Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

- Mother Teresa

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HMK

Think About It

"Brilliant execution without strategy is irrelevant, but brilliant strategy without brilliant execution is invisible."
Pat Fallon and Fred Senn

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HMK

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

- Mother Teresa

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HMK

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HMK

Click & Drag Google Maps

Double true!

Genius.

Get Going: Google Maps.

Have a great weekend!

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HMK

Handel: First Musical Recording 1888

On this day, June 29, 1888, the earliest known musical recording is made. The piece, Georg Friedrich Handel's Handel's Israel In Egypt, is recorded on a paraffin cylinder.

Israel in Egypt, assigned the catalog number HWV 54, is an oratorio, a form in which Handel excelled. Like his more famous Messiah, Israel in Egypt is composed using biblical passages, mainly from Exodus and the Psalms.

Unlike the Messiah, however, it didn't enjoy much of a reception when it premiered in 1739. As a result, Handel shortened the work and inserted a few Italian arias to lighten the mood a bit.

Nevertheless, it was selected by Col. George Gourand, Thomas Edison's foreign sales agent, for the first musical recording. Gourand made his recording in London's Crystal Palace, using Edison's yellow paraffin cylinder -- candle wax, essentially.

Click Hear: Handel's Israel In Egypt.

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HMK

(Source: Stanford University, National Park Service)

Understanding the Farm Bill

Check out this series of publications dissecting the Farm Bill by Matthew Foster, a graphic designer at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Ah, the power of design.

Considering the potentially dry nature of these reports, the graphics are so powerful that they actually make me feel less intimidated by the complex subject matter and encourage me to read them. I think the decision to go in the direction of bold WPA inspired graphics and typography is both smart and appropriate.

Nice job Matthew.

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HMK

Thanks to the smart folks at Back Space.

More Vintage Type

As part of their weekly Found Type Friday, the type freaks over at AceJet have a nice flickr set of images focusing on the vintage type from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

Check out the slide show: here.

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HMK

The #1 Song On The Day You Were Born

Find Out Here!

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HMK

Things NOT to do with PowerPoint.

More like PowerPointLess...



Nice stand-up routine on the things not to do with your next PowerPoint presentation.

Are there really people that still use PowerPoint?

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HMK

Thanks to Brand Flakes For Breakfast.

A Visual History of Summer

Ah Summer...

While surfing for some vintage summer images I found a site called Square America. They've got some truly awesome amature photos from the first sixty summers of the 20th century featuring bathing beauties and brawny beefcake, sun, surf, and sand.

I just love the documentary feel and especially the unintentional crops and blurs of these images.

This above shot is from the 40's.

Grab yourself an ice cream or a popsicle, step back in time and check out the rest over at: Square America.

Have a great Summer!

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HMK

You Wish!

Admit it - you wish you had a job where you truly liked the people you work with... And as this proves, thank God, they really do exist.

I dare you to not feel happy as you watch this.

I hope they made sure to include this on their time sheets...

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HMK

Google: Hidden Persuader or Harvey Danger for more info...

So, How's Your Site?

Find out how your website ranks over here at: Website Grader

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HMK

Culla Belly

Check out this smart baby bed design, the Culla Belly, from Busetti Garuti.

I'm thinking this would also be kinda cool for folks that have bed-hogging dogs...

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HMK

Digital Newsstand

Check out this custom rig from Scott Walker, an assistant managing editor at the Birmingham News.

Scott scored an old newspaper box on ebay, and hacked it together with a Mac Mini, and a flat screen monitor to create a digital newsstand that grabs and delivers the latest headlines to his living room each morning.

And dig this, he's even been so kind as post the how to info so we can all make our own.

Pretty genius Scott, nice work.

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HMK

Thanks to News Designer, a cool blog focusing on newspaper design.

Hiring The Best People You've Ever Worked With

Southwest Airlines print ad from 1999.

Here's an insightful read from the smart folks over at PMARCA.

Marc Andreessen, the man behind Netscape and as many believe, the success of the Internet, shares his thoughts about hiring practices today.

I like the fact that it's relevant to both people in charge of hiring, but also potential candidates in preparation for an interview.

Here's an excerpt from Marc Andreessen's How To Hire The Best People You've Ever Worked With

First, Drive.

I define drive as self-motivation -- people who will walk right through brick walls, on their own power, without having to be asked, to achieve whatever goal is in front of them.

People with drive push and push and push and push and push until they succeed.

Winston Churchill after the evacuation of Dunkirk:

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

That's what you want.

Some people have it and some people don't.

Of the people who have it, with some of them it comes from guilt, often created by family pressure.

With others, it comes from a burning desire to make it big.

With others, it comes from being incredibly Type A.

Whatever... go with it.

Drive is independent of educational experience, grade point averages, and socioeconomic background.

(But Marc, isn't a 4.0 GPA a sure sign of drive? Well, it's a sign that the person is driven to succeed on predefined tests with clear criteria and a grader -- in an environment where the student's parents are often paying a lot of money for the privilege of having their child take the tests. That may or may not be the same thing as being driven to succeed in the real world.)

Drive is even independent of prior career success.

Driven people don't tend to stay long at places where they can't succeed, and just because they haven't succeeded in the wrong companies doesn't mean they won't succeed at your company -- if they're driven.

I think you can see drive in a candidate's eyes, and in a candidate's background.

For the background part, I like to see what someone has done.

Not been involved in, or been part of, or watched happen, or was hanging around when it happened.

I look for something you've done, either in a job or (often better yet) outside of a job.

The business you started and ran in high school.

The nonprofit you started and ran in college.

If you're a programmer: the open source project to which you've made major contributions.

Something.

If you can't find anything -- if a candidate has just followed the rules their whole lives, showed up for the right classes and the right tests and the right career opportunities without achieving something distinct and notable, relative to their starting point -- then they probably aren't driven.

And you're not going to change them.

Motivating people who are fundamentally unmotivated is not easy.

But motivating people who are self-motivated is wind at your back.

I like specifically looking for someone for which this job is their big chance to really succeed.

For this reason, I like hiring people who haven't done the specific job before, but are determined to ace it regardless.

I also like specifically looking for someone who comes from some kind of challenging background -- a difficult family situation, say, or someone who had to work his/her way through school -- who is nevertheless on par with his/her more fortunate peers in skills and knowledge.

Read it all: Over Here.

Thanks Marc, great post.

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HMK

Celebrating The Casbah

I'm honored to announce that I got 6 of my logos chosen for inclusion
in the new book, LogoLounge 4!

The coolest part is having my work acknowledged by an international panel of judges including Neville Brody of Research Studios, Louis Lygo of Wolff Olins, Jerry Kuyper of Jerry Kuyper Partners, Jason Schulte of Jason Schulte Design, Gaby de Abreu of Switch Branding & Design, Haley Johnson of Haley Johnson Design, Janet Martin of Communication Arts, Inc., and Chris Campbell of Interbrand.

The above logo was done for The Casbah, a killer Saturday Night radio show hosted by Sir Brian Parrish on KSYM 90.1 down here in beautiful San Antonio, Texas.

I've been doing a t-shirt a year every year since 1996 as a pledge drive incentive for Casbah maniacs - (Go DOWNLOAD an episode and you'll be hooked as well!) - This one was chosen for the book.

Congrats Brian! Dude, we're famous!

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HMK

Hand Job

I just ordered my copy of designer and fellow type freak Mike Perry's new book Hand Job - a catalog of type.

Check It out Here.

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HMK


PUBLISHED BY PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.

Automatic Draft Scam: Tom Parson's BESTFARES.COM!

BEWARE OF THIS LOGO!

Well, It's no wonder BESTFARES is not a member of the Better Business Bureau.

I canceled my BESTFARES account, by phone in August of 2004 due to my employment situation.

I recently checked my bank statements and found that they've continued to hit my account for 59.09 for the last 3 years!

And it seems that I'm not the only one.

I spoke with Rose, a condescending woman whose obviously well versed in her responses, and I was told that according to BESTFARES I only called to change my email.

LIES.

That's almost 180.00 taken directly out of my bank account!

Do yourself a favor - Stay Away from BESTFARES and if you've canceled by phone, do it in writing and double check your bank statements because this is obviously a BESTFARES strategy to rip you off.

I know I won't get my money back but I just had to give everyone a heads up.

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HMK

Towards A Sustainable Communications Practice

Here's an excerpt from a nice AdPulp read that's more of a sermon than it is a rant from David Burn's article Towards A Sustainable Communications Practice.

I’ve learned some things in my ten plus years working in advertising. Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is that I’m ill suited for this business. Simply put, I have the wrong temperament. I lack all patience for the daily compromises that must be made. That’s what this business is, like politics, one compromise after the next. I also have zero interest in serving “corporate America.” I loathe corporate America. Note, I did not say I loathe business. In fact, I love business. Business with a higher sense of purpose can do a lot of good for its workers, its customers and the community at large. Take Patagonia. Patagonia doesn’t just manufacture outdoor clothing and gear to make money. Patagonia is not part of corporate America, they’re part of corporate Utopia. The company is a change agent on many levels. When the founder and CEO writes a book called Let My People Go Surfing, you know it’s far from business as usual in Ventura.

Let My People Go Surfing is the antithesis of the book most captains of industry keep near and dear. Their book might be titled Let My People Eat Shit Sandwiches, because that’s the primary diet in corporate America. The ingredients that go into preparing this dish include: incompetence, greed, poor communication skills, need to know power trips, headgames, meritless advancement, fear for one’s job and a commitment to maintain the status quo at all costs. What’s lacking from the menu: innovation, honesty, trust, instinct, real teamwork and a moral compass to name just a few.

All the agency politics aside, it all really does boil down to the Truth. I've been lucky enough to have spent only 2 of my 15+ years in the advertising working for an agency. For an industry that thrives on communication there's an amazing lack of it.

As far as my two years of dining on bullshit sandwiches, compromising everything I know to be real, true and factual all while playing "The Game" as the buzzword dropping big wig drones I worked for refer to it, David Burn's comment about incompetence, greed, poor communication skills, need to know power trips, headgames, meritless advancement, fear for one’s job and a commitment to maintain the status quo at all costs rings especially true for me.

Don Sexton, a professor of business at Columbia University, said it best in a recent Ad Age article: "Sizzle alone won't do it, you have to have the steak as well. Great advertising makes a lousy product fail faster." More on that here.



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HMK

Hey Cuban!

A message for Mark Cuban from a 69 year old Super Spurs Fan: Hey Cuban!.

I grabbed this piece of audio off of the TV from yesterday's KSAT coverage of the Spurs celebration.

I'm not sure which makes me laugh harder - the way she calls out and refers to him a just Cuban or maybe it's the Wicked Witch of the West cackle at the end - either way, it's wicked funny!


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HMK

You Can Do It!

Teach Your Bird To Talk!

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HMK

Open All Night!

Lunarama is a public directory of all-night restaurants and joints.

Browse through the list of cities and if you don’t see your habitat or favorite all–night spot, add it!

Visit Lunarama.

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HMK

Dude - We Did It!

Go Four It!

Get yours over at the Totally Bueno Store!



Congrats and Go Spurs!

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HMK

My Dad & Raquel Welch!

Look what else I just found while going through some old files!

Here's a cool shot of my Dad (bald guy, glasses, far left) checking out Check It out Raquel Welch's see through macrame skirt on stage at a USO function somewhere in Thailand circa 1969.

Now, if I could only find the footage from the guy in the foreground's movie camera...

Go Dad!

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HMK

Vintage Rackspace Banner Ad 2001

Click To Animate

While looking for an old logo in my archives this morning I found a vintage banner ad I did for Rackspace (thanks to some technical help from Beau) back in 2001 that, for some reason, didn't make the final cut...

Ouch.

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HMK

Free Game 5 Ticket!

The Return of Instant Photo Fun

This is cool. To celebrate the magic of instant photography Polanoid.net is building the biggest Polaroid-picture-collection of the planet and you're invited to contribute.

So search your archives and attics and reactivate your Instant Cameras. It's the slamming comeback of Instant Photo Fun.

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HMK

And, once again, thanks to the smart folks over at Design Observer.

LeBroom Spurs Screen Saver

Go Spurs Go!

We did it!

NBA Fun Facts:
With four titles, Popovich trails only Red Auerbach (9), Phil "Kiss My Asterisk" Jackson (9), John Kundla (5) and Pat Riley (5) for the most in league history.

Cleveland's 322 points in the series was the lowest total for four games.

The Spurs' .727 winning percentage (16-6) is the highest in finals history.

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HMK

Thanks to Sports Illustrated for the fun facts.

Buzzwords Say All The Wrong Things

In an effort to simplify the process while working on a naming project I found re-reading this older post from the smart folks over at 37 Signals very helpful.

It totally still rings true today and helped to remind me of the fact that if you can't explain something to a seven year old, then you probably don't really understand it yourself.

Our industry is addicted to bullshit buzzwords. Emails are full of “I’m an insider” jargon, blog posts brim with tech duckspeak, and resumes are loaded with meaningless action verbs.

Everyone’s always implementing or enabling or optimizing or leveraging. There are endless value streams, efficiencies, solutions, infrastructures, and enterprises.

These buzzwords are often a mask. People who use them are covering up their ideas — or the lack thereof. They are overcompensating. They don’t have anything substantial to say so they try to use impressive sounding words instead.

But people who abuse buzzwords don’t sound smart. They sound like they are trying to sound smart.

Big difference.

People who really get it aren’t impressed by this sort of jargon. They smell BS. They can read between the lines and see what’s really there: fear. Fear of clarity. Fear there isn’t actually anything worthwhile to convey.

Translation: Is it time for some folks to re-skin their dynamic paradigm shift?

Absolutely.

Check it out: Buzzwords: 37 Signals.

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HMK

Go Four It!

Winning Culture Has Others Wanting the Secret

In today's New York Times there's a nice article about the winning culture of the Spurs.

It is little surprise, then, that when R. C. Buford, San Antonio’s modest general manager was asked to define the Spurs’ vision, he began with, “Not taking yourself too seriously.”

“Having a sense of humor, not skipping any steps and building with character that you enjoy being around,” he added, “so that when things aren’t going so well, the process of what you’re going through carries you in those times. And the people who you are with carry you."

Genius, and great advice for just about any business, relationship or venture.

Check it out: Go New York Times: Spurs

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Game 3 Tonight!

Go Spurs!

HMK

Royal Navy Viral

Genius in both concept and execution.

Amazingly awesome viral from The Royal Navy.

Go Royal Navy!

Nice.

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HMK

San Antonio Spurs Logo History

Here's the original San Antonio Spurs logo when they were playing at the San Antonio Convention Center Arena from 1977 thru 1989.

And thank the Lord of Texas we're no longer using this logo, which was adopted by the Spurs during the amazing David Robinson era when they played at the Alamodome.

In a lame effort to inject more color into the team's classic black-and-silver uniform scheme they came up with this multicolored turd. Which quite possibly may have very well influenced the controversially lame and equally sucky 2012 Olympics Logo.

Fortunately, the not-so-masculine extra Miami Vice colors were not incorporated into their uniforms, which, to this day, remain our classic, first class, lean and mean, no nonsense and soon to be four time NBA Championship black and silver.



Our current logo was introduced nationally at the start of the 2003 season. And I've got to say, this is a logo any Spurs fan can wear proudly without having to worry about that garishly nasty, clashing pink and teal.

Go find your favorite team and lot's more sports logo history over at Chris Creamer's wicked cool 2012 Sports Logo site.

Game 2 of the NBA Finals start at 8pm tonight!

Go Spurs!

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HMK

NTAC

Walt Handelsman, Long Island, NY, Newsday

Art With Function

Really digging this storage solution from the cool folks over at Art With Function.

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HMK

Separated At Birth?

Been reading about one of my favorite dogs, Liaka The Space Dog, and found this one shot that looks alot like our good dog Ringo.

If you're not familiar with the amazingly brave Laika there's a brief history here: Laika

Laika was one of the Russian space dogs and the first living passenger to enter orbit on Sputnik 2, a Soviet spacecraft. Some classify her as the first animal to enter space, although others argue that animals had entered space during sub-orbital flights on previous missions.

Laika is also the name of several breeds of dogs.

Laika was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow, a female part-Samoyed terrier weighing approximately 13 pounds and about 3 years old. Her name was changed from Kudryavka (Russian for "Little Curly"), and she was nicknamed Zhuchka ("Little Bug") and Limonchik ("Lemon"). The American press dubbed her Muttnik (a portmanteau of mutt and Sputnik).



Other than a brief mention in one of my favorite movies, My Life As A Dog, there's nothing even close to a full-on movie about Laika's story - I think it'd make an awesome movie.

Meanwhile, check out the Ringo Merch!



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HMK

Pretty $#@*ing Funny

Nice Job Bud.TV. But not funny enough to make me want to drink a Budweiser...

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HMK

My Take: Spurs In 6! Ginobili MVP

Thanks to Lisa Zambrano for the custom Spurs image (notice the action in the center) and Jayson Boulet for bringing it to my attention!

That's me giving some stupid, but obviously funny, putting advice to three-time Finals MVP and arguably the greatest power forward of all time, the man, Tim Duncan.

And this just in: Bono Takes Off His Glasses!

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Spurs In 6! Ginobili MVP.

Go Spurs! And Go Bono!!

HMK

No Posers Part 2

Looking for a relitively quick (49 pages) but super cool and uplifting inspirational read?

Well then, meet Hugh MacLeod, an advertising executive and popular blogger with a flair for the creative, as he gives his 26 tried-and-true tips for being truly creative. Each point illustrated by a cartoon drawn by the author himself.

If you've ever felt the draw to do something creative but just haven't been able to pull it together, you'll love this manifesto.

Here's a little sample of Hugh's How to Be Creative which can be found in the handy PDF format from the smart folks over at one of my favorite blogs, Change This.


Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that's why good ideas are always initially resisted.

With business colleagues, it’s even worse. They’re used to dealing with you in a certain way. They’re used to having a certain level of control over the relationship. And they want whatever makes them more prosperous. Sure, they might prefer it if you prosper as well, but that’s not their top priority.

If your idea is so good that it changes your dynamic enough to where you need them less or, God forbid, THE MARKET needs them less, then they’re going to resist your idea every chance they can.

Again, that’s human nature. Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.

Good ideas come with a heavy burden. Which is why so few people have them. So few people can handle it.

Nice.

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HMK

Hugh MacLeod is a brand consultant, copywriter and cartoonist. Born in America but educated in the UK, he has spent most of his life shuttling between the two countries. He started out in straight TV advertising writing in the early 90s but with the advent of new media it evolved into new brand thinking and cultural transformation. Check out his website, Gaping Void.

Awesome Billboard Concept

Very cool. I'd love to see the installation specs...

Agency: Contract Advertising, Mumbai, India.

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HMK

London 2012 Olympics Logo

Of the 3178 comments (so far) from the BBC.co.uk site regarding the London 2012 Olympics Logo, here are a few of my favorites:

"Who the hell is supposed to be inspired by this load of old twaddle!?"

"I work in the advertising field, and have seen some pretty bad concepts in my time, but this one takes the biscuit."

"Looks like a cross between underpass graffiti and a Sex Pistols album."

"It looks like a broken swastika"

"Oh dear. Things aren't going well at all, are they?"

'I have seen pools of vomit on Undergound platforms which are more creative, artistic and representative of the city of London."

"This is a really disappointing logo, it is utterly uninspiring and says nothing."

"As soon as i read the headline "the 2012 logo revieled", as said.. I bet it's ****. What a coincedence..."

"argh, my eyes. the burning. argh."

"Bin it!"

And for the record, it cost the people of the UK £400,000.00 or 797,459.31 U.S.


Dang, and I thought the Valero logo was uninspired, dated and flat out lame...

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HMK

Apple iPhone: June 29th!

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HMK

...for some unknown reason, this kinda crap is way more funny when it's not clogging my email... And I'm thinking the beer might have something to do with it too...

LOL Cat

Passing The Torch

This is an old friend of mine, Phillip Wellman, from James Madison High School in San Antonio.

Back then, I was considered the crazy wild one. I freaked Phillip out once during our senior year by chugging a six pack while we sat at a red light on our way to a party.

We were both 18, legal at the time.

Well, Phillip, congratulations!

As the above video proves, You are the new King!

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HMK

FYI: Wellman, 44, is in his first year as manager for the Class AA team. He also was with the Braves from 1988-91, then rejoined the organization in 2004 as the manager of the short-season Danville Braves.

Inspiring Slideshows

Anyone that's been to my Tiki Room, casa or office knows that I'm pretty much a freak when it comes to visual stimuli. To me, it's all subliminal research that keeps my life and my job interesting. The juxtaposition of random images and organized chaos along with equally eclectic audio, sounds and music never fail to create something entirely fresh, new and sometimes surprisingly ironic.


I find this process to be a great tool for brainstorming alone, even better with colleagues and as it turns out, it's a wickedly hip and super fun experience for all during open houses, dog & pony shows or just about any festive gathering in general.

For the past 8 years or so, on any given day, I've typically got either vintage beer commercials, 50's drive in movie previews or a cheesey monster movie on the big screen (sound off and iTunes set to super shuffle) along with digital slideshows of collections I've been compiling for close to 20 years that range from found type, old labels and record covers to garbage, Bauhaus images, logos and matchbook covers.


And here's something cool to know - Flickr, the amazing photo site, has recently updated it's slideshow feature that's awesome for doing almost all of the above via user created pools and groups. I belong to a couple of these groups and thought this would be a perfect time to share those and a few more of my favorite collections to give you an idea of just how fun research can be - enjoy!

To get the full gist of the above you might want to download one of my podcasts from the HMK Mystery Stream. It also works just fine with nothing on but in the winter it can be a chilly experience.

Go to town!

Typography & Lettering

Typography Pool

Design Disease

Retro Eye Candy

Eerie Publications

Retro Pulp Covers

And as always, the comment button is below so feel free to share your comments with everyone. After all, that's what this is all about, right?

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HMK