Tag Archives: Studiothink

MOCA OPENS THIS FRIDAY!

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The Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art is on the move. This Friday, January 20 from 7–9pm, MOCA will be open its doors to the public at its new location in Cleveland’s emerging Uptown District. Located at the intersection of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue the new MOCA will be hard to pass by without a second look.

The new MOCA, designed by Farshid Moussavi of Foreign Office Architects, is leading the way in Case Western Reserve’s collaborative urban-revitalization project. The hexagonal shape at the base evolves over four stories into a square at the very top. The unique geometry is given form by black stainless steal, tinted and transparent glass. The varying trapezoid and triangular exterior walls lean in and away from the base, creating reflections of both the street below and sky above. Positioned among the University Circle’s academic life and cultural organizations, MOCA is certain to provide a new energy and life to the community.

Though contemporary art can, at times feel, aloof, strange or hard to relate to, the interior of MOCA has been designed to be as inviting as possible. There will be no charge for entrance to the first floor, as visitors are encouraged to gather, eat, shop and absorb all that MOCA has to offer.  For a modest fee, guests can explore the remaining three levels of exhibition space. The new MOCA is an exciting opportunity for the greater Cleveland community to experience local, regional and international art exhibitions.

For more information on upcoming events, follow this link to MOCA’s homepage.

Humblepied

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Mig Reyes is an interactive designer at Threadless and an instructor at the Chicago Portfolio School. I stumbled upon his interview at createthemap.com (which is totally worth the 9 minutes). After watching his interview I found my way to his site, Humblepied.com

Humblepied is a collection of short interviews–conducted by Mig–of creative professionals offering advice to young and old creatives alike, all via ichat. As its name implies, it is humbling and inspiring to see what these seasoned veterans of the creative industry have to say.

As a recent graduate, I am all too familiar with all of the fears and anxieties that come with developing a portfolio, graduating, and jumping into the “real world” with a life-time of work in hand, searching for someone who will give you a chance to do the great work you know you can. Luckily, I found Studiothink, or was it Studiothink who found me… either way, I’m very fortunate and thankful to be working with these awesome creative professionals.

I wish I would have known about this site several months ago. These short videos are great sources for inspiration, and offer a chance to hear the thoughts and philosophies of people we may never meet. Mig has done the entire creative community a great service by bringing all of these people together in one place.

If it were my turn to be interviewed on Humblepied, I’d say this to help get through those months of anxiety leading up to graduation:

If you’re there right now, or approaching that time period as this semester ends and your next (or last) begins, believe in yourself, know who you are and go after it. And if you ever find yourself at a loss (as we all do at some point), check out humblepied.com for a few words of wisdom, guidance and support.

10,000 Lakes, 10,000 Logos

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As a creative agency, we like to recognize others in the industry who are doing something out of the box that shows off their talents. Nicole Meyer is one of these individuals.

Nicole has started a project called Branding 10,000 Lakes (an ambitious project might I add) that does exactly what it says: Brand 10,000 Lakes. Every day, Nicole designs a logo for each Minnesota Lake, an undertaking that will take 27 years to complete! Her inspiration stems from the fact that she feels most lake logos tend to be unappealing, and so she has made it her purpose to change that.

I’m not a designer, so a concept like this is a bit foreign to me, but I am a writer, and I would imagine something like this would be similar to writing a page or a chapter in a book every day, for 27 years –(that would be one long book)—which would be hard to do, because sometimes your creative wheels just aren’t spinning, and  so called “writer’s block,” or in this case, “designer’s block” sets in. So I find it really fascinating that every single one of the lake logos have turned out simply amazing. She’s done 100 so far and still going strong.

I applaud Nicole for her ingenuity, motivation and passion for what she is doing. She’s a motivation to all of us in the creative industry, whether designers, writers, illustrators, etc. Check out Nicole’s page here and tell us what you think!

Cinemagraphs

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Motion picture? Kind of. But not the kind you are probably thinking of.

Not a Hollywood motion picture—they’re not movies or animations. They’re literally a picture that has motion.

Let me demonstrate:

 

See what I mean?

Through a partnership that has changed the way we view still photography, Visual Graphics Artist Kevin Burg and Photographer Jamie Beck created/invented cinemagraphs, which are essentially animated .gif files. The duo takes a simple still photograph, and enhances it with movement through separate animation of multiple frames.

 

Pretty neat, huh?

While some people have viewed animated .gifs as a step backwards in the way technology, animation and design have advanced, this duo has given new meaning to the technique, and brought about a trend that is both artistic and revolutionary.

Personally, I think these moving pictures are amazing. The subtle movements and creativity are genius, and give the viewer the impression they are looking at a real-life image instead of a still photo. And I think we all crave this sort of photography—we want to see our photos come to life. Just look at the Harry Potter books—all of the portraits and photos move and contain glimpses of reality.

It could just be my personal opinion, but photos contain real meaning and memories for a lot of people. To be able to animate them to show life, is something extraordinary. Just imagine what this form of photography could do to everyday photos if we could all animate them to recreate what happened in the photo? The possibilities are endless.

Check out more cinemagraphs and read more about the process here, then tell us what you think! We’d love to hear your personal opinions on this topic.

-Britni

Does Cleveland Rock?
Is Cleveland a Plum?
Are you down with C-town?

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Studiothink Banners

How do you express your Cleveland Pride?
We want your best Cleveland-focused quote, quip, limerick, haiku, muse…however you want to say it – just say it!

Studiothink is hosting a “Cleveology” quote contest from September 16th through noon on November 1st.

We’re proud to have our roots and branches planted firmly in Cleveland – and we know that whether you were born here, transplanted, in school or just visited once or twice – Cleveland grows on you pretty quickly. The word on Cleveland is spreading and eliciting big interest (hence the “ology” part) and we want to continue to get the word out.  We’ve got great people, culture, cuisine, location, business, sports, weather (really!!), Cleveland’s got it all in a package that just keeps getting better and better.  Show your knowledge about all things Cleveland by entering our “Cleveology” quote contest.

Here’s the deal:
Post your cheeky, cool, clever, creative, quirky quote about Cleveland.  Please make it positive – and refrain from posting something that would make a sailor blush.

The winning author will receive a “Cleveology” prize pack, and their quote will be made into banners that will hang in some great places around Cleveland.

We’re also going to design a very cool t-shirt using the winning quote that will be available for purchase with proceeds going to local charities. Finally, we’ll be hosting a party where the guests of honor are the top five vote-getting quote authors. We’ll announce the winner and reveal the banner and t-shirt design at the party which will take place just after Thanksgiving.

Get your creative Cleveland juices flowing and leave your ideas under this post!

fine print:
1. Must be a quote about Cleveland
2. Must be posted under this specific blog post as a comment
3. Let’s keep it positive – wit wins.
4. Judging will be the task of a panel of really smart and creative Clevelanders.
Judges’ decisions are final.
5. Multiple quote submissions are welcome (and appreciated!)

National Awards for Studiothink!

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Studiothink recently won several awards for our creative and strategic marketing materials created for CommuniCare Health Services, a client that prides itself on dedicated and compassionate service in rehabilitative and nursing home environments. We’ve created materials that portray the passion our client has for treating the elderly in a way that is both engaging and meaningful.

The National Mature Media Awards is an awards program that recognizes the best and most creative materials created for individuals ages 50 and over. It’s the largest program of its kind, accepts materials for 32 categories and awards recognition in the levels of Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit. This year, there were 1,000 entries competing for recognition.

Awards were received for photography, commercial, logo and brochure work done for our healthcare client, and we are excited and thankful for this achievement!

Chalkboard Calendar

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If you work in an agency, design studio or marketing department, you know how important it is to make deadlines as well as keep your creative juices flowing. Here’s a project that involves some do-it-yourself, and will enable you to keep track of appointments, meetings and deadlines in a unique way. And, if your office needs some sprucing up—this should do the trick.

Make your own chalkboard paint by following this recipe and how-to, and paint a chalkboard calendar on your office wall. You can create any color you want, and customize your calendar to suit your personal style. It’s a way to have some fun while getting organized—and you won’t be staring at a desk calendar with blocks too small to read your own writing in.

Happy crafting!

-Britni

AIGA Action Alert

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Below, is an e-mail I received from AIGA. For all designers out there, I hope you are as disgusted with this as I am. It’s these type people that trivialize our profession and belittle those who have dedicated their lives to design.

—Alex

ACTION ALERT: Check LogoGarden for identity work stolen from you

A website promoting access to “do-it-yourself logos for entrepreneurs” starting at $79 has copied logos and other images created by designers and displayed them as LogoGarden founder John Williams’s own work for sale, without the original designers’ permission.

Bill Gardner of Gardner Design, who found more than 200 of his own designs offered on the site, has documented Williams’s outrageous and unethical behavior on the blog Rock Paper Ink, including examples of the slight modifications of well-known logos like the identity for World Wildlife Fund and Time Warner Cable.

Williams has made slight modifications to many of the images, presumably in an attempt to avoid claims that he infringed on the original designers’ copyright rights, although these modifications are not enough to avoid liability for infringement of the creator’s rights in the underlying works. It may actually increase Williams’s liability by demonstrating his willful copyright infringement.

We believe the most powerful response we can make as a community is to demonstrate the profession’s outrage and the threat of clients’ legal action, if the rights to the design belong to the client. Several legal actions are already in process.

Your course of action, immediately:

  1. Check logogarden.com for your own work using the “try it free” button.
  2. If your creative work has been misappropriated, contact Williams (see below), contact your lawyer, contact your client and have your client contact his/her lawyer to make it clear that this is a violation of copyright law.
  3. If your work is on the site, contact Williams to make it clear that this represents illegal, unethical behavior; that it fails the basic test of decency, common sense or business acumen; and that it also exposes his customers to liabilities for copyright infringement.
  4. Send a copy of your correspondence to copyright@aiga.org.

Three possible addresses to use for your correspondence:

LogoGarden, LLC
1011 Centre Road, Suite 322
Wilmington, DE 19805

John Williams
230 Halmerton Drive
Franklin, TN 37069

Email: service@logogarden.com

This is an issue that affects us all and is such an egregious case of violating creative rights that we must take action.

Sincerely,

Richard Grefé
AIGA executive director

Coke Freestyle

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I stumbled across the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine today and am so excited to try it out! First, I have to find one, because unfortunately, there aren’t any machines in my area. You can, however, go on Facebook and request that one be put in your area, so I just might have to do that.

The Freestyle machine is revolutionizing the way restaurants and shops provide soft drinks. With over 100 flavors and the touch screen option, you can customize your own drink. Data, such as top flavors will be sent back to Coca-Cola for  analysis.

Imagine, all of your favorite drinks and flavors in one place—the possibilities are endless. Read more about it!