the making of “get out of the trees” video

This project was created for a contest that AT&T is doing through zooppa.com.  Here’s the concept, as posted on AT&T’s site.

The AT&T Simplify Your Life video contest is a chance for you to make your own video about AT&T’s Online Services, such as Paperless Billing, Account Management, AutoPay, and Online Support. Each of these services can help to make life simpler.

So here’s the video. PLEASE click on the link and vote for it on Facebook by clicking the “like” button.

my idea

My idea for this was to make a stop motion video using my collection of rotary dial phones, making them into a tree.  At first, I was going to use a person as the tree trunk, but then I thought that would be a long time for someone to be wrapped up in phones and I wasn’t sure the cords were long enough.

The concept is to stay out of the trees, meaning the phone trees and paper trees, and to use the AT&T online services. 

marketing concepts & fun at the mall

Fun?  At the mall?  Yep.  Fun to me is processing my surroundings.  This includes activities like people watching, looking at marketing trends and seeing current styles while taking photos of all these observations.  If you need to know my underlying reason for poking fun of some of these products, it’s because they’re so over the top and heavily profit driven. This is just my quirky view on ‘the mall’. Read the full blog post on trashsociety.com.

Angry cartoon women wearing makeup. This was the first thing I saw in Nordstroms.  It’s the new Villain line of Mac makeup put out by Disney.  Now I don’t wear much makeup, sometimes a little eye shadow and lipstick, but I’m really not wanting to look like Cruella Deville, Isma or a wicked witch.  Does evil cartoon characters on cosmetic packaging really make women want to buy this stuff?  Maybe so, but I don’t get it.  The colors are fun and the display grabbed my attention, but I’m ADHD, so any shiny object will do that.  And the cosmetics department is full of highly attractive and graphically stunning displays that don’t require ADHD.

Brushes with genius. This is a set of magnetic brushes.  Smart, maybe, but it’s not creating world peace or curing diseases.  Again, these are good and probably great if you carry makeup stuff with you.

Trash display. I’m not sure what the product is here, but it did make me laugh that it’s displayed right over a trash can.  Interesting merchandising concept.  Maybe not the best subliminal message on this one, but this one?  I get it.  

we’ve all met these clients…

The Process (a.k.a. Designing The Stop Sign Video)

This is SO incredibly accurate, it’s scary.  This is a must see for all graphic designers!

 

graphic designer’s ‘get out of jail free’ card

Capital One had a commercial for their new Venture card. I didn’t hear much of the commercial, but the image I saw on TV intrigued me. The card pictured had the name Lee N. Cardholder. At least I thought it was an ‘N’. If it was an ‘N’, that would be ‘lean’ or ‘lien’, which being a graphic designer, I can recognize a subliminal message faster than the average bear. I do it, all graphic designers do it. It’s creative and fun, a hobby of sorts for us. It’s like a designer’s secret language.

I also see that Jimmy Lee is one of the guys heading the national small business lending division of Capital One.  So is Jimmy Lee actually Lee M.? I have no idea, but I do know this.  This is the designer’s ‘get out of jail free’ card if some non-designer cracks the secret language code.  If you’re a designer, keep a few of these with your business cards.  ;)

See the full article on trashsociety.com.

Thanks for coming to MinistryCOM!

Thank you to all that came to my breakout session at MinistryCOM this year.  I’m also glad you made it to my blog, as my digitalfondue.org domain was not working.  I’m so sorry!  I had to transfer it, and in the process the forwarding got turned off.  It’s back on!  As Terrell said, I will be blogging the process our church used to enhance our industrial wall space.  Stay tuned…

 

Social Media – The Cyber Reality [detailed presentation]

Social Media – The Cyber Reality [ministryCOM presentation]

This is the screen notes / presentation from the social media breakout session at ministryCOM 2010.

Session Description:

Social media is a reality and necessary for business and churches alike, but one size does not fit all. In this breakout session you will learn:

• How to get started
• Your strategy
• Maintaining your conversations
• Tips & resources
• Case studies
• Tracking what works

If you have questions you would like answered or social media topics you would like to discuss, please tweet to @embracechaos.  #smreality

 

global-give-green, an exercise in repurposed art

These small pieces of art are made on painted MDF panels that were about to be thrown in the trash.  The words are cut out of magazines, the leftover magazine skeletons went to the recycling bin.  Most of the paint is leftovers from other art projects.  Most of the painting embellishments and lines were painted with pizza boxes leftover from lunch.  The photos are just snapshots, I need to take some good photos of them.  ;)

The Art of Peter Max [book review]

The Art of Peter Max

Publish date: October 1, 2002  ISBN:0810932709

Booklist review: Peter Max created a delirium of gorgeously imaginative and technically innovative posters and album covers during the sixties that perfectly capture the liberating power of rock and roll in brilliant colors, kaleidoscopic patterns-within-patterns, and bold, art deco-inspired graphics. But as instantly recognizable as Max’s work is, his life story is not well known, and what a tale it is. Brilliantly hued reproductions of his prismatic and enchanting work are accompanied by equally energized and enlightening commentary.  His euphoric work, cogently analyzed by Riley, was everywhere; he appeared on the cover of Life magazine and The Tonight Show, and then he left it all behind to paint in splendid isolation for a decade. – Donna Seaman

Fondue review: Peter Max has been an inspiration to me for a long time now.  And the reason he’s listed here is because I got to meet him last month!  I never thought in my lifetime I would get to meet Peter Max.  He was at the Russell gallery down in Austin.  My kids got to meet him as well, however I don’t think they fully get it yet.  He not only signed our book, but drew in it as well.  So now if the house is on fire, obviously getting the kids out first, the Peter Max book is on the top 3 list of things to grab.

 

Orbiting the Giant Hairball [book review]

Publish date: April 1, 1998  ISBN: 0670879835

Booklist review: There is no denying the creativity of someone who can persuade one of the 50 largest private companies in the U.S. to create a position for him called “creative paradox,” or someone who can convince the accounting department of that same company to write off to the company art collection the purchase of more than a dozen roll-top desks to be used in his “creative lab,” or someone who could come up with such a goofy title for a book. MacKenzie worked for the Hallmark greeting card company for 30 years, first as a sketch artist and eventually as an upper-level manager, until he escaped the “hairball” by creating his own niche.  –David Rouse

Fondue review: This book is an easy read, good for those ADD types.  This book is over 10 years old, but is so relevant in dealing with ‘the corporate red tape’ while trying to foster the creative process.  This, by far, is one of my favorite books!