creative briefing

A difficult challenge for music performers is to communicate their talents in a visual manner. While I thoroughly enjoy simple and intimate acoustic performances, most others need to have their other senses tickled a bit to get the full experience. Music videos accomplish this by pairing songs with short movies that visually relay the stories, messages, and meanings behind the song. Concerts on the other hand, typically do this with lighting effects.

Two Tuesdays ago I spent my night at the Danforth Music Hall to watch Lifehouse on their Toronto stop. The concert was amazing, but that’s besides the point. In addition to all the auditory sensations that night, what really caught my eye were the lights. Alternating palettes of vibrant colors that were tied together perfectly gave the concert a stunning light show that truly augmented the whole musical experience. The visual stimulation was like porn for artists and designers in the form of bright, bright lights.

Naturally, I had to share it with all of you. Hope it brings you some inspiration!

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Freelancers and entrepreneurs love free stuff. It’s in our blood to be frugle and get as much as we can while paying the least we can. Asians have been known to share this same nature. So fortunately or unfortunately for me, my love for free stuff is multiplied.

That’s why when I found out about the Graphic Design Group Writing Project, I got a bit excited. Jacob Cass of Just Creative Design recently launched an initiative to get design geeks like me to write on the topic of graphic design with hopes of bringing the community a little closer through exposure and link love. As we write more articles, Jacob adds links to our articles from his site to share it with everyone else.

And to add some extra incentive, he’s giving away $5000 worth of prizes through random draw. What does the $5000 include, you ask? Some pretty kick-ass stuff. For example:

• A Squier Strat by Fender electic guitar and a crap load of accessories is being donated by mohdrafie.co.uk.
• Go Media Vector Packs and an Adobe Photoshop Brush Pack. PLUS 55 iStockPhoto credits from PJ of Premium Wordpress Theme showcase.
• Everyone’s favorite logo designer and blogger David Airey is offering his brain to help improve your identity and its integration into your site.
• Jacob Cass himself is going to pimp your logo or your blog.
• Advertising space on Estetica Design Forums (donated by Toon) and on Just Creative Design.

And those are just some of the prizes that are up for grabs. Tons of sponsors have already signed on to help this initiative out so big props to them as well: Vivien of InspirationBit, Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips, Audee from Graphic Identity, Bloggeries, JasMate from Digital Point Forums, Freelance Folder, Jillian of The Minty Ferret, Lauren of Creative Curio, Ruchir of Technomoney, Meryl, and Design Sojourn. Wooo. That’s a lot of link love.

So how to you win some of these bad boys? It’s simple, you write a graphic design-related post and you send it in. Jacob also has a handful of other easy things that you can do right away that will immediately get you some free entires. All the contest details can be found here. The contest ends March 4th.

If you know me, you know I have my eyes set on the Fender guitar. I’ll try to control the drooling while I work on my entries for the contest.

I hope some of you will take some time and get some entries in yourself. But if you don’t, I’ll forgive you. :)

I came across a website today off my Facebook mini feed called I Met the Walrus. It is a microsite for an animated short film based on 14-year-old Jerry Levitan who, in 1969, snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room and interviewed him during his in-bed-for-peace phase. The film has already been nominated for a handful of awards, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

I watched the trailer, which is available on the site, and the art work really struck me. The film is completely animated in a sketchbook art style to the spoken words of the interview. For anyone who knows Lennon’s reputation as somewhat of a literary magician in his time, you’ll know you’re in for some seriously deep imagery. The flash-based website is done in the very same style as well, with quirky but unobtrusive animations dispersed around the site. The imagery is definitely odd but filled with meaning - almost as if Lennon had written the creative brief for the site himself. Even if you’re not a Beatles or Lennon fan, you should check out the site for some kick-ass art and animation.

Props to Dungeon for the great site work and James Braithwaite, Alex Kurina, and Josh Raskin for the art and animation.

Okay, I’m a design geek. I use photoshop shortcuts everywhere and make jokes with fellow designers about wearing capes and fighting crime against bad typography. And what better way to geek out like a true designer than to be decked out in gear that display quirky jokes that only designers understand? (Yea, you thought I meant designer tees…)

Here are two awesome sites I’ve come across that offer top-notch and really geeky design-themed merch:

Veer

They’ve got a whole line of items that your friends won’t ever understand! And what’s more, they won’t have to - because they look pretty damn good anyway. Everything from bags, to lamps, to watches, and of course, t-shirts! Plus they’re having a sale right now - go clear ‘em out to show your geekdom.

Bad Designer Threads

A much smaller collection, but equally hilarious. There are only 3 tshirt designs on sale at the moment, but each one is golden. My favorite is the Designer “Word” one. Brilliant.

Don’t judge me.

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and fun-filled holiday! To the entrepreneurs and freelancers: do your best to enjoy the break… work free. I know I’ll be the first to disobey that one.

Best wishes for 2008! :)