Posts

2017 Calendars from Snow & Graham

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Such wonderful calendars from Snow & Graham , in Chicago. I'm in love with them. I wish I can get every single one. Snow & Graham offer a full range of paper novelties designed for modern communique. They honor tradition of surface design with a very contemporary sensibility, combining modern designs with supple papers and fine art letterpress printing.

Charlie Harper Art

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Charlie Harper is such an inspiration for me. I love his work! He was a Cincinnati-based American Modernist artist (August 4, 1922 – June 10, 2007), best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations. Living on a farm influenced his work to his last days. After much traveling, Charley Harper returned to the Art Academy of Cincinnati as a teacher and also worked for a commercial firm before working on his own. He and his wife worked out of their Roselawn and Finneytown homes, and later, with their only child Brett Harper, formed Harper Studios. He often created works for many nature-based organizations, among them the National Park Service; Cincinnati Zoo; Cincinnati Nature Center; Hamilton County (Ohio) Park District; and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. He also designed interpretive displays for Everglades National Park. He called his style "minimal realism", trying to capture the essence of his subjects with the fewest possible vi

Making money with Instagram?

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If you love instagram and have quite a few followers, 100,000 or more, you can apply here to work with The Mobile Media Lab , the marketing agency for Instagram and start making money. Given that they’re interested in working with the most influential Instagram users, there’s no guarantee you’ll be approved, but it's worth a try. Read this article for more information.

What is the Social Role of the Graphic Designer?

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Drawing and illustration is my passion, graphic design is my career. The role of graphic designer is confusing to some people. From explaining what I do to a friend or family to weather my role has any social influence is a hard task. Do I have a social role in society? Am I a just a neutral messenger of the company's message, am I influencing the client to make certain decisions? What exactly is the social role of a graphic designer in the world? I found this essay by Pierre Bernard , co-founder of Grapus and Atelier de Création Graphique, that discusses the social role of a graphic designer in depth. Keep in mind that Grapus was a group of idealist artists and graphic designers which were members of the Communists Party. No, I'm not endorsing the Communist idea, I'm just warning you that I'm aware of their political stand and some of the points he makes in the essay are valuable even in our capitalist consumerist world. Graphus disbanded in January 1991, splitting i

What is a brand?

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A BRAND is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization. It’s not what you say it is, it’s what they (customers) say it is. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you see a logo or a company name? “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” –Seth Godin Find out here what the World's Most Valuable Brands are. A ‘personal brand’ is your reputation. It refers to the way other people see you as a business owner or representative of an idea, organization, or activity. Are you a genius? An expert? Are you trustworthy? What do you represent? What do you stand for? What ideas and notions pop up as soon as someone hears your name? When you have a personal brand, people recognize and care about your name, what you’re working on, what you offer, and what you’re about. CHALLENGE: Think about your personal brand today.

Affordable standing desk

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I ran into an article two days ago, that was talking about this Oristand , the foldable standing desk for a whole $25. Wow, I wish I invented this, a few years ago, when I was doing corporate America and was stuck in a chair 8 hours a day. I can't wait to get mine. Why stand vs. sit, you ask? I did some research a few years ago, after reading about the negative side effects of sitting all day, trying to impress my boss and pitch a request to get standing desks. The pitch failed, because of the HR department at the company, wanted me to get a doctor's excuse to prove that I have some kind of health issues, in order for the department to order these expensive standing desk. Talk about non preventive healthcare. I have to go through old files and find all my research and will summarize it in another post a little later, because it may help you become a spokesperson for preventive healthcare, vs curative healthcare. I'm a big believer of preventive medicine, because growing

45 Life lessons

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HAPPY 2016! It's been a while since I posted, sometimes we just get busy with life, but today is my birthday, so I made time to contemplate on life, rather than just rush through it... and I wanted to share these life lessons that challenged me today. I won't lie, I'm a bit bummed out because I'm not getting any younger, but these are good tips on how to live moving forward. They are written by Regina Brett . Universal lessons that are relatable to anyone who needs a little reminder (including myself) of what's important in life. Enjoy! 1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good . 2. When in doubt, just take the next small step . 3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. 4. Don't take yourself so seriously . No one else does. 5. Pay off your credit cards every month. 6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree . 7. Cry with someone . It's more healing than crying alone. 8. Save for re