I know where they can stick their snooty

First let me say that there is a part in here where they offer the theory that an 80 year old grandmother who dabbles in Illustrator could possibly be a better designer than someone who has spent Four years in college, an internship, and gained years of marketing and design experience.

What? Really? How can they possibly be selling this line.

I understand that they had a bad experience with a design firm, but that does not mean a monkey could do a graphic designers job. It also does not mean that holding open competitions for anyone with Adobe Suite is somehow going to improve our industry. I would argue that in fact it is quite the opposite. That good designers, just like good dentists, or doctors. Is a learned ability. It takes time, practice and a true understanding of the field that one chooses to work in.

And Secondly there is a very big difference between snooty and actually passionate about ones job. I have never been snooty. Maybe an ass, but never snooty.

And finally I would like to say that this article is coming from Forbes Magazine - FORBES Magazine! Come on, they are the pot calling the kettle black.

You can find this article here

Fine I am now off my soapbox

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Clovis

Big Man Japan

This preview has crazy cool written all over it - a mix of computer animation and live action, Big Man Japan looks to be a mixture of everything I love - mainly animation and kooky cool old giant monster movies (Who doesn't love a monster detroying a city block?) anyway you can check out the preview here



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Clovis

Sunday Morning Cartoons

One of the best openings to a cartoon - ever!

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Clovis

Cheese of Nazareth

I find that more and more I'm writing about interesting stories that happen to come up dealing with Marketing and Design. The reason being is that, along with my duties of being Toi's chief doodler, my other job includes being a graphic designer/marketer/consultant and all around funny guy. So along with the previews of up-coming Toi apparell, pattern designs, Toi musings and the day to day of running a small business, you'll find that I'll focus pretty heavily on marketing and design related topics.

Because truth be told I believe they are all one and the same.

I could talk at length about arguments I've had with other designers and marketers who make it very clear that these are two very seperate professions. But I truly believe that these can and should be one and the same. A designer who doesn't understand the marketing and testing and branding and final execution of their work, and a marketer who isn't paying attention to details and who isn't part of the creative process. Well I believe both are doing a disservice to the client in some way.

Maybe this has something to do with owning a small business and having to be both Designer and Marketer.

Maybe it has something to do with I'm trying to quit coffee and cigarettes and the linked article made me "Mr. Cranky Pants."

Anyway, above is a logo from 50dollarlogo.com and clicking on this link will take you to a story about one man's year long journey into getting a decent logo from this website.

And believe me the logo's are even more horrible than the one above.

Clip art should be outlawed.
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Clovis

Customer Service

Last night Rachel and I went to dinner at the Italian oven, It was a good dinner, minus the forty five minute wait to be seated and the hour wait for our food to actually be served. But once the food was served it was delicious. What made the dinner fun was that when you are seated, there is a white sheet of paper placed over the table, and crayons given to the guests.



This led to Rachel and I having a little contest to see who could draw us the best.


here's her entry.



And here's mine and yes I know in real life I have no hair, but that is what illustrations are for, embellishing.

So anyway we're taking votes to decide which one is better, I vote for me since I write the blog.

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Clovis

quick note

Howdy just a quick note before I head out for our valentines dinner.

The guys at five four do a follow up to the article from the Wall Street Journal I posted earlier in the week, which talked about how brands are faring in this economy - his feedback is just as insightful as the original WSJ post, if not more so.

Take a gander here and see for yourself.

Also the photo above references their blog, since he checks out peoples socks and shoes

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Clovis

Sunday morning cartoons - Valentines day edition

From the Creator:

- When i was in third grade i got a valentine from the ugliest girl in the class. My friends told me to rip it up otherwise they would tease me by saying i wanted to be her boyfriend. I didnt actualy rip the valentine up, i crumpled it up and "michael jordaned" it into the trash can screaming "Fade Away"! So the girls of the class pressured her into a fight with me in the schoolyard during lunch. I wasn't gonna fight a girl but peer pressure is a mofo. I pushed her down and ran away. I was such a tool when i was little, easily pressured into doing things i knew were dum.
This animation is based on real events, enjoy! -


Happy Valentines day
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Clovis

Staying above water

Here is an interesting article from the The Wall Street Journal Which talks about clothing brand, Five Four, and their struggle to make it through these difficult times. A very interesting read.


Found on Hypebeast

This is why your fat

After looking through this site you may not want to eat for a week. This explains Why America is obese.

I mean seriously who eats a corn dog pizza.

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Clovis

What do using bad visuals mean?

Image via here

Ghost Bikes are a grass roots campaign to memorialize cyclists killed in New York City's traffic. The image above is from DKNY (A clothing company.) and another link here talks about Macy's (A department store) Valentine and Spring campaigns.
Both use similar images, specifically that of monochromatic bikes being used to promote specific events. The same types of monochromatic bikes sprinkled throughout New York, used by Ghost Bikes, to remind everyone of the loss of life.

So first, let me say that I mostly agree with Darryl Ohrt, from the blog Brandflakes for Breakfast, Any designer has to perform due diligence. Meaning that if you put an image out there for public consumption, that you should understand what the image actually means. Be it from history or pop culture.

But I guess my bigger question is, if you didn’t know about Ghost Bikes. If you had no point of reference to begin with, what would a monochromatic bike say to you? If you look at the display for Macy’s, well no offense to Macy’s, but I find it kind of boring. Looking at the DKNY bikes, it doesn’t really tell me what they are trying to sale me, and I’m not interested in the bike enough to want and try to find out.

Because, to be fair to both companies, I don’t think it is completely invalid to re- appropriate an image, even one with a negative connotation. As long as the team putting it together understands what they are using. My bigger issue is that without knowing about Ghost Bikes, both campaigns still leave me not that interested. And I think that is just as much of a crime here as the use of the inappropriate images.

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Clovis

Can't stop the hustle.

Tonight Kenyatta(Theologic) and I had a fairly in-depth conversation about marketing and how to promote oneself. It was great to catch up with him and to hear about all of the interesting things he's planning to release on the masses in the coming months.

It's good to see Detroit still producing creative individuals, and I can't wait to here the whole album.

Make sure you grab a copy of his album March 21st.

check his myspace hear.

Sunday Morning Cartoons

In my pursuit to keep childhood memories alive, and to showcase kickass cartoons, I bring you one of the great overlooked 80's imports. The Bionic Six

From the Bionic Six Wikipedia:

The main character, 'Bionic-1', was a machine-enhanced human being using bionic technology, much like The Six Million Dollar Man. On a vacation in the Himalayas, Bionic-1 and his family were testing out some new ski equipment. They were attacked by aliens and during the battle, in which Jack revealed his abilities to his children for the first time, there was an avalanche and the Bennetts were all buried alive under radioactive snow. All, but Jack (whose bionics made him immune to the radioactivity), were thrown into paralytic comas. Unsure how to save them, Bionic-1 brings the family to Professor Sharp's lab. Sharp deduces that giving everyone the bionic treatment would cure them of the radioactivity too. Each family member was given a specific bionic power, and they formed a team named Bionic Six.

... I just remember thinking how cool it would be to be a family of crime fighters.

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Clovis

Tired? Overworked? Pasty?

This is just proof that anything is possible on the interwebs. A company known as ComputerTan has a website where you can actually tan while sitting at your computer. I reserve my personal thoughts on the subject, but I will say that this is definately and interesting idea and execution. check it out here

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Clovis

Sunday Morning Cartoons

SPOOON!!!