November 7, 2011

Lately, I have been reading a lot of content on The Four Hour Workweek blog. You can choose to criticize or appraise Tim Ferris. That is not what I intend to discuss. I believe that we are put on this earth for a purpose. If you are religious then you believe in fate. Now, I don’t believe in fate because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my own life.

It is my conviction that we each control our own destiny. On my facebook profile you can see that I am a very creative individual & I post a lot of inspirational photos that inspire me. I was on the Abduzeedo blog looking at Typography Mania and I came across this picture in reference to the passing of Steve Jobs.

This particular quote made me think of a line that I heard in a track by Y Society entitled “This Advice” Insight opens up on the beautiful production by Damu and says, “What are we here for?/ There must be more than grades or scores/ Obeying laws, staying employed, confrontational wars/ Some are sacred and pure who remain poor/ Where’s the golden doors?/ Some feel they’re open ’cause they slowing our shore/ When hope was the cure many ignored through the Betty floors/ Steady jobs, lost marriage, divorce, grownups immature/ The core of the problem is a mystery / Decisions affect history/ Persistence leads to victory/ Some wish to injury/ These kids we don’t relate to – but what does it mean?/ Hip-Hop connects us yet it’s strange / That respects change/ Ask ‘em what they want to be when they grow up / Who molds them? ‘It’s outta control’/ Is what they say to themselves when they get old/”

I meet lot of people who all vary in opinion. I don’t think that working more or working on behalf of others is altruistic. I do believe that we live the most fulfilling moments of our lives inspiring others and doing what we love to do. At the moment, I have no place to go. I don’t have anything except for my creativity. Is it because I refuse to work to acquire wealth for someone else? No, of course not. I am a graphic designer. I will always utilize my creativity towards my advantage. Everything begins with choice. I choose not to love my craft and to spend as much time as necessary doing what I love to do & vicariously inspiring others. When no one wanted to give me an opportunity I chose to create an opportunity for myself. I may not be where I plan to be ideally, albeit, I know that time will come. I’m on the pursuit of happyness.

One of the most inspiring stories that I have is the story of Chris Gardner, Entrepreneur & CEO who describes his story in “The Pursuit Of Happyness.” This is a true testimonial to those who don’t believe. If you are dedicated and you work towards your ideals no matter what anyone else says and if you have belief then you will succeed. I’m asking you to believe. Not only in my conviction to bring about metamorphosis. I’m asking you to believe in yours. The will is everything. You don’t have to be a hero to feel invincible. Creativity Takes Courage. Here are some tips on how you can improve your productivity and be on your way to living a fulfilling lifestyle

Bolster Your Creative Output By Activating Your Red Zone
A Manifesto For Free Raducals Less Paperwork Less Waiting More Action
Ending Business As Usual 10 Insights On Rethinking Work

October 27, 2011

With the recent changes in a stagnant economy are designers the new catalysts of American Entrepreneurialism? According to Bruce Nussbaum Designers are merging their ways of thinking with startup culture. The result, writes Bruce Nussbaum, is greater innovation and astounding VC success rates.

If any of you are familiar with basic economics then you know that wealth is created by production not consumption. Wealth has to be created. “The people who create wealth are the farmers who grow the wheat for the dough and tomatoes for the paste; those who harvest the milk for the cheese; the food processors who turn raw commodities into pizza ingredients; the entrepreneur who comes up with idea to sell pizza; the bank that decides to invest capital in a pizza store; and the delivery guy who brings the pizza to your door. Each of those actors creates wealth. Consumers then destroy the wealth that was created (in this case by eating the pizza).” – brian Stow In order to grow America needs a catalyst of startups.

Designers are emerging steadfast and more companies are being created now than ever. The  advancing desire among designers to bring their user focus, specific expertise, and propositional thinking to the ancient techniques of startups promises to be a welcomed metamorphosis.</p><p> This is especially the case with IDEO. A design & consulting firm in CA who take a psychological personal approach to design.  “The emerging trend represents a headlong crash of creativity into capitalism.” Today’s most innovative start-ups are successful because they’ve learned to think differently & creative. More and more agencies are turning to user experience designers as they want to engage their audience in a more creative way.

Uncertainty and ambiguity are directly linked to the part of our brains where fear and anxiety are active.  This makes the creative process difficult and taking risks towards innovative ends frightening. Creatives need to become entrepreneurs to inspire greatness in others.  “All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it is Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright Brothers, they all think, act, and communicate in the same way and it is the complete opposite to everyone else…”  Simon Sinek explains his theory on how great leaders inspire action. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action The encouraging news is that we are seeing an emergence to capture the imagination and energy of a new generation of young designers & creators.  You don’t have to be a hero to feel invincible. Creativity Takes Courage!

For further reading: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665120/designers-are-the-new-drivers-of-american-entrepreneurialism

http://capitalismtoday.blog.wku.edu/2010/03/15/production-not-consumption-creates-wealth/

September 11, 2011

For my monthly freebie I decided to do something different. I was listening to Enter The 36 Chambers and I suddenly felt inspired. With all the tumultuous talk of the economy and the U.S. being in such a massive debt I thought it would be unique to touch on the topic utilizing my creativity. I thought of the acronym C.R.E.A.M & then it hit me. Here I present to you Rich Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly mascot) re-imagined. Enjoy!

Feel Free To Download Here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MPCHGI7Q | http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4WGB2FB9 | http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WS2VRYL0

July 27, 2011

 

I have been very busy and I have not had the time to update my blog, but now I have some time so I am taking this opportunity to give back. I am making a free calendar for August for all the Leos that are celebrating their birthday.  The wallpaper will also be available in all sizes according to your desktop or laptop. Thank you for all of your support. You don’t have to be a hero to feel invincible. Creativity Takes Courage! 

April 16, 2011

The odds were against Nary Manivong. His parents abandoned him and his three siblings when he was just 14 years old, and he found himself homeless on the streets of Columbus, Ohio fending for himself.

“The first place I slept was at a donut place,” he said.

One day he came across a copy of Vogue magazine and knew instantly he wanted to be a clothing designer. Making pieces out of scraps, he cobbled together his first show at 17 in Ohio but knew he had to get to NYC to make his dreams come true.

After several trips to New York, he secured a backer and debuted at New York Fashion Week in 2005 to much praise. He seemed well on his way to success until his investors pulled the plug, and he was once again left homeless and destitute. )WWD reports that Manivong is back and showing his latest collection — a collaboration with Ally Hilfiger — at the upcoming New York Fashion Week).

The Documentary, “DRESSED” is a compelling story of a young clothing designer, Nary Manivong, who defied the odds of a broken childhood and homelessness to reach his ultimate dream, a show of his collection at New York Fashion Week.
A truly inspiring story that unfolds against the backdrop of the fashion industry in New York.
Woven within his story are accounts and commentary from leading fashion industry experts, students and designers who relate their own perspectives about what it takes to make it in the highly competitive world of fashion.

“Dressed” is a documentary that traces the steps of designer Nary Manivong through exactly this process. The kicker, though, is that Manivong was abandoned by his parents when he was 14 and was forced, with his brothers and sister, to fend for himself while growing up homeless on the wrong side of the tracks in Columbus, Ohio.

The film follows Manivong as he struggles to pull together his first Fashion Week presentation by working two jobs and relying on the generosity of his network of friends.

“Dressed” also examines the struggles young designers in general go through and features interviews with such fashion types as Paper magazine’s Mickey Boardman, Simon Collins from Parsons the New School for Design, Barneys New York’s Simon Doonan, fashion consultant George Furlan, “The Fashion Designer Survival Guide” author Mary Gehlar, designer Nanette Lepore, consultant Fern Mallis, Robert Verdi and more.

At a screening of the film at New York’s Soho House hosted by Tommy Hilfiger (his daughter Ally is starting a contemporary fashion business with Manivong called Nahm), Manivong admitted the process of making the film was challenging.  “This shows that you can be a self-taught designer and succeed,” Tommy Hilfiger, also self-taught, mused to StyleList.  Dressed directed and produced by David Swajeski and executive produced by Maryanne Grisz, was released Feb. 4 in New York City, Feb. 18 in Philadelphia, and Feb. 25 in Columbus, Ohio. You don’t have to be a hero to feel invincible. “Creativity Takes Courage.”

Fore more additional info.  http://www.dressed-themovie.com/

October 3, 2010

I was searching for successful marketing campaigns online to get inspiration for what I wanted to do to reinvent myself.  I came across this ingenious article by Andrew Kelsall discussing how he came up with his marketing campaign to garner attention using SPAM. In today’s society, it is my conviction that in order to survive you have to get creative. Regardless of you work 9-5 or you are seeking employment it is vital to utilize your imagination. You must adapt to change. Hopefully, this article will inspire you as it did me . . .

This article is dedicated to the Blog Action Day Poverty Fund as part of the Jacob Cass Group Writing Project, together with a PayPal donation. The proceeds go directly to the fund to help stamp out World-wide Poverty. You can visit the official Blog Action Day site here.

Now, for the article…

Image copyright here

A few years ago, when I left the Coventry University School of Art and Design, England, I landed a freelancing contract just a few days after returning home. How? I quite literally spammed some design companies!

STAGE 1: POSTING TINS WITH NO EXPLANATION

The first stage of this marketing campaign was very simple. I posted out empty tins/cans of SPAM meat in the post. After eating the SPAM (it tastes OK on a sandwich — there’s millions of staving people out there, I wasn’t going to waste it), I targeted a few design companies that I would like to work for and stuck a stamp directly onto the cans with their addresses and posted them. Yes, that was it. Just an address with no explanation on the tins.

I repeated this process over several days, until each company I targeted received about 5 tins through the post. Here in the UK, if you post something with a stamp on it, and it’s not hazardous, the ‘posty’ has to deliver it, so the SPAM got through okay.

My hope was for staff at the targeted design companies to ponder the meaning of the SPAM tins. I hoped it would create discussion between team members, with bemusement with each and every can posted to them. I anticipated reactions like this:

What the heck is this? Another tin of SPAM…this is the third one this week! What’s it all about?

Hay you guys, does anyone know who posting this SPAM? If someones playing a joke on me, which one of you is it?

Well, I found out later than I did promote discussions like this…read on…

STAGE 2: POSTING A SPAM-BRANDED FOLDER WITH MY CV

After I had finished posting of the SPAM cans, I waited a day or two, then sent out a folder showing a tin of SPAM on the cover stating “You’ve Been Spammed” (shown in the image below).

The folder was about A5 in size and opened up like a four-page brochure.

When opened, my covering letter and CV (printed on A4 paper) were folded in half and tucked inside the mock-up SPAM can, as shown in the three images below.

This folder was designed to put to rest all discussions and curiosities surrounding my “Spamming Campaign”. My covering letter contained this text:

Title in Spam-Shaped box at top simply said: What?

Dear Sir/Maddam

I am a recent graduate from the Coventry University School of Art and Design seeking employment. As a former student, I’m hard-up and living off SPAM — so your Post-Box has been Spammed rather than your In-box to let you know who I am!

Ok, I’m not really living off SPAM, but I am looking for a job in a company such as yours in this region. I believe that I could be a benefit to you and your clients…[and so on].

STAGE 3: THE JOB OFFER

Well, those curious reactions I was banking on to land me a job was a reality. I was invited to do various free-lancing work at Wobble Design Ltd in Leeds, UK. When I went to work there on the first day, the design team told me the reason I got the job was for my ingenious marketing campaign. They said they were curious to the reasons they was receiving my little empty cans of tin meat, and it promoted many discussions between them and the architecture firm next door!

So, if you’re wanting to stand out from the crowd, be different and do something unusual. If you want a Graphic Design or any other job, just be creative, be different and set yourself apart from the crowd. You never know where it will lead you.

But if you’re fed-up with hearing about SPAM, heres a lovely photo for you instead. Enjoy!

Image copyright here

Have you marketed yourself in an outreagous manner? If so, did it get you anywhere? I’d like to hear your stories…

September 12, 2010

The themes from ThemeForest posted this week are, as the previous set, classy and well cropped. The simple but fancy line is still present, with quaint variations from now on, or designated attributes which outline the line of focus: either a corporate, personal, elaborate or a minimal design; all of them fitted  approaches for blog or web pages themes which are desired to be easy to maneuver as well as to admire by visitors. Pages load easily and are pleasant to the eye without exposing it to an exaggerated amount of visual stimulus.

Moreover, the theme presented speaks not only for the user, but also for the designer, as an appanage or symbol of its personal brand. Here after, a series of such themes have been selected, starting from the smooth and elegant views drawn in pastel or just “simply” minimal to the more laborious or a bit extravagant ones.

Enjoy the collection and feel free to use any inspirational ideas you might encounter, either as a support to your own vision, either as a ready for usage material.

Tesigner2 – Beautiful HTML – Download

Breeze – Professional Corporate and Portfolio WP – Download

Optimus Theme – Download

Design Lovers – Download

Corporate Works – Download

Duotive ONE General Purpose WordPress – Download

Innovative Shop – Download

Pang – Business, Portfolio and Corporate Template – Download

Quad Template NewsBlog and Product Catalogue – Download

Rockfolio One Page Portfolio Template – Download

Sliding Content jQuery Portfolio (5pg) – Download

Watecolor WordPress – Download

Zeguma Professional – Advanced Theme – Download

Simplicius Simplicissimus Universal WP3 – Download

Enfolio – Premium One Page HTML – Download

Orange Theme – Download

Cars Dealer WP3 Edition – Download

Toronto – HTML-CSS – Download

Softshell – Unlimited colors. Great video support – Download

PixelCreative – Clean Corporate Template – Download

Melani Sub Rosa – Download

Loopback – 9 in 1 – Portfolio-Business Template – Download

Olive Business & Portfolio WP CMS Theme 15 – 1 – Download

OPAtheme – Download

Retro Mail – Download

August 18, 2010

Sebastian Krüger

• Link: http://sebastian-kruger-news.blogspot.com (blog)
  www.sebastiankruger.com (official website)
  Unofficial gallery site
  Exhibitions
  publications
  Article on Empty Kingdom
  Bio on Wikipedia

August 18, 2010

I’m not sure if many of you have heard of Drew Struzan. Does the name sound familiar? You may not know the name, but if you are at least 25-30 you will definitely recognize his work. He has done illustrations for some of the most epic movies within the last century which include, but are not limited to Indiana Jones & The Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Star Wars, Coming To America & Back To The Future . . . to name a few. These are some of the most phenomenal illustrations that I have seen. This is the true definition of an artist. This is a once in a lifetime talent. We have come to the age where most people have come to utilize technology to the point where it is almost required to do any type of design or illustration work. It all begins with natural talent. The programs, albeit amazing should be second hand to the pencil and pad. I would encourage you to visit Mr. Drew Struzan’s portfolio for a great quantity of marvelous works, with the prospect to buy his original pieces. Our legacy will live on through our art. If you haven’t seen these movies then you should probably watch them as soon as possible.

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Coming To America

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Batteries Not Included

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Cutthroat Island

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
The Goonies

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Back to the Future Trilogy

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Back To The Future III

(variation of the original poster)

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan Big Trouble in Little China

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Blade Runner

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
First Blood

(Rambo)

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Hellboy

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Hellboy II the Golden Army

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Hook

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Lonely Guy

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Masters of the Universe

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Meatballs III: Summer Job

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
The Name of the Rose

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Pan’s Labyrinth

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Police Academy 3: Back in Training

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
“Revenge of the Jedi”

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Star Wars Trilogy

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
The Thing

One of the Greatest Illustrations in History by Master Drew Struzan
Three O’Clock High

August 5, 2010

I hope all is well and I hope everyone is having a wonderful day. Today, I have decided to share this phenomenal tutorial from VTC.com You can read further info at their website. Without further ado, I bring to you . . .

The Virtual Training Company (VTC) started in California’s Silicon Valley in 1996.

VTC grew quickly over the next three years and relocated first in 1999 to the beautiful town of Winchester, Virginia. In 2005, the company migrated to Stephens City, Virginia.

The company was founded by British born Mark Vernon who started producing CD-based training for Apple software. The format on the CDs – narrated QuickTime movies that take a user through the steps of learning complex software applications was very well received. Soon after, VTC began producing training for Windows software.

The VTC Online University went live in 1999.

In the last few years, VTC has opened offices in UK, Australia, France, South Africa, and India.

The company continues to expand by consistently producing affordable training materials for computer software.

VTC has also developed a fully fledged Learning Content Management System (LCMS) for improved content delivery, delivered as either a hosted system or as Open Source (eduslide.com).

VTC is truly a company made up of individuals who are here because we choose to be here. We are all having the time of our lives and we are glad that you are with us.

VTC.com – Ad0be Illustrator CS5 | 443 MB
Genre: eLearning

Adobe Illustrator CS5 is the latest version of the industry standard vector drawing application. Now with new features such as the Perspective Tool, the Bristle Brush, Beautiful Strokes and new drawing modes, there are more tools than ever for the creation of stunning art. Professional illustrator, television animation art director and writer Dwayne Ferguson takes you on an in-depth look at Illustrator CS5, taking you through the tools you’ll need to master it quickly. The end of the course includes three fun yet practical hands-on projects. Work Files are included.

Part 1.
Part 2.