Food is delicious. Sure, that’s a blanket statement that hardly makes sense, but I know you’re thinking, “She’s right: food IS delicious.”
It seems only fitting to be consumed by such a thought with the most gluttonous day of the year fast-approaching, but that’s really not what has fueled my hunger.

Instead, I’m inspired by a website of stunning menus featuring distinctive logos and savory typography and delectable descriptions and yummy paper stocks and … sigh … It’s just too much to bear.

Just a taste of www.UnderConsideration.com/ArtoftheMenu/

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It’s official: Attention to the design of your annual report yields dividends, literally! The study by the University of Miami’s School of Business Administration finds that “prettying up” a company’s annual report can cause investors to place a higher value on a company.

Of course, we would go one step further than the “prettying up” referred to in this American Public Media Marketplace segment, and assert that an annual report that honors the CEO’s vision and expresses the company’s brand will deliver superior return on investment. And here is a mere handful of examples…

I attended a discussion about urban art in the community with visiting artist Lavie Raven at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art last night. To be honest, I was there to support some of the great people that are tirelessly investing energy in arts education in our community; but didn’t really expect to personally, much less professionally, take many juicy nuggets of insight away from it.

Leave it to them to inspire me in spite of myself.

Lavie and fellow panelists spoke to the rush that graffiti artists get from their work. The high generated from writing on a wall – “writing” being more than just words and more than just “tagging” your name with a spray can; but investing in the color, contour and soul of a message that can inherently cross cultural barriers.

Someone in the audience asked if teaching urban art is basically teaching kids to be better vandals, which struck a chord with me because the conversation had led my mind to such a different space. My first thought was, “Wow, if that’s true, maybe I’ve been studying to be a vandal my whole life.”

No, I’ve never done graffiti. But I have been researching art, cataloging my own emotions, and trying to find the perfect words to say exactly what needs to be said ever since I can remember. And now I’m at a place where we’re working every day to strategically develop design and message as eloquently as some of these writers brand themselves. The biggest difference is that our expression of creativity is legal.

It’s so important that we (being the community at large) don’t push these artists away from their amazing raw talent and vision, but appreciate it, help them hone in on it and occasionally look to the writing on the wall for a little inspiration…

I want to say a quick “thank you” to Nebraska Humanities Council, Kent Bellows Studio & Center for Visual Arts, The Union for Contemporary Art, and all of the folks that made the event happen and made me think.

I love being reminded of how easy it is to be enlightened and humbled in a city like ours if you just open your eyes.

We have commented on this blog before about the use of crowd sourced spec work (you can read one brief piece about our approach to the ethics of spec work here and another about crowd sourced design for bananas (yup!) here), so it interested us to see that a local business, Mutual of Omaha’s Midtown Crossing development, is seeking public designs for the official Midtown Crossing t-shirt, to be sold and promoted around the region.

In return, the artist selected as the winner will receive a goody basket valued at over $500. The artist will, however, be obliged assign to Midtown Crossing all rights in the design, which, according to the small print, “include the sole right to incorporate and use the Design in any medium, including the use of the Design on T-shirts, mugs, posters, Internet, print advertising, still photographs, and all other media and to reproduce, exhibit, broadcast, transmit, distribute or communicate the Design to the public.” In other words, Midtown Crossing will have the opportunity to leverage that design into a substantial amount of media formats and channels. That seems like great value for a small payment.

We are intrigued to see how the competition progresses, who wins and what happens with the design over time. Good luck to all who choose to enter.

Stellar “brandscaping” firm in Omaha is seeking team member who worships brilliant graphic design and knows how to break the mold to make it happen. (If “worship” sounds like a bit much to you, feel free to stop reading.)

Are you inventive and hungry to learn? Is great design a driving force in your life? Do you have a killer portfolio and want to thrive with one of the most passionate, experienced creative teams in the Midwest? (more…)