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:

images via

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. 

image via

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