http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/atom_2967.xml 2007-04-11T15:27:01Z Expressions Photoblogging http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/222522 lor 2007-04-11T15:26:54Z 2007-04-11T15:26:54Z I've decided to start a 'proper' text blog. LorissaShepstone.com was sort of just sitting, doing nothing, but I now have some better plans for it and so begins a new blog - one that will hopefully be updated more frequently. Yes, yes, I know you are probably shaking your head or rolling your eyes knowing you've heard this before, but I just might surprise you! http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/221854 lor 2007-04-08T12:46:42Z 2007-04-08T12:46:42Z One of my all time favourite videos. Now, I'm off to buy some chocolate and not feel guilty about it at all. http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/218846 lor 2007-03-24T14:45:17Z 2007-03-24T14:45:17Z On a personal note: This past Monday, a friend and a woman I truly admired for her work with animals, Sara Whalen, passed away. She was the founder of a no-kill animal shelter in NY, Pets Alive, and was an amazing person. I've never known anyone to love animals as much as she did and someone who was willing to give everything to her cause. She will be missed dearly. She is survived by two sons, and many animals that were in her care and only alive due to her love and courage. If you are ever looking for a good cause to support, please consider Pets Alive. They need it and I can assure you the support goes directly to helping every animal they can. Now, the political bit. many of you may not know about the situation in Zimbabwe - a country riddled with problems, the largest being their tyrant leader - Robert Mugabe. There's a lot I could say about this, but the video below reveals much more than I can explain. Please take a few moments to watch this, perhaps even follow-up with some reading on what's going on, and spread the word. As a South African, I am embarrassed and ashamed at South Africa's 'quiet diplomacy' attitude in the face of such horrific injustices to human rights. Hopefully, we can all spread the word and speak loud enough for people to take action. Zimbabweans have had enough and are now fighting for their freedom. (To post this video on your blog, and I urge you to do so, grab the embed code from YouTube) For more in depth information on what is going on in Zimbabwe, the Sokwanele blog, 'This is Zimbabwe' has some interesting first-hand articles and links to many other resources. http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/210803 lor 2007-02-14T11:50:04Z 2007-02-14T11:50:04Z I've been battling the flu for the last few days so I've been a bit out of it, and way behind on emails, work and posts. I did want to take a minute to mention the winners of the 2007 World Press Photo Contest. Some of these images are incredibly powerful and some quite heart-wrenching. They are all really interesting. I admire photojournalists for the work they do. Many of them put themselves in situations most of us would never dream of being in, and all of them are able to capture such fleeting moments - many of which truly bring out the character of a person or situation. These photos are well worth the time. http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/209846 lor 2007-02-10T14:37:53Z 2007-02-10T14:37:53Z It's great to read an article that takes something usually rather negative and puts a positive spin on it. In this case, it's the bad client. Designers are all well aware of the 'bad client' - we've been there and can all share a story or two. Jamie Huskisson writes about the positive aspects of a bad client - it's worth reading and remembering that in any situation, there is something good to take from it. Point 5 is especially true. http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/209473 lor 2007-02-08T13:10:08Z 2007-02-08T13:10:08Z It snowed! I'm one happy Pea. Yayness! http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/208720 lor 2007-02-04T18:09:27Z 2007-02-04T18:09:27Z When I started up this blog I mentioned that I would be talking about Vividry. I haven't done much posting here, and in fact I seem to be posting more at the DV blog than anything, but I thought I'd chat a little about Vividry - specifically the logo. I've already shared the logo with folks on the Expressions Google Group so it won't be something new to many, but I never really went into how it came about, so here's a little background and even a sneak peek at it in the system. Often designing for yourself is the hardest thing to do - we are all our own worst critics, right? So, when I sat down, many months ago, to design the new Vividry logo I was a tad apprehensive. I was full of high expectations. I knew the logo had to meet the following: I didn't want it to be 'in your face' photography-related so that meant no to cameras, focus points, view finders, lenses etc. I even steered away from anything circular. I wanted the logo to be 'fresh', natural...almost organic since Vividry came about as a natural growth from Expressions. I wanted the icon element of the logo to be able to stand on it's own without the textual element. I wanted something elegant, but still fun. Nothing too formal, but nothing child-like either. I started by sketching some ideas on paper and then trying some of them out in Illustrator using just greys (colour would be introduced later) and a standard font. Below are just some of the ideas (trust me, there were many) and as you can see, I soon start deviating into the 'natural' zone. I immediately preferred two of the ideas and started working with colours and fonts. I knew I wanted blues, but the other colours were still up in the air. Expressions uses a very bright green and orange, with touches of blue. I wanted to perhaps keep within the same realm, but tone down the colours to something more natural, and have blue as the focus colour. Below are the ideas and some notes about them. Although I rather liked these, I still felt the icon was a little 'off' so I played with my other favourite to see how those would turn out... After some team chats, we decided on using the above for our logo, with the potential for using the blue and green option for future versions. We have some big ideas and this gives us the opportunity to keep a tight branding, but still expand. Although the logo will often be used on a white background, this isn't always going to be the case, and in fact isn't the case in the new Vividry system. Here's a sneak peek at the logo in action within Vividry: One thing I can say, is even after all these months, I am still pleased with the result (something rather rare for me). http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/206825 lor 2007-01-26T01:31:38Z 2007-01-26T01:31:38Z As a designer, I spend most of my day being creative or - on a bad day - trying to be creative. It can often be draining and because of that, lead to procrastination (which is never a good thing when you have projects to get stuck in). Although, that being said, procrastination can sometimes be what helps you stay creative - a bit of a catch-22 some days. Thanks to LifeClever, I came across FlexTime. FlexTime is a great little app (mac only) and the procrastination hack is an easy to way keep your creativity going. It gives you 10mins of hard work time, followed by 2mins of play time. I found this works brilliantly for creativity, unless I get on a real run and can just keep going. The 10mins is spent completely focussed on what I am doing, and I can take a 2min breather to check email, grab a cup of coffee, or just stand up and stretch. http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/205522 lor 2007-01-19T01:36:17Z 2007-01-19T01:36:17Z I'm a great fan of HOW Design (I've even got a subscription) but their latest Special Issue on Typography was a bit of a disappointment (well, one aspect anyway). On ripping open the packaging to start flipping through the mag, I noticed the cover sliced down the center with a tempting 'Are you ready?' sticker in the middle. To add to the mystery were some arrows with 'This could create a sense of intrigue' pointing to the seam, and how right they were. My first thoughts were that this was a very clever way to highlight some interesting article, or something regarding Typography that would be helpful, enlightening, informative- in the very least, I expected something other than what I got - an ad for Epson printers. Now, don't get me wrong, the ad was nicely done, and I have nothing against Epson...but I was just..well...let down. I felt mislead. Don't I pay enough for all the ads in the magazine? Do I now need to have a cover that is just hiding yet another ad? I understand that the ads keep the mag going, but do they really need to use the cover as a way to grab attention...only to try and sell me something? Perhaps my initial let down is just getting to me. Part of me applauds them for grabbing my attention, but the reality is I spent 0.5 seconds looking at the ad before I closed it and moved on, all the while feeling a little miffed. Advertising is a tricky medium. We want to grab attention, and keep attention. http://apparentlynothing.my-expressions.com/archives/2967_1582222816/203927 lor 2007-01-11T11:49:38Z 2007-01-11T11:49:38Z I knew a designer who had this stuck on the wall near her desk: Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two. It’s a good thing to remember. A project can be good and cheap, but it won’t be fast. It can be cheap and fast, but it won’t be very good. Or, it can be fast and good, but it won’t be cheap! It’s often difficult to communicate this to a client though, and not because they are trying to get something more out of you for less, but because in many cases they just don’t understand the work and time involved. Some things that look easy, aren’t and other things that look complicated, may not be. It’s up to designers to talk with their clients and educate them on the process, the requirements and the best solutions. We can’t just assume everyone is on the same page and understands the ins-and-outs of what it takes to go from concept to final launch. It’s all about communicating, right? And if all else fails, just pick two.