compliment-bomb your friends with a gaggle of valentines!

probably the only weapons of mass appreciation you can get away with sending through the US mail are compliment bombs! why spread all your valentines around if you really want to say a bunch of nice things to one person? shower them with niceness, write a unique sentiment on each card in my school-style valentine packs benefitting dayna stephens and mail it, hide it in a sure-to-find place or hand-deliver to your most valuable targets.

this idea came about when my super-awesome friend, colleen, decided to sponsor a pack of valentines with the instructions that i should donate them to some lucky person who would use them. and that’s a real nice idea, but i said NO WAY! because colleen is one of my favorite people, and i’m not sure if she knows the profound effect she has on everyone around her. so i thought, what if i just write all her valentines back to her and surprise her with them [i hope she gets them before she reads this post]. beyond making something nice for a friend, it’s a great exercise to list all the things you’re grateful for—even in just one person. imagine the connectedness you can create by identifying your gratitude for everyone you know!

so skip the flowers [plant seeds instead and enjoy them all year], skip the chocolates [unless it's that dark chocolate with sea salt caramel bar from trader joes, i'll take that any day], click on the BUY button below and get started on building your very own homemade BOMBS! of love, that is. i don’t stand to make a penny here, once i pay the state and the post office, all the profits go to help dayna stephens. we’re in the home stretch, and if we sell them out, i’ll double your money in a matching donation! let’s do it!

A Year of Sun with Mr. Persol – HD from Yuki 7 on Vimeo.

thanks, thefoxisblack.com for the link and writeup!

Micro Macro from Encyclopedia Pictura on Vimeo.

super-cute explanation of the universe done in food! i especially like the polar caps in shredded mozzarella.

branding

rebranding teachers, image: hyperakt

a beautiful rebranding of teachers by hyperakt re-imagines the inspiration of education and applies it to just about every civic touchpoint conceivable. great work!

products

cuppow, image: cuppow.com

i saw this innovative item on 3 blogs in one week, and it first caught my eye for the retro-style packaging. however, i have several friends who have given up on the travel bottle craze and gone luddite, preferring to cart their beverages around in mason jars with canning lids. i think this is great, except for my desire to frequently sip. then i saw this cuppow thing and love that it makes a sippy cup out of jars. now the question is, can i get it in glass instead of any type of plastic [though i see it's bpa-free and recyclable]. see the writeup and video at fastcodesign.com

breakfast salad

i was recently in la jolla and had brunch at cody’s where i tried this amazing idea: a breakfast salad. theirs was a mix of baby field greens dressed in a mild vinaigrette, topped with goat cheese crumbles and poached eggs. they poached the eggs freeform, and despite having an egg poacher, i think i prefer the freeform method, for the delicate texture, for the ability to see just how much the yolks are cooking, and for the fact that the eggs look like formative solar systems when they’re done. i have been thinking about the breakfast salad i had for nearly 2 weeks, so i thought i’d try to recreate it with baby spinach and a lemon-dijon-maple dressing.

breakfast salad serves 1
2 eggs
1 tbsp vinegar
1 large handful of baby greens
1 oz goat cheese, crumbled
salt & pepper to taste

dressing:
1 tb dijon mustard
juice of 1 lemon [zest optional]
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp oil [try a flavored oil like sesame or garlic]

heat a pan of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar over medium heat until simmering. swirl the water into a whirlpool and crack eggs, gently dropping them into the water. poach to desired consistency, and set aside on a plate when done.

place all dressing ingredients in a bottle and shake well to mix.

place the field greens in a tossing bowl, pour 1-2 tablespoons of dressing over them, and toss to coat. transfer to a serving bowl and top with the poached eggs. add crumbled goat cheese, and season with salt & pepper to taste.

all your amazing help has sold HALF the valentines with TWO WEEKS to go!

in case you haven’t heard, i’m selling my arsenal of valentines to spread the love for dayna stephens. we set out with a goal to sell 150 packs of valentines in 5 weeks, and so many of you advance-planner, get-aheaders bought them an astounding month in advance! now it’s time to help our sometimes-procrastinatey friends jump off the fence and into action, because the real fun begins when i double your money after we sell out! remind everyone you know that it’s FESTIVE to hand out cute cards with nice compliments, it’s FUN to pretend your a kid again, and it’s AWESOME to help a good friend in the process.

here’s where we’re at:

we have 75 packs of valentines to sell!
we have 14 days until february 10 to sell them!
that’s a mere 5 packs per day at 5 bucks each! we can do it!
keep spreading the word, link to this post or to the parlato design studio store!
use those sociable icons below to share it to your favorite social networks!
fight the healthcare system with love—do it for dayna!

sure, you’ve seen these before—but this year i’m adding a special twist to the otherwise-consumerist practice we call valentine’s day. see, instead of trying to make you buy a dozen roses or chocolates, i’m suggesting you use your much-more-meaningful heartfelt words to tell your friends, family, co-workers and all-around-favorite people how awesome they are on sustainably-printed, environmentally-friendly cards. and once i sell them all, instead of keeping the money, i’m sending it over to help dayna stephens in his efforts to raise awareness about testing as a kidney donor, and in support of his own operation and medical care. help me sell them all, and i’ll double your money with a matching donation of my own.

so, why would i do this besides the fact that dayna is a fantastic guy who needs a kidney? well, if you’re a freelancer or otherwise self-employed individual, you know that one of the biggest issues we face is affordable healthcare. with a pre-existing condition, dayna’s choices are limited, funding is not all-inclusive, and qualifications to get that funding are rather exacting. as a witness to the ongoing folley we call healthcare in this country, i find it outrageous that a sick person should accept the possibility of being a casualty to a system that could otherwise help him save for so many rules and tricks and hoops to jump through. so, he’s doing what he can, following the rules and jumping through the hoops, and what we’re doing is helping with the remaining balance.

so, what is $1200 really going to do for someone who needs a kidney? the amount i can raise personally is just a brick in the wall, but there are a few efforts rolling out through the jazz foundation that will help get dayna’s costs covered. stay tuned for more perks and special events that will go toward the efforts of helping dayna. in the meantime, by some valentines!

i like valentines, but i can’t think of how i’d use them. i get it dude, here is a list:

> give them to your kids to fill out and take to school
> pretend your job is as fun as school and fill them out for your co-workers
> write 16 separate compliments to your partner and stick each valentine on a notched chop-stik in a vase to make a compliment bouquet
> make a valentine’s promo of your own and use them as the notecards you send to your own clients
> write nice notes to your family or co-workers and hide them in drawers, cabinets, on shelves and in books
> use them as an opportunity to put a little hello in your neighbor’s mailboxes
> write nice notes to your family and construct a valentine mobile with sticks and string
> donate them to a school or after-school program for a fun kid activity
> write your future self compliments and words of encouragement and read them whenever you need to
> stick them on your mirrors so you can remind yourself that you rock and to stay awesome!

got it? time to get awesome!

branding

tunnelbravo, branding for north / image: designworklife.com

i love this branding work for north, a new restaurant in arcadia, arizona, by tunnelbravo, featured on designworklife.com. they’ve combined a rustic bistro / artisan foods feel into a lovely 2-color pop of modernized overprints, and even made a custom typeface for them from a vintage typewriter. see the whole brand showcase on the tunnelbravo site.

echo park

this is super-sweet: there’s an anonymous love letter drop box on sunset blvd right at laveta terrace. write whatever you like, drop it in the box, and it will eventually appear on the echo park love letters blog.

behance/aiga meetup, december 2011

counting down to christmas, i’ve got a lot on my plate this week, but i’m definitely making time for the behance / aiga december meetup to see all my design buddies and exchange our lovely cards. come on down, it’s free!

DMV: After Dark from machine project on Vimeo.

check out this nice video montage of machine project’s dmv after dark. i was there, but i’m not in the video.

The Alphabet from n9ve on Vimeo.

branding

hp branding, image: underconsideration.com

a fascinating recap of moving brands efforts to transform hewlett packard from a global technology company into a revered brand. this is a staggering project both in concept and scope, and the write-up really tells the story of how much work, thinking and shaping goes into a branding project of this scale. the logo is sleek and elegant, and is shown to play out in the larger brand as a guiding force of human progress, the new sister-meaning of “hp.” the brand strategy has a lot of muscle, but it seems it’s up to hp to decide if / when / how to implement it, and that remains to be seen. in the meantime, read the write-up and check out the linked videos and case-studies at underconsideration.com.

infographic

media consolidation infographic, image: fastcodesign.com

this infographic showing how all our seemingly-varied media outlets have consolidated to 6 major owners to bring us homogenized, packaged info-culture is, well, frightening. maybe that’s why i like bloggers so much, you can actually hear their individual voices. see the whole graphic in its fascinating & beautifully-designed glory at fastcodesign.com.

thank you cards!

parlato design studio thank you cards for 2011

now that [hopefully] you’ve gotten your holiday mailings out the door, it might be a good time to get ready to express and share gratitude for all they do. we all love a little thoughtful, heartfelt, hand-written note to cut through the clutter and speak to each other. if you’re in need of a vehicle, i’ve got three for you, available in the parlato design studio store, printed sustainably on neenah environment 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper.