Earlier this month, I had an an awesome opportunity to attend On Deck – an art auction sponsored by the The Montana Skatepark Association. Artists from all over the country and the world are sent blank skateboards to design however they like – the culmination of which is a room FULL of incredible art up for bid. The super cool part? All proceeds help maintain skateparks here in Montana. I found out about this event through Jon’s cousin Andy, who helps coordinate the event and is also a participating artist. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I LOVED it. If you visit their website, you can look at archives of the boards from past years also. Here are some photos of just a few of my many favorites:

Exciting new chapter in my life: New job, new state, new way of life all together! Very excited about starting my new job at SaltStudio, an awesome firm in Missoula, MT. More pictures and details to come as I settle in, but just to share one of my new favorite discoveries, a hidden gem called Circle Square

So excited to see old wooden type in the window, dissapointed that it both had sold, and for $600 at that…

Nothing makes me more excited than an awesome thrift store. Here’s a peek inside, I can tell I’ll be here often : )

Soon to come: My new place, the view from my backyard, and my first photos of life in Montana.

Love this idea for Honda Civic: You know those grooves on the side of the highway that will provide a solid “wake-up call” when you veer off the road? Well, what you could use those grooves to play a song when you drive over them? That was the plan. A few small problems in execution: it wasn’t exactly on pitch for the William Tell Overture, and the sound carried farther than they anticipated, but the idea was there. I liked it anyway! Watch the video below.

After several months of working, giving the appearance of working, perfecting, obsessing, nitpicking, and all the other glorious things that go along with the creative process, I’m excited to say I’ve finally finished designing my Inspiration Dingbats. Very simple concept: things that inspire me and my creative process. The only rule: must be A-Z, and correspond with the correct keys. Nothing drives me more crazy with dingbats than having to search to find where they are located. Enjoy!

God knows I’m a sucker for a lot of things: baked goods, anything relating to/glorifying the Greek culture… but among my more interesting infatuations: Public Libraries. I don’t know whether it’s the endless shelves of fascinating books, the growing resources of cds/dvds now available, or those iconic Lions in front of NYC’s famous bookhouse that reels me in, but I could honestly loose myself for hours in them. I was absolutely thrilled when I found this collection of “library porn” as the author fondly refers to it. The photos are pretty incredible, here’s a taste:

There are few people who wholeheartedly inspire me more than Brandon Boyd. He’s the lead singer of Incubus – my favorite band since I was 15 – and their music is what I’ve know exclusively as the constant soundtrack in my life over the last 8 years.  Aside from being an incredible lyricist and musician, he’s also an artist and creative thinker. He’s one of the few artists that I not only have great respect for, but whose artistic style has visibly influenced my own. Recently, I found THIS article, containing an interview from Subvert Magazine where he talks about, among other things, being creative. He is so smart, and I think  I especially identify with him because his artistic style, and general attitude are something I very much see myself in. Here’s some of my favorite soundbites and images, but I’d encourage anyone to read the full article.

On people making excuses why they can’t start a creative career:

“In my opinion, there never has, never was and never will be a shortage of things to be inspired by! And the biggest thing holding one back is usually a bad attitude”

On Success:

“I didn’t grow up idolizing rock stars so much as I did romanticizing the idea of living a creative and expressive life.”

On longevity and patience in a creative career:

“The bottom line is, if you are in it to make money, try a different line of work. If you are in a hurry, write pop songs and make a sex tape.”

On Dealing with Fear:

“In my experience the best way to handle fear is to treat it like the attacking bear; Stand and face it…Some experts would argue that ‘playing dead’ is the best defense against the bear, but I say fuck that shit. That’s boring. And what in the world can you accomplish from playing dead?”

On art vs. music:

“I am as enamored with sound as I am with color, line and concept. Music has always seemed to me to be as much an artistic journey as painting a picture. It’s like choosing paint over clay, or something like that. I knew that the feeling inherent in composing a song was almost identical to that of painting a picture, baring the obvious exceptions.”

Man. Don’t you love smart, inspiring, creative people?

If you look at our art side by side, especially his earlier works, you can see how much he influenced my style…Brandon’s work:

My Work:

Brandon working in his studio:

The piece Brandon is working on in the Photo above:

Reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of art, Mucha’s “Job”

Finally, just one more reason I think Brandon Boyd is awesome- kick ass tattoos. A beautiful red “Om Mani Padme Hum” in Tibetan script is on one forearm, and then Aubrey Beardsley (another one of my favorite Arts & Crafts/Nouveau era artist) piece on the other:

Be sure to check out Incubus, and Brandon’s website

I thought this article in Time Magazine was fascinating. Here’s a few highlights (and my inability to resist adding my own commentary) from the list I found particularly interesting:

#4 Hulu

Considering some of the other items on the list (i.e., The Hadron Collider and the Bionic Hand) I thought it was interesting that a website that allows you to watch TV episodes made it to the #4 spot. I love this website, it’s the only way I keep up with episodes of The Office.

#5 The Hadron Collider

#8 Bullets that Shoot Bullets

#14 The Bionic Hand

What I found most fascinating about this invention was the name it was given: iLimb. This just shows how far reaching and influential Apple’s presence in our society has become. Now to go with your iTunes, iPod, iMac, you name it, you can buy an iLimb.

#16 The Dynamic Tower

This truly must be seen to be belived. Dubai seems like a crazier, more surreal place every time I hear about it. The each of the 80 floors in the world’s first moving skyscraper will rotate 360 degrees at different times, creating an kind of twisting, double-helix effect. Here’s an animation from the architect’s website that is unreal. By the way, did I mention it was wind powered too?

#19 Montreal’s Public Bike System

Eugene, Oregon needs to follow suit on this one.

#20 The Everything Game

#22 The Shadowless Skyscraper

#29 The 46th Mersenne Prime

#34 Made in Transit Packaging

This is a whole new way of thinking about products, packaging, and how to give the consumer exactly what they want. I can’t help but be slightly weirded out by something that was growing in a plastic containter on the way to my grocery store though. Am I alone on that one?

#40 The New 7 Deadly Sins

The Catholic Church has released a new list of deadly sins to more accurately reflect the sins of the modern world. I’m extremely interested in the 7 Deadly Sins/Virtues, and made a coaster set for my letterpress project one term. You can see it on my website. If you are Catholic, or easily offended, you might want to skip the rest.

The list includes:

1.bioethical sins

2. morally dubious experiments that harm human embryos

3. drug abuse

4.polluting

5.social injustice

6.accumulating excessive wealth

7.creating poverty

Now, more or less, I agree with the premise of most of these. However, I find the last three in particular somewhat ironic for the Catholic Church, to be making moral commentary on.

First of all, #6: Accumulating excessive wealth. To me, this translates to, “Tithe your money to the church”. Now argue however you want, but anybody who has visited the Vatican will tell you it is one of the most ornate, elaborate representations of wealth I have seen in my life.  I wonder what Jesus (a man praised for his life of simplicity) would think of it all.

Second, #7 Creating Poverty. If we are re-working aspects of the old belief system to reflect the world we’re living in today, can we please address the need for the Church to acknowledge safe-sex practices? One of many reasons most of Latin America (almost 90-something percent Catholic) is impoverished, is because talk of safe-sex practices is taboo, and  when people lack knowledge or resources, they end up with more children than they can afford. Which, I believe also might quality for #5, social injustice.

Last disclaimer: I’m not saying I’m right, I’m just saying this is my opinion.

#42 Disemvoweling

#50 A Camera for the Blind

How cool is this?? How does it work, you might ask. This was the description on Time: “The photographer holds the camera up to his or her forehead, and a Braille-like screen on the back makes a raised image of whatever the lens sees.” I wonder if as a non-visually impaired person if my senses would have any way of picking this up….

One of my favorite ways to wrap my mind around a brand is to do an exercise I call, “Is/Isn’t”. Basically all it consists of is making two columns, and writing abitrary items in either colum (IS or ISNT) to help develop an idea of what the brand is.

Recently, I stumbled upon THIS blog entry that highlights some work done by Landor & Associates . They surveyed 1000 people and asked them to associate products with one candidate or the other -  It does a beautiful job giving an example and illustrating the point. In a slightly different format, they chose Obama and McCain, and showed what each candidate “IS” (and therefore, what the other candidate ISNT)… without further rambling:

Obama is a BMW sedan. McCain is a Ford truck.
McCain is a Blackberry. Obama is an IPOD.
Obama is a bag of Terra Chips. McCain is a bag of Cheetos.
McCain is a PC. Obama is a Mac.
Obama is a bottle of Sam Adams. McCain is a bottle of Bud.

Perfect example of how to use random associations to really develop an idea of what a brand represents, what people would be members of an audience interested in those things, and how to tell a story that those people will want to take a part in.

For an upcoming post with the above title, I’m finally going to collect all the incredible websites I’ve stumbled upon and give them their well-deserved recognition. What makes a website good? Only about 1,000 things, but to name a few:

-Aesthetic (First impressions matter people)

-Navigation (Not only must this be easy to decipher, but doing it in a creative fashion scores bonus points)

-Content (Beauty without Brains is nothing. As illustrated beautifully in THIS commercial)

-Surprises (Who doesn’t love to be caught off guard with a lil something extra?)

BUT just to give you a little taste (and to calm my insatious excitement), let me give you a little preview with a website that is just TASTY

Seattle-based advertising agency HL2 has a beautifully simple site. Using animation that appears to be Flash, beautiful black and white line-art illustrations (a quality that almost always sells me on its own) animate when your mouse rolls over, and gentle ambient noises change as you navigate through the different areas of the site. This one is a true Gestalt with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. While all the elements are somewhat subtle on their own, together they bring to life the beauty of illustration and graphic design with the purity of minimalism. LOVE IT. WISH IT WAS MINE. You have to visit to get the real feel, so go ahead: http://www.hl2.com

My new favorite website: Colour Lovers. A fabulous place where you can create your own palettes, patterns, and view some beautiful creations of other users. You can also see color trends in websites and magazines, and save the creations of other users to your set of favorites. My most favorite part? Sometimes when creating a palette, you’ll pick a color no one else has used yet. In that case, just like the folks at Crayola, you get to name your own color, upload inspiration images, and much more. Prepare yourself to fall in love.