Designers Who Blog: Design, Illustration, Photography, Web, Advertising, Branding …

Design Week Vancouver

Call for nominations for a “next generation” speaker

Hi all. Design Week Vancouver would like your help. They have a fabulous list of speakers arranged, but would like your opinion on just one more:

Let us know a person you’d like to nominate who is under 30 and would do a great job at representing the ‘next generation voice’. We can’t promise anything, but we’ll do our best to bring them to our stage in Vancouver.

Enjoy…

The SET Foundation

Giving back…

Once upon a time there was a British guy who became a rare farang (non Asian) monk in Thailand.

His name was Peter Robinson, but he became known as Phra Farang.

After he left the order, Peter continued to give back to Thailand. And he did this by creating the SET Foundation (more about this later).

When I moved to Thailand, I too expected to do a lot of giving back. And I have.

But it was the SET Foundation that really caught my western fancy.

And as I mentioned on my Thai blog, Women Learn Thai (please don’t forget the ‘wink’), the SET Foundation has an amazing record:

Every Baht you give goes directly to help our students: SET has very low overheads and administration costs – no staff wages, no office rental costs, no staff vehicles and no fundraising expenses. In 2008, less than 3% of income was spent on administration.

500 Baht (US$15) will buy a pair of school shoes.

800 Baht (US$24) will buy spectacles – often badly needed by some students. 800 Baht will also pay a month’s rent in a shared student dormitory.

1,000 (US$30) Baht will pay for a school uniform or will cover the cost of books or tools for a year.

2,500 Baht (US$75) will pay for lunch at a school canteen for an entire semester.

2,500 Baht will also usually cover bus fares for a year (two semesters).

3,000 Baht (US$90) will support a student at high school for one semester or one semester for a college student studying for a Vocational Certificate.

5,000 Baht (US$150) is the typical value of a SET welfare grant for one semester for a college or university student. The grant will usually cover the cost of accommodation, food and bus fares.

If you are a Westerner – American, Brit, European, Canadian – then you might have noticed just how little it takes to contribute to an education.

And what is especially noticeable is how practically nothing is skimmed off the top. Yeah, there be a lot of skimming going on in the west…

Dunno about you, but I was impressed. Totally.

I’ve tossed in 5000 baht (US$150). And my buddy Talen of Thailand, Land of Smiles has tossed in 5000 baht too.

So, would anyone care to match our bahts, toss by toss?

But truthfully, even a half a toss, or a half of a half a toss, would do.

Enjoy…

Faces of Design Awards 2010

Launch of a new design competition

This is fantastic news all. The Faces of Design Awards is a design competition that does not ask for spec work!

We are proud to announce a new interdisciplinary design competition, the Faces of Design Awards 2010. Our goal is to create career opportunities for talented designers worldwide, by increasing their international visibility.

The Faces of Design Awards are based on candidates’ existing portfolios, and culminate in the publication of a printed volume, showcasing the 25 most promising design talents, by design discipline (e.g. graphic design, fashion design, product design).

This collection of profiles will be distributed to over 1.000 key decision makers at more than 300 companies, including firms such as vitra, IKEA, the Richemont Group (including prestigious brands such as Montblanc, Cartier and Chloé), designers’ studios such as the Campanas’ and Bouroullecs’, design institutions, and the international design press.

Enjoy…

Design Altruism Project Arguing With Success

When I moved away from paying work and into probono full-time, I didn’t realise that it would eat at my every available moment. But it has. And that’s my excuse for not keeping up with DWB.

This morning I woke up to an email from David Stairs of the Design Altruism Project. I scanned through, then got stuck into my day job.

Several hours later, Google Alerts jostled me to take another look at what David had cared enough to send.

And it was this look that brought me here. To DWB. To share with you…

Arguing With Success: My concern with the popularity of Facebook design groups and socially conscientious design blogs is that, rather than muster wider awareness, they will cause both a false sense of general accomplishment, and result in donor-fatigue.

The growth of a category of what are called “slacktivists,” people who use their interest in design/politics to justify joining online groups and building websites for remote non-profits, fails to address the world’s problems with feet-on-the-ground solutions.

At the end of the day isn’t it the person with the most mud on his or her shoes, not the one with the most conference speaking engagements, who is doing the important work?

Agree or not, you have to admit that it is certainly something to think about.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go off and rustle up a few generous souls…

Creative Opera

Manda Szewczyk

There is nothing quite like opening an email from a talented blogger. Especially when they sharing a blog of the quality of Creative Opera.

Creative Opera features creative advice and inspiration for graphic designers and web designers.

Creative Opera is a blog for new designers, future designers, and anyone who loves design. Creative Opera posts are full of useful information, creative inspiration, and professional advice.

Because Manda spent years teaching design, many of her posts are targeted toward students and new designers. It is fantastic, however, when experienced designers stop by to add to the discussion by sharing their own experiences and advice.

Manda is hoping that Creative Opera will continue to grow as a collaborative environment where designers can find inspiration, lively discussion, and the advice and motivation needed to help them succeed in the design field.

Manda covers many subjects on Creative Opera, so I wasn’t sure whether to put her. In the Web design category, or in the Graphic design category? So Design it is.

Looking through Manda’s Popular section we have some beauts: Design Trends: Self Portraits, Beautiful Design Resumes & their Matching Portfolio Sites, and 7 Reasons Why All Designers Should Twitter.

So now we know that Manda twitters. And of course I twitter. Do you?

Enjoy…

NO!SPEC on Twitter

Blogs, Mad about Design

I keep waiting for my copy of Blogs, Mad about Design to arrive to I can write a post about it on DWB.

Sigh. I must be the LAST person in the whole wide world who hasn’t received theirs yet!

But, no matter, I contacted Macarena at www.maomaopublications.com and she says it’s on the way. And if not, she’ll send me another.

Twitter, twitter, twitter…

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a designer’s new best friend: Twitter.

And better yet, NO!SPEC on twitter: nospec

If you are looking for other designers on twitter, there are a few posts going around. And as your google finger isn’t broken, I’ll only list a few:

• grain edit: 50+ Designers on Twitter: Our favorites to follow
• Digital Labz: 100 Web Designers to follow on Twitter
• Mashable: 85+ of the Best Twitterers Designers Should Follow
• Vandelay Design Blog: 50+ Designers to Follow on Twitter

And look, here’s a new one from PelFusion.com: Creative Twitter Backgrounds of 50 Designers

(scroll down and you’ll see thecatat7 – that’s the designer me :-)

Just for fun, you can even do a designers Twitter Search.

Or a nospec Twitter Search.

And since we are on a roll, how about a Crowdsourcing Twitter Search?

Uh. That last one was just FULL of butt-ugly nastiness, yeah?

Enjoy…

Eric at ideasonideas

A reminder to pre-order Eric’s book

It’s been awhile since I’ve heard from Eric Karjaluoto, and now I know why: he’s been mighty busy.

I know I mentioned it the last post, but I’m getting close to releasing my first book. As such, I want to make sure that you’re in the loop. The upcoming book looks at how small companies can out-market bigger ones, which is a topic I’m quite excited about.

So if you want to stay in the loop, contact Eric asap. I know I will.

Drones at the karaoke lounge of design

Eric Karjaluoto is a dream of a design writer, and Drones at the karaoke lounge of design just might be one of his best articles ever.

The invasion of design has begun, fueled by an army of talented newcomers and low-cost offshore services. This new breed trades methodology for mimicry and by doing so radically undercuts pricing, sometimes even working for free. Like it or not, supply and demand in the design industry is undergoing upheaval. Worse yet, for design buyers it’s getting harder to differentiate between good and bad design.

The problem that we’re facing on both sides of the equation is that of confusion regarding the value in design. Unsophisticated design buyers approach design like they’re slapping a coat of paint on a crumbling shack. Uninterested in more substantive change, they dream that a quick-fix like a splashy new logo or website will magically remedy more “root” problems. (i.e.: product flaws, deficiencies in operations, or misaligned communications)

Be sure to read the rest at Eric’s Drones at the karaoke lounge of design.

Enjoy…

Wolda 09

Wolda ‘09 is open for entries

Hey all, this just came across my virtual desk…

Wolda ‘09 is now collecting logos from all over the world designed both in 2008 and 2009 accepting submissions in two separate deadlines:

• June 30, 2009 for logos designed in 2008
• January 31, 2010 for logos designed in 2009

The core of excellence generated by this process is collated in a printed annual, printed on SAPPI acclaimed papers by Fontegrafica, winner of numerous worldwide awards.

Entry to Wolda includes a ‘09 book copy for each participant completely free of charge, including shipping!

Enjoy…

Pikaland

Amy Ng

Amy has a dream…

Pikaland is a blog about living the illustrated life — an art and illustration blog that’s a collection of beautiful things and inspirations that I stumble upon on the internet that’s made/designed by illustrators and artists, and is updated almost daily.

I also love thinking of new ways and projects where I can connect illustrators + artists with their audience, so the first one that I’m organising is the PikaPackage project. There are more in the works! ;)

Pikland is such a wonderfully written blog, head over to Amy’s about page for the full picture.

Enjoy…

Daniel Gross

Daniel has an interesting blog covering various angles of the design industry. He also has a great sense of humour. I mean, just check out the Sexy People Blog (a new one on me). I expected it to be a blog focused on taking the micky, but there are honest to goodness sexy people there. And some not so much, up to your taste really.

About: aNEW designs. A design and art blog that explores the passions of our professions.

On to the serious side is Daniel’s Posters of Conflict post, pointing to vads.

All good stuff… enjoy.