Hello everyone!
It’s Laura, your local designer and illustrator here! Today I’d like to cover something very important in our blog.

Picture this: it’s one of those days. You have plenty of work to keep you busy at your desk for the next three months solid, yet you find yourself watching the clock slowly crawl towards home time. You can’t focus and although you have a lot to do, you’re tired and waiting for this day to end. 

Sound familiar? Whether it’s Monday, Friday, or any day in between: it can happen to you!

Here are some tips I personally found helpful:

Don’t clock watch

They say time is relevant. It speeds up when we want it to move slowly, and it slows down when we want it to move quickly. It feels like this is true, especially in an office if you are constantly checking the time on your computer monitor, wrist watch, or wall clock. Sometimes it’s more beneficial to set 2 automatic reminders for your meetings: one about an hour before it starts (earlier if you’re anticipating travel time) and one about half an hour ahead so you can pack up your materials. Unless you are on a time sensitive deadline where it’s best to keep your focus on the work at hand and ignore any temptation to look at that darn time contraption that slows your day down.

Switch over to something new

Doing the same thing over and over can be painful. Tedious work can strain eyes, and repetitive work doesn’t stimulate the mind enough to keep busy. If you find yourself unable to focus on what you are doing, set this task aside. It may seem counter productive to do so, but moving on to something else will keep your mind feeling refreshed. You can always revisit the task later on during the day and complete it.

Get the most out of your lunch hour

Go out for lunch, take a drive, meet up with friends or coworkers and leave the office. Just make sure you remove yourself from your working environment. Whether you have half an hour or a full hour break: use it. It’s very beneficial to give your mind a break from what you are doing. Eating lunch at your desk can be stressful, and it’s hard to keep your hands away from the keyboard and mouse. If you are eating and working at your desk you’re not truly taking a break. I guarantee when you return to your working station you’ll feel relaxed and ready to continue your day.

Save the most challenging work for the end of the day

Block out your day in the morning after you arrive from work and settle yourself down. Check your emails, check your calendars, and go over those lists. Sort your list of projects from easiest to hardest and complete them in that order. You’ll feel like you have been productive and achieved your goals for the day since easy tasks are most often completed quickly. When the end of the day approaches, you’ll be so deep into your work that you won’t in most cases feel like your last hour to half an hour stretch slow you down or cause you to get too distracted.

Listen to music

If you’re in an office where music is encouraged, I strongly suggest you to take advantage of that wonderful opportunity. Music is uplifting, inspirational and keeps work ethic high. It keeps you entertained while you work and it also helps you focus on your tasks. MP3 players are great to use in the office, are non-invasive, and as long as you keep your volume low enough where others can’t hear you but you can hear them it makes it a wonderful option.

Take at least two breaks during the day

Take a walk for 15 minutes, doodle at your desk, visit that water cooler or even check your social media! You should never feel chained to your desk. Get up, move around, stretch those legs out. It’s important to be able to remove yourself physically and mentally for 15 minutes. After all, 8 or even 9 hour days can feel long when you are being sedentary the entire time.

All of these options can help you get through your day faster and even maximize your work time effectively. It can help you get rid of those Monday blues, feel comfortable in your work environment and even help you become more productive. I highly recommend that everyone try what they think will work best for them. I know trying these things have helped me truly enjoy my days here in the CuteGecko office and it has definitely helped my productivity out immensely.

Buy Tickets HERE!

In a blog post I wrote last year listing some blog-writing suggestions to keep the practice easier I made sure to list all of the habits I’ve developed and practiced before ‘preaching’ them to our audience. That being said, there are still times when knowing what to write is an activity in itself. I felt it was apro pros then to write a blog on finding inspiration. Regardless of our best intentions and best practices many of us in the creative industry can often have those brain-to-wall moments of blankness.

What do you do when you have a creative block? Does exercise, or a strong cup of joe/water/liquor help clear the cobwebs?

Because we have so much to thank the Kitchener-Waterloo community for, and because there is so much going on in the region, there are times when we don’t have to look too far than our community events calendar. Beyond that though, there are still times when we just can’t get words on screen! That’s when we find the following tips most helpful:

1. A brisk walk always helps get the blood flowing. Plus, you never know who you’ll run into in the hallway, what event you’ll learn about, what inspiring piece of artwork you’ll discover…you truly never know what’s around the corner!

2. Social Media! As one of our followers recently posted: Twitter is the Post-It of the Internet and the random, quick pieces of information you’ll come across – not to mention the news stories, rumours and opinions – are almost always worth a blog post in themselves.

3. In those moments of inspiration (this one takes some forethought) make a list of topics you would like to cover in the future. Maybe put a line or two under each heading to make it really easy for you down the road. If you come back to the draft and the idea has gone stale or you can’t get back on that track, don’t despair and don’t delete! Keep it around for a while longer (6 months is probably sufficient!) just in case. You may surprise yourself and be able to flush out the rest of that topic in a flash of desperation, lol.

4. The interwebs. More specifically, sites like Pinterest and StumbleUpon are great for getting the thoughts and ideas flowing. You can surf across several topics of interest at a go and be stimulated by both text & visual mediums. Word of caution: (and you know what’s coming) make sure you don’t get lost in the mesmerizing mantra of the mouse click! Set yourself a timed limit of an hour or 45 minutes so you don’t get sucked into the vortex!

5. Step away from the computer/canvas/notepad and have a beverage (water, coffee, a shot, lol, whatever works for you), have a small healthy snack to give your brain some fuel and then get back to it.

6. Once you get back to the desk, make an idea cloud of potential subjects to use immediately or to store away and come back to.

Least of all, don’t panic! The world will not stop turning and you will have lots of time to come up with an idea and to act on it. Planning in advance can be the best tool to prevent this anxiety.

YOU CAN DO IT! (hee hee!)

The other day I ran acrossan article that exposed car rental companies as having some of the least sexy advertising…ever. And it’s not a recent phenomenon either. Since car renting became the next greatest thing in 1947 with John Hertz up to recent days, car rental ads have got to be the most boring, straightforward kind out there. I would have thought that with the use of blatant sex in car ads – think scantily clad women, brawny men, etc. – slick CGI graphics and HDI filming techniques, and let’s face it – some pretty sexy car designs – rental companies would have borrowed a trick or two. It seems they haven’t, and it got me to thinking of what other products out there are lacking from sex appeal? So in no particular order, I made a short list:

1. office supply chains

2. real estate

3. furniture

4. airlines & rail services (for the most part)

5. children’s products (and this is probably for good reason!)

One could – and likely should – argue that most of these products are not products at all but rather services, and that’s much harder than clothing, beer & alcohol to embody in a flashy young model.

A much easier list I found were the products that marketing and advertising folks had made sexy over the last forty or less years:

1. beer and alcohol

2. clothing

3. photography

4. cars

5. food

6. jewelry

7. skin care products

What other products or services can you think of that haven’t been gussied up and been glamorized? Do you think there is the potential for them to be sexier in the future? Should they be?

Artist: Melissa Doherty
Title: Autumn View
Date: 2010
Media: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 25.4 x 25.4 cm
Credit line: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery collection. Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Winifred Shantz, 2012.
Photo credit line: photographer: Robert McNair

The gallery hopes the more intimate scale of these works will allow viewers to ask further questions regarding details within the scenes: what does the field of autumn colours hold in the shelter of those trees? While others give attendees a forced perspective of everyday objects, requiring us to re-examine these items out of context to determine their cultural meaning and use. Featured artists are Melissa Doherty, Milton Avery, Otto Beyer, F.S. Coburn, Bianca D’angelo and many others!

Admission to the gallery is free and Close Encounters runs from December 14th, 2012 – March 17th, 2013. Gallery contact info is below:

101 Queen Street North

Kitchener, Ontario

Phone: 519-579-5860

Email: mail@kwag.on.ca

Twitter: @kwartgallery

Website: www.kwag.ca

Professionally speaking, how do you keep your business outlook fresh and re-energized from year to year? Are you starting on a new venture that has your creative vibes going at full-tilt or are you looking to revise and improve on an established process this year?

As a person who always sees the benefit in taking time to unwind, reflect and recharge, I look forward to the December holiday period as a time to review the challenges and accomplishments of the previous year and get my brain organized for the one coming up. 2012 was a full year for me professionally and certainly personally and I have come away from all those experiences with a much clearer vision of what is important and a priority for 2013. This time ‘off’ allows me to step back into the office at the start of a new year with a fresh brain full of ideas and motivation to surpass my previous accomplishments.

For CuteGecko the team has already identified and begun work on several new/revised aspects of our identity and our business that we cannot wait to share with you! Of course I can’t tell you what they are yet (silly goose!)! We aim to get the biggest reveals completed by the end of January, but if you haven’t heard any news from us it just means we’re taking more time to make it even more perfect!

In the meantime, share with us your overall goals for the new year! Have you gone traditional with aspirations of better health and increased exercise? Saving more and swearing less? Haha!

We’d love to hear from you and help encourage you on the wonderful journey that 2013 is bound to be!

All the best from the CuteGecko team!

A great hello this afternoon, dear readers!

As the year draws to a close and many of you (hopefully!) shut down your emails and phones and maybe even take some time away from being in front of a computer monitor for a few days, we wanted to take a bit of time to wish everyone a fabulous holiday season.

This year for CuteGecko has been marked with many exciting changes and growth opportunities. These chances to stretch our limbs, meet new people, work on new kinds of projects and explore new business opportunities has been so absolutely fantastic and would not have been the same had it not been for our community and all who support us. As many of you are aware, this last year we made a physical move within our home at the Tannery into a much larger space and with that brought our deepened relationship with the fine, fine folks at Sustainable Waterloo Region. It’s been so great having friends not too far away, and our new digs have proven to be a great fit for our (still!) growing team! Just prior to our move, the two Lauras were fully brought on board and situated in their roles as Graphic Designer & Illustrator master and Communications Specialist. Outside of work we also saw a few marriages, cemented plans for 2013 weddings, and even future additions to two of our families this spring! Amazing the difference a few months can make, hey?

Professionally CuteGecko was busier than ever thanks to this expanded team and their expertise. We worked on many exciting projects including our good friend Jim Miller’s website, Food Bank Waterloo, and Overlap Associates. We did some awesome design work for ourselves, too, including the CuteGecko Mobile, new business cards, event banners and the introduction of our monthly newsletters, all of which have received an overwhelming amount of praise! Thank you for that!

Before we all ramp up again in the new year, all of us Geckos hope you take time to relax, reflect on the many journeys you had and successes you enjoyed in 2012.

Most of all, celebrate, but do so safely! We can’t wait to share 2013 with you!

Digital High Fives,

Karl Allen-Muncey

Amy Vandenberg

Laura Radulescu

Laura Cooke

In addition to promoting sustainable and local flowers, Pam also focuses on supporting local artists such as Jennifer Gough with Minds Eye Studio to cover her walls. To decorate her shop and finish filling her shelves, Pam focuses on local products and currently features Your Time Boutique‘s beeswax candles and local gift wares  To bring awareness to the ever changing display of artwork and finishings, Pam often hosts open houses where the community is invited to meet the featured artist.

Also underlining Pam’s commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly retailing are the plantable greeting cards. Once the recipient is done enjoying the message, the card can be planted to produce a pretty little garden! How cute is that? The biggest challenge Pam faces is sourcing sustainable and local (or at least Canadian made) materials. This includes recycled packing paper, cardboard boxes, and avoids preservatives. Researching companies and products online is nearly a full-time job in itself and Pam hopes the process gets easier as more companies become more passionate about the same causes.

So stop by and say hi to Pam and help support your own local industry in the heart of downtown Kitchener!

PJ Lowe is a veritable jack (jane?) of all trades: a background kinesiology and massage therapy, an English degree, as well as training and success in accounting and HR fields. It was this experience as an operations manager that PJ used when helping business partners Dan Silvestru and Brent Litner with Gord Tanner and Mark McArdle rounding out the tinyHippos team. Coincidentally, this is also where the first seeds – or should we say first ingredients – of Nom Nom Treats began to mix together. Searching for an innovative and outstanding way to get the tinyHippos brand remembered at conferences, conventions and regular meetings, PJ began making chocolate hippopotami to give as corporate swag. Based on the great feedback she received, PJ soon added chocolate hippopotamus cupcakes, and eventually created her signature sugar cookie.

Since those early days, PJ has grown her cookie making operation quite extensively, so much so that the main baking operations have been relocated to St. Jacobs’ Stone Crock Bakery. Using the same recipe PJ perfected in her own kitchen, moving the baking process to St. Jacobs allows a much larger quantity to be made at a time to satisfy the region’s growing craving for the tasty cookies. In the space adjacent to Pam Salibury’s Flourish Florals shop, PJ then takes the cookies to be iced and decorated with the branded image or customer’s preferred design. Having her new location in downtown Kitchener, PJ is able to distribute around two thousand cookies a week to various companies, private customers and local events who request a unique method of sharing their image with their guests. Nom Nom offers three different sizes of round cookies ranging from three inches to one and half, which are great for birthdays, baby and bridal showers, or weddings, as well as corporate events or businesses. While the recipe remains the same, PJ believes every company should have an element of creativity and wiggle room, so doing custom shapes is also her forte.

So the next time you’re about to order some corporate pens or stationary for your corporate event, or want a special way of thanking your event’s guests, consider sending them home with a tasty treat instead!

You may be in luck as this weekend Minds Eye Studio

is having an open house. Featuring contemporary and fine art paintings, there is definitely something for every taste.

Saturday December 8th (that’s this Saturday…mark it down!) from noon till 5pm Jennifer Gough will be opening the doors of her studio to the community to show everyone what she’s so busy creating.

Go on! Check it out! Let us know what inspiring piece you find!

Details:

Saturday December 8th from 12-5pm!

154 Victoria St. S #7

Get creative with your gift giving and stop by for a peek at our selection of fine art contemporary paintings!

Come by and share some holiday cheer!

Check out our our facebook page for more event details.