probably no happy nonsense, either."

"The Gashlycrumb Tinies" is one of my favorites. It's so twistedly fabulous.

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If this peaked your "perverted" interest, "The Object Lesson" is also delightful.

Nicole's Classes

One of my favorite modern-day photographers is Nicole Gerulat. She shoots for the likes of Real Simple Magazine, Southern Living, Kiwi Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, drop-in-a-ton-of-other-really-major-magazine-names-here. See more of her work here.

She has a killer creative team and together, they offer incredibly affordable online classes in everything from Photography to Design. They also maintain a blog where they post great (and free!) tutorials!

(Excuse all the links. This is my last one, I promise!)

Go here to check out their amazing Illustrator tutorials that are sure to get the creative juices flow. Whether you're just testing the waters or have been drinking the Kool-aid for years, this site is not only a great freebie, it's also a perfect use of social media as an effective marketing tool.

Make the logo bigger

Since 2006, I've worked as both an in-house and/or freelance designer for a variety of companies. No matter what they sell, they all have one thing in common. Images, headlines, body copy, you name it...they want it bigger. 

We know that professionalism comes in small packages, but for some reason, civilians need glasses to read anything that's not 12 point Times New Roman.

Making the logo bigger also makes my neck itch. Apparently, I'm not the only one because some very frustrated designer's wrote this clever little ditty that'll bang around in your head all day.
Do yourself a favor, Google "make the logo bigger," and watch a bountiful of really funny stuff spring forth. The image results are particularly rewarding.

The Real Bears

I saw this video recently and loved it immediately. The juxtaposition of a lighthearted song and cute illustrations with a very serious message is at once intersting and horrifying. It is very effective! I'm a huge activist against drinking your calories, so I hope you'll enjoy. And then go pour out your Coke.

 

Pass it on

In college, I took advertising from the former creative director of Ogilvy & Mather. No joke. It. Was. Awesome.

Our professor had friends in the business. So, not only did we get to do very cool projects, we got to do them for real clients.

One of the campaigns we worked on was for The Foundation for a Better Life. Maybe you've see the "Pass it on" campaign? Billboards on the highways? Television spots? Perhaps a little radio?

The billboards are the most recognizable media from the campaign. They feature famous and infamous people with very creative headlines and a value that the person emulates.

Here's several of my favorite examples:

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The television spots are a little too cheesy for my tastes, but you can see the whole campaign here.

Our assignment was to try our hand at creating our own billboard, magazine ad, television or radio spot for a younger audience. 

I recall one campaign in particular where the creator used Napoleon Dynamite and the value of "Friendship." Her billboard showed Napoleon dancing at Pedro's campaign with the headline "Danced his friend into a presidency." I loved it!

If I could even find mine, I'm sure it would be too foul to sully up this blog with. But I was fun to be a part of such a positive campaign, even for a semester.

When I was thinking about "calls to action" for our current social campaign project, I thought of this campaign and it's strong call to "pass it on." It's not the typical "Donate" or "Vote," but it is just as powerful.

Project Three

For project three, we were commissioned to design four Christmas holiday cards around a common theme. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! This project took me WAY more time than I anticipated, mostly due to printing. Note to self: invest in an Epson immediately. I pushed myself to draw my own art in this project, and I think my hard work paid off. Have a look!

Helvetica vs. Arial

My favorite app is Helvetica vs. Arial. The app was created entirely to waste your time while you guess which typeface is used in a given sample.

The icon, just hanging out on my screen...taunting me to open it.

The opening screen. 

If you choose, "Instructions & Hints," you get...instructions. And hints!

The instructions tell you how to play this SUPER difficult game (*sarcasm*). Press "Done" and you're back at the opening screen where you can choose "New Game." And here we go!

You'll be given examples. Choose Helvetica or Arial in mere seconds. 

You either get it right,

and get another chance. Or get it wrong, 

and lose a life.

If you're awesome, this could go on all day. But most likely you aren't and the game will be over soon. Boo-hoo.

But wait! You might make the highscores list! 

That's it! Super useless fun! Download it for free...if you've got a decade to burn. 

Related, I saw this amazing sign in Annapolis earlier this year. I'm still laughing.

Venn

My lunch crew was talking about venn diagrams and how much we love them. I know, I know; we're all a bunch of nerds. Then, I heard mention of venns on the ever-fabulous Modern Family. So when I came across this awesome diagram yesterday, it was a no-brainer that I'd post it. 

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Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me something? "Use a venn diagram for your social campaign."  Hmmmmm.

Project Two

Project two is complete! For this assignment, we concepted, wrote, designed, and produced a "How To" booklet on a process of our choice. I created a booklet entitled "How Not to Trim Your Own Bangs." Sadly, this process was based on real life; I've yet to succeed with the bang trim. But I did succeed in the assignment. Here's my finished draft.

We can do it!

The greatest call to action in the history of calls to action is, of course, Uncle Sam's plea.

But the second greatest call to action is ole Rosie the Riveter.

What 19-year-old freshman co-ed didn't have this poster plaster to their dorm room wall?

She came to life during World War II inside Westinghouse Electric as a motivational poster to boost the morale among female workers. Oddly enough, Rosie didn't become the icon she was today until the 1980s, when she was revived to became the face of the feminist movement.

Many assumed that the fierce cry of "We can do it!" was meant to inspire women to join the war effort. "Look at Rosie," the poster seems to say. "If she can do it, so can you."

She's beautiful with her coiffed hair, spider lashes, and painted lips. But she's also wearing a menswear shirt, showing off her guns, and has her jaw set. Rosie has it all and shows that women can be feminine and feminists. Dammit, we can have it all!

However, during the war, Rosie never strayed from the Westinghouse factories and even then, she only hung around during February of 1943. According to Westinghouse, the poster was not meant for recruitment at all. It was meant to encourage the already blossoming women work force to work harder. 

No matter her intended purpose, feminists and pop culture have seized Rosie's strength and confidence to make a simple call to action: do what you want to do and be what you want to be.

It certainly works for me!

Ummmmmm.......

I stumbled across this great article on, get this, Thesaurus.com. I thought it appropriate to post, in light of our class discussion last week (or was it the week before?),

Six words that can ruin your sentence
Full article here. 

1) Actually
Yes, I actually agree with this one.  

2) Literally
This word is literally the worst.

3) Basically
We use this basically to add finality to sentences that shouldn't be final. 

4) Honestly
I'm honestly not sure why this word is on the list.

5) Like
But, like, I totally get this one. 

6) Obviously
We use this word for things that aren't so obvious, obviously.  

Though I use it myself, I would add "um" to this list. What words would you add?

4 Bookmark-able Websites

1) AdGoodness
I'm a sucker for good advertising. The creator of this website is too, apparently. Here, Frederik Samuel posts all the good, the bad, and sometimes, the ugly that the advertising world has to offer. Some folks are just so darn creative. A great place to get inspired.

2) GoMediaZine
Not only is this site an example of darn good web design, it's a super valuable resource. It was actually started and is maintained by a creative agency effectively using social media, but don't let that deter you. You'll find poignant insights, helpful tutorials, and great downloads.

3) Smashing Magazine
I had to include Smashing Magazine...in case you've been living under a rock for the last, oh, six years. Smashing is THE hub for all things going on in and around the design world. They throw designers a bone time and time again, and that's what keeps me going back. Apply liberally. Use often.

4) Graphic Design Blender
A classmate of mine from undergrad writes and maintains the ever-amazing Graphic Design Blender. The content is really the key to his success, but the clean and orderly design doesn't hurt. The information on his site is geared toward freelance designers and I've found much to appreciate about the well-written articles. Bookmark this one, for sure!

Project One

My first design project of graduate school is DONE! Whew!

The task was to write a 250-350 word description of a food ingredient. The piece would appear in a magazine of my choice. I also had to choose two other pieces of information and, using appropriate graphics, create a layout for the magazine.

This is my first draft.

Initially, I was pleased with my first draft. However, several issues were pointed out during my critique.

First, my hierarchy was off and the eye of the viewer was lead first to the main image, next to the illustrations, then to the granola snack...and right on off the page. I was also reminded that my design and imagery didn't mimic Real Simple, the magazine I had chosen. Finally, my copy was not distinctive enough and instead, became a "pattern."

Throughout this week, I rearranged, hacked, and rearranged some more. It was difficult to cut ties with my first design and I certainly had to do some "killing of my babies." But I think my final design is much more reflective of Real Simple. Additionally, I believe I created a clear path for the eye to travel.

Great project! Glad it's over! Now, onto designing a "How To" booklet!

Forget Pantone

Pantone makes a FORTUNE each year by mixing up brilliant colors and pairing them in even better combinations. And that's terrific! We look to Pantone for a perfect match when it matters. Plus, they shape our seasonal palettes.

Have you ever noticed the price tag associated with the Pantone name? Ouch. Sometimes, you just want to stick it to the man, you know? And that's where one of my favorite websites, COLOURlovers.com, comes into the mix...pun intended.

COLOURlovers is a creative community where people from around the world create and share, colors, palettes, and patterns, discuss the latest trends and explore colorful articles... All in the spirit of love. Yep. Pulled that straight from their website.

You can search through beautiful palettes,

check out amazing patterns,

 and just plain get inspired.

Try it out and see what you think...in all that copious amounts of free time you have ;) 

Choose your words wisely

Just a few of my favorite words.