May 10, 2010
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By Van in Design, Inspiration
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-Albert Einstein
A great poster design by Alex Koplin, in collaboration with David Meiklejohn. Please do check out the great work and blog he has going at http://www.h34dup.com/.
That diagram is so easy to understand but so difficult to embrace. I’m sitting here going through a mental checklist of things in my life and using this chart as a simple self-reflection exercise. I think about the changes I’ve made so far – changes that have required drastic action. Opportunities, relationships, friendships, etc. Have the decisions I made in my life allowed me to go down that path of, “Are You Happy? – Yes. – Keep doing whatever you’re doing.” It almost feels a little bit selfish doesn’t it?
“Well, this doesn’t really apply…” “Well, I’m not happy at this moment but I eventually well be…” I catch myself making exceptions and excuses. “Maybe?” I caught myself saying “Maybe I’m happy?” I gave myself a mental slap in the face and reminded myself that there is no room for indecisiveness when it comes to happiness.
Tags: happiness, happy, poster
May 8, 2010
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By Van in Design, Headlines
It’s interesting that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the birth control pill on Mother’s Day this year. It’s not a subject I, or any other guy, would really keep up with. “Prevents pregnancies?” I think the discussion ends there. At most, it probably would extend to an exclamation of, “What?! I thought you said you were on the pill!” after receiving some unexpected news.
There are two things I took away from this article. First being an observation about expectations and the latter being an appreciation. Firstly…expectations. Early advocates supported and expected the birth control pill to do more than just prevent pregnancies: Lower divorce rates, prevent overpopulation, save marriages, contribute to preventing war and poverty. On the flipside, others expected sexual anarchy and maleficence (just noticed the word “male” in “maleficence”). Lovely. I digress, as history reveals the birth control pill didn’t do any of that. However, not meeting those expectations did not reduce the impact it had. It reminds me of a quote I heard, “Everything in our lives is the opposite of our expectations.” Sometimes in life, many of your expectations will not be met at a satisfactory level. However, it doesn’t reduce the potential it has to have a meaningful impact on the world.
I have a new found appreciation of the medical, cultural and social impact the birth control had for women. It’s definitely a game changer. Ultimately, it is all about choice. When people have the power to choose, they have the power to determine and define their future. These choices are expressive and represent a person’s individuality. And when you empower people to do that… at the end of the day it can only be a good thing.
It’s a great article and I highly recommend the read: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iogSOR_zl4a2_We9XhespWZeNVVwD9FI1TC81
Tags: america, birth control pill, contraceptive, medical
May 6, 2010
1
By Van in Design, Dreams, Inspiration
I rarely get the opportunity to sketch and doodle these days. My computer at work has the most difficult time working. It takes a lifetime for it to boot up Photoshop or InDesign. Today, I decided to use the loading time to sketch. I told myself, I’d keep the pencil on the paper and don’t lift it up and just see where it goes. The doodle above is the result. I wonder who she is and why I drew her the way I did. I tend to draw this girl when I sketch and just need to get something on paper. I don’t know who she is or where she came from, but she pops up now and then.
Maybe she’s a visual representation of what I find physically attractive in a girl. Maybe it’s from my child hood hobby and constantly drawing comic book heroines. For now, she’s just a face taped up on my wall over my computer.
Tags: doodle, drawing, sketch
May 4, 2010
1
By Van in Design
I don’t have cable, but this isn’t so bad either! I haven’t subscribe to cable for years. For the most part, I am able to get most of my favorite shows online. However, I’m S.O.L. when it comes to sports programming. I truly believe that is the ONLY reason anyone needs to subscribe to cable. Sports. Sports. Sports. However, I am really impressed with the online video feed of Lakers and other NBA games on TNT. I actually feel like I am there. The feed doesn’t cut out to commercial. They show all Laker Girl performances during commercial breaks. They occasionally pan around the audience randomly – catching Jack Nicholson trying to quickly finish his ice cream and leaving the cup under his seat after the game ended was entertaining.
It’s not to bad at all. I had a lot of trouble processing all the visual information, but after a while I got used to where I wanted to look to catch the perfect view. If you are a die hard Kobe Bryant fan, you can watch the Kobe cam and stare at him just sitting on the bench if you’d like! (Click below view full resolution)
Kobe Bryant did a pretty interesting interview with LA Magazine and also had an accompanying photo shoot for the piece. From what I can tell, not a lot of people are huge fans of the shoot. What are your thoughts? http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/05/kobe-white-hot.html. Go check out the other photos and the great personal interview! On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised at the design of the LA Magazine website!
Tags: basketball, cable, jazz, kobe, lakers, los angeles, shows, television, tnt, utah
May 3, 2010
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By Van in Design
