So I lied, I said I would put something up yesterday, but I slacked. Well you can't call it slacking, I was playing Mario. So I had objectives and goals, that's the same as work right?

In celebration of my obsession with Mario, I found this awesome design. Apparently I am a bit late on the game though because apparently it is crazy hot right now and all over the place.

It is by Glenn Brogan and is up for voting over on Split Reason to have it made into a t-shirt. There was also talk of maybe trying to do a print of it. My opinion on that? Awesome! BUT, and this is the big BUT, do not make a giant 18x24 poster of it. How about a smaller art print? That is one reason why I dislike threadless' prints so much, they are all 18x24. Well, that is pretty big, takes up a lot of wall real estate and you can only put up so many large posters before it looks like a dorm room. So I vote small sized art print, 8x10, 11x14 something in that general vicinity. Not a weird size either so that you can easily get a frame for it (but this goes on to my general rambling about this kind of stuff, so I will cut it short.

So, for the short story, awesome illustration, hope it wins, make lots of moolah, and now I shall go back to controlling an italian man and make him do my bidding.

[via Sprite Stitch]

The presents are unwrapped, the pie is gone, the turkey has been destroyed. I hope you all had a great Holiday.

New Post coming later today (trying to not be lazy while I relax at home this week, although the new Mario game has been taking up a lot of my time...)

Really loving the feel of these posters. These were designed by Mihail Mihaylov for the lounge / funk / nu-jazz band "Free Will Society".

Great use of color. I am always a fan of grey and a bright color, but then you add in last years Pantone of the Year (yellow) and Teal, this years POTY (ha, just noticed that basically says "potty"), and you've got a winning color combination. Never hurts to throw in a yellow/green another favorite.

There is some other great work on the site too, go check it out.

Thanks for entering everybody. The winners were randomly selected Friday night and I have started to contact the winners.

If you haven't gotten an e-mail from me yet, no worries. Each winner gets to choose their prize out of the remaining prizes. So, I have to wait for each previous person to respond and choose their prize... not everyone is so quick on the e-mail, and I will make it through the list as fast as I can.

As an additional rule, if I do not hear from you within 72 hours about your prize, I am going to move to the next person on the list, otherwise it could take weeks or months to get to everyone. If it reaches the point where I haven't heard from you in a week, you forfeit your prize and I will randomly select someone to fill your spot. Not the most fun rule to implement, but I do feel that it is needed.

Thanks everyone for participating

*if you noticed all the comments missing, don't worry. Since I used an external comment system for it, and wasn't a big fan of it, it has been disabled, and I now get to put all of your fantastic comments back in by hand...

Last Day

to enter the holiday giveaway.

It's the time of the year, and I wanted to make all of your seasons a little more jolly. I've put together a little Holiday Gift Giveaway. So this is my gift to all of you .

Here is how it works

1. Leave me a comment (comment link is above by the date or below the post!). To make it a little more interesting tell me what your favorite Pantone color is and why (and if you don't know what your favorite is, or what a Pantone color even is, just go with your favorite color and then go research Pantone because it is a good thing to know about)
2. Make sure you leave your e-mail address with the comments, this is how I will contact you, they won't be shared with anyone. No e-mail No Prize
3. Winners will be selected by a Random Number Generator. First winner will get their choice of prize, second gets next choice, etc.
4. I send you out your amazing prizes (magazines will be subscribed to for you)!

Sorry for the weird comment form on this one, it is the only way I can get it to collect your e-mail address so I can actually contact you. I will most likely turn it off since it is making my blog a little less then beautiful.

So good luck, pass the link on to your friends, and have a great holiday season

Contest is Open until Friday December 18th 5:00 PM EST

* One entry per person. Contest is ONLY open in the Continental United States, sorry Hawaii, Alaska & International!

Prize #1
Pantone 388c Coffee Mug

Prize #2
Readymade Magazine 1 Year Subscription (6 Issues)

Prize #3
Wired Magazine 1 Year Subscription (I know this is an old issue, but I like Jenna Fischer, you will get new ones)

Prize #4
A-Frame Blockprint

Prize #5
Yeti Blockprint by Gregory (in Brown/ Terra Cotta NOT Green)

Prize #6
2 French Paper Cat Notebooks (1 Black and 1 Orange Sorry, NO blue)

Prize #7
Moleskine Cahier Kraft Paper Pocket Sized 3 Pack.

So I don't know if I can tell the future or what, but the Pantone Color of the year for 2010 is Turquoise (PS that is the link as well, since my links ARE turquoise)!

If you look around the blog you might see that is a pretty prominent color around here (1 of 2 I use besides white). When I was designing the blog I started with grey and yellow (which I think yellow was the 2009 COTY) because I loved those 2 colors together, but for some reason it wasn't working. So I switched over to turquoise, and now it's the color of the year.

Should I play the lotto tonight?

Holiday Giveaway

Just wanted to give all of you a heads up that next week I am going to start my holiday giveaway. Stay Tuned, it should be up Monday!

Well I Braved another Renegade Craft Sale. Sadly, I think my review goes the same way as the Summer/Fall edition: Not enough Parking, Way (WAY!) too many people.

My wife and I headed up to Chicago this past weekend for the sale and then to do other various shopping in the city. This sale was at the Pulaski Park fieldhouse, not too far from the other sale. Once again it is in an area with somewhat non existent parking. It would help to hold it in a location that could account for the huge amount of extra cars. Possibly somewhere near a garage. I know this may take away from the small intimate craft fair vibe, but it doesn't have that feeling at all, it is huge and out of control.

In the building there were so many people you could barely move. I hardly looked at anything because I would have had to shove my way through women and children just to see something. Being a kind of large guy that is often frowned upon. The music was too loud, and just basically too much of everything.

The one booth I did stop by was the Delicious Design League. I was able to chat with them for a few and pick up this great poster I featured before. Other then that I didn't stop much. I hoped something would catch my eye and I would have to check it out, but nothing did.

So, in conclusion, I've tried both editions of the Renegade craft fairs in Chicago, and I don't know if I will be going back. Just too much hassle for hardly any pay off.

P.S. A type to most parents out there (especially hipster parents). I know I am not a parent yet, but when a location is that crowded 1. Do not let your child wander aimlessly 2. Do not bring your giant, ridiculous stroller that probably cost more then 2 months of my rent, please instead bring the little travel strollers and help everyone out.

As an update to the incredible Neutraface Video. You can head over to their blog Jark and Mason and download the mp3. Yes, I have downloaded it. Yes, I am listening to it right now.

Are you going to be in Chicago this weekend?

If you are, stop by and checkout the Renegade Holiday Sale. This weekend, Dec 5 & 6, from 11-7, at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse.

From what I learned at the summer event. There will probably be NO parking... But they are offering a trolley service around the Wicker Park area to the fieldhouse, although there really isn't any parking in the Wicker Park area... It is also really near the blue line, so you could take that as well.

I will hopefully have a full report on it next week.

Buy Handmade!

This is beyond amazing.

This video really says a lot about designers:

1. We have too much time on our hands
2. We don't just love typography we are IN love with typography
3. Designers still like beards
4. Maybe we don't have so much free time, but we would rather do this kind of stuff than sleep.

So watch it and love it.

"Gill Sans the G is whack when it's in lower case. Avant Garde you me me hard, like Helvetica you've been played."

That last part is so true, one of the main reasons I don't like to use Gill Sans

Lada Gaga HD Poker Face video if you somehow have no idea what the reference is here (because you have been on some kind of island with no internet).

Thanks for finding this Tina

[via swissmiss]

Do you ever have an experience with a client that just leaves you without words. Something they did or said is just beyond comprehension? Something that leaves you thinking "Holy Sh*t I can't believe they just said/did that!"

That is where Clients from Hell comes in. They describe themselves as A collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers." However, I think that translates if you have anything to do with the design world, your schedule just got booked for the afternoon.

I've included a few of my favorites just from the first page, go check it out and read to your heart's content.

Can you move that logo up 1/63 of an inch?

-------------------------------------------

The art director had flown from the UK to Florida to take a shot of a beautiful old Ford Mustang. Back in the UK, the account manager says the client is unhappy with all the palm tree fronds.

Account Manager: “Couldn’t we just photoshop some of them out?”

Art Director: “Well, it’s not quite as easy as that, because if you look at the shot, there are reflections of the palm fronds in the car’s glistening bodywork. They’ll be harder to remove.”

Account Manager: [Slightly bewildered] ”Yes, but if you remove the actual palm fronds, then the reflection of them will disappear too.”

-------------------------------------------

I received a call from a prospective client yesterday. I knew it was going to be a long conversation when the first word out of her mouth were, “I’m not going to lie, I’m bipolar, but I’m taking medication so I should be able to get through this phone call.”

So after reading all of these. the real question is... Do you ever have the opposite experience? That something so incredibly good happens you can't believe it. Sadly, I think it is weighted Pretty heavily in the opposite direction.