Free Air Guitar

Here's a cool promo idea to launch 96.3, a new rock radio station. Guitar Stands were placed around Glasgow City Centre inviting people to help themselves to an air guitar.

Agency: The Bridge, Glasgow
Creative Director: Jonathan d’Aguilar
Copywriter: Gregor Stevenson
Art Director: Simon Parker

Air This!

Merry New Year!

Peace,

That's Right,

HMK

Ugly Beauty

“I ALWAYS wanted to own a dream car,” said Andy Saunders, 44, who has a flair for customizing cars. “But others had already bought all the dream cars.”

So Mr. Saunders settled, instead, for a nightmare.

“I remember one day going through a book about dream cars, and I saw a tiny drawing, a sketch really, or artist’s impression of a car called the Aurora,” Mr. Saunders said in a telephone interview. “My dad commented, ‘Have you ever seen anything so ugly?’ He was right; it was so ugly it was unreal. I said straightaway, ‘I’ve got to own that.’”

Mr. Saunders, who operates an auto importing and customizing business near his home in England, said he enjoyed a challenge. He has worked on cars that include a Lancia and a Cord.

He saw the image of the Aurora in 1993, and it took him several years of detective work to find what happened to the car.

The Aurora may have had the most unusual pedigree in the history of the auto industry. It was created in the mid-1950s by a Catholic priest, Alfred A. Juliano, and partly bankrolled by parishioners of his church in Branford, Connecticut.

Juliano wanted to create the world’s safest automobile, and his Aurora featured innovations that were years ahead of their time. The Aurora also had many wacky ideas to go along with its bizarre styling. Some auto historians have called it the ugliest car ever made.

Although Mr. Saunders originally agreed, he has come to see beauty in the Aurora.



Designer Priest Alfred A. Juliano.

Juliano, who studied art, said he always wanted to design cars, even as he studied to join the priesthood. Published reports said he entered competitions for aspiring auto stylists, including one sponsored by General Motors. Juliano’s family said G.M. offered him a scholarship to study with the legendary designer Harley Earl, but he said the offer came just after he had been ordained a priest.

Juliano continued to be fascinated with cars and their design. He also believed that most cars were unsafe, and began a quest to design a car that addressed his laundry list of safety issues. His solutions were novel, to say the least.

Read the rest of Jerry Garrett's article over at: Ugly Car.

Personally I think Father Juliano's concept car is one of the sickest rides I've ever laid eyes on - it's perfectly awesome! I'd love nothing more than to be driving my little family around listening to A Holly Jolly Mystery Stream and checking out this year's perfect Christmas moon!

Happy Holidays and God Bless!

Peace,

That's Right,

HMK

Queen e-Lizabeth

Ok, now it's finally really starting to feel like the new millennium: The Royal Channel

That's Right,

HMK

A Book Store Made in Heaven

Whoever said that reading was a religious experience was right, especially when taking a visit to Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Having just won the Lensvelt de Architect Interior Prize 2007, this newest addition to the Selexyz book chain is well worth the visit to this Medievil city if you are ever in the area.

Erected inside a former 800 year old Dominican church, this bookstore is said to hold the largest stock of books in English in Maastricht, one of the oldest cities in the country.

It was always going to be a challenging task for Amsterdam based architects Merkx + Girod who designed the space, to stay true to the original character and charm of the church, whilst also achieving a desirable amount of commercial space (there was only an available floor area of 750 m2, with a proposed retail space of 1200 m2). Taking advantage of the massive ceiling, both have been achieved through the construction of a multi-storey steel structure which houses the majority of the books. This is one giant bookshelf, with stairs and elevators taking shoppers and visitors alike, up to the heavens (mind the pun), to roof of the church.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to The Cool Hunter

Visual Polution

We have never been here before, but we have been here before.

To the left, the Wendy’s, like a gingerbread house from a child’s nightmare.

To the right, the Burger King, like a highway restroom that sells hamburgers. And everywhere, the billboards and neon, the strip malls and parking lots, urging us to look here, here, no here, drive up, drive thru and, remember, drive safely.

The gift of this column has taken the Times photographer Ángel Franco and Dan Barry to dots on the map wondrously distinct in look and feel. The snow-blown journey over the moonscape of the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota does not blur in mind with the snow-blown journey beside the rushing Rio Grande in New Mexico. The relatively short drive across the Golden Gate Bridge in California does not blend into the 24-mile drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana.

Quite often, though, the two find themselves forging through familiar and hideous commercial stretches that all but dare them to guess the state they are in. True, it can be comforting to know that up ahead there must be, there has to be, a Subway sandwich shop.

But why are these stretches almost uniformly ugly, so much so that most of us have conditioned ourselves not to notice?

Read the rest of Dan Barry's New York Times column: A Place Just Like Every Other Place. Only Not.

Watch the slideshow: This Land: Visual Pollution

That's Right,

HMK

Steampunks

According to Wikipedia, Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date

Lots more info regarding Richard R. Nagy and his steampunk projects over here: Datamancer.

Merry Christmas!

That's Right,

HMK

Santa's Back!

Forget the dancing Elf - show them you mean it and send a custom Santa Tattoo!

Cool stuff from Creativity's Interative Agency Of The Year: R/GA.

That's Right,

HMK

Have A Holly Jolly!

Let it snow, grab a glass of Christmas Cheer and turn up this weeks audio offering: A Holly Jolly Mystery Stream.

Happy Holidays - Make It Louder and Stay Tuned Y'all!

Peace,

That's Right,

HMK

Be A Man, Self Exam

Nutty stuff for non-profit Sean Kimerling Testicular Cancer Foundation.

Agency: Struck
Creative Director: Steve Driggs
Writers: Nick Driggs, Rich Black, Steve Babcock, Edgar Sanchez
Art Directors: Mark Rawlins, Brandon Knowlden

That's Right,

HMK

Yeah I Know, I'm Old...

I'm in the process of scanning my old concert tickets and I've scanned about 100 so far, in no particular order, as a set over at my flikr site: Migwell's Concert Tickets.

In general, 1977 was a great year for albums, probably my favorite year. I was a sophomore at Madison High School and had a weekend gig at Northern Hills Golf Course and so I had a little cash for music and concerts.

The above ticket is from my first Rush show that was in support of their 5th studio album, A Farewell To Kings. The album would become Rush's first US Gold selling album going Gold in almost two months of its release and eventually Platinum.

The more I think about it the more I realize how lucky I was to have such awesome bands and great music providing the soundtrack to my life. A few of these albums* from 1977 truly changed my life.

Cat Scratch Fever from the Nuge, *AC/DC - Let There Be Rock, UFO Lights Out, Meatloaf’s Bat Out Of Hell, Live at the El Mocambo from April Wine, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, The Ramones Rocket To Russia, Jackson Browne’s Running On Empty, Elvis Costellos’ My Aim Is True! Plus the first Clash album, Jimmy Buffett’s Changes In Latitude (with Margaritaville), *Steely Dan’s Aja, *Even in the Quietest Moments from Supertramp, the Grand Illusion from Styx, *Point of No Return from Kansas, Sin After Sin by Judas Priest, Billy Joel’s The Stranger, Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express and last but not least *Tom Petty & the Heart Breakers first lp!

I was lucky enough to see all of the above live excluding Meatloaf, Supertramp and Kraftwerk.

Let There Be Rock indeed.

That's Right,

HMK

Whopper Freakout

What would happen if Burger King, Home of the Whopper, 86ed the Whopper?

Awesome new campaign by Crispin Porter for Burger King: The Whopper Freakout.

They pretend that the Whopper is no longer available and instead they give out Wendy’s burgers, Big Macs etc.

Watch the customers, as they “freak out” over here: Whopper Freakout.

Genius.

That's Right,

HMK

Que, Wieviel? Nein!

Ah, the power of 9. Did you know that you can create any letter with a 3 x 3 base unit grid?

And now, thanks to the generous folks over at ABC Button: Der Button, you’ll not only be able to see the power of 9 via some buttons in action, but you can also grab the typeface that was influenced by the buttons for absolutely amazing low price: Nada!

That's Right,

HMK

Big gracias to Michael Surtees, lots more insightful design related items over at his cool blog: DesignNotes.

shoe

Innovation & Creativity Rule

According to Advertising Age, in 2008 Marketers' ingenuity will continue to expand as the competitive marketplace challenges brands to devise ways to reach their audiences online and via other "out-of-the-box" avenues. Targeting consumers using unconventional methods in creative places will be the gold standard for outstanding creative. Marketers won't run away from traditional media -- but will leverage technology and new media to accentuate message delivery to consumers and customers. There is no turning back -- and creativity will rule.

Read the rest of Bob Liodice's insight: Trends to Watch in 2008

That's Right,

HMK

Christmas Rewind!

Happy Holidays! And as the Fab 4 once brilliantly observed: "Everywhere it's Christmas, at the end of every year!"

With that in mind - Wanna make your iPod super holiday happy and the hit of your next get together?

Well then, check this out...

Way back in 2005 I made it through the entire month of December, each and every day, posting some of my favorite and obscure Christmas gems.

If you missed it, fear not and behold the beauty and power of the blog!

Here's a day by day posting of some tasty December's goodies all on one page - and like most things in life that prove truly worthwhile, you're usually best off starting at the bottom (of the page!)

Enjoy and Happy Christmas!

Take Me Back: Audio Stocking Stuffers!

Everywhere it's Christmas at the end of every year!

Peace,

Migwell

The Dias

Introducing the Dias, a nice little floating storage unit from FurnID out of Denmark.

According to the site, the Dias opens up sideways like a matchbox, dictating the positioning of other furnitures by claiming a central space on the wall. The drawer is covered with pyramids with the exception of a small flat tray-like surface. This has partly been in order to create strong contrasts caused by the highlights and shadows from the surface structure, but also to limit the tendency to place all sorts of knick-knack on the horizontal surface.

Very nice, I'll take mine in black por favor.

That's Right,

HMK

How to Do 'Riskier' Work

Or: Who Cares If Your Ideas Are Brilliant If You Can't Sell Them?

Back in April Sally Hogshead gave six speeches in five days in four cities. They varied from a half-day brand workshop in Milwaukee to a tech conference in Northern California, with audiences ranging from venture capitalists to marketing executives.

Yet no matter what the industry, the topic or the geography, she was asked the very same question: "How do I sell riskier ideas?"

The question's wording varied, but the point was the same: The client/boss/board of directors kills new thinking that's deemed "risky." Now, these audience members aren't scheming to sell wacky, perilous, ill-conceived ideas for the sake of being creative, but rather smarter, fresher, more relevant ways of finding and connecting with consumers.

Problem is, in business, risk doesn't work like that.

Business isn't a coin with "risk" on one side and "security" on the other; it's a two-headed coin and that head is risk. Not taking a risk is risky. And if you take a risk, well, that's risky too. The landscape is changing so quickly that we must literally invent as we go. There are no off-the-rack solutions anymore. Today, the opposite of risk isn't security. The opposite of risk is getting run over by a truck filled with a shipment of status quo while you dawdle in the middle of the road.

So, what have you got to lose? Read the whole thing over at Ad Week: How to Do 'Riskier' Work.

That's Right,

HMK

Covered in Color

The smart folks over at Color Lovers have a nice section over at their site focusing on the color palettes used on current magazine covers.

These simple visual clues of color make a significant impact on folks browsing the magazine rack, illustrating and accentuating the contents of each issue while providing a nice pulse on what's happening in the ever changing world of color trends.

It's a pretty nice reference tool - check it out: Magazine Cover Colors.



And while we're on the subject of nice time saving color reference tools, I'm digging the Color Pallette Generator, Kuler from Adobe and Color Hunter. Both sites enable you to enter the tag, hex code, or image URL of an image to get a color palette that matches the image.

That's Right,

HMK

Rock Posters That Don't Totally Rock

Not sure who compiled Billboard’s list of the 25 Best Rock Posters of All Time - is it just me or are some of these just ok? I mean dude, we're talking of the Best of All Time!

Judge for yourself: 25 Best Rock Posters of All Time.

Really digging the above 1967 Johnny Cash poster from Hatch Show by artist Dennis Loren.

Thanks to AdFreak.

That's Right,

HMK

Feast Your Eyes

If you're like me and you appreciate the time, effort and talent involved in creating the perfect restaurant space you're going to love Interiors.

Mermaid Inn, Upper West Side

Allen and Delancy, Lower East Side.

Mercat Negro, East Village.

Interiors is an awesome and ever-growing photoblog documenting some of photographer Noah Kalina's favorite shots while on assignment for numerous dining and entertainment related websites in New York City.

Go Noah!

That's Right,

HMK

Now That's Fresh

Nice stuff from McCann Erickson, London.

That's Right,

HMK

Color & Mood Play

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a key figure in Pop Art, an art movement that emerged in America and elsewhere in the 1950s to become prominent over the next two decades.

The Fauves used non-representational color and representational form to convey different sensations. Apply the same idea to the portrait of Marilyn Monroe below, using the controls to adjust the colors.

Click on Marilyn and experiment with how the color affects the mood:

how bauhaus was shaped into greatness

Bauhaus building, Dessau, photographed in 1926 by Lucia Moholy. (Lucia Moholy/Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin)

It was, as the young Philip Johnson wrote excitedly to his mother, "the most beautiful building we have ever seen" with "great strength of design. . . majesty and simplicity."

The building in question was the Bauhaus, the German art and design school designed in the mid-1920s by the architect Walter Gropius in the industrial city of Dessau. On his visit in 1929, Johnson, who grew up to become a famous architect, was equally entranced by the work of the students: so much so that he adopted Bauhaus habits, like typing solely in lower case letters. One of the teachers, the graphic designer Herbert Bayer, had banned capitals on the grounds that there wasn't enough time for them in the frenzy of modern life.

Read it all: bauhaus.

That's Right,

HMK

Holiday Style

Well, it's officially December 1st, 2007 - the Holiday Season!

Check out the nicely designed new web site of T, the New York Times Style Magazine as it makes its debut with a Holiday issue. T Style Magazine.

That's Right,

HMK

Yakety Yak

I really don't think I need to go into any great detail as to the where and why regarding the content of this post...

And speaking of travel - the above airsickness bag is from a wonderfully tasteful collection known as: Johnny's Barf Bags. Very nice and well worth the visit.

And if you're digging Johnny's stash, I've got a gut feeling you're gonna love THIS!

Special thanks to Wallace and Grommit.

That's Right,

HMK

So, What Makes a Product Cool?

You might want to read this before you head out for your next round of Christmas shopping. Especially if you're buying anything for yourself.

We may try to hide our lust for goods but our brain can't. Steven Quartz, a neuroscientist at the California Institute of Technology, is part of a new generation of researchers exploring neuromarketing -- a new field that uses brain science to understand consumer behavior. Quartz and his colleagues roll subjects into MRI machines (which measure oxygenated blood flow) to see what parts of the brain light up while viewing images of iPods, Aeron chairs, Capresso coffee machines, and Oakley sunglasses. Their findings are challenging some basic assumptions about marketing and economics.

What exactly is neuromarketing?

A lot of people think neuromarketing is just using brain imaging technology to understand the decisions that underlie consumer behavior. Although technology is a really important part, brain science over the last decade has advanced at a tremendous pace. Neuromarketing is the application of this huge amount of information that's available in the literature in terms of how people make decisions.

Check out this The Fast Interview by Kermit Pattison: Steve Quartz on Neuromarketing – and why iPods are like heroin.

That's Right,

HMK

The above social commentary is an illustration I did back in 1996.

Very Well Done!

Croatian creative agency Bruketa & Zinić have designed an annual report for food company Podravka that has to be baked in an oven before it can be read.

Entitled Well Done, the report features blank pages printed with thermo-reactive ink that, after being wrapped in foil and cooked for 25 minutes, reveal text and images.

Now that's just genius!

That's Right,

HMK

Having A Lovely Day

Having a nice quiet Sunday afternoon after a long walk with the dogs and enjoying a few of the beers leftover from Friday night's little Tiki bash.. Just finished listening to a cool segment on NPR about paring wine with music.

Here's a little excerpt:

The Doors may seem like an unusual musical choice for a wine bar. If Cabernet dominates the tasting list, however, the sommelier would do well to play some of the group's angriest songs — at least according to a theory espoused by vintner Clark Smith.

Smith, co-founder of the R.H. Phillips Vineyard and senior enologist at Vinovation, a wine consultation firm, proposes that a wine's taste is dramatically impacted by the music that accompanies it.

Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, is best when paired with "music of darkness" — thanks to the ability of rage-filled songs to smooth out similarly aggressive tannins, Smith's theory holds. An idyllic Mozart composition, on the other hand, works in reverse, potentially ruining a good Cab.

Check out the rest and listen to the piece over here: National Public Radio.

Sounds interesting and I can't wait to test the theory. As for right now, I know for sure that this song goes great with just about any ice cold beer...

That's Right,

HMK

Cheesiest Classic Creatures

This is pretty sweet. Wired Magazine is featuring 10 of the Cheesiest Classic Creatures to celebrate Tuesday's release of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series in an HD DVD/DVD combo pack. The list comes complete with some nice screen grabs along with each creatures powers and weaknesses.

My favorite is this white gorilla with a horn and spines from the episode: "A Private Little War".

Powers: Poison, brute strength, surprising stealth.

Weaknesses: Women in bright-orange fun fur, blatant flouting of the Prime Directive.

Thanks to the magic of high def, and a painstaking digital remastering effort, we can now see these monsters in more detail than ever before - not that that's really always a good thing...

Take me to the Cheesy Monsters.

That's Right,

HMK

Movable Type

The New York Times Company Debuts "Moveable Type"

Movable Type is the awesome new permanent art installation in the lobby of the newspaper's new Renzo Piano-designed headquarters building on Eighth Avenue and 41st Street.

Artist Ben Rubin and UCLA professor/statistician Mark Hansen have created a multi-media installation of 560 small screens, mounted on two walls, which display information culled from the newspaper's archives and live feeds. Information is parsed and displayed by algorithms created by the artists.

That's Right,

HMK

Who's Blogging And Why?

Good question. Find some answers, lots of facts, theories and mucho mas over at Alex Iskold's wicked smaaht Technology Blog.

As for why I started blogging, I covered that in one of my very first That's Right posts back on my soon to be wife's birthday, July 23, 2004.

Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!

That's Right,

HMK

(thanks to swiss miss)

Nowhereland

There is no shortage of logos in the world, no dearth of brands striving for consumer allegiance and no chance that the creation of new brands and logos will cease.

In fact there’s an interesting subset of brands and logos that don’t bother with what seems like a crucial component: an actual product, service or company.

Consider the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. It’s part of the fictional universe depicted in the 1979 film “Alien” and its sequels; Nostromo, the spaceship freighter in the first movie, is a Weyland-Yutani vessel.

The company doesn’t do much in the way of branding in, you know, reality. But as it turns out, it’s possible to buy yourself a Weyland-Yutani T-shirt, or even a Nostromo T. It also turns out many people have.

Read the whole thing over at: The New York Times or go straight to the shirts: Last Exit To Nowhere.



Reminds of the custom Belushi COLLEGE sweatshirts I used to make for myself during my art school days at MassArt.

That's Right,

HMK

Cool Illustration by Peter Arkle

Left Brain or Right Brain?

Wow, this is kind of trippy and interesting.
Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

According to Australian Herald Sun, if the woman is spinning clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Once again, more proof that I am in fact a right brainer. I can see it both ways (when I focus on her waist or her foot) but she's always spinning clockwise upon first glance.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

That's Right,

HMK

Include a Joker in Every Brainstorming Session

The link between humor and innovation, why authoritarian bosses fear humor, and the funniest CEO in America. The Fast Company Interview: John Morreall.

Humor makes us think more flexibly. People who think funny do better on creativity studies. To put it really simply, humor loosens up your brain to think of more possibilities and be more open to the wild and wacky ones.

There is a guy at the State University of New York at Buffalo named Roger Firestien who has a center for the study of creativity. When he teaches brainstorming, he says you should put a joker in the group -- somebody who will come up with preposterous ideas. Very often that will stimulate people to come up with ideas that will work.

Let me give you an example. A bunch of paint engineers were moaning and bitching about how hard it is to get paint off a house. One guy says, "Why don't we just put gunpowder in the paint and blow it off the house?" That led people to think, "What could we do that would be the equivalent of gunpowder?" They came up with a chemical they added to the paint and when you wanted to remove the paint you did a light wash with a second chemical over the first one. That didn't blow it off the house, but it allowed it to drop off.

It's funny how the use of humor as a mechanism for problem solving is alot like life. Some people just "get it' and other people just don't.

Remember these words to live by: He who laughs, lasts.

Read the rest: John Morreall FC Interview.

That's Right,

HMK

Holy Bat Lights!

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland, Australia.

This is a nice gorilla campaign for the launch of Batman Begins on TV2 in Australia.

Stickers were placed on footpath lights around central Auckland. At night when the lights were on, beams of light shone.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to the smart folks at: Ad Goodness.

Become a Better Designer: 50 Tips

Check out the: 50 Ways to Become a Better Designer.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Tim Riley 澳大利亚 for the cool shot of Gate 50 at Adelaide Airport.

The Presence of Absinthe

1896 Absinthe J. Edouard Pernot by Cappiello.

Dear reader! Should this column impress you as being more than usually lyrical, recalling perhaps the imagery and elegance of poetry by Baudelaire or Verlaine; should it seem a bit decadent, redolent of Oscar Wilde’s withering hauteur; should it have a touch of madness or perversity, combining, say, the tastes of Toulouse-Lautrec with the passions of van Gogh; should it simply sound direct and forceful and knowing like one of Ernest Hemingway’s characters; should it do any or all of that, let me credit something that each of these figures fervently paid tribute to: the green fairy, the green goddess, the green muse, the glaucous witch, the queen of poisons.

Absinthe.

Continue reading this awesome article from Edward Rothstein over at the New York Times: Absinthe.

That's Right,

HMK

Tiki Must Be Stopped!

Tiki Must Be Stopped!

WHY?

That's Right,

HMK

Retro Futurism

Artist: Meere und Schiffahrt, 1964

Dig it: Retro Futurism.

That's Right,

HMK

The Charlybox

Sweet! Our good pups Ringo and Dazy (and of course Charlie up the street) are gonna love the Charlybox.

This cool and simple compact carrier is perfect for food and water when you're on the go with your favorite pooches.

Made of two halves, the Charlybox includes a two-liter canteen for fresh water, and two bowls for water and kibble. Snap the two halves together and you and your pups are good to go.

As usual with stuff from Design Within Reach, it's more times than not out of our reach, but we might just have to break down and snag one of these.

You can get your very own over at: Design Within Reach

That's Right,

HMK

Bring This to the Next Meeting

We all know that most meetings end up being a complete waste of time and money. Well, now we've got a nice little gage to help prove it.

Over at BNET, a CNET Networks offshoot with information for senior managers and executives, they’ve created the Meeting Miser.

The calculator pulls in salary data from PayScale. You enter the jobs of the people in the meeting. Then it calculates how much money is flying out the window second by second.

The best part: You can place the calculator on the screen right next to the PowerPoint demo for all to watch.

All Hail the Meeting Miser!

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to BNET, CNEt and Damon Darlin at The New York Times.

Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra

Super nice execution of a nice concept.

Advertising Agency: Piramit, Istanbul, Turkey, Creative Director: Metin Aroyo, Art Director: Emrah Meshur, Copywriter: Mustafa Oral, Photographer: Sitki Kösemen.

That's Right,

HMK

5 Important Steps

A bit of advice and reflection (with the slight tinge of gripe) this morning. 

If you're lucky, you'll have some lead time before you make that big entreprenurial leap. And if you're not so lucky, consider yourself blessed.

Either way, keep in mind that this is the "Next Time" you've been waiting for.

Do yourself a favor and consider these five pieces of advice, especially the second part of step one.

Step 1: Do Something You Love and Do It With Someone You Trust.

Step 2: Do Something You Understand.

Step 3: Start With The End In Mind.

Step 4: Protect Your Ideas, Invest In An Expert.

Step 5: Be Ready For The Unexpected.

It's been 9 months since February 14th, the day I was let go by the advertising agency that bought out our small 5 person design studio to serve as their creative department. Since then I've been officially and happily on my own working as an independent designer and branding consultant.

Initially, getting canned was as scary as it was exhilarating. The creative director I lobbied to bring on board had been threatening to fire me since October when he hired his former partner. (who's first day just happened to be my birthday). Anything but the perfect environment for creativity.

Nice. Thanks man.

As Oscar Wilde once said: Beware of people who know the price of everything and the value nothing.

Thankfully, the above learning experience brought to mind all of my good fortune I've had over the past 17+ years as a creative professional. I've been both blessed and lucky to be surrounded by people I like, trust and respect. And now, back in the world of truth, honesty and true friends I really couldn't be happier!

Sadly, yet predictably, on the downer side - over the course of the past few months everyone from our former studio, TG&O, was also let go.

Thus, fulfilling the vision and master plan of the charming and friendly creative director. That's right - Mr. Personality, the brilliant, award winning, always accessible creative genius, the man who never ceases to remind us all that he is, as it says on his 80's era business card, (the one with the inverted "i" in the logo that makes an exclamation point - genius!), he's not only your boss, he's the creative director, Your Creative Director!

Anyway...

The great news is that everyone that was fired is now in a better place - both physically and mentally. Thanks to our temporarily undervalued talents and skills, we've all landed on our feet and are busy working other gigs and continue to work with each other thanks to one thing - the one big thing that the egocentric NTAC wannabes that deem all their hired help as disposable and expendable will never understand, and that's the true value and importance of: Relationships.

That's Right - Relationships.

HMK

Nice Card Idea

Yeah, I know, I'm breaking my own rule about no Christmas posts until after Thanksgiving...so sue me, these are sweet.

You can get your very own over at The Breeding Ground.

That's Right,

HMK

The Love Life of the Octopus

Dig the trippy The Love Life of the Octopus off of Yo La Tengo's The Sounds of the Sounds of Science. And hey, while you're listening, you might as well check out this awesome collection of Octopus Covers!

Enjoy!

That's Right,

HMK