It’s been a couple months since my last post, I apologize for my absence but it has been for good reason. I’ve moved to the west coast and shifted my world into a new direction. So much has happened in the past few months and the globe is experiencing some crazy times. This once again brings me to the topic of social responsibility as a designer and a fellow human. Billabong plays an active role in the design community that advocates and builds a stronger initiative to use our skills and capabilities to benefit some pretty awesome causes. The Billabong Design for Humanity event embraces the creative culture and promotes aid to non-profit benefits across the globe. This year the event will benefit the Invisible Children foundation. For more information check out the Billabong Design for Humanity site. Talk to you all very soon!

Earlier today I was watching a few videos about the evolution of social media. I came across a video posted on Ted.com that gave a concise analysis of how social media has developed over the past 150 years or so. It keys in on the importance of the often-misunderstood advances that have been made and does a fantastic job of illustrating the impact it has on our future. So to those that have ever looked at Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and any other social media form, and said “what’s the big deal?” this is a great video to give you the answer to your question. Enjoy!

By now you have likely heard that Starbucks will be changing their logo to accompany the ever-evolving grasp of their companies prosperity. I have read numerous complaints and seen videos of “outraged” loyalist of the brand, however I find it hard to side with them.

Although Starbucks has carved their existence in the marketplace as a coffee company, I don’t see any problem with them removing the obvious text based elements from their logotype. This is all too familiar as I remember when Apple made a similar change to their logotype in 2007 by removing “computers” from their name. Both companies came to the conclusion that they have outgrown the constraints of a name and identity that has helped define who they are. In efforts to accompany future development and evolution of their brands they made a modification rather than a complete re-branding.

Change is more often than not startling and unpleasantly foreign, however if we give it time and an honest chance, I think the initial reaction will dissipate and the Starbucks fanatics will still get their coffee just the same. With all of this considered, I would still be mindful of the publics reaction. After all, these are your loyal customers and devoted followers. Perhaps the introduction of a comforting spokes person for the brand could have softened the stark and seemingly abrupt unveiling of this new identity. Hey… it worked wonders for apple. So to my fellow bean water enthusiasts, I’ll see you in line.

So many companies have put out promotional videos that include their team riders at their best. What about the filming and approach to capturing these riders in a new light? If you ask any of these athletes to describe their passion and what it means to them to be part of it all, you will undoubtedly get an equally passionate response and an artful explanation that only begins to scratch the surface of the experience. Some companies get it, others don’t. Building their brand with the opportunity to engage their customers with that same passion and appreciation for the experience. “Let Go” is a video that I came across on YouTube that captures the emotion and experience of the uniquely indescribable moments of longboarding. Enjoy!

Surf Rider Foundation is a San Clemente, California based non-profit organization that helps to keep our worlds beaches clean and preserved for the future. I am currently a proud member of the Chicago chapter and a beach bum at heart. I wanted to take a couple minutes to help spread the word about Surf Rider Foundation and point out how design and marketing can serve a much bigger purpose than selling a simple product. It’s companies like SRF that constantly remind us all that design isn’t just about creating something new. In fact many times it is redesigning and reinventing the way we view the world around us. Using the skills and tools we have accrued over the years to preserve and protect the experience of human interaction with nature. Check them out at SurfRider.org to find out how you can help.

Well it’s December and Christmas is on it’s way. My gift to you is a gift that keeps on giving. If you are involved with web design & development to any capacity, you understand how crucial it is to plan ahead and cross check each element along the way. Sometimes we need to make revisions throughout this process, so instead of creating those revisions on a live site or making changes to a script that you are running you can easily see how many of those revisions will be viewed within Firebug. Firefox has a seemingly endless pool of add-ons that make life a little easier.

Firebug is a just one of those amazing add-ons that I have found to be invaluable. This little guy helps you edit, debug, and monitor your websites scripts and various programming languages.  You can make virtual changes to your site in real time to see how these changes will effect your site before you finalize them on your FTP. I use it to fine tune and troubleshoot issues with layout development and debugging CSS issues on every site that I work with. This little add-on has some serious muscle and it does so much more than I can begin to explain. So instead of standing in line for department store deals this holiday, download a little something for yourself at Firefox Add-Ons.

The creative community is a vast and ever growing population. Music and art have gone hand in hand since the inception of human expression and as Mr. Gump would say “theys like peas and carrots.”Creative Allies is an awesome bridge between both worlds and it allows both communities to unite and serve one another in a dynamic and exciting way.

Musicians can post the need for new art work for anything from album art to tour bus graphics and thousands of artists can contribute their designs to a pool on entries. Typically the musician will choose a winner and they will be rewarded with a pre-determined compensation. The work is  highly creative and dynamic and their is a great opportunity to get you work out there for some big names in the music industry. Very very very cool! So I highly encourage you to check it out. It’s a huge community of talented people with an enormous amount of opportunity. Once again the internet and creative people are revolutionizing the future!  www.creativeallies.com

Once again the wizards at Google have created yet another fantastic tool to make life a little easier. With the less than savory condition of the economy fluctuating as much as it has been, it remains a tedious task to keep tabs on the job market.  True to form, Google has a public data division that makes searching for jobless rates and various other information simple and effective. In this example you can see the current and past unemployment rates graphically in an interactive format. All of the data is pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and updated frequently. What will they create next? Conduct your own data search now! Google.com/publicdata

TV has never really been anything that I have been extraordinarily excited about. The past 5 years or so have been in my mind the most detrimental to my perception of present day television programming. Reality TV has created a plague of worthless content that doesn’t challenge or engage the viewer to do anything more than glue themselves to the couch and be fed the same old garbage from week to week.

In an attempt to curb my frustrations with seemingly ill-fated programming, I searched the web and found a website with some pretty awesome documentaries. SnagFilms.com is a website that streams documentaries in a similar fashion to Youtube and Vimeo. You can search for and stream full documentaries from a vast array of categories. So if you are ready to get your learn on and cut back on the mind numbing trash on most television stations, I encourage you to check this website out. www.SnagFilms.com

Technology and aesthetic styles have a perpetual cycle that keep the graphic design community in a constant state of change. This is one of the main reasons why I love it so much! The constant change is welcomed in the wake of over-saturation of mainstream media but it doesn’t always come easy. With these changes there is often new technology and techniques that any relevant designer needs to grasp in order to make progress.

VTC (Virtual Training Company) has been a great resource for myself over the past few years. It is sometimes difficult to keep up with the constant shift of the times, however VTC offers fantastic tutorial videos that take the place of a traditional semester long courses on numerous programs and techniques of the industry. So if you can’t find the time to take a class at a local university or you are having trouble grasping a new program or scripting language, VTC could be a perfect opportunity for you to get up to speed. Check them out at www.VTC.com