Posted by Angel Ratcliffe
After coming back to the office on Monday morning, all I could say was, “WOW!!!” The Creative Coast Alliance really knows how to throw an awards show! Unless you’re talking about the Oscars or the Academy Awards, award ceremonies fall among the list of events that most dread attending (not as bad as visiting family members you don’t know, though less anticipated than a company picnic). Unless you’ve been nominated to win something, all you can hear is your brain saying: “Oookay buddy… just read through the award winners so we can all get out of here.”
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Posted by Andrew Davies
We had a great time last Friday at our joint event with the TCCa, celebrating our Open House/7 year Anniversary party with some of our closest friends, clients and family. Many thanks to Brynn, Fitz and Leigh of TCCa for putting this on for us, Leopold’s Ice Cream, Back in the Day Bakery and Cha-Bella for the delicious treats, Le Chai for the vino, and to everyone who came and made the night such a special event. And now that we’ve had the weekend to recover, here are a few pics.
Cheers mate!
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Posted by Susan Isaacs
A few days ago, we had the privilege of sitting in on the final presentations of Sustainability Design, a new class being taught by Scott Boylston at SCAD.
The focus was the branding and marketing of the Trustees’ Garden, including its 9 acre plot of land (now being developed as an organic garden, headed up by Farmer D with participation from Union Mission), The Trustees’ Market (which features local farmers, music, food and art) and the Charles H. Morris Center.
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Posted by Andrew Davies
The tidal wave of Green-related events, articles and other resources keeps piling on, and it’s beginning to feel like it’ll take a full-time job just to keep track of them all. The most recent ones to come across our short attention spans are Greengaged, a series of workshops, exhibitions and classes being put on by the Design Council in the UK.
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Posted by Andrew Davies
To say that Charles Landry is excited about city building is an understatement. He entertained and informed a standing room only crowd last night at the Trustees Gardens’ Charles H.Morris Center with stories, case studies and ideas from cities around the world. Interestingly enough for a talk on urban planning, charts, graphs, figures and statistics weren’t center stage. Instead, we were treated to a rapid-fire delivery of remarkable photos from his travels as he passionately argued for the necessity of embracing the Creative Economy.
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Posted by Andrew Davies
No Rain or Thunderstorms can Stop a Party Here, especially a free one!
We’ve been having a few sever thunderstorms here over the last coupla days. But in spite of the rain, we were still able to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of our Hispanic neighbors, put on display this past weekend on River Street.
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Posted by Andrew Davies
Always trying to learn from mistakes (and recovering from getting stuck in DC for a day) I had time to reflect on the last few days and here are just a few of the pearls I’ve gleaned from my recent trip to the How ‘08 conference in Boston.
1. Know Thy Limits. Don’t overload your day. You want to maximize the amount of info you get since you’re paying all that $$ after all, but remember the ADD and small attention span you normally have at work? Well it’s still there even when you’re at a special event.
2. Build in some time to explore the city you’re in, especially if it’s your 1st time in that city. Again, you spent all that $$ on airfare, why the heck not? I spent my last day in “Bahstun” roaming around the North End and soaking up the ambiance.
3. Have an exit strategy. Now I know why the front rows were so empty in most of my sessions. If you picked the right conference, more than likely they’ll have a lot of overlapping sessions that’re interesting to you. If you’re not sure if a session’s going to be worth your hour or so of precious attention, sit where you can make a inconspicuous exit and try and catch that other session that looked interesting.
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Posted by Andrew Davies
Ah that familiar feeling.
The end.
It’s a weird emotional ride that How’s Editor expressed so accurately… “it feels like the end of Summer camp.” The new friends you’ve made, the shared experiences, feeling of community. You almost don’t want to leave.
But alas, all good things…
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Posted by Andrew Davies
The Best Party I’ve been to in a Long Time
Last night was the Black & White Ball.
What can I say? Sushi, live Music, dancing, good vibes… what more could you ask for?
The Banner says it all
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Posted by Andrew Davies
10 Secrets of Typography
Well it turns out there are only 4. But the error’s easily forgiven since Allan Haley from Monotype brought a ton of useful tips and examples on how to woo your audience with type.
The basic run-down flows like a mating ritual:
Get Noticed
Romance the Reader
Be Provocative
Build Commitment
He had tips like:
embrace “white” space
play with punctuation
create shapes and games to involve the reader
create clever crops
supersize it (but be careful with serif fonts)
use a non-font
hold attention by making paragraphs short and columns narrow
be consistent (especially applicable to multi-page documents)
sweat the details like rags, kerning and character usage
In short, build a relationship with the reader and somehow make it fun.
One of the many examples Mr. Halley delighted us with
Now the learnin’ part of today’s over for me, I might take a nap before tonight’s Black & White party. Yeah right! Apple store here I come!
