This irony was just too good to let slide without at least a blog post. My friend Kristen sent me a random text, that I then replied to… And then went onto an auto-generated site that popped up an eerily similar response with no prompting, user history, customization, etcetera. I know it doesn’t ring true for all, seeing as Kristen wanted to be ‘Bear Harmer’, and her name popped up as ‘Barters with Dangling Parts’ on the site. I’m convinced the internet is using me as a guinea pig for an mind-reading experiment involving middle-of-the-night brain implants, space monkeys, and an undisclosed equine science center.

Braved the San Freezisco weather again last night to pop in to Jay Ryan & Paul Hornschemeier’s Book signing at Giant Robot. Pumped to get this awesome lil doodle inside the cover that I call ‘Bear with Bunny in Bucket and They Like It’. Better photos to come!

It was refreshing to see a turnout on an otherwise not-so-refreshing, blood-stoppingly frigid night this past Monday. I’ve tried to attend every AIGA lecture because it really brings you out of the daily grind, and gets you more rigorously thinking about what you are creating, and why. Lars Bastholm was the speaker for this lecture, currently the Chief Digital Creative Officer for Ogilvy (and previously the Co-Chief Creative Officer at AKQA). His talk touched on the previous work and future tasks of Ogilvy and ad agencies in general.

It has pretty much become a habit of mine to write down quotes at almost every given moment, so I’ve included an arsenal of them below. I’ve also included links to the videos and ads he referenced in his talk.

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The best and worst sentence I ever heard at school was from an ROTC student. When I told her I was majoring in Graphic Design, she said, “Oh, so you go draw pretty pictures while I’m out saving lives.”

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It’s the day of obsessions, and what better to add to my love of letterforms with than, well, my love for the words that are used in them! (Just say it. Neeerrd). Luckily, there are sufficient resources for such obsessions, and word-experts to idolize. I’ve never underestimated the power of wording, and see it just the same as I see the form its in, or the design it wears. This cluttery calamity of a blog post by Mark Peters really hits home with how I feel about all the delicious directions and connotations a word can have (as well as the entire Good Blog section, Wordtastic). (Read More)

I love how Jordan Jelev describes his calligraphy, which astoundingly sprung from a degree in Economics and some time in the Navy. “It is something like fitness, but not for your muscles, for your soul”. I’ve had a long-standing obsession with calligraphic letterforms for some time now, fostered even moreso by one of my favorites at RIT, Professor Lorrie Frear… I will never forget her declarations of sexiness and tucked in tummies on S’s and lowercase A’s.

I could stare at even the simplest of letters from Jelev. Definitely inspiring…

Via Lettercult (Jelev Interview)

If what they suggest is true (which, I mean, come on… It’s uncanny), then Conan is officially my number one muse. This knocks Justin Timberlake out of contention, folks (But just in this category). I think this needs to be the new laser light backdrop.

If you cannot see the above video, it is on youtube as “Ira Glass on Storytelling”.

My favorite quote (we all knew this was coming) from Ira is: “The work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.” (Read More)

I recently completed work for Athletes* Serve, a program to highlight gamechangers in local communities that are kicking some major, volunteering ass. Nike has posted a video of one group’s story on their site. Click above and check it out!

View the collateral for Athletes Serve on my lil ol’ site.