Shamu training in the Work Place?

I saw Amy Sutherland on the Today Show and couple years ago talking about her article which later became her book, 'What Shamu Taught me about Life, Love, and Marriage', She was speaking about how animal training can be used within your daily life, on humans as well as animals. I listened carefully to what she had learned from following a school for animal trainers and applied it to my life, as she did hers. What she said just made sense, ignore unwanted behavior and reward good behavior. And if an action gets out of hand punish immediately, but not too harshly, and let your trainee know why he/she is getting addressed. I was interested in the idea and always wanted to read her book. Last week my eyes fell upon it at the library, like fate.

I think a lot of people do the opposite and just take for grated good behavior when its happening and shout at bad behavior the moment it occurs. I was lucky to have a natural act of thanking my husband for things as a appreciative wife, but I also had learned to nag when I didn't see results from my requests. Part of applying, Shamu results, was teaching myself to be patient. As a result, I feel my marriage is great, we don't yell at each other and we really help one another out. Very often my husband will say how great our marriage is, and how great we are together. Which is wonderful since we have been happily together almost eight years now.

Another thought that I always had was why don't employers reward more? I wish that more bosses would just say, "Thank you". Yes, employees love a good party or gathering every once in awhile. But that individual, "Good Job" can go a long way. Yes, I know that your paycheck is your reward but employees take it for grated just as much as employers take day-to-day work from their employees for grated. I think if you want great employees you got to nurture their happiness, its more bang for your buck. I know I would naturally work harder for a company that takes care of me versus intimidate me into work, wouldn't you? In the end the employee feels good about their work, good about their company and in the end will speak well to others about your company. Sounds like the best type of advertising to me. So make an effort today to send a quick, email to an employee that might not be doing so hot, and see what happens. Encouragement can go a long way.

Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes: Intricate beauty by design | Video on TED.com
I like watching TED videos because they are just so inspiring. I watched this one the other day about Marian Banties. I know her work from my sister Jessica, or from when I went to see Stefan Sagmeister speak in Charlotte, NC at an AIGA event; I'm not sure what came first but her sugar designs (above) are fantastic. As for this video she does get carried away in the first couple minutes with her slide show, yet in the end it comes together. Marian Banties reminded me that a little time for your personal or commercial designs can go a long way. Not only because you can end up with a great piece, but because of how happy it makes you to do what you really want to do: to is create something for you with the time you have.

DesignMilk Sweet Finds

Drum Light by 326 : A tap of the drum turns on the LED lights inside the snare and another tap turns them off. The sound activation has been designed not to be triggered by ambient noise. The lamp’s heigh can also be adjusted.
Do you have any friends or family members that would just love this? I sure do.




Buckle Up Key Holder: Keep your keys safely buckled with this buckle-shaped key holder by Thabto.The key-ring buckle fits perfectly into its mate, which hangs on your wall, keeping your keys buckled up until it’s time for you to buckle up again.
I'm always looking for interesting ways to stay organized.



Concrete Chesterfield Sofa by Gray Concrete: UK-based Gray Concrete created this concrete Chesterfield sofa for exhibiting at 100% Design London. The sofa is made by taking a mold from a real Chesterfield, which is then used to make a glass textile reinforced casting. The cushions are a part of the casting. Before making the mold, the padding inside the cushions was replaced with a rigid foam which was modeled to make “bum prints.” The molding techniques used by Gray Concrete pick up detail really well so the concrete sofa really looks leathery. There’s even a concrete 50p piece stuck down behind one of the cushions to complete the realistic effect.
I love chesterfields, the color gray and the idea of this fun outdoor furniture piece.




Dwell Patterns for Heath Ceramics: Debuting this weekend at Dwell on Design is Dwell Patterns, a new line of tile from Heath Ceramics and Dwell Media.
This new modular tile system is the result of a successful collaboration between Chris Deam (designer, architect, and husband to Lara Hedberg Deam, founder of Dwell Media) and Catherine Bailey (Co-founder and Creative Director of Heath Ceramics along with husband Robin Petravic). Separately, two halves of successful power couples; together, a dynamic design duo.
Love this blue one, my husband is in the tile business, I'm sure he'd appreciate me posting these.

Crowdsourcing

Clipping from Pratt's Crowdsourcing & Disruption Panel Poster by Alexander Smith

There is a lot of debate on the subject of crowd sourcing. If you’re not familiar with the word, crowd sourcing is when a lot of people are asked to complete the same task. For example, CrowdSPRING, a website company which offers creative competitions; for example, competing to design a logo for the prize of “x” amount of dollars. Anyone can enter and it seems that you can enter as many times as possible.

As you know I'm currently an unemployed designer looking for work. My portfolio could always use a new project or two and why not do a project that might win me a few hundred bucks or so. So, I ventured into Crowdspring.com. I opened a Login account which surprising asked for very little information. I could upload projects and make a portfolio of sorts, but I mostly just wanted to get started. I began with a small logo project with an award for $300. It was for Social Media University (See project here, if still posted) My first thoughts are how much time should I put forth into this logo? As with previous projects I charge by the hour. Well, I guess that is how I could do it this time, but maybe I bit less time since I may not win the prize.

So, I started by reading the "details" which is the design brief tab of CrowdSPRING to get to know what the "buyer" or company requesting the project is looking for. I collected the information, important requests, and materials (which can be provided files to download or links to research) needed to start the project. I read what I could about the company and also looked at logos from companies they had worked with. I designed my own visual design brief on a page in Illustrator. I felt good that I knew what the company might have been looking for. Here is what they provided as resources and examples of logos they liked:


"1. logo for http://socialmediaclubhouse.com/ - more modern, 2.logo for http://socialmediaclub.org/ - more simple, traditional, now ubiquitous on laptops around the world, 3. Apple logo, 4.BarCamp Logo, 5. Firefox Logo, 6. Harvard Logo 7. http://ribbit.com/ logo

We are really fairly open to different ideas, but want something solid/reputable with the typography, and somewhat stylized as modern like that clubhouse logo (which is actually an abstraction of the house we did that event in during SxSW)"

Although not much information was given as to where or how this University was to be run, what I got from the company is that The Social Media Club or clubhouse works like this: they would have one individual rent a house nearby a conference, such as South by South West (SxSW), a music Conference in Austin, Texas and the house would get filled with members of the Social Media Club and they would report out media about the city, the conference and any other things.

I started to sketch. I focused on the word "modern" in relation to the SxSW conference logo (above) looking for inspiration. After sketching a bit, I looked at the “gallery” of submitted logos. Mine was very different from the other entries and although it worried me I also thought maybe my logo was something that might surprise them.

This is what I came up with and below is the description I proposed.


“This Social Media University Logo is designed around their media club logo of a house. I have simplified and modernized the design and made it look like you are looking up at a building, such as house/university, and also that the building is looking out at the world. I gave it an attainable height as well as making it appear social and inviting. It’s accompanied by a modern academic font”.

The next day my submission got a reply. CrowdSPRING sends you email updates on the projects you are active in and watching. This was my reply from buyer socialmediaclub.

“Entry: Social Media University
socialmediaclub: the font is good, the proximity to our current logo conceptually is interesting.
overall it doesnt work for me, but its a good try and good fonts for a fun conference - not as modern as I would hope, but nice
Score: 3”

So, I scored 3 out of 5 stars, with some positive feedback and feel good about that.

I have worked on other projects since the Social Media University and have felt a bit lost. I can send a personal email to the buyer or make a public post to get more information, but I still feel a loss of connection. A logo should be more than just a visual description of what you once posted online. It should be a communicating image that grew out of strength and work, not by a gallery of choices. As a result, I feel that my work for the individual buyer is not as strong as it could be and they should know that their logo, from me or any other artist, will not be at its highest potential, because of this lack of connection.

Other ways CrowdSPRING can disconnect, is offering to a buyer to make their project private. You, as the artist, may not be able to see the score of other entries to see their thought process within a project, the buyer may not respond as well or at all , such as providing a score, to your entries, or you may not be able to read or see other entries at all. When many projects get submitted the buyer can “update” their Details page and add comments on what they have received so far, sometimes these are helpful comments and sometimes they are too general.

Other downs to CrowdSPRING in the eyes of the artist can be: If buyer doesn’t like any submissions they can ask for a full refund, Crowdspring does offer a prize to but not as much as the prize was once listed as. Some projects you have to sign a contract to never communicate the project to anyone. Payouts are per Paypal, but nowhere on the site does it mention the commissions of CrowdSPRING and if the winner will actually receive the full prize amount. I know on another crowdsourcing site, 99designs.com it seems that you do not get the full prize amount.

In the end I felt disappointed, I wanted to do better for the client and it just was not going to happen in this way. Also, I feel bad for the buyer. One project that was going on at the same time as I was working the Social Media University logo had a prize amount of $5000, this meant everyone and their mothers where entering. It seemed to me that getting 3,467 (and counting) entries is just too overwhelming, not to mention the public comments were getting out of control and filling my email. I don’t know about you, but for a buyer, that’s just too many options to choose from. As for the Social Media University, there were only 148 entries and I felt there were a lot of submissions that were very good, while others horrific. Below is the winning logo by CrowdSPRING profile name pixy, who as of today has won 2 of 68 entries.

Innovation -The Disruptive Age

Click to see video on host site, design mind

You know that A-ha! moment, when someone says something and all the puzzle pieces in your head come together. The Spark of genius that feeds your creativity so much you can't sleep. I would like to call this now a "Disruptive moment". Although right now these ideas go as far as my sketchbook or a portfolio, but maybe one day it will branch into a design company (per personal hire) and become a money making idea that fulfills personal creative goals.

Luke Williams, from Frog design, gave the keynote speech at the Frontiers of Interaction Conference in Rome. His talk, called “Thinking the Unthinkable: How To Spark Disruptive Innovation,” focused on learning to think about what is usually ignored and to pay attention to what is not obvious in design and business solutions.

His speech started with the innovations from Mac, from the ideas of competition, turning points of design, expected and unexpected design methods and how the weak can be winners; he used fantastic examples to tie in his explanations.

What I took from this speech is, its not always the most experienced individuals that can come up with the best ideas, but maybe the one that can think outside the box or maybe someone new who may have never worked on a project of its kind. What this speech is also telling me is that I should keep my life interesting, and surprise myself as much as I can; mix things up to keep the mind young, fresh, and disruptive.

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up".
Pablo Picasso

Pook-a-Looz

While looking for inspirations to make a custom design I came across Pook-a-Looz. It is a Disney Consumer Products line and its adorable. I always loved when Disney would sell the sketch-style Disney books and characters, but now Disney has taken it to another level. Shown above, from a picture of the website, is Woody from Toy Story if you couldn't tell. Visit disneypookalooz.com to see other characters, such as Snow White, Tinkerbell or the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland.

The Sketchbook Project: 2011 » Art House Co-op | We build art projects and communities

The Sketchbook Project: 2011

Amanda Roberts' New Website

I designed a new website for myself! I'm still doing a bit of cleaning but please check it out at amandaroberts.info

Note to self: Change is good and it takes a lot of work to get there.

I started doing websites in 1999. I was doing websites by code, then designing with Dreamweaver, Javascript, and Flash, then with Photoshop and now with Fireworks.

What then took me a month or so to do is now taking me 4 days. Remember, embrace new technology and keep informed. Don't get stuck in your old ways, you may find the “new” is a hell of a lot easier and faster than you ever imagined.

Follow w3schools.com to educate yourself on website coding.

Adobe Fireworks Tutorial - Creating interactive rollover buttons using s...

Today I has doing some updating to various accounts and fell upon Dan Della Vella's Twitter account from Buffalo Design Group (in Buffalo, NY). Dan had a great post for some real fun packaging designs. Click here and check out them out for yourself. My favorite is this Men's Perfume Bottle, as seen above, a concept from Polish design studio Ah&Oh. (image via: The Dieline)
See more packaging designs here from another tweet.



Websites


Today I was looking for ideas for a new website creation; I always start my "website inspirational search" with music artists. I find most artists have fantastic sites that truly pull you in. My favorite of the day is Norah Jones; I think it has to do with the sweet aspect that comes from the hand drawn type. Another favorite is Taylor Swift's site that looks more like a magazine layout with gorgeous photos.

See more webpages: 30 Beautiful websites. I have been staring at this page for two days, making sure I look at each link.