Deborah Barnett

Publishing The Metaphysics of Water

deborah@someone.ca (Deborah) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 06:28:21 +0000

Our vivacious editor Beatriz Haunser handed me the manuscript for The Metaphysics of Water and I fell in love with Raccoon - the enigmatic man/beast lover, companion, urban and urbane survivor, hero, joker.

I chose two drawers of 'mystery type' from our lead type cabinets to present the two voices Hausner created for the story, Seth was asked to give Raccoon substance and character, and layout followed. Someone intern, Mimi Li was introduced to comp stick and hand setting processes, and her practice towards that traditional skill set was begun.

Mimi hand set every character of Beatriz' intimate and alluring voices. She internalized the work over weeks of steady, focused effort, and experienced first hand the origins of printer, typographer, and designer languages past and present: comp stick, kerning vice, photopolymer plates, V120, blanket wash; picas and points, PMS, process; diecut, emboss deboss blind stamp, impression, grain, tooth, texture and pillowing.

These and other potent technical words are used constantly in someone's strange time machine environment - and also in the print and design industries around us. These are words forming the core of a language that remains the same for the most part, as it has been for many decades. It has grown with new uses while retaining old associations as well.

Mimi also printed the broadside - all four colours perfectly aligned and imposed, over so large a span of lead that it filled the maximum area of our press - a challenge from another time!

Mimi tolerated my constant input and direction, problem solving and hesitations with grace and gentle confidence. Together, we were striving for perfection, and Mimi's dedication to visual harmony on SUCH a deep level made it possible for us to make someone:water three The Metaphysics of Water timeless and valuable now and whenever. This patient intent has a ton of satisfaction built in for our letterpress and literary followers, and for everyone around here, all grown up around type being impressed into paper, the chunk chunk of press wheels and rollers, the smell of making poems come to life visually... we're very romantic. Very privileged.

In the long process of setting type and printing, we have been enticed into Raccoon's world with every word, again and again.

Spectacular Wedding Invitation Suite

corneliabaptista92@hotmail.com (cornelia) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:57:21 +0000

At Someone, we appreciated the design/print consulting process with Paul Kawai and Chris Braden on this complex wedding package. Bringing Someone's broad print purchasing expertise to the table made sense. We were intrigued with the powerful design and the challenges the project presented. Working with the designers was flexible and efficient - creative.

We understood Bimal and Natasha wanted the invitations package to connote handmade, authentic, touching. Paul and Chris had produced a brilliant layout embellished with large solids and the thinnest of strokes, vigorous, high contrast effects, a romantic story to complement the formal announcement panels, and rhythmic, playful graphic treatments throughout.

BOLD & beautiful Someones

corneliabaptista92@hotmail.com (cornelia) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:20:33 +0000

Our new community outreach program, BOLD & beautiful, offers our creative Someones a productive and exciting avenue for connection and collaboration with local entrepreneurs and artists.

Someone.ca opened its full service design studio in Brockton Village on Dundas West in December 2010. Our custom teams of communications experts have been welcomed to participate in a wide variety of productions and initiatives from the start. Projects include logo and identity development, web site production, traditional marketing and social media campaigns, and fine print for wedding invitations, business cards and literary ephemera.

In our first BOLD & beautiful campaign, we shine our spotlight on local artist and entrepreneur Stephen Lindsay, industrial designer and founder of urbanproduct.

Check out our window as you're walking by to see samples of a few of Lindsay's effective and elegant display solutions crafted for home, office, studio or store: HANG UP Frames, COFFEE CASE Table, DUNE Tiles and GROOVED Chair Rail.

Order urbanproduct through Someone.ca - receive a discount on us!

Stores: opening and updated

deborah@someone.ca (Deborah) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:26:27 +0000

At Someone we produce articulate brand and hi-test web site experiences using the latest and most current software for our clients: We support their business goals and provide customer-relationship building tools that work like an extra set of hands on staff.

Someones also love to make letterpress art: Until now, the two sides of the work we love remained separated, but the connections – great design and creative – along with the current popularity of letterpress, hand made products, have finally brought the two offerings together and made them available to everyone.

Also, through the last few years, we've been re-igniting our long-time expertise and reputation for publishing Canadian authors in limited edition collections and producing fine print objets d’art. We'll continue to add to our accomplishments and Someone's inventory of fine press literary publishing, besides fulfilling on Someone's day to day mandate to produce the best in Content Management System [CMS] and e-commerce-enabled web site production.

Lolcats vs writers in 2010

deborah@someone.ca (Deborah) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:48:22 +0000

Lolcats became a meme when a huge audience of internet users adopted the idea of combining familiar verbal expressions with cute kitty photos found for free online.

They created a communications system with no rules.

At Someone, we follow ALL the rules!
Marketers study the tendencies, interests, drives and goals of a target audience to produce concepts and ideas that connect.
Writers produce headlines, technical instructions and descriptions to attract and inform. With concepts and offerings that fit defined audience focii, they get to the point without confusion.
Designers and visual artists use colour, dynamics and type to enhance and embellish editorial messages and concepts. Their fine tuned craft refines communications.
Programmers and information architects deliver the promise of the Internet: choice and access. Web users are welcomed to follow their intuition to enjoy clear pathways to the content they’re looking for, almost without thinking.

Process, protocol, systems and service
Listening
First we listen to our clients, customers and partners to establish desires, goals and visions. We learn about your business, your initiative, the products you want to deliver to audiences we define together. We farm the literary scene and listen to your feedback on the fine print gifts we create that embody the craftsmanship you want to give and enjoy. We create communications that bring people together around areas of shared interest and goals.
Building teams
Then, whether we’re building a corporate identity, advertising, interactive, or collateral – or publishing limited edition poetry – at Someone we build a custom team of pros with skills to deliver precise eloquent messages – targeted, memorable and compelling.
Delivering
Someone is committed to providing services, product and communications effectively and accurately, on budget and according to time lines we agree on.

At Someone, we use carefully honed traditional English instead of Engrish but, like lolcats, we communicate in the language of our readers.

Be in touch! When our writers craft messages, the recipients 'get' what we mean.

Happy new year!

Creative Direction Today

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:20:48 +0000

31 March 2009

In my pursuit of design excellence, I have benefited from the words of my predecessors, purposeful people who built the design and advertising industries from scratch, with their everyday efforts to promote their clients' products and business offerings. Embodied in his words, David Ogilvy, a giant of perfect graphic solutions and transcendent copy-writing accompanies me as I turn my attention to my clients' endeavors.

David Ogilvy is one of my favorite influences, inspiring a persistent examination of the effects of brand, marketing, advertising and customer-facing communications.

Born in Surrey England, David Ogilvy achieved a scholarship to college but he wasn’t able to finish his education there. Instead, he took to learning from his innovative pursuit and analysis of direct sales experience. He left school to sell stoves door to door, and garnered an invitation to his first ad agency appointment by writing a sales strategy, "The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA Cooker".

Ogilvy was made a Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE) in 1967. He was elected to the US Advertising Hall of Fame in 1977 and to France's "Order of Arts and Letters" in 1990. He chaired the Public Participation Committee for Lincoln Center. He was appointed Chairman of the United Negro College Fund in 1968, and trustee on the Executive Council of the World Wildlife Fund in 1975.

He brought his considerable passion for analysis to problem solving in advertising and brand and remains a permanent fixture in the minds of designers, marketers and advertisers today.