As part of a sponsorship arrangement, Design 7 Studio was put to the challenge of coming up with this year’s event logo, website and the rest of the materials from posters and refrigerator magnets, to t-shirts and print advertising.

The end result utilizes an illustrative touch, a vintage color palette, and a clean site that just shouts “Vegas” baby!

Check out the live site.

When it comes to gaming, I like a good plethora of variety in the types of games that I personally gravitate to.  Whether it is a good Team Deathmatch in Modern Warfare 2, or more obscure gems that have artistic flare and varying strategy like Ico, I am more impressed by games that require my brain cells, not just a bunch of button-mashing.

Call me a lover of the classics.  I am referring to the real beginnings of computer gaming.  The point-and-click adventure.  Whether it was Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, or the mother of them all, the Monkey Island series, there is something unique and compelling about these type of games.  They challenge the mind, and force you to use your skills of observation and deduction as to how to proceed to the next level, screen, or scenario.

Unfortunately, since the conception the gaming console, this genre of game has become a dying breed. While there are a good number of them being produced in Flash as a web-browser game (for free), finding a really well produced or thought-out gem is far and few.

Then along comes an obscure but incredible game called Machinarium.  Dreamed, conceived, and birthed by a little unknown Czech gaming collaborate called Amanita Design, lead designer Jakub Dvorsky has created one of the most ingenious games in this genre.

Whether it is it unique interface, compelling musical and atmospheric score, hand-drawn artwork, or very inventive puzzles, this game just ROCKS.  And it is in the details.  From tiny blades of grass that blow in the breeze, the quirky animations that our main character displays if we fail to proceed for a few minutes.  It is all jaw-dropping.

Machinarium is notable in that it contains no dialogue neither spoken nor written. The game’s story instead uses a system of animated thought bubbles. Even more detailed scenes can in the same format can only be revealed by idling in certain areas.

For a game that has some really good puzzles to have to solve, it does have a more unique approach to helping people out along the way. Once per level, the player can receive a hint, which becomes increasingly vague as the game progresses. Machinarium also comes with a walkthrough that can be accessed at any time by playing a minigame. As with dialogue, the walkthrough is not in written or spoken form, but instead a series of sketches describing the puzzle at hand and its solution.

The plot?  You are assisting a simple and humble little robot who has, at the beginning of the game, been delivered to a desolate dump pile.  He then journeys back to a very dilapitated city, and encounters the need to save his city and rescue his robotic girlfriend from some rather seedy robotic counterparts.

Taking over a period of three years to complete, and seven developers, this wonderful game was released in October 2009 and won the Excellence in Visual Art award at the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival.

Available for both PC and Macintosh, this game is a must have for any lover of games, or more particular, for the lover of the classic point-and-click adventure.  This game will not disappoint.

Check out the game trailer below:

I recently stumbled upon Julia’s website portfolio and came across her section of photography.  What I found in one particular series titled “Lauren the Tyrant” was a brillance in the use of light and shadow to portray the charm of a child’s mind at play.  What do you get when cross a small plastic dinosaur and a few cheese-graters?  A wonderful glimpse of imagination and ode to Japanese B-movies.

Keep up the great work Julia…

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, I also want to proclaim a great amount of praise and admiration for those men who, for lack of a better term, just let it all hang out, or should I say, grow out.

However, there needs to be a fine line drawn between a cool, rugged, mountain-man look and that of a circus freak.

And along comes Matt Rainwater, a fabulous portrait and scene photographer who somehow managed to gather the most prolific assembly of outlandish men with outlandish facial hair. His photo gallery titled Beardfolio is perhaps the most diverse and weird homage to the folical that I have ever seen, even though his use of lens and lighting are outstanding.  He is hailed as a wonderful photographer, and yet he uses his unique characters and subjects to turn it into an art form.

Ladies and gentleman… I give you an ode to the beard and mustache.

But how should we receive the things that we run into?

Take today for instance.  You are sitting comfortably in a chair (I am assuming) in front of your computer or laptop and reading this blog post (thank you by the way).  You don’t really know for certainty what today is going to bring you.  Perhaps within the next 30 minutes, something that will frustrate you, anger you, burden you, or just plain trip you up will arrive in your path.  Or perhaps you will end this day and look back and say, “It was a good day”.  Well, no matter what the day brings, you should look back on each day with that same saying.  Regardless of the circumstances. Why?  Because everything that you face, good or bad, makes you a better person because you have endured it. Grown from it. It has strengthened you.

Want a good analogy?  That is what today’s entry is all about.  This was one of the many forwarded emails that I get which I usually pass over and don’t even bother reading.  But this one for some reason stuck with me and I loved it so much I thought I would regurgitate it here for you in case you have not yet come across it yourself.  If you already have, then you should remind yourself of the meaning of this little story.  If you haven’t, read on….

Sometimes we wonder, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ or ‘Why did God have to do this to me?’ Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she’s failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, ‘Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.’
‘Here, have some cooking oil,’ her Mother offers.
‘Yuck’ says her daughter.
‘How about a couple raw eggs?’ ‘Gross, Mom!’
‘Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?’
‘Mom, those are all yucky!’
To which the mother replies: ‘Yes , all those things seem bad all by
themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! ‘
God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

If you like this, send this on to the people you really care about.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!”

They use pen and ink, pigment and bristle, clay and stone to help define how they view the world and the creation around them.  It is a personal form of expression of one human being and a delight for the rest of us to see glimpses of their mind’s eye captured onto canvas.

But what makes some artists stand out from others and really make a name for themselves in the Art Community is sometimes not just how they do it, but what they portray their visions onto.

Take London artist Nick Gentry for instance.  He has taken a once, everyday object – the floppy disk drive -  and turned them into the canvas on which he paints and creates his mixed-media portraits.

As he puts it:

The whole world was totally reliant on these physical media formats,” he says. “Now suddenly we are at a time where they are obsolete, replaced by countless intangible data files. Will humans be compatible with our own technology? I looked at using the disks in a grid to create photo-fits, constructing imaginary faces and identities that could draw connections to the personal information stored on the disks”

The number of floppy disks he uses can be anywhere from 6 disks (small painting) to much larger paintings that utilize 100 disks.

The going rate to add a Nick Gentry original to your home art collection?  Anywhere from $470 to $1100.

Glad to see someone is making use of those old floppys aside from coasters and mini-frisbees.

I recently came across a blog entry from designer Jon Klassen about his collaboration with Studio AKA on their Winter Olympics ad for the BBC.

What makes this ad truly remarkable and stand out is the approach.  Wonderfully dark and dangerous animation fills the screen in stark comparison to the usual colorful flare used to advertise the Olympic games.  The musical score, the storyboard, and the animation style all lend to give a strong marketing plug that takes a different and refreshing approach.

I just love stumbling across creative genius and letting it inspire me.

While this author of thriller, crime-fiction has been around since 2001, Karin Slaughter has never been an author that I have taken for a test-drive, until now.

Her first novel Blindsighted, in which she debuts her heroine, Southern coroner Sara Linton,  for novels to come, is flat-out a great read.

As the book puts it, blindsighteness interferes with vision. You can see, but your mind can’t make out what it is your seeing. In otherwords, the truth could be right in front of you the entire time, but you are “blind” to it.

Now knowledge of this definition does nothing to spoil the plot of this novel, but more into the intimate layers found in most of the primary and some secondary layers of Slaughter’s characters. While some authors chose to get the reader into the hearts, minds, and past of their characters by having overly lengthy and detailed prose, Karin choses to keep it fairly simple in the writing style so that your interest is kept at a tight grip.

I compare this to one of my other top favorite authors, James Patterson.  His novels move at a quick pace, with very short chapters and lots of page-turning.  Mr. Patterson focused mainly on plot and that is what drives  my to carry on in the book to see where the story is turning next.

Karin Slaughter has that same approach, but her chapters are longer and while the plot moves along, her emphasis is on character development.  She makes you really care about the townsfolk, the detectives, and even see into the hearts of the possible suspects.  In the end, when a tragedy happens, you are bummed because you have a connection with the character. Yet all the while, the story moves on.  There is a killer on the loose and we, the readers, and the protagonists have no clue who it is. As the caption on the cover so blatantly puts it…

He kills in plain sight. But you won’t see him coming…

Great job, Ms. Slaughter.  I am disappointed it took 9 years for us to meet and I look forward to our next meeting.  Now I am off to the bookstore….

Design 7 Studio just put the finishing touches on a project that was in the works over the holiday.

The Cambria Historical Society, led by client Susan McDonald, approached Design 7 Studio to take on the task of redesigning the organizations website back in the Fall of 2009. The project launched and went live on the servers on January 28, 2010.

It was decided in the beginning that the website needed an antique, vintage look to help promote the Society’s purpose of presenting the rich, local history of the quaint coastal town of Cambria, California. The site need to breath antiquity. From the color palette used, to the wealth of old photographs available, the website really helps visitors take a trip down memory lane into Cambria’s past.

But the site doesn’t use antiquated means. A Flash-driven photo gallery, jQuery-enhanced forms, and a custom Google Map that provided a virtual walking tour help round-out the visitor’s overall experience.

View the site

I stumbled across this website that basically helps place medical personal into remote areas like Nepal, Namibia, and Tanzania.

For such a humanitarian organization, Gap Medics method they chose to present the information in the form of a website is fresh, inventive, and unique.

With the use of washed out colors, and sort of vintage duo-tone look, and obscure typography throughout, the site has a very innovative approach to its design.

http://www.gapmedics.co.uk/