Holiday Greetings from Circle!

For the past few years at Circle, we've sent out inspirational quotes as part of our holiday greetings (Chinese proverbs, ancient rune translations, etc.). This year we've decided to quote a Swedish proverb. I'll be on holidays from December 22 until January 2... I'm not sure how active the blog will be during this time.

Anyhow, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! May 2008 bring you prosperity, peace, love and happiness. Cheers!

'Diorama Model' Photo Effect Tutorial...

Further to my previous post about the work of Ben Thomas - City Shrinker, Flickr user 'hallbuzz.com' has created a tutorial for creating a similar effect using your photo-editing software of choice. You can see the Flickr discussion here and the original tutorial with more examples at http://hallbuzz.com/dioramas/dioramas.htm - thanks to 'hallbuzz.com' for sharing the technique, cheers!

Recommended | R/GA Presents Tattoo Santa...

As a twist to the traditional e-card/holiday greeting, the creatives at R/GA have created an interesting little application (using Flash) that allows a user to select from some predefined tattoo styles/locations, input their own texts/greeting, generate a video and send via email. Quite clever and rather amusing... check it out for yourself at http://www.rga.com/holiday07/ - you'll need to have the latest Flash Player (ver. 9) installed on your browser to view the site properly... enjoy! Via NiceToMeetYou.

COOL! The johnson banks Christmas Card...

The creative team over at johnson banks has really done a wonderful job with their Christmas card this year. From the johnson banks website: The johnson banks Christmas card this year takes the form of trees ram-punched out of magazines and brochures that we found around the office. There’s no point in going green and then merrily printing off some paper based extravaganza, so we set ourself the task of re-using and recycling items that were close to hand.

I really like the idea and commend the creatives for their ingenious use/recycling of materials. See the full story and more pictures here.

Ben Thomas – City Shrinker...

Via Lost at E Minor:
Ben Thomas applies the skills he learned at the International Design and Animation School in Adelaide to make large, wide-angle photos of massive urban landscapes look as if they are tiny dioramas.

It's some very cool stuff indeed. You'll need to have the latest Flash Player (ver. 9) to view the website, check it out at http://www.cityshrinker.com/ - enjoy!

BAD Plastic Water Bottle... GOOD SIGG ?

A lot of attention has been given recently to the on-going debate about the safety of plastics for liquid storage. Particularly with the upward trend of personal water bottles in the urban/work environment. A recent decision to pull plastic water bottles off the shelves by the popular retailer, Mountain Equipment Co-op may be a cause for some concern (or at least your consideration) when thinking about your next water bottle purchase... see the Globe and Mail article here. If you must have a water bottle perhaps you should consider a SIGG bottle... they're Swiss made! ;)

COOL! Handface by Trevor Jackson...

I was recently introduced to the amazing work of multi-talented music producer and designer Trevor Jackson through a profile feature in issue 105 (Xmas 2007), of Computer Arts Projects magazine. One of the featured works that really caught my eye was the photographic work, Handface, for the 20th Anniversary book (BCCK 2007) for the Tokyo Director's Club. You have to see the work to really appreciate it, see Trevor Jackson's Handface here - enjoy!

HOT (or not)! Command Shift 3...

Friend and fellow designer, Paul Kletke recently brought the Command Shift 3 website to my attention. Some of you may remember the popular (and still going strong) website Hot or Not... well, Command Shift 3 is like that but with a slight twist... instead of rating people, you're rating websites. Worth checking out? You decide... see for yourself at http://commandshift3.com/ - cheers!

Learn How to Screenprint Your Own T-shirts...

A great video on YouTube about D.I.Y. screenprinting by the folks over at Make Magazine. Check it out here on YouTube - enjoy!

Recommended | El Negro Magnifico - 'The Place Where Al Dwells...'

I had the pleasure of befriending 'El Negro Magnifico' aka Allan Lorde back in college. Al is an amazingly funny and talented illustrator, as well as an avid photographer and designer. I highly recommend that you check out his blog at http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com/ - 'The Place Where Al Dwells...', where he writes about food, wrestling, illustration, design, "adult material", and other pop culture-type bullshit. Word. =) I'd also recommend that you check out his Flickr posts... enjoy!

Warhol - 'Larger Than Life' at the WAG

I had the opportunity to take in the Andy Warhol - Larger Than Life exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) this past weekend. Warhol's exhibit has over 150 works—silk screen prints, photographs, drawings, and film, plus more. Also on exhibit was PostSecret - over 400 homemade postcards bring together powerful, poignant, and beautifully intimate secrets collected by Frank Warren through his fascinating and compelling community art project. I highly recommend that you take the opportunity to visit these exhibits while they're here. Cheers!

COOL! The Great Robot Exhibition...

There's a wicked post over on PingMag about the Great Robot Exhibition currently being held at the National Museum of Nature and Science, in Ueno, Tokyo. They've got a great review of the exhibition with pictures! Makes me wish I was in Tokyo... personally I find the PBDR (Personal Ballroom Dance Robot) a little creepy. You have to check it out, see the post here. Enjoy!

Recommended | The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard…

I highly recommend that you take about 20 minutes of time and visit http://storyofstuff.com/ - watch the animated presentation with Annie Leonard. The Story of Stuff site was designed by the uber-talented folks at Free Range Studios (you might recall seeing 'The Meatrix'), The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

We all know it's not easy being green, but being aware of the little choices you can make on a daily basis to promote positive change is a good step in the right direction - Cheers!

Wicked Illustrator! 'zakizhang'…

Wow! I've just been introduced to the wicked illustrations of 'zakizhang' (via startdrawing.org), the moniker adopted by Zhang Xiaoke, a 24yr old Art Director from Shanghai, China. He has a unique calligraphic style of illustration, which uses bold strokes of black ink and splashes of vivid colour. It's a very dynamic and expressive style... you have to see his work! Check out more of his work at http://www.cpluv.com/www/blog/zakizhang - enjoy!

Typophile Film Fest 4 (Opening Credits)

I love typography and I love animation. This video created by the BYU Graphic Design students and faculty, is an excellent example of how cool animated type can be... check it out here on YouTube - enjoy!

Globetrotter ECO Car via Inhabitat...

Via Inhabitat: Ever imagined driving in an ultra lightweight, solar-powered plastic car? If designer Harsha Ravi has his way, this will be the future of sustainable automobiles. Winning the conveted Young Designer of the Year award, Harsha Ravi has envisioned a release from dependence on fossil fuels with an emphasis on eco-friendly vehicle technologies and cutting back the weight and bulk of today’s gas-guzzlers. Ravi’s concept uses a carbon-neutral, bioplastic body with 12 percent petroleum-based/88 percent corn-based plastic that reduces manufacturing energy 30 percent. And there’s much more - a zinc-air fuel cell, nano-paper battery, airless tires, nanopaints to absorb solar energy while parked to charge its batteries, and woven seat material. This car is lightweight, functional, frugal - the ultimate “tread lightly” automotive feast for the environment-savvy consumer... (view the original posting on Inhabitat)

I think it's a great idea and I completely encourage the designer's forward thinking... although, I do have some doubts as to the practicality of the design in environments as extreme as the Canadian Prairies (hot, dry summers and freezing cold winters). I'd be interested to see how an actual prototype vehicle would perform under conditions that normal vehicles would have to endure on a regular basis. What do you think?

Aesthetic Apparatus: "How we do" on YouTube

A cool video on YouTube (albeit the sound is a little annoying), by the talented folks at Aesthetic Apparatus. Check out the video here - enjoy!

Via H&FJ | Hoefler & Frere-Jones blog

COOL! TypeFlash...

Via Veer: The Skinny: Péter Vajda has enabled anyone to mash together motion, color, and type with the aptly named Typeflash. Clean and concisely arranged, the abundant array of variables and options contain hours of potential twiddling. Via Type for you.

I've only spent a few minutes playing around with it (I created a new header graphic ;P) but I would agree that there is hours of potential type-twiddling fun to be had - enjoy!