26.7.09

Yesterday we celebrated Jenna's dad's birthday by sending him off on his bike to parks all over town. I made the logo up there to adorn his shirt, and the sheets that each of us handed him at each park to tell him what to do and where to go. Amazingly the rain held off until the end. Good day.

Tomorrow is another event I did some design work for, the Jane Bond disc golf tournament (aka the best party of the year). There's something I hope we get good weather for. If the weather works out real good I'll be heading up there and camping out tonight. Can't wait!
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The other day I received an invitation to join this facebook group, protesting the new UW logo. I was expecting to click on it and see crap. What I saw was something I actually kind of liked. The other thing I saw was thousands of people up in arms about change.

A quick search for a group supporting the change has yeilded nothing, but, thankfully, one of my favourite blogs has posted some great insight on the matter. This paragraph in particular really summed up what I was thinking about it wayyy better than I ever could have:

"The main complaint throughout is that the new logo is not dignified enough and it does not represent the school. But somehow, a crest, like thousands of other crests — who the majority of people don’t know what they stand for anyway — does. Unfortunately this is antiquated thinking. Universities can not get by with traditional crests in today’s über branded environment and, if you look around, most large universities operate with a “marketing” logo and use a traditional seal for boring things like diplomas or the back covers of their catalogues."

And while he does admit that there are some problems with the logo, he also says this:

"But, in application this logo and its extended identity could be very interesting. However, this post and the controversy around it doesn’t have as much to do with whether the logo is good or bad — it’s neither really — but the propensity of students and faculty to cry foul with any change that has been carried out thoroughly by a range of committees. If they respect their university and its values they need to trust their leadership. Not whine about how 12-year-olds could do a better logo. Because they can’t.

Dear Waterloo-people-in-charge: Stick to your plan. Don’t succumb."

Straight up.
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Here's a cross merchandising idea for the TCRG: Rise n' Shiner coffee from the Minnesota Roller Girls. Real nice package design there. Makes me really want that coffee!
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I really hate how much shipping can be. I'd love to buy this print, but the shipping cost is only $1 less than the print itself (actually, you even get two for that price, which is really good for Obey stuff...).

For that matter, this poster, which I would also LOVE to have, combined with shipping puts the price high enough that I just straight up decided not to buy it. So sad.
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I guess that's it for now. Lots of stuff to do. New windows are supposed to go in tomorrow (sadly while I am away, so Jenna has to deal with it), and I've got a bunch of stuff to get ready for that before I leave (whenever that is...)

17.7.09

I believe I've said it before, but I have to say it again, you really should check out the Studio On Fire blog Beast Pieces. They're consistently doing super nice letterpress pieces and sharing them with the world.

Here're two I've been keeping unread in my reader to share with you:
Birds of Sadness poster
Shine flashlight (yet more self promotion that I'm loving...)

And an example of how they're just straight up bad-ass: Vintage beer can wall. The image above comes from this one. That would pretty overwhelming to stand in front of, I think.
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So it's been awhile since I've posted. Not much time to relax and compile stuff lately, lots of other things to do...
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This one's from a little while back on Deputy Dog: weird church ceiling. Seriously, why would someone do that?
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Does anybody want to give me $6000(us) so I can buy this? I've been thinking for awhile that at some point I'll want to move up to the MacBook Pro, but the problem is, none of them are black. Good thing these people solved that problem! Matte black, soft touch, limited edition of 10. Ridiculous. Amazing.
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Amazing promotional material for a library. Seriously. Nice stuff. (via draplin)
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This clock clock looks pretty amazing. Gonna have to look into how it works a little more, 'cause that second picture just looks nuts.
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You may or may not know that I'm a fan of vintage office supplies, particularly staplers. As a result, this Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies particularly appealed to me. Going to have to keep an eye on this one for gems like this colour wheel, and this lead pointer and lead cleaner. Nice stuff.
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Watched the movie of the 2003 edition of the Gumball 3000 last night. Envious of those cross country racers, for sure. I kept thinking, there's gotta be people who do this in regular cars and close to the speed limit, don't there? The $44,000 entry fee ($120,000 last year because they flew the cars to numerous locations) would clearly be a hindrance too, but still, a guy can dream, can't he? Here's hoping we'll be able to get another road trip in this fall like last fall. Maybe around Michigan?
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The best party of the year is almost here. Disc Golf is on the 27th, and I am so looking forward to two days of not thinking about doing any work at all. Stressful times for sure being a new home owner, and having lots of stuff at work (and getting asked last second to design disc golf materials...).

Funny thing about the new house? I was so excited about getting away from the Erb St. construction, and what happens today? They start ripping up our street. Yay.

3.7.09

almost...

Here are some pics I took of the aforementioned carnival. Such a weird thing. Love the tilt a whirl sign though. Love it.
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This stuff looks crazy. Seriously. That's some time and commitment. Impressed (via Drawn)
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I live in a house where multiple clocks are set to the wrong time to trick their owners into doing things on time, so I totally understand the idea behind this clock. Pretty clever. If you think the whole idea is clever. I just think it seriously improves your ability to do math while tired, but, you know, to each their own.
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Some people's self promotional stuff is so awesome, like this memory set right here. I would love a set of those!
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The tiger on the front of this book is just too adorable not to share. (not unlike Tony Jr., whom I had to link to here) Apparently I like images of baby tigers. Who knew?
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Finally, a little Beartato. While I have to say that Beartato's goals are extremely honourable and respectable, I can't say that I wouldn't share Reginald's.