The Girl Effect...

A nice website link and typographic intro video (embedded above) to share with you all today. When you have a moment, go take a look at http://www.girleffect.org/ - a link posted to the GDC Listserve by designer, Danielle Autran. I think it's quite nicely done... a good use of typography, music and Flash(?) IMO, what do you think?

Thanks for posting the link Danielle - cheers!

Guess Who's 21 (+9 Years of Experience)?

On this day, in 1978 I was brought into this world. Where does the time go? I guess that the saying is true, time flies when you're having fun (this past decade has been a real blur). In light of the occasion, I decided to Google, 'Thirty'... the results of which you can see here (web results) and here (image results). Thanks to all who've sent Birthday wishes... now, To Infinity and Beyond! Cheers!

Image via Amaztype, a neat little Flash application that searches images on Amazon and generates a composite graphic (I've blogged about it here before).

On this day in 1953...

On this day, May 29th in 1953 the first (documented) successful ascent of Mt. Everest was completed by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (along with their expedition crew). An amazing feat to say the least, given the climbing technology and gear available to them at that time. Since then, numerous attempts have been made to reach the summit of this formidable mountain... not all have been successful and not everyone comes back alive... just thinking about it, makes me yearn to throw on the ol' climbing harness and hit the rocks/local climbing gym.

You can read more about Mt. Everest, the attempted ascents and more on Wikipedia, here. Check out a 3D panoramic view from the top here (you'll need the latest Flash Player version installed in order to view it) - enjoy!

The above image is from Wikipedia and is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. Photo by Pavel Novak - cheers!

COOL! PSYOP - Adidas "Together"...

The incredibly talented folks over at PSYOP have gone and outdone themselves again with their latest project for Adidas. Working with the agency TBWA/China they've created an amazing piece called "Together", it's the anthem spot for a four spot campaign... the concept, Olympians literally being supported by their countrymen. You have to watch it! See more of PSYOP's works on their website at http://www.psyop.tv/ - cheers!

Via Motionographer... see the original post here.

Recommended | Ian McCausland...

Ian McCausland is an extremely talented, multifaceted commercial photographer based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I've had the pleasure of working with Ian on a few occasions and every time he delivers amazing results. Ian is currently preparing for his trip down to San Fran for MacWorld 2008 where he will be documenting all the cool, new stuff for New Media Manitoba.

Keep an eye on http://newmediamanitoba.tv and Ian's blog for all the coverage... visit Ian's blog at http://www.ian.mb.ca - while you're at it you should also check out his website at http://www.ian.ca and his Flickr photos (amazing would be an understatement). Cheers!

More Wicked Typographic Animations...

Further to an earlier posting I made on cool typographic animations, I've come across a few others which are worthy of your viewing attention. One of which is by Brian Cain (a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology) where he animates Vince Vaughn's "Perfect Girl" monologue from the movie, The Wedding Crashers. It's quite well done in my opinion... check it out here via Motionographer - be sure to check out the other examples on this page as well. Enjoy!

Via Armin at Speak Up.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

Wicked Illustrator! Eric Feng...

I was recently re-introduced to wicked illustrator Eric Feng's work via NOTCOT: I have long admired Eric Feng’s (aka Feric) illustrations. His work is gorgeous - a mixture of real and imagined and of natural and mechanical. I love the fantastical, mechanical anatomies of his characters, and how you are given a peek at what is beneath through transparent layering. Limited edition giclée prints of Feric’s work are available at his online store. They are fairly pricey for a digital print, but I could almost be tempted because I love some of his pieces so much (“Roda. Continue” - I’m talking about you!). Worth checking out at the very least!

I couldn't agree more! Check out his amazing work at http://www.feric.com/ - cheers!

COOL! Animated Typography...

Designer Daily has a neat posting about cool typographic animations. Check it out here. Via Veer: The Skinny - Note: the page might take a while to load due to heavy traffic.

Marian Bantjes - Design Matters Live with Debbie Millman Video on Zoom In

Via Marian Bantjes' website:
A video of Debbie’s Design Matters Live interview with me, which took place in San Francisco, September 2007, is now posted on Zoom In. The video is a compilation of the live event, and a backstage interview with me; skillfully put together by Rachel Talbot and her team at Magnet Media. Thanks to all, and love to Debbie. (I’ve had some trouble buffering the movie; my advice is to start it, then pause it, go away for half an hour, then come back and watch the whole thing without interruption.)

Enjoy!

COOL! Women In Art - YouTube Video

Very cool video on YouTube showing an evolution of women in portraiture over 500 years. Check it out on YouTube here.

Via Robert L. Peters' Blog.

FITC Road Show - Winnipeg 2007

Winnipegger's, don't forget that the FITC Road Show is coming to Winnipeg this Saturday, November 17th. A number of excellent speakers are in the line-up. There is a full-day workshop planned for November 16th as well. For more details visit the FITC Website. Cheers!

GRAPHEX 2008 Website Now Live!

The GRAPHEX 2008 website is now live. This year's theme and call for entries was designed by the talented folks at Rethink Communications. GRAPHEX is an Icograda-endorsed national design competition that has been celebrating the best of visual communication in Canada since 1977. The primary goals of GRAPHEX are to promote the value of design to the Canadian public and business community - Good Design Is Good Business- and to create an archive of Canadian design for future generations to reflect upon and study.

For more information or to enter the competition visit http://www.gdc.net/graphex - better hurry though, deadline for entries is November 23, 2007!

Make My Logo Bigger Cream...

This link was sent to me by a number of people (thanks!), so I thought I'd make a post about it... it's sad but true (in many cases). I'd say that it has to be one of the most common client requests... check it out at http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/ - enjoy. ;P

Audi R8 - If only I had a million dollars...

Damn. This is one sweet ride... the Audi R8. The R8 microsite is pretty slick too... worth taking a look at! Check it out here. Now, if only I had a million dollars... actually in this case, it's closer to $150,000(+).

COOL! 'Best Web Gallery' Website

I mentioned Best Web Gallery in my previous posting about Nick La's, Web Designer Wall. Best Web Gallery is an inspirational gallery site where they've collected a wide range of quality design websites (Flash & CSS), blogs and resources. Beside the gallery, they also have extra side notes, where they post interesting URLs, resource links, and any design related news. I noticed a lot of cool websites that I had only seen recently were already in the gallery... go check it out at http://bestwebgallery.com/ - enjoy!