Oftentimes when designing for a business or individual, we designers are given guidelines, or specifications to work off of. In this case, I was asked to design a business card for someone who had decided to begin promoting her consultation services. It was what I like to call an “anything goes” project because I was given zero specifications. I was unaware of which colors she liked or the styles she was attracted to… nada. All I was given was her contact information, and that she wanted to list her specialties somewhere, perhaps like a watermark. This was quite the challenge, but it was very rewarding in the end… for both of us! read more »
I have not been living in the San Francisco for very long so most of my notions about particular neighborhoods are preconceived and derive from my more SF-native friends. read more »
The first thing that I realized I loved about the city of San Francisco was the many many unique store front signs. There is a significantly smaller number of chain stores and franchises in the city (versus the suburbs of Southern California), so it is quite the treat for we design folk who really appreciate good branding or just refreshing imagery in our surroundings. Ahhhh. Take a nice big breath of the fresh Noe Valley air and let’s explore the signage (and really pretty architecture!) in my neighborhood. It’s the signage that you meet, when you’re walkin’ down the street… ok, I’ll stop now. read more »
One of my favorite bands lately has been Faded Paper Figures. Lil Miss Cathy told me about them a handful of months ago and I have been in audio bliss ever since. The vocals, sound mixing, and dynamics are all so amazing and heavenly. The lyrics are clever as hell, and take me back to my college days studying film theory.
Anyway, we heard that they were playing a show at Slidebar in Fullerton, so of course we went. I had never been to Slidebar before and read some horrible reviews on yelp, so I was expecting to hate the place. My impression of the venue was quite the contrary! Perhaps it had to do with the lineup last night? The crowd was not at all “bros and hos” as reviewers described it to be. The bouncers were fine, the crowd was cool. Everything was A-OK.
Moving on, when we arrived, a young lady by the name of Stacy Clark was playing. It was just her vocals and guitar but we were instantly fans. Her lyrics were relatable and her voice was very original (slightly reminiscent of Sherri DuPree of Eisley). Cathy and I talked to her a bit after the show and purchased her album Apples and Oranges. That was $5 well spent! I think it’s available on iTunes as well. I listened to it on the way to work this morning, and so far my favorite track is Hello Again. It’s one of those songs that makes you feel like it was written about you, or, I guess, about me. I recommend this album. And check out the cover art! So beautifully done.
Next up was our beloved Faded Paper Figures, except the announcer called them “Faded Paper Fingers.” I thought that was funny.
John of Faded Paper Figures posing for the camera!
The band played an amazing set. It’s always a great experience finally seeing a band live that you listen to almost everyday either at work or on the road. It’s like finally meeting a friend you’ve been getting to know online. It’s a nice feeling.
They played a great show and I hope that they continue making great music and playing together. Also! I recommend their album Dynamo. Available on iTunes (I currently have it on my iPhone. I loooovveee it.)
So! Regarding my last post about the supposed Jakes show at eVocal – we ended up leaving after the first act. Sorry! We left early for several reasons. First of all I must say, eVocal as a space/store/venue/gallery was great. Here are some visuals:
Aside from the well designed/organized environment, I shall explain why we left pretty early:
I’m old, and need my beauty sleep. I overheard someone from the Jakes say to some guy “We’re going on at 9:30,” to which I said to myself “Oh hell no, it’s Tuesday, that’s late.“
I felt like I was in an episode of Laguna Beach. I was surrounded by blonde, tanned, and Hurley-clad teens and started getting flashbacks of awkward high school moments. To add to this, these kids were obnoxious. I’m all for young people coming out to support local artists/musicians, but I was sleepy and not having it.
There was a teen couple grinding next to me… like… really? Control your hormones, this is not the Boogie, or whatever club the kids are going to these days.
The opening band Dolphin City was projecting video onto the wall behind them. That’s cool. I can appreciate that. Except for when the video is of a woman having intercourse, and the camera is focused on her face the whole time. That was a little disturbing and distracting. I had to situate myself so this tall guy’s head could block the sight of her face.
And there you have it. Oh! But I did get my breakfast burrito, and BELIEVE THE HYPE. It was excellent.
In other news, a few weeks ago I googled “Project Runway” to see if Lifetime has updated it’s site with new contestant information for the Season 6 premiere on August 20th. To my dismay, they had not. A Lifetime site didn’t even show up in the search results (I looked through page 5), until today. Their SEO department needs to get on top of optimizing Project Runway… as of today, the Lifetime site shows up on the 3rd page of the google results. No bueno, Lifetime. BravoTV still comes up at the number one spot. Blogging Project Runway wrote a nice memo a month ago regarding some issues that they had, which is a good read, and they make some excellent points. I know, as a HUGE fan of the show, I like to read some show teasers before the new season airs. So far, they don’t have much to offer. Although, their site is nice to look at…
AND I’m excited about Models of the Runway, a show that will air at 11pm right after our beloved PR, giving the viewers a glimpse into the world of the PR models. Unfortunately, there is no link where I can read more about this on their site. Lame! I guess I will just have to be patient. Hopefully Lifetime understands how important this show is to its fans and will be either equally or more awesome than Bravo. Only time will tell…
