05/20
HOW TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE So I was browsing the most recent Instructables — an imaginative blog where the community shows you how to get your hands dirty making stuff –  and came across some interesting do-it-yourself projects including: how to make an ipod speaker out of a Hallmark music card; how to make a web-controlled surveillance camera; and how […]
05/20
CREATIVE ADVICE Look both ways before crossing the road, don’t eat yellow snow, and always vote democrat. These were the sage words of wisdom that I grew up with. This project from Advice to Sink in Slowly asks designers to take what they’ve learned and not only pass it on but do so in the form of a […]
05/20
DESIGN FOR GOOD At the BDA awards last year Bill Clinton was the unlikely keynote speaker — what does he have to say about broadcast design and promotions? But his talk was great. In contrast to what the rest of the BDAs are about Clinton’s message emphasized that it’s part of our creative responsibility to bring whatever branding […]
05/19
WORDS ARE PICTURES My appreciation of good type continues. Really you could throw me in the middle of nowhere with a tent, an unending supply of mac+cheese, great typography books and some dental floss. The title of Craig Ward’s portfolio site says it all, Words Are Pictures.  His work is communicative art, it’s super creative and beautiful. Both his […]
05/18
SWEET MOVING GIFS In search of some motion inspiration + reference I swung by EyeballNYC’s site to see some of their latest projects. Oh I found motion alright, but not really the kind I was originally seeking. I got sucked briefly into their blog where they mentioned a creative moving gif site, claiming it was better than YouTube. […]
05/18
SONGS FOR SUNDAY It’s rainy and gray. A day like this requires the following (in no particular order): book, coffee, + music. On this end the book is “The New Kings”, the coffee is in a bottomless cup, the music is: 1) Luscious Life by Patrick Watson 2) Have You Seen In Your Dreams by Miracle Fortress and one from […]
05/17
THE NEIGHBO(U)RHOOD Bill Douglas’ exhibit for the Contact Festival in Toronto was a great find. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the fluoride in toothpaste, the seasoning packets in ramen noodles, the star power in guitar hero. Yeah, I liked the work. For “the neighbo(u)rhood”, Douglas combined photographs as well as found images, pencil, and lots of tape. […]
05/16
WHO’S LOOKING IN YOUR WINDOW? Well, that’s technically not the question that photographer Gail Albert Halaban is asking, rather she wants to know: do you have a great view into somebody else’s window and would you like to meet them? This is actually a great idea for a project, how many times in offices or apartment buildings do you […]
05/16
DON’T LOOK NOW, YOUR HEAD IS A VESPA Canadian Dan Bergeron (fauxreel) made it onto cpluv a few days ago, but it’s more than just nationalistic pride that I’m throwing him into the sandwich mix. He did a really cute campaign for Vespa; he created 324 7-ft-tall squareheads, letting loose a real Vespa wheatpaste gang across 5 Canadian cities. They’re not only […]
05/16
MANNEQUIN-OFF 2 (MAYBE THE ONLY SEQUEL BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL) In the first Mannequin-off of 2008, the battle of two great cities and their mannequins, Toronto pulled ahead with a creepy wo-mannequin from a chevy dealer. In this edition, the theme seems to be mannequins in evening gowns. Toronto had a strong showing with a saucy lady in a red gown poised to do the […]
05/16
NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY I love the linkages I get from superstar AD + design astrologer Christina Black; we share two loves, great pictures and awesome type. Basically if there was a way to get paid doing it, we could look at photo series all day every day. This was one of those links, J Bennett’s stylized photography is […]
05/15
THE SUBURBS After a meeting in the morning I ended up trekking out to the suburbs for a full day excursion; I packed food and water, the complete strip mall survival kit. I know the burbs get a bad rap but I actually find them strangely fascinating and I definitely envy their back yard acreage. One day […]
05/14
3,408 PHOTOS OF JEFF An email from fabulous Canadian Clint Roenisch sent me to the site of Jeff Harris, photo editor of Toronto Life Magazine. Ever since 2000, Harris has posted a photo of himself every day; but there’s a catch, he doesn’t actually take the photos himself. His media press pass has given him access to some interesting people; […]
05/14
FASHION REPORTAGE Friend photographer + ex Brooklyn neighbor, Krisanne Johnson just had some amazing photographs come out in this month’s Fader magazine. Unlike a stereotypical fashion essay, this one feels very much like a documentary shoot, probably because that’s how it was set up. Krisanne and stylist, Mobolaji Dawodu, went to Atlanta with some high-end clothing and a […]
05/14
FUN WITH CUPS — THE SEQUEL So I became THAT girl over the weekend…the one that shows up to parties with nose cups in her purse and a camera in the back pocket. As promised in the prequel, Fun with Cups, it was time to take the paper chalices out into the real world. It turns out that alcohol + nose cups […]
05/14
WHO DOESN’T LIKE BUTTONS? The collective labor of luv, TEN:15, is still going. And of course the next logical step is buttons. In any case it has given, designers and furry friends, Vince Diga + Michael Surtees a reason to design within a circle. We’re hoping to make several packages with different designers, this is the first, the surtees/diga series. […]
05/12
THE WORLD IS HIS CANVAS Like Cher, Madonna + Sinbad, this street graffiti artist from Italy is known only as Blu. His stylized illustrations can be seen on posters and billboards, on one hand they’re simple and whimsical, but they also have a dark and surreal quality to them. But his most recent short film, an “ambiguous animation” called MUTO, is […]
05/12
WHAT WOULD FACEBOOK LOOK LIKE IN REAL LIFE In all honesty I’m not quite sure how I feel about Facebook. It’s this random space that allows for hours of procrastinative passive stalking: suddenly you know that someone has bought a new car and that their sister is visiting from Texas, but when you actually see them in real life you have to ask […]
05/11
ITKOFF HAS ‘IT’…(’IT’ BEING GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY) I recently got contacted about possibly working on a project with Daylight Magazine, a publication that believes in the power of documentary photography and multimedia as a tool for change. It’s a great idea and they profile some interesting stories; I look forward to using my design for good. One of the editors/cofounders is Michael Itkoff, […]
05/11
THE OSX DESKTOP MAKES IT’S MUSIC VIDEO DEBUT A lot of people use their computers to make short films and videos, filmmaker Dennis Liu took that to a literal level and used his actual computer as a stage to make this music video for the song “Again and Again” by The Birds and the Bees. Although it’s not the official video, it […]
05/10
“MY FACE” In an online world where template designs are becoming the norm in terms of showing portfolio work, it’s nice to see a site that has as much personality in the design and concept as the work itself. After looking at Sun-han Kwon’s online design site, Guraphic Design: My Face 2008, it almost doesn’t matter what the […]
05/09
A GRAPHIC INTERVIEW I actually came across this via friend blogger, avid airplane-model-maker, Jeremy Elder, who writes his eloquent posts on shapeandcolour.wordpress.com (I still think having a silent ‘u’ in the word color is like keeping your tonsils, but we’re still friends). The Denver Egotist is quite the pearl, their goal is to prove that Denver doesn’t creatively […]
05/09
SOME FOOD FOR THE EYES + BRAIN Peele Lemos, (interesting fact, his name reminds me of “peeling lemons”), is a brilliant designer/art director from Brazil. Again one of the things I especially love about the project TEN:15 is that it has introduced some really cool talent + portfolios. Lasting friendships, great images + a sense of balance in the world. Well, it’s […]
05/08
FUN WITH CUPS You know that feeling you get when it’s been raining for several days and you haven’t left the apartment with enough regularity, you’re bored, and suddenly you’re dressed in a clown suit eating cool whip straight from the can? Well this was one of those days and we had a camera + paper cups which […]
05/07
A POPUP BOOK FOR DESIGNERS ABCD3 by Marion Bataille is probably one of the few books in existence that has it’s own YouTube video to show it in action. It’s a popup book focused completely around the letters of the alphabet. Yep, my name is Jody and I’m a typaholic. But it’s cute and would probably be the ideal coffee […]
05/06
GO SEE IRON MAN [for both movie + motion design] I usually don’t give out directives, but this movie is worthy of the command. I won’t lie, I’ve been burned before by superhero movies (ie: Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk, The Punisher), so it was awesome to get sucked into a really great story that stood true to the comic. It’s the first of the Marvel […]
05/06
25ah Give me large type, clean graphic design, lots of numbers and it’s like porn for a designer. I was looking for reference stuff and found 25ah, they prove once again that some of the best structured design comes from Sweden. Super clean + simple + beauteous.
05/05
ALL ABOUT TYPE Non-Torontonian + beastmaster M Surtees, guerilla-texted me on Saturday about a type exhibition at the Keep 6 Contemporary Gallery on Bathurst Street. We braved the rain to check it out; the gallery is really really cute, guised under the signage of a video rental place, it’s a great space in a very unexpected part of […]
05/04
SOCCER SEASON — THE PROMO CAMPAIGN-OFF It’s that time of year when the world forgets global issues and religious divides and instead focuses on soccer. Over the last week I’ve come across the latest promo wars between Nike and Adidas. It’s really interesting to see the differences in the two campaigns. The Adidas campaign had me at “Dream Big”. It’s a film project, […]
05/04
NEW YORK TIMES + SHARPIE = POEMS Austin Kleon brings a new meaning to reading between the lines…as in he literally blocks select sentences out with a marker to create new messages from already published ones in the New York Times. His Newspaper Blackout Poems are a super cool idea, finding a message within the message. With a simple black sharpie (color […]
05/04
DAILY DOSE OF IMAGERY The concept behind Sam Javanrouh’s photoblog is simple, he posts one photo/visual experience a day. There are some interesting shots, and sometimes he doesn’t just post a single image, but a composition that uses several photographs of the same space. This image was created by stitching several wide angle panoramic photos of Dundas Square together. It’s […]
05/02
I FOUND WALDO — HE’S IN VANCOUVER I get such a cheap thrill in found art, I love coming across artistic stamps in the city. Canadian artist Melanie Coles has just finished her thesis project that involves creating such found art in the city but for outer space. She took the whole “where’s waldo” game and kicked it up a notch. Instead of […]
04/30
STORIES 2.0 I attended CaseCamp last night, a social media conference that was held at Circa in Toronto, a shrine to kidrobot. The event itself has grown from a few people gathering at a happy hour, to 500 people clamoring for advice on social community trends and pizza. The speakers were interesting, but I was especially fascinated […]
04/30
SONGS FOR DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES - Vo.II Back by popular demand, DJ + time traveler, Clint Love sent in his Songs For Different Activities list for the month of April. 1) A song for coming to terms with things: “Dagger” by Slowdive 2) A song for driving in the car with someone that you don’t particularly like: “When the Sun Hits” by Slowdive 3) A […]
04/30
THE KEVIN WILLIS CLUB No matter how old we get, everybody wants to be a part of a club, campaigns + websites count on this. As kids, club membership consisted of tree fort privileges and secret codes; as adults, it’s usually in the form of social networking sites where the first 100 to sign up get a free toaster […]
04/28
SUNDAY ART + SIGNS Sunday’s itinerary included brunch at Bungalow Cafe (great breakfast place, fun muzak, surf bar meets upscale city cafe); roaming the streets with camera in hand; several casual gallery visitations. A four-star day on all creative + culinary fronts. The exhibit that really caught my eye was Thomas Deyle’s work at the Galerie Lausberg on Queen Street […]
04/28
THE ANTI-NETWORK DESIGN I don’t know if it’s because I worked in motion graphics in news for awhile and am rebelling against gratuitous 3D and lens flare; but I really appreciate the simplicity of MORE4’s new onair branding. The identity + campaign was initially created by Spin, the logo and basic graphics package. DoubleG expanded on it to […]
04/28
DESIGN FOR YOUR CAUSE My sister works for Naral Pro-Choice NY, they don’t have much of a budget and are constantly seeking funding. What this translates to is I get asked to design quick invites for her events. They’re relatively easy since it’s a fast turn-around, simple and type-driven. I think it’s important to use any skills you have for […]
04/27
A FEEL GOOD DESIGN FOLIO It’s awesome having a cup of coffee in the morning and coming across a site with really nice typography, great design, fun concepts. For real, check out Emil Kozak. Everything from skateboards to tshirts to lamps to packaging to shoe soles.
04/25
FRIEND FEED Some see ichatting throughout the day as procrastination, I see it as inspiration. These random links were taken from several conversations throughout the afternoon. This marks yet another unofficial launch of a series: the friend feed post; a short list of completely unrelated but interesting items. In this issue there’s a transgendered razor ad, a […]
04/25
ADD A LITTLE SYRUP + FLOUR, SING BACKWARDS, DON’T STIR Everybody likes the song “Rocket Man” and David Fonseca shows his devotion by singing a cover of the song while pouring multiple sauces and food items over himself. He directed the music video which was shot in one take and then played it backwards for a messy but cool effect. It’s mesmerizing to watch and […]
04/25
INSERT YOUR FACE HERE Swanky blogger and friend to random canadians, Michael Surtees posted about some photos he took to show a “suspicious” no facial feature trend in street art. It’s always fun finding random art series in the city and as he suggested it’ll be even more interesting to see if anyone draws on the faces with their […]
04/24
GREAT BILLBOARD CONCEPTS On the drive back to Toronto, amid the steak house and gas station signs, I passed a great series of billboards in Pennsylvania. I thought they were super cute, simple, smart, they profiled core belief systems and I was just desperately hoping they weren’t trying to drive people toward religion or politics. Apparently they’re […]
04/24
GOOGLEY BY DESIGN It seems like it’s just a matter of time before google will have achieved global domination AND figured out the perfect Upside Down Pineapple Cake recipe. But until that happens, it’s interesting to see insight into their process. Christina Black sent me this list from the google blog. A small team came up with 10 […]
04/24
STREET PIXEL ART Life is simple, eat, drink, sleep and look for daily bites of inspiration or provide it. I found this through a blog, via another blog, through another post, that got it through a flickr feed, via another flickr feed…as goes the flow of information these days. Nobody seemed to know the story behind it, I just […]
04/24
CRITIQUE THE WORLD THROUGH POST-ITS Yesterday Khalil Jamal, a Canadian industrial designer, submitted a photo to 10:15. Not only was the image a subject close to my heart — coffee — but it was really cool to be introduced to his personal portfolio. He makes futurist mp3 players, rethinks the culinary experience with the “Decide Dish” (get it? instead of the […]
04/23
GREAT ART WITHOUT SELLING YOUR KIDNEY It was an informal think tank session over wine and good food, where great ideas always happen. A friend I turn to for expert design/typography conversation, Christina Black, was talking about 10:15 and what it might evolve into. It’s been an interesting startup experiment and it’s definitely cool to try to figure out what do […]
04/22
TORONTO TO D.C. IN 60 PHOTOS Last week I drove to D.C. and I had a camera and lots of time. Unlike my usual OCD tendencies, there really wasn’t any pre-set distance or arbitrary set of rules for shooting. I just aimed at the windshield in front of me whenever I felt like I could photograph without ending up in a […]
04/22
COFFEE + A GAME FISH Washington D.C. was great. I ate, drank, exploited the free museums. In the mood for photography, I was intending to go to the Corcoran Gallery of Art to see the “Chance Encounters” exhibit. The Washington Post had given it its highest rating of “GO”. I can’t actually reinforce their enthusiastic directive because the gallery ended up […]
04/21
FREE PASS A little modified monopoly nostalgia. Ever wish you had this card and that it was actually accepted by most employers and gov’t organizations? That is all.
04/20
VIDEO + DESIGN WORTHY OF A MOUNTAIN DEW I recently got a link that made me want to pay homage to “X-treme” video and design; for some reason defying gravity and moving at fast speeds seem to correspond with cool camera shots and crazy editing techniques. Skateboarder friend, muse, horse whisperer and great director Elliott Chaffer, sent me the pre-mentioned link to a short […]
04/18
BUILD-A-FONT In my quest for interesting fonts, featured friend Rudy Jaimes sent me to typeforyou.com, an internet space setup for all that is type. Through this portal I found FontStruct, FontShop’s free font building tool. You can use their grids and tools to create a font and then download it for your own use. Even if […]
04/17
MIXCD + DESIGN 4 U Mixtapes/cds and playlists are really our own personal movie soundtracks. And they happen to make subway rides less painful. These creatives take it a step further. They not only make a mix cd, but they design the packaging and mail it to you. Sarah Lannan and Simon Evans from “Simon and Garfield: A Mix CD Odyssey” […]
04/17
BULL-TYPE I’m working on a project where I’d like to use type as shapes, architecture and images. I was looking for inspiration and came across this bull illustration created with text from AM I Collective in South Africa. The group works in photoshop, mixed media, vector, but the hand typography was the section that piqued my […]
04/17
A MANNEQUIN-OFF There are many things to compare between Toronto and New York City. The museums, the food, the neighborhoods…M Surtees and I challenged ourselves to see who would come across the strangest/creepiest/most random mannequin throughout our normal day, for what we titled a “2008 Mannequin-off”. I threw down with a lady “woman-nequin” wearing a sideways fluorescent pink […]
04/16
FUN IN THE MUNDANE When days become blurs of endless 9-5s, one-hour lunches + water cooler talk, there’s something to be said for finding the funny in everyday life. That’s exactly what Matt Stuart does, he finds these strange/surreal moments in the monotony of city life. After looking at his portfolio I wish I saw the world through “Stuart […]
04/16
SONGS FOR DRIVING I did the 10 hour drive from Toronto to Washington D.C. yesterday. Without any good radio in the long stretches of empty states I turned to mixed cds. I uploaded a few of the songs that got me through the miles between rest stop coffees. My road-sanity mixtape. Songs for driving include: 1 ) “Martell” by […]
04/12
WHO BOUGHT THAT TSHIRT? I came across this on Wired blog. It’s an interesting idea. At Frankfurt’s Design Annual, New York design firm, 2×4, set up a display where they actually sell unique graphic tshirts. When a shirt is bought, it’s replaced by a photo of the buyer. It suddenly turns the whole process into a personal experience. I […]
04/12
SHARPIE TATTOO — BUT ON A CAR I thought this was an appropriate follow-up to the Sharpie Tattoo post. While Vince spent 2 hours using his superior illustration skills to sharpie tattoo his cousin, these guys spent 2 weeks sharpie “tatooing” this Lamborghini for Prestige Imports. I can’t help but wonder how many sharpies expired in the making of this? The detail […]
04/12
BLACK MILK So here’s what you find when you’re randomly looking for an answer related to milk for the Globe crossword puzzle. My dairy product search revealed this little animation. It was simple, and there was nothing else around it on the screen; of course I was intrigued. Some further surfing revealed that Black Milk is a […]
04/12
PHOTOBITES I won’t lie, I love getting photo forwards, messages that other people take notice of in their everyday lives. These photo moments were brought to you by Michael Rubenstein (m-rub) and Silas Starr (who hasn’t ever actually tried eating pigeon).
04/12
CANADIAN DESIGN EXPORTS It’s a rainy Saturday, so my exploration of Toronto and the day is online over a cup of coffee. I found this a really interesting concept for a project. It’s a collaboration by Motherbrand, a Toronto branding firm, and the Gladstone Hotel. The Souvenir Shop is giving Canadian culture + design a voice by reexamining the […]
04/11
1 SCRIPT/5 VISIONS This is such a cool idea on many levels. When it comes to storytelling in general I’m always intrigued by the context of the story. Both documentary and fiction narratives depend on who is editing the piece, who is behind the lens, the background of the storyteller. The same story can be told in so […]
04/10
ST CLAIR STREET EVERY 60 STEPS My car broke today. St Clair West + Keele was the closest garage. On the way across town the tow truck driver coached me on saying “fuel injector pump” with great authority to help me avoid getting taken advantage of. I can now say distributor cap like i mean it. This sign was directly across […]
04/10
DO SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY? In highschool I remember when the arts was considered an extracurricular activity. Photography wasn’t a part of the core studies. A friend of my father’s, Tony Stocks, claimed that schools were training kids to become a part of the business world. Not visionaries, but drones who would make it to meetings on time and have […]
04/10
PAN FLUTES ARE FUNNY I don’t know what it is, but pan flutes ARE funny. Insert a pan flute into any joke and it becomes hilarious. I feel a little guilty, I don’t want to support pan flutes getting a bad rap, I mean, they’ve had a long notable history from Greek gods to creating great peruvian music. But […]
04/09
AND THEN THERE WAS FOOSBALL This suddenly makes all of those nights of playing foos in dingy bars feel dirty. The heads up comes via Gabriel Pulecio who has also offered generously (but insincerely) to buy it for my apt. ‘11′, a collaboration of two companies, decided they wanted to submit a project for the Milan Design Week. Out of everything […]
04/09
DESIGN ACTIVISM I like it when I see the powers of conceptual thinking and design used for good. This was the case when “No More Landmines: Dangerous Ground Project” brought their issue home to London. Millions of people live in landmine affected areas where just walking around can be dangerous. To highlight this and make it relevant, […]
04/09
THE CHARM OF D.I.Y. I just got this wedding invite in the mail and loved the hand-glued, D.I.Y. feel of the card. It’s nice when you receive something you know somebody on the other end spent a lot of time and thought on the design in order to make it truly reflect their own style. But then again, I’ve […]
04/09
THIS JUST IN: EVEN ONLINE BUBBLEWRAP IS ADDICTIVE So in a world where flash skills are highly coveted and they have the power to create moving interactive stories or really high end portfolio + branding sites; these people have used their powers to create online interactive bubblewrap. Pop away at it and then get a fresh sheet. It’s almost as addicting as the […]
04/09
FAN-GENERATED CONTENT This animation was done by a friend of a friend, Ben Meinhardt, it’s a rough storyboard, but you get the point, the narrative is nice… Its for an animation contest, Aniboom and Radiohead are calling on all creatives to make a Radiohead video clip. The rules are simple, animate something to any “In Rainbows” song and […]
04/09
SONGS FOR WORK I woke up with the song Lazy Eye in my head. I’m going to combat the rain with some upbeat muzak. Here’s what I’m listening to while designing today: 1) “Tonight I Have to Leave It” by The Shout Out Louds 2) “Counting Down The Hours” by Pharmacists and Ted Leo 3) “In Transit” by Albert Hammond, Jr. 4) […]
04/08
MY AFTERNOON WALKABOUT ON THE LAKESHORE
04/08
BEHIND THE WALL Photo friend Kenneth Dickerman just got back from a two week journey to Morocco where he photographed the Medina. He said it was one of the hardest shooting projects he’s done because of the intense reaction from people who saw him photographing. He’s posted his photo essay on his website and it’s a beauteous blend […]
04/08
BEARD FONT — NO REALLY Thanks to beardless man Chris Vivion, this important type face was not overlooked. He came across this on Design Milk. They said it best: no words are necessary. And not to be outdone, here’s a unique font called “15 ways to sleep on a train” which is actually kind of interesting…
04/08
JUST SOME GOOD WORK Someone sent me a reference site for a project and upon further research I found out it had been made by Eric Kass. I ended up spending more than a few minutes perusing his work, he claims to be a blend of utilitarian, commercial + fine art. There’s something really cute and detailed about his […]
04/08
“FRESH MEET” Friend David Laidler, who heads up Select Agency in NYC, is hosting an event this Thursday to show new photographic work from Select Photographers. They have a great variety of visual stuff. Fun to check out…
04/08
VIDEO RENTALS = FREE PINS Up here in Canada when you rent over three movies you get a pin of your choice. Cute, but random. This was the pin of my choosing.
04/08
CULT OF PERSONALITY You can’t go through a grocery line without reading in big bold print “STARS, THEY’RE JUST LIKE US” over a photograph of Reese Witherspoon spilling a milkshake onto the sidewalk. The cover on this month’s Atlantic Monthly is an article about “Shooting Britney”. It talks about how, only now, in this time of celebrity obsession, […]
04/08
no.9 : CONTEMPORARY ART + THE ENVIRONMENT Yesterday in my search for Toronto culture outside of hot dog stands and rooster porn, I found this exhibition guide for No. 9. They are a curatorial agency that enables artists with visions of change to build their projects in the public realm. In their mission statement they say that they believe “contemporary art can […]
04/08
VINCE DRAWS YOUR FACE So in an earlier posting from a few days ago, “I DRAW YOUR FACE“, I had mentioned an alternative, less-illustrative version of the project where, since I couldn’t draw, I would just post a photograph of any face that was sent in. Barry from Toronto emailed a photo of his face which I was just going […]
04/08
OUTTAKES I sometimes enjoy looking at peoples’ outtakes more than I do their chosen work. Outtakes are usually shot with less inhibition and more spontaneity. With photo friend Micheal Rubenstein (M-Rub), I love his work, but really enjoyed it when he sent me this link to random medium format shots he took while he was in […]
04/07
HORIZONS I’ve already established I love things in series. I like seeing the resulting differences or parallels within the images, the greater story that happens; it forces you to look at the mundane in a different light. The Sunday New York Times profiled a photographer named Sze Tsung Leong who is now showing his photographic series “Horizons” […]
04/07
A TRIBUTE TO SLIDING NAVIGATIONSIn my research for inspiration for redesigning my very outdated portfolio site, I’ve recently come across a variety of websites that utilize full-screen sliding movements. All of them are simple + beautiful and are great showcases for great work. I chose my favorite 3 for this unofficial Tribute to Sliding Navigation Website series. 1) […]
04/07
THE REDBERRY AND THE IPHONE As a freelancer I realized it was time to admit that I needed a blackberry, that technological umbilical cord to people and future projects. While living in New York I had developed a sense of iphone envy, brainwashed by it’s constant presence in everyday life, on the subway, in a bookstore, on the street, in […]
04/07
THE FUTURE IS NOW After I watched this Petshop Boys video, made by The Rumpus Room, and read about it, I immediately checked under my skin for barcode implants. Via the Creative Review, this is more than just your traditional video but also a portal to online advocacy campaigns. Apparently, embedded in the video are 100 subliminal QR Codes that […]
04/07
ROBJOE IS SAUCY This portfolio features everything from illustrations for tshirts to snowboards. The work is really playful and precise. It was really nice to browse through…
04/07
IF I WERE PRESIDENT David Lee (AKA rockstar) is one of the most passionate people I know and is constantly advocating change and making the world a better place even if it just starts with one person. His most recent brain child is a small blog that he and Kourtney Hoffman, an art buyer for Y+R, set up. […]
04/06
I’M A SUCKER FOR A SERIES Good friend, who makes an appearance here a lot, Michael Surtees has spent 36 days photographing the New York sky for a series he calls the New York Sky Colour Study. It’s such a simple but inspiring concept. Putting these photos together suddenly creates a really interesting gradient design and emphasizes that even though days go […]
04/06
THE RED ROOM In my efforts to discover Toronto one restaurant/bar/gallery at a time, last night I met up with some friends at The Red Room; which until last night I only knew as the place a few doors down from the neon palm tree. It’s a bit of a fusion place, you can get everything from stir fry […]
04/06
LOOKING FOR GREAT TYPOGRAPHY I get giddy over fonts. So when I came across Amy’s portfolio Avoid Obvious I was downright punchy…I love the way she showcases type in her work. And an added bonus was seeing the concept for the note watch. Instead of writing notes on the back of your hand, you write reminders/numbers on your watch. Much […]
04/06
CHROMOGENI-US PORTFOLIO This is a site from Justin Ouellette, he’s a photographer and web designer from Portland, Oregon. For the last 5 years he’s been taking photos of New York with analog film cameras. Really fun to browse through the archives. And he even offers advice on how to develop your own film.
04/06
INVADING THE WORLD Designer, tightrope walker + friend Michael Surtees shot this image for his 10:15 today. Of course seeing that nostalgic pixel creature of past, BFF Vince mentioned the worldwide Urban Invasion — “a reality game by invader”. A kind of viral street art call to action, where you support the invasion by tagging these tile video […]
04/06
BODEGA? OR NOT A BODEGA? This was on the CBS Sunday Morning show today, it’s an older story, but the culture of cool still holds up. In Boston three guys set up a working bodega store front where you can buy everything from the Jamaican soda named “Ting” to Fritos. The cool part is that they’ve hidden the main […]
04/06
SONGS FOR DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES This Sunday morning’s musica is brought to you via an ichat with Clint Love who recommends the following music for the following activities: A song for drinking tea: “The Nun’s Litany” by the Magnetic Fields. A song for the mixtape hall of fame: “Birthday” by the Junior Boys. A song for getting dressed to in the morning: “TtHheee […]
04/05
BBC [APRIL] FOOLS YOU I know this is a few days after april 1st, but I came across this via motionographer. It’s a really playful campaign for the BBC, part of their “Miracles of Evolution” series. From the concept to the tagline, it’s super smart.
04/05
WINE BY DESIGN I’m self-admittedly ignorant when it comes to wine. Yes, my deep dark secret is that I have subsisted off of boxed wine before and only recently discovered a hidden love for red wine. So when I go wine shopping I tend to base my decisions off of the label designs; I’d like to think I’m […]
04/05
SAFE After reading the “killer design” post, BFF Vince Diga reminded me of a really good show that was at the MOMA a couple of years ago called Safe where “design takes on risk”. The site has a cool nav to it. His favorite designer from the show is Matthius Megyeri.
04/05
KILLER DESIGN My sister got a present in the mail from her ex-boyfriend (who she is still great friends with, or so she thought). It was a knife holder called “the ex” which features a plastic person getting stabbed by the multiple knives you use to cook with. After some awkward laughter and a phone call, the joke […]
04/05
A RANDOM SATURDAY MORNING : COFFEE, HOT DOGS + PLANES My 10:15 am photo this morning also happened to be where I got the best cup of coffee I’ve had in Toronto so far. A place called Sadie’s Diner. Super retro cute inside, portrait paintings of dogs and cats that the grandfather of the owner did (using a paint-by-numbers scheme they claim). And they serve […]
04/04
LOOK I came across this New York LOOK photo essay on the NY Fashion Week. It was photographed by Paolo Pellegrin. In my opinion it could be a tighter edit, but as usual there are some really nice shots and different perspectives. Of course I can’t mention Fashion Week without mentioning my photo friend, Michael Rubenstein’s (m-rub) […]
04/04
I DRAW YOUR FACE Thank you the Serif blog. This is a cute idea that tests the question “are blogs really read?” In order to answer this, illustrator/designer Damien Weighill from the UK started YourFaceBlog. People can send in photos of themselves and he will draw a picture of you and post it. If you’re lucky you may even […]
04/04
EYE CANDY In the process of unpacking some boxes from the move I came across some fun tear that I forgot I had. In an unofficial series called “eye candy” I thought I’d throw a few up.
04/04
MOMENTS OF ZEN These links always seem to find me. And I always seem to click on them. SO, here are today’s three moments of zen, or three links provided for a few seconds of procrastination. You have your choice, an absurd fat chicken, or ninja dude, or normal everyday rapper (canadian humor).
04/04
A GREAT WEDDING INVITE My poker + photo editor friend, Travis Hartman was searching for images for work and this popped into his head. He mocked it up quickly and emailed it along. He thinks it reflects a subliminal insight into his fear of commitment. I think it would make a brilliant wedding invitation cover.
04/04
SWEET SWEET MIKE WOMACK As usual, ichat conversations are the best introduction to great stuff. Self-proclaimed time traveler Clint Love showed me these photos from Mike Womack’s  portfolio. They blew my mind. 
04/04
COMMUTE HOME_ROUGH DAY This was emailed to me last night by Christina Black from her iphone, the title of this post is the subject of her email. I liked the combination of the photo and the subject line and I voyeuristically like random moments of everyday life. Again I’m fascinated by the anthropological aspects to these camera phones. It’s […]
04/03
SHARPIE TATTOO When people are bored they usually do creative things. When creative people are bored and have sharpie markers, they do fake tattoos. BFF Vince Diga used his professional illustration skills to draw this fake tattoo on his cousin’s arm. Strangely enough I really like it. It’s Sharpie body art. There’s a lot of detail and […]