Original by The Knife
Cover by Jose Gonzalez
Cover by Scala and Kolacny Brothers.
Lately I’ve been discovering new music on YouTube and Myspace (check out the new Sigur Ros album “Heim/Hvarf”). “Heartbeats” originally by The Knife has been on repeat since this morning so I thought I would share. Usually when bands cover a song they lose whatever quality made the original song great, in other words they butcher the hell out of it. But these three different musicians/bands took the song and owned it. You can say one version is more to your taste but I think the genres are so completely different that they can’t be compared. Listen for yourself.
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Check out Linzie Hunter’s sweet “Spam One-Liners” illustrations on Flickr.
“Request” a short film by zefrank
Spam or brilliant copywriting? You decide. (Plus Monty Python’s Flying Circus Spam skit.)
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Not me! My website. Inspirationalminds is now 58acres and with this brand new name comes a shiny new facelift. I’m still in the process of adding new interactive projects from this past year as well as all the design endeavors I’ve undertaken. While the portfolio side may look sparse now because I weeded out anything I wouldn’t marry, stay tuned for new projects and a new rockin background. I’m not going to give it away but it’s sweet.
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Yes, it is true. Much to my astonishment when I searched my name in Google my website showed up on the first page. Why am I so surprised? “Jessie White” is probably right next to “James Smith” as the most common name in America. Other competition for “Jessie White” results on Google include a tumbling team, a fashion designer, a model and a historic person. And out of 25,500 results found in .22 seconds, it’s pretty cool that I came up #9.
It is especially surprising because my website is 110% Flash and not in any way search engine optimized…until now. Word on the street is that Google can now index flash files, along with PDF and DOC files and dynamic content. What do you think of that Cory?
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I’m out of excuses. Freelance Switch’s “29 Simple Ways to Become a More Environmentally Friendly Freelancer (+ Help Us Donate $500 to Charity!) has quick tips on healthy habits for print jobs, office, client habits and more. Freelance Switch is pledging to donate $1 to charity for every reader who comments on their blog as a pledge to take on any one of the suggestions below (or their own). Just write what you’re taking on in a comment and they’ll put $1 in your name towards the Blog Action Day charities up to a total of $500.
I pledged to do these (many of them are much less expensive and require less effort than the less friendly options):
- Always offer a recycled option for printing to clients (or even better, only offer recycled options)!
- For packaging design jobs, find packaging solutions that require minimal materials.
- Avoid laminating paper.
- Put two bins by your desk – one for recyclables and one for waste.
- Recycle your printer cartridges.
- Turn off your computer when you finish work for the night.
- Send and receive virtual faxes rather than paper ones.
- Send your invoices via email rather than posting them.
- Whenever you have the chance encourage clients to make environmentalism part of their brands. Show them that this can be an asset to their business rather than a burden, and that consumers react very positively to companies that take environmental positions.
- Upload large files rather then sending them on disc. If you don’t have FTP, then you can use a service like DropSend or YouSendIt.
- Whenever you can give things away instead of throwing them. For example old computer equipment, magazines, furniture. Rather than producing rubbish, see if someone else might get even more use out of your old things. You’d be surprised how one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.
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It’s hard being a designer concerned about sustainability when surrounded by all the sparkly metallic inks and god-like silky pure white papers. But at the end of the day when 8.5 cups of coffee are barely keeping you awake and you’ve poured all of your soul (well at least your sleeping hours) into the design, only to hand it off to the client and never hear of it again, you kind of have to wonder where all of your time all goes. The trash? Yup, that’s where most of it goes. Cradle to grave.
Luckily, for 150 colorful banners flown in downtown Portland streets in April 2007, not all designers have issues with object permanence.
“150 colorful banners created by local designers and illustrators lined Portland’s downtown streets in April 2007, each promoting a unique and creative interpretation of the form or metaphor of the tree to Commemorate Earth Day.
On September 19, 2007, the unique banners will be shown in reincarnated form, as limited edition bags produced exclusively for the project by local designers at Queen Bee Creations. The one-of-a-kind bags will make their debut at SOCIO XV, an annual design celebration sponsored by the Portland Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA).”
Read more about the event here.
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