You can see some of these in the Black Diamond Digital portfolio galleries, but recently, there have been a few inquiries into what type of products I shoot, and how they turn out, so here are some recent samples for your viewing enjoyment.
Give me a call to set up a product session anytime.
Let’s face it, there are tons of really, really great uses for the typeface Comic Sans. OK, make that two. Snackers convenience stores, and The Simpsons. Everyone else: RESIST the urge to emulate every secretary with a PC and an itch to be creative and/or witty and just stay away!
Today I discovered a really interesting article by Emily Steel from the Wall Street Journal about the typographer who created Comic Sans. “Vincent Connare designed the ubiquitous, bubbly Comic Sans typeface, but he sympathizes with the world-wide movement to ban it.”
Thankfully, the guy has a sense of humor. Check out the article in the Wall Street Journal. And please – I beg you – don’t use it. Just don’t. While you’re at it, you may want to steer clear of Copperplate Gothic and Papyrus, too. You run the very serious risk of finding yourself wearing flannel, sportin’ a mullet, or rockin’ some Oakley frogskins with a walkman in tow. It’s just not worth it.
Special thanks to the creatives who joined us at last night’s DIALOGUE event at our studio. We had a great turnout, and unbelieveably great conversations. I got tremendously positive feedback from several of you! Here are just a few topics that were covered, in no particular order…
1. Social media pros/cons – facebook, twitter, myspace, etc. – Special thanks to Hernan (The Construct Creative), whose impromptu Twitter intro was really cool. You should be on their payroll, Hernan. Nice job. We talked about the launch of R+W-live.com for their new “siteless site” that takes advantage of real-time social networking under the skin of their own site. Pretty cool concept.
2. Spec work and crowdsourcing – I’m pretty passionate about this topic, and I talked to some creatives who are participating in some of the online spec sites. I can see their point, but I still think it’s ruining the graphic design industry, and the PR behind the sites peddling spec work is nauseating.
3. Membership Organizations – pros/cons. Some big fans, some not so much. I’m an AIGA member, and I fielded several questions that I’ll have to forward to the local board of directors, because I’m unable to answer any of them. AdFed was not represented last night, but the Addy Awards are coming up in a couple weeks, and it was discussed. IABC had some folks there, and we talked about the several Bronze Quill Awards Victor and the gang at eurie recently earned. Congratulations to the gang across the hall for that. Las Vegas Graphics Group and a few other Meetup groups and Yahoo User Groups were strongly represented, and brought some great folks. UNLV’s SAGA students came by, and it was a great pleasure for me to speak with some of the near-grads who are the future of our industry. I’ll be looking at some of their portfolios in the coming weeks.
4. Myself, Krystal Hosmer (Spark Creative) and Martin Lapid (Pixel Pusher Media) plugged our upcoming UNLV Continuing Education Classes coming up this summer, and we were all glad to see that they all got considerable interest. More details on that next week.
5. Lots of buzz about who’s hiring and who’s laying off creatives.
6. Awesome impromptu showcase by the Rowlands from S2 and their insanely awesome fine art duplication services using 8×10 photography and high-end inkjet processing. Very impressive!
7. Third Thursday is coming up in Henderson. Thanks to photographer Nicky Watts for representing – and for bringing by some killer sweets!
8. Many of us felt that the event was a success, so much of the later part of the evening was spent discussing what’s next for the DIALOGUE events. Nothing is set yet, but I’ll be posting details on this blog and via Twitter. We’re going to build off the momentum and keep the “dialogue” going.
The plan was to connect, talk some shop and to fuel the fire of area creatives. I think collectively, we did that. Those who attended last night have my sincere thanks for being a part of a pretty special evening.
Thank you,
Nate
I consider myself a professional, therefore I don’t do spec work. I’d like to do my part to educate other creatives about the risk they take by participating in spec “contests.”
There’s a website dedicated to the cause here.
The AIGA agrees with me, too. Check their response here.
There are 2 exceptions: 1) If I voluntarily agree to do a job for no compensation, (shame on me) I probably want to practice on new software or something – knowing full well I won’t be compensated from the word “go” – or 2) it’s a non-profit job that’s for a cause that I believe will change the world for the better, and I’m proud to be a contributor to the cause. That’s it. Period.
If you are a designer who does spec work, expect a response from the rest of the industry. Namely, the part that has to pay bills and taxes and pays for their software, fonts and computers.
Also, expect them to not be too happy with you. You see, you’ve driven costs down and diluted the talent pool, in some cases. In other cases, you’ve duped the world into thinking design can be “good enough” and you can get paid “just enough” to buy your new Wii game or an Affliction T-shirt. Grow up, see the bigger picture and think about what your time and talent are worth.
Here’s an article that agrees with me by Andrew Hyde.
*EDIT: For some reason, this debate is really heating up. Okay, in my world it’s heating up. However, there are a few great articles I’ve read that support crowdsourcing and spec-model businesses. But, in the interest of debate, I’ll post the links and let you decide for yourself.
Here’s an article that has a solution, albeit quite extreme.
Please join me in watching the streaming debate this weekend at SXSW.
Check out what this guy did to remodel his basement. Here’s the article. Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for the twitter post.
Catching up on some blogging after a crazy busy 3 day week…
Today at a demo at Casey’s Camera’s in Vegas I had my hands on the new Canon 5D Mark II. This is the camera I’ve been waiting to upgrade to (from the first 5D) for quite some time. There is a huge production shortage of these, so I have to settle for a waiting list for now, but it’s a certainty that I’ll be owning one of these suckers.
For those of you interested in this camera – here’s the skinny… The 5D has a full-frame sensor, which was the first of it’s kind when it was introduced 3 years ago in the Pro-sumer (Professional meets Consumer, yeah, “prosumer” sounds dumb, I know, but there’s no other way to reference the $2K – $5K price range. Sorry.) division. The flipside of having this giant sensor is that it collects dust. Lots of it. The pro-grade Canon cams clean their own sensors – but I figured it’s chocked into that $8K price tag. Not anymore! 5D Mark II cleans itself for about $2700 (body MSRP). Also, it’s upped it’s size from roughly 12 Megapixels to 21, it’s ISO range is insanely high now, and it’s shoots HD video!
I feel like Homer Simpson over a donut. Hurry up, Canon, get your elves busy!
I’d like to thank Erika and the folks at Glaceau for calling me to shoot for them at VooDoo Friday night. Check out the link below to view the gallery photos. There are some silly ones, and some sexy ones, and probably some stuff that you might not want your co-workers to see… perfect ingredients for a good party!
Here’s the link to the web gallery.
Barack and McCain were there...
Friend of Black Diamond Digital, John Hawkins, reviews cameras and other cool stuff on his blog site. This time, it’s the Lomography 35mm Colorsplash camera. Personally, I’m already a fan, since I have a Holga, and some film that needs developed, now that I’m reminded of it….
Read all about it here, on John’s website.
Watch Big Bang Theory. When it’s over, pause your TV on the Chuck Lorre Productions blurb. You won’t be sorry.
Tonight’s post was about Las Vegas, so I felt obligated to represent. I got a laugh.
Check it out here.
In 2008 at Black Diamond Digital, we’ve been designing a lot more apparel than in years past. Currently, we have dozens of shirts for sale at the Cannery Casinos through our partners at TransAction Holdings. We also have BDDI-designed shirts in Colorado with Outdoor Depot, in Massachusets with the University of Nantucket, and we’re waiting to reveal the most fun ones yet, nationwide, with Fuego Star (stay tuned!).
Jake (Brother and BDDI New Media VP) and I visited our parents in Wyoming last week, and my mom busted out a box of our childhood shirts. It really came full circle when I saw that she held onto my first screen printed designs, and a few just for fun. Enjoy!
I was 13 when I sold my first shirts at one of my Dad’s Photo Conventions. Luckily, I’m a much better Illustrator and Designer at 32 than I was at 13. Here’s the back. It’s dated, but decent, I think.
I introduced “insanity” in 8th grade (I think). I sold hoodies and t-shirts to my friends so I could buy hair band tapes, skateboards, Vans and Chuck Taylors. I even had a brochure and some stickers that I made in Aldus PageMaker 4 in the Library, because we didn’t have a computer at home. In fact, nobody really cared if you used a Mac or a PC in those days. The fonts were such a headache back then, and the internet was actually just a network for researching (read:plagiarizing) homework.
I recycled the “i for and i” design in college as a lino-cut print in printmaking class. Looks better in color. As you can see in the “blob” wraparound below it, I sucked at registration, so I used one-color designs most of the time.
Finally, we can see that the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree in our family. Here’s a design my dad did in the 60s for Brush Poppers Motorcycle shop in Morrisson, Illinois. These sell at Lucky Brand right now for about $60! (this one’s a little ratty, so it might go for $40 – just kidding!)
Finally, here are a few shirts from which we pulled inspiration from over the years. These are like an autobiography. Part embarrassing, part cool as hell! You’ll see my first Denver Bronco shirt, my first Lollapalooza shirt (Rage still rules!) and Jake’s first Vision Street Wear shirt, and a Lucero skate shirt from ’86! Old School!
Finally, a tribute. None of this would be possible without my awesome parents, John and Gayle Ludens. Two hard working middle-class Americans who busted their asses for their kids. Thanks Mom and Dad!
