Mat

We need more design entrepreneurs.

::: mat :::

I just found out about deke and his Blog/Website. It is a treasure trove of quality tutorials for a lot fo Adobe products, and specifically, Photoshop. I found his site looking for a way to take a simple portrait and fake it into a HDR photo. This is probably useful for graphic designers & illustrators who don’t have access to shoot their own group of photos to get the true effect of HDR (High Dynamic Range) shots. I needed to use it on a current project and since I see a lot of these type of images around the internet I thought it might be of service to someone out there.

Note: Use this technique judiciously, its not appropriate for every photo.

If you liked this, you can visit his site for more here… http://www.deke.com/

::: mat :::

My friend Jason Stevens, who runs the Blog DesignIsMyThing™, is launching a poster contest called the Say Something Poster Project. This will be a vehicle for local and national designers & artists to get exposure, but also help inspire future generations of kids. You can follow what he is up to on Facebook. I am excited to be a part of getting the project started and I can’t wait to enter in my design. I encourage everyone to enter a design because it will be a great chance to get exposure for your artwork and your name. The teaser video is below. I will be posting more about this as the event and competition approaches.

Join us!

The Say Something Poster Project from DesignIsMyThing™ on Vimeo.

::: mat :::

This week’s inspiration. MATMAN tested. MATMAN Approved.

::: mat :::

I guess I’m late to the game, but I just watched the OK GO – This Too Shall Pass, music video and how it was made. Adam Sadowsky gave a TED talk about what he learned from creating it and I like the lessons he learned and how they apply to work and life. I thought it was a cool video to share with the nice life/work lessons. The music video was inspired or based on a Rube Goldberg Machine. I think its pretty awesome. You can see the original music video in high-quality 1080p HD or watch the video at the end of the T.E.D. talk below.

::: mat :::

Once again, I’ve come across another T.E.D. talk that really resonates with me. The talk was by Rory Sutherland. He speaks of how companies who “sweat the small stuff” by paying attention to detail in their business actually get a greater response from their customers than companies who throw large amounts of money at really big and expensive ideas.

He goes on to talk about how people, companies, or governments who have really big budgets, tend to look toward really big and expensive ideas because they believe in the premise that big budgets an big ideas are what moves progress and drives customer response. He then proceeds to show examples where companies have paid attention to the smaller details, spent much less money, and created ten times the customer response. The impact of which was a positive and memorable customer experience.

I agree, and believe the idea of sweating the small stuff is important to understand for any business or organization. Also, like Rory, I would be interested to find out if someone can come up with a word to fit the model he created for his talk. I have re-created it below.

Whats the word for the greatest impact at the smallest price?

The word should define the process of creating ideas which have the greatest impact but cost the least amount of money.

I would encourage you to listen to his talk, think about the concept, and try and come up with the mystery word for that model. Also, try and think how in your life, or business you can incorporate this idea of sweating the small stuff.

::: mat :::

Why do you do what you do? Why do you believe what you believe? These are all questions we should be asking ourselves whether we are running a company, or living our individual lives. I believe that people really need to focus on why they are doing what they do and less on the results of what they do (paycheck/profit/gratification/acceptance).

Simon Sinek really wraps it up perfectly in this T.E.D. talk, and I couldn’t put it better. I would recommend that anyone who owns a company or is in a position of leadership to watch this video. In fact, I would wish that everyone watch the video.

::: mat :::

I just had to post about “Logorama”, as a graphic designer I thought this was awesome. How many logos can you spot?

Logorama from Marc Altshuler – Human Music on Vimeo.

ENJOY

::: mat :::

Hungry Recordings needed album artwork for their second release on Beatport. The brief was again simple — it should be visually odd or out-of-the-ordinary and incorporate the logo with related copy. It also had to work at a size of 12 x 12 inches (Vinyl Album) as well as a 50 x 50 pixel icon. My solution was to keep with the previous theme and create some more visually odd or strange artwork.

Album Artwork #2 for Hungry Recordings: 'Lights Electronika - Heavy Lounge EP'

Icon Version for Beatport

Now, on to the next….

::: mat :::

Hungry Recordings asked for album artwork for their first release on Beatport. The brief was simple — it should be visually odd or out-of-the-ordinary and incorporate the logo with related copy. My solution was equally simple, a ‘compilation’ of faces with a superimposed logo. The image in the background was compiled using various facial features I cut out of magazines.

Full Artwork For Hungry Recordings First Compilation

Icon Size for Beatport

Now on to the next…

::: mat :::