Holiday Greetings, from Circle!

Holiday Greetings!, originally uploaded by Adrian J.K. Shum, CGD.

From all of us at Circle - Merry everything to you and yours!! Cheers!!!

In lieu of the traditional, Circle has opted to distribute holiday greetings electronically (past cards drew from Chinese proverbs, ancient rune translations, etc.). This year's message was written by Robert L. Peters.

Seasonal Wishes from Circle...

Circle2011_SeasonalWishes, originally uploaded by Adrian J.K. Shum, CGD.

Wishing you hope, peace, love, joy, and the very best for 2012 (the year of the Dragon)!!!

In lieu of the traditional, Circle has opted to distribute holiday e-greetings (past cards drew from Chinese proverbs, ancient rune translations, etc.). This year's message was written by Robert L. Peters.

COOL!!! Canadian Recording Artists Stamps - Series 3...

Canadian Recording Artists Stamps - Series 3..., originally uploaded by Adrian J.K. Shum, CGD.

While I typically refrain from blogging about the design work that I do at Circle Design Incorporated, this is one of the few times where I break those rules... as I feel it's a privilege and honour to be able to design stamps/philatelic materials. ;)

The latest set of commemorative stamps we designed for Canada Post were launched today in Toronto, ON.

The limited edition stamps and philatelic materials (official first day cancellation [OFDC], self-adhesive booklets, postcards, etc.) will be available as of today, in post offices across the country and online via the Canada Post website - for more information visit www.circle.mb.ca - Cheers!

*P.S. - For my friends who were in the know, this was the main reason for my visit out to Ottawa, ON back in February, as hinted in this photo I posted to Flickr - feel free to check out the rest of the photos I took during that trip, here - enjoy!

*P.P.S. - Have a great Canada Day long-weekend!!!

Happy Holidays from Circle...

All the best wishes to you and your loved ones for a happy holiday season, filled with love, laughter, and good times!

For a number of years now, Circle has distributed holiday e-greetings (past cards drew from Chinese proverbs, ancient rune translations, etc.).

May 2011 (the year of the Rabbit) bring you prosperity, peace, love, and happiness. Cheers!

Warm Wishes from Circle...

Holiday greetings! May your holiday season be filled with much warmth, love and happiness! Cheers!

For a number of years now, Circle has distributed holiday e-greetings (past cards drew from Chinese proverbs, ancient rune translations, etc.).

Recommended Viewing | Sheeeit... An Excremental Exegesis (a Short Guide to Comparative Religions)

A while back, I was involved in creating this little gem... with tongue planted firmly in cheek (of course). Read more, here. Enjoy! ;)

To Winnipeg Beach...

This past weekend included a trip out to Winnipeg Beach, and a visit to What? Clay Art & Curios , the studio of talented ceramist and artist, Evelin Richter.


The weather cooperated fully, as it was a beautiful summer weekend (I passed through a number of localized thundershowers on the way out, but nothing that lasted very long).


Highlights from the evening (aside from the good times with great food and friends), included a visit to the Fishfly Gallery, a glimpse of the 'Boardwalk Days' festivities and catching up with Ev on what she's been up to... learn more by visiting http://www.whatclayart.com/ - cheers to Rob and Ev for hosting the evening!

Read my previous blog posts about What? Clay Art & Curios, here - enjoy!

GDC National AGM Winnipeg 2009...

A warm welcome to all the GDC National Executives, Chapter delegates and representatives from affiliated associations who arrived in Winnipeg for the GDC National Annual General Meeting.


The GDC National AGM will be held in Winnipeg from 23-25 April. The AGM kicked off Thursday evening at the Red River College Princess Street Campus, which saw the delegates give their chapter reports. It's great to see and hear about all the exciting things that are happening across Canada... I'm looking forward to a lively weekend of debate, decisions and discussions. It'll be nice to reconnect some familiar names to faces, and some familiar faces to names... ;)

Look for pictures from the AGM to appear on Flickr, here - enjoy!

Image: Adrian Jean (MGDC), for the first time on record, a representative for the GDC Members-at-large was in attendance at the National AGM.

And (Ampersand)...

Ampersand... an experiment in ceramics - a collaborative, typographic, art piece made by the talented hands of ceramist Evelin Richter (What? Clay Art and Curios) and Circle colleague, Robert L. Peters.

From Wikipedia:
An ampersand (&), also commonly called an 'and sign', is a logogram representing the conjunction "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and". Read more on Wikipedia...


Close-up detail...

Sweet. 'nuf said. Thanks to Rob and Ev! ;)

Cheers!

Spring is in the Air...

Well, you know that spring is just around the corner in Winnipeg when (said with tongue-firmly-in-cheek):

- the potholes out number the cars on the street
- sidewalk pedestrians are seen doing 'the shuffle step'
(both to avoid slipping on icy sidewalks and all the other crap that surfaces when the snow melts)
- the GDC Manitoba e-News arrives in your inbox... ;)

The GDC Manitoba Chapter proudly presents the first inaugural edition of the GDC Manitoba e-News. Put together by the exceptionally talented, designer, illustrator, photographer, blogger-extraordinaire, Jeope Wolfe (MGDC, GDC Manitoba Chapter Communications Chair), this issues covers a wide range of articles/topics...


...such as Rob and Ian's recent trip up to the high artic for a photo-shoot for The North West Company.

Check out the e-News for yourself, here - enjoy!

Cheers!

Recommended Viewing | 2008 GDC Manitoba Chapter Annual Report...

The 2008 GDC Manitoba AGM and Graphex 2008 exhibition was held yesterday evening at the Park Theater. In case that you missed it, pictures from the event have been uploaded to the GDC Manitoba group pool on Flickr and a PDF version of the annual report (designed by Jeope Wolfe, MGDC and Communications Chair for GDC Manitoba) has been uploaded to the GDC Manitoba Chapter website.

Visit the Manitoba Chapter website to download a PDF copy of the annual report, here - enjoy!

Thanks to my fellow Board Members/Executives for an awesome two years, to those who are leaving, you're contributions will be greatly missed! For those who decided to stay, and the new members who decided to step-up, I look forward to working with you over the next two years. Cheers!

GDC Manitoba 2008 Annual General Meeting & GRAPHEX 2008 Exhibit...

Join us next week Wednesday, January 28th for the 2008 GDC Manitoba Annual General Meeting! Once again, the AGM will be held at the Park Theater on South Osborne.


This year we're presenting the Graphex 2008 exhibit. Come see the best of the best of design in Canada. The exhibit will only be on display for the one evening - so don't miss out! You can also view the Graphex 2008 winners online at http://www.gdc.net/graphex/winners/ - enjoy!

GDC Manitoba Chapter attendees who have paid their membership prior to the meeting will be entered into a draw for a $200 gift certificate for Future Shop.

When: January 28, 2009, 7 pm
Where: Park Theater, 698 Osborne Street

For more information, please visit the GDC Manitoba Chapter website at http://www.gdc.net/chapters/manitoba/ - I hope to see you there! Cheers!

FYI...

Since MUHSASHUM was featured as a Blogger Blog of Note, I've experienced a huge spike in traffic, reader comments (which I have to moderate now... see below) and new followers, with that being said, I felt I needed to clarify a few things:

1) I don't post everyday, although I try my best... I do back-fill posts when I have time (this post would be an example), as some posts take longer to write than others.
2) I appreciate all the comments I get and try to answer any questions ASAP - I don't appreciate SPAMMERS... ;(
3) I enjoy porn as much as the next guy, but I really don't need or want any sexual/penile enhancement products nor links to 'something I might be interested in' - get a life! ARGH!
4) Thanks if you're one of the many people who send me cool things to look at, or blog about... I appreciate it.
5) If you haven't yet, please check out some of the recommended links, blogs/RSS feeds I've got in my sidebar navigation. If you enjoy my blog, then I'm sure that you'll find something amongst the links that you'll like.

Cheers!

Recommended Viewing | www.wulffmorgenthaler.com

Last week at Circle, we had the pleasure of having Lana Wagner Plant working with us—Lana was a visiting Danish designer from Krogh&Co in Copenhagen. Lana, who just recently returned to Denmark, sent me a link to www.wulffmorgenthaler.com - online since 2002, described as a commentary on life: politics, news, entertainment, technology, culture and weirdo beavers... (Lana says, "just for a bit of a laugh - Danish humour").


There are some real gems in here... ;) and there's a lot to browse through, being a daily strip and all...


Thanks for sending me the link Lana! Check out the site for yourself at www.wulffmorgenthaler.com - enjoy!

Visit c!rcular online to read more about Lana's visit and other Circle related news - cheers!

Graymatter Graffitti – Reading and Signing at McNally Robinson, Grant Park

Yesterday evening saw the talented poet, Sam W. Reimer in-town to launch his book, Gray Matter Graffitti (designed by Circle), with a reading and signing at the Prairie Ink Restaurant in McNally Robinson – Grant Park (Winnipeg, MB).

Gray Matter Graffitti is a compilation of some 200 poems written by Sam W. Reimer, and edited by Robert L. Peters. I've blogged about it previously, here.


Sam read a number of poems from the various chapters within the book...


...which followed with a book signing.


In case you missed out, you can watch the embedded video of the poet reading 'The Relay' (from Backroads Magic) above, or on YouTube, here - enjoy!

FYI, Sam will be touring Manitoba for a short visit, with readings/signings in Morden and Steinbach to follow later this week. For more information visit www.samwreimer.com - cheers! Go Sam!

National Digital Media Day – Inaugural Celebration at Pastry Castle...

Yesterday evening marked the inaugural debut of National Digital Media Day, which saw members of New Media Manitoba, the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (Manitoba Chapter), Flash in the Peg, and the International Game Developers Association band together to celebrate at the Pastry Castle in the Exchange.


Kevin Hnatiuk of New Media Manitoba was on-hand to welcome all the guests who turned out to the event. Kevin, along with his volunteers played a huge role in organizing the event.


The Honourable Jim Rondeau (Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mines), made a brief presentation, welcomed the enthusiastic crowd, and introduced the keynote speaker, Robert L. Peters. The event wouldn't have been possible without the Ministries' support so, many thanks!


The keynote presentation, by Robert L. Peters, FGDC was entitled Do the Thing Right.



Rob's quote-filled, Do the Thing Right keynote presentation was very well-received (you can see more random images from Rob's keynote via the GDC Manitoba Flickr Group, here).

People stayed afterwards, had a few beverages, mingled and chatted on the patio (all the while, enjoying the beautiful Fall evening)... a good time was had by all. You can see more images from the event via the GDC Manitoba Flickr Group, here - cheers!

Recommended | National Digital Media Day

Join New Media Manitoba, the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (Manitoba Chapter), Flash in the Peg, and the International Game Developers Association as they band together to celebrate the first ever, “National Digital Media Day.”

Itinerary:
7:00 pm Mingle
8:00 pm Rob Peters' Keynote
8:40 pm DJ Lil'Phil

Tickets are $5 per adult and includes two drinks and cheese. Cash or cheque made out to New Media Manitoba will be collected at the door.

Date & Time: Thursday, 25 September 2008, 19:00 — 23:30
Location: Pastry Castle Cafe
237 McDermot Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
Canada
http://pastrycastle.ca/

Registration Deadline: Thursday, 25 September 2008 (register early as space is limited - register here). Hope to see you there - cheers!

A Trip to Winnipeg Beach...

This past Saturday during the Canadian Labour Day long-weekend, I took a trip out to Winnipeg Beach with some friends to partake in the second half of the seventh annual, self-guided, Wave Artists' Studio Tour. Specifically, to pay a visit to ceramist, Evelin Richter's studio (What? Clay Art and Curios, pictured above).


Right beside the doorway to Ev's studio, hung this awesome metal sign... ;)




The studio interior was full of items on display for the Wave Tour, sadly I didn't photograph them as I was too busy admiring them with my own eyes... I did manage to snap some pics of the artist's work station(s) though. ;)


Pictured above is a collaborative birdhouse / bird-condo project constructed by Rob and Ev using found materials.


Due to scheduling conflicts, we unfortunately weren't able to visit any additional artists... instead we opted to wade around for a while in the surf along the beach (regular visitors to Winnipeg Beach are sure to recognize the iconic water tower seen in the background).


This macro/detail shot by Raelene, is of the interior of a ceramic bowl that Raelene bought during our studio visit... while it doesn't do the piece justice, it does give one an idea of the amazing texture, colour and finish one could expect to encounter from Ev's ceramics.

If you're interested in seeing more of Ev's work you should take a visit out to the Fishfly Gallery in Winnipeg Beach where she has some of her work on display.

Well, it was an enjoyable Labour Day long-weekend (with a few unexpected twists ;P), I hope you all had a nice one! Cheers!

COOL! 'Word Clouds' via Wordle.net

From the Wordle website:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

...great fun IMO. You can either enter in text yourself or submit a blog/RSS feed for the Java applet to draw from. Visit http://wordle.net/ to learn more, or to make your own "word cloud" - enjoy!

"Word cloud" image created using the Wordle applet and text from Circle's website. You can view the image larger on my Flickr, here - cheers!

Worldwide Identity – Inspired Design from Forty Countries reviewed by Maggie Macnab on DT&G...

The book, Worldwide Identity – Inspired Design from Forty Countries authored by Robert L. Peters and designed at Circle has received another positive review, this time from Maggie Macnab on DT&G. Here's an excerpt from the review:

There is more to being a designer than using tools to re-form and regurgitate our thoughts. There is more to design than balancing concept with execution. Design is intent: the process of understanding relationships and making choices based on that knowledge.

We make our thoughts real when we put them into the world, and they give us back the world we live in. Worldwide Identity – Inspired Design from Forty Countries is thoughtfully written and concisely edited by Robert L. Peters, beautifully designed by his team at Circle (Winnipeg, Canada), and published by Rockport in partnership with Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations).

Read the review in its entirety on DT&G, here - cheers! :D