I was excited to discover that a blurb I had written awhile back was recently featured in a posting over at FreelanceSwitch. My ‘tip’ was selected as one of their top ten “Ways to Create an Incredible Client Experience”. Sweet!

FreelanceSwitch graciously gave a free subscription to freshbooks for a year to all those they selected to the top ten. I was particularly excited about this because I have been interested in the possibility of using freshbooks for quite sometime. This will give me the opportunity to play around with and decide if its something I’m going to use longterm. I’ll keep y’all posted with the outcome.  So far I’m loving the layout and features of it!

My wife and I just got back from a wonderful weekend of fellowship. After 1.5 years of preparation we were finally able to launch the Building Tomorrow’s Church Conference in Prescott, Arizona. The result was an awesome time of prayer, learning, fellowship, and laughter.  God is moving mightily among this generation of young adults.  I am excited to see what He does in the lives of the conference participants this year and beyond. Many thanks go out to everyone who was involved and participated in making this conference a reality. I put together a video of our time in together, which should give you an idea of what the conference is about. You can view the video here.  Start making plans to attend next year-we’ll see you at BTC 2009!

As graphic designers in a modern, technology driven world, it’s often easy to forget about the roots of our artform. Through an RSS feed I follow (Design Daily News) I was led to this site: TypeCulture. This site has some really great resources for type enthusiasts or those looking to learn more about the history of typography. I highly, HIGHLY recommend viewing the type videos (you can click on them to watch a small version of the video without purchasing). Mark Jamra and Jamie Peloquin have done an excellent job documenting some of the ‘ancient’ processes of typesetting. My favorite is the video in Douglas Coffin’s letter cutting workshop - talk about an art form; simply beautiful! Check out this quote from Coffin’s website:

“Coffin carves predominantly in slate, but also works in limestone, marble, granite and brownstone, designing and cutting beautiful letterforms, decorative motifs and bas reliefs. Coffin brushes out his letterforms calligraphically, fine-tuning his work on paper before transferring the finished design to the face of the stone and settling down to v-cutting the letterforms. Raised lettering is sometimes called for. Carving in slate creates a naturally-occurring residue of dust in the carved letter that enhances readability. Lettering in limestone, granite and marble is usually slightly darkened for clarity. If appropriate, gilding in 23 K gold or palladium draws special attention to the lettering, particularly when carved in slate, which is then oiled or waxed.”

I stumbled across these business cards from web.burza.hr and thought they were pretty slick; Great concept and execution.  Each card contains a ‘character’ that represents each member of the Burza team.  The Characters then appear to have a vacuum-seal-like effect over the top of them to make them look like toy action figures you’d buy in the store.  The rounded corners are a really nice touch as well.

I think its important to point out this type of print/branding work.  These pieces are unique enough to leave a mark in the mind of whomever they come across.  At the same time, they are not so off the wall that the design leaves the realm of familiarity.

To say that a lot of changes are going on behind the scenes, may be a bit of an understatement. However, I’ve found that the minute I promise a big change, it always ends up taking a lot longer to complete and becomes much less dramatic when that change finally does hit. SO… I’m not going to promise anything or throw out any completion dates at all. Just wait and see what happens to this site in the near future.

I’ve also been on a design rejuvenation kick recently. There are times in your life where, suddenly, everything just seems to take a leap forward and take on new meaning. I had been in a design rut for quite some time, but the dam finally broke and I’m discovering new inspiration which has enabled me to push my boundaries. This is due in part to a fantastic RSS feed list, some really great design books, and a personal decision to reinvent myself as a designer. God has been good!

And just so this post has something substantial to offer, check out Fontsruct.com. This site allows you to design your own fonts online! Pretty neat! I was also introduced (via his blog) to font designer Jos Buivenga. Check out this interview with him if you have time- it was a refreshing read.