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Design

I do graphic design and communications work professionally. You can find my portfolio over at Pink Sheep Media. Here’s a few articles on design.

cover image for texting abbreviations poster

Texting abbreviations

Update: I’ve launched an online reference for the brevity challenged at Texting Abbreviations. If you’re like me and not super into texting and/or online social networking tools then you’re probably unfamiliar with various web and texting acrynoms. I’m making a concerted effort to change that. And I’ve discovered that there’s a lot of online resources…

Journal entry with poem and a drawing of Tanner Allen standing on her head

Autumn, reprise

Came across this photo of an old journal entry dating back to 1999. It’s a poem. Just in case you can’t read the writing, I’ve provided the text below. I kind of like it! But I would make some edits, including some different line breaks and a change of a few words. But I’ve provided…

Steven Colbert in Vancouver

Olympic Brand Management

Organizations have brands whether they want them or not. Organizations have brands whether they manage them or not. This is the common wisdom of brand developers and advertisers as they try to show organizations how to be more cool, more authentic and more sellable. Don’t have a unique and memorable brand? No problem. Let’s just…

The sun is a bright spot on the horizon of a dark land.

Cory Doctorow in brief

Cory Doctorow is a force to be reckoned with. I listened to a free audiobook of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. But he doesn’t just write science fiction. He also writes and lectures about contemporary and important issues surrounding publishing, copyright, and the future of information sharing. This…

A black and white image of an old punch card machine with a punched card in it.

About yahoo

Well I was going to sign up for a Yahoo account but it required that I sign up with my birthday and gender. And I’m not really into it. I really just wanted to be able to submit sitemaps to their search engine for indexing, which is easier if you’re a member (which also doesn’t…

Pencil Gradient Chart

About pencils

Just in case you ever wondered about the blackness (B) and hardness (H) ratings for pencils, I have provided for you this really handy chart.1 As an illustrator, I have a fascination for pencils. Not that I’m a pencil snob. Probably many other illustrators would have a good laugh at my meager collection of pencils….

A black and white image of an old punch card machine with a punched card in it.

An average Magazine

We made this piece last year. We picked up a magazine off of the shelf in our neighbourhood grocery store. Yikes. I am very interested in the way we shape people through media, especially advertising. What I find interesting about magazines, is how any individual image seems unimportant. But what is the aggregate affect of…

Truth in Advertising ad by the ASC

Truth in Advertising

This is a good ad. I love the copy. It’s folksy – the language is down to earth. Heck, it could be my mom talking, the voice of the ad is that good. “Fact is, truth is an essential part of any successful ad campaign. Smart advertisers have known this for years. That’s why the…

Picture of bus ad: great mexican taste without the runs

Positioning the other

Advertisements push our buttons and our boundaries. Ad copy that once might have been rejected for being too risky or simply in bad taste is now often fair game. Companies and organizations work hard to create a brand that is irreverent, humourous and memorable. And that works for many organizations – especially if you are…