Blog of Calin Daniel » Design

20 Geek Friendly Fashion Items

Calin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:39:58 +0000

Over the last few months I’ve run into a bit of a problem. Either my dryer is shrinking my clothes at an alarming rate, or my relationship with the Food Network is having some unwanted consequences. At any rate I’ve feel it’s time to expand my wardrobe and luckily for me the web is jam packed with cool t-shirts, zip-ups, watches and accessories.

Below is my short list of the cream of the crop. I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to add your own favourites by leaving a comment.

Robocup

Hot Dog Moustache

Geek Fashion

Helvetica Bold

Hand Made By Human Beings

I Heart Zombies

Google Me

You Are the CSS to My HTML

Rocking With Hawking

Sans

Helvetica Neue

I Don’t Want To Grow Up

Vampire Watercooler

Kern

Text Scarf

Ampersand Cufflinks

Periodic Table Rings

Will Kern For Food

Zombies Hate Fast Food

Pixel Watch

10 Marketing Pieces All Businesses Should Have

Calin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:37:08 +0000

Creating an effective brand is difficult. The brand needs to resonate with a large audience, be instantly recognizable, and most importantly, be consistent. But how does one create an effective brand and what marketing material should a business have in its arsenal? In this post I will answer those questions, and provide you with a greater understand of the importance of branding.

1. Logo

This is marketing 101; a business without a logo is like a bird without wings.

A logo is the foundation on which an effective brand is built; it is the first step in the branding process and it sets the tone for the rest of your marketing material. This includes selecting a colour palette, iconography, typography and the overall “feel” associated with your brand.

TIP: A Logo should be legible at any size, whether it is beaming from a 40 ft billboard or quietly sitting at the bottom of a business card. So make sure to review your logo at sizes ranging from small to large, this will save you major headaches down the road.

2. Business Cards

You don’t get an opportunity to make a great first impression twice.

Have you ever received a business card and thought “Wow, this is really cool”? Of course you have, we all have, and I’ll bet your first impression was that the person who gave you the card was serious about their business. Conversely, have you ever received a business card that looked like it had been printed on a home printer? Ya so have I, and I’ll bet your first impression was that the person wasn’t serious about their business.

A well designed business card does a lot of the talking for you, it is an excellent ice breaker and it positions you as a serious professional.

3. Website

A website is the most effective way to market your business.

Newspaper advertising is in serious decline, and Yellow Pages advertising will soon be toast. So what will replace these titans of traditional advertising? The latest trends on Canada’s internet usage show an increase of 106.5% over the last 10 years, and there is no end in sight.

Websites are an amazing way to connect with customers in an informal way. People can review a business, its services, and information all from the comfort of their home. The web has also created a platform for consumers to share information about products and services they find valuable.

The latest stats suggest that about 80% of consumers are researching products or services online prior to making a purchase. If this trends hold true, your business cannot afford to be left out of the conversation.

4. Facebook Page

If you haven’t heard of Facebook you’ve been living under a rock for the last six years.

Facebook is the most popular social networking website in the world, and it currently has over 500 million active users! Many business are nervous about creating a Facebook page because there is limited control over who, and what users post. Although these are legitimate concerns the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Facebook enables businesses to connect with prospective clients in an informal, relaxed environment. These connections strengthen brand messages and keeps your business top of mind.

Let me just repeat one point again; Facebook has 500 MILLION users! That’s 500 million reasons to develop a business page today.

5. Newsletter

Paper newsletters may be a thing of the past but digital newsletters are just starting to come into their own.

Digital newsletters share the same benefits as other online marketing techniques, they are inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and they provide statistical data on visitors. A newsletter can be custom designed to match your branding and distributed for as low as 1 cent per contact.

Also, newsletters can be integrated into a customer relations management tool, which automatically sends information to prospective clients, taking the guess work out of managing leads.

6. Letterhead

We are not a paperless society quite yet, so the need for a professionally designed letterhead is as important today as ever.

A professional letterhead can be used for a variety of different applications, once again strengthening your brand. Common uses are invoices, testimonials, thank you letters, press releases, and quotes.

7. Envelope

An envelope is an envelope, they haven’t changed much in over a two hundred years, however, they are still important in creating a branded experience.

Adding a logo to an envelope once again strengthens your brand, it positions you as a serious, professional business, and it allows you to reinforce your messaging.

8. Brochure

Brochures are a great presentation tool and act as a snap-shot of your business.

Brochures can be used to outline your services, products, experience, and highlight testimonials. They can be valuable at trade shows, when giving presentations, or as a leave behind at an event. Much of marketing is about building relationships, and brochures can be a quick and easy way to provide new contacts with information on your business.

9. Presentation Folder

Whether your business consists of B to B or B to C, you will most likely need a presentation folder.

Presentation Folders are great, they allow you to stuff all kinds of informational material into a neat package. One of the most popular uses of a presentation folder is to stuff it with client specific one sheets. One sheets are simple informational sheets that can be printed on a home printer saving you time and money. This allows you to customize your packages based on the clients needs.

10. PowerPoint Presentation

There will come a time in your business career that you will need to give a formal presentation. It may be to a prospective client, internally to your staff, or at a networking group or conference. Bottom line is to be prepared, and have the tools you need to succeed.

PowerPoint is still the most popular presentation tool available today because of its easy to use interface and functionality. However, the default templates leave something to be desired. Once again a professionally designed PowerPoint template reinforces your brand, and presents you as a serious professional.

Conclusion:

So that is my list of 10 Marketing Pieces All Should Have. In conclusion I’d like to leave you with something to chew on; whether it’s online marketing or traditional advertising one fact reins true, if you don’t market to your customers someone else will.

For information on any of the marketing pieces outlined above please contact CDC at hello@calindaniel.com. Thanks again for reading.

Movember Moustache Madness

Calin — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:29:21 +0000

Happy November… I mean Movember everyone!

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November that raises funds and awareness for prostate cancer. As a tribute to this momentous month of manly mayhem and since my upper lip is sprouting prickly, black, cancer-fighting allies, I’ve decided to create an entire blog to the growth, style, people, and design behind moustaches.

As a side note, and before I get into the meat of this blog, I’d like to direct everyone to the donations page for my team The Head HonchMo’s. You can review all of my Movember teammates and make donations directly through the websites. I know this goes without saying but all donations, large or small are greatly appreciated!

Moustache Art

Your great grandfather would be proud

Real men cry moustaches

Psychedelic moustache man

Moustache maddness

Moustache ride

I heart moustaches

Moustache and hat

Moustache Inspired Advertising

Makes them feel all grown up

Smoking causes impotency

It’s the hat

Want muscle? Got Milk?

Smoking causes impotency #2

Random Moustache Awesomeness

Download your own moustache! (Click for a larger version)

Moustache Pencils

Moustache Gloves

Moustache Tattoo

Moustache Skateboards

Moustache Sandwich

Top 10 Moustaches of All Time

10. Yosemite Sam

9. Joe Namath

8. Chuck Norris

7. Salvador Dali

6. Hulk Hogan

5. Ron Jeremy

4. Lanny McDonald

3. Ned Flanders

2. Burt Reynolds

1. Tom Selleck

Handy AT&T Ads

Calin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:44:44 +0000

Creating a lasting advertising campaign truly takes a spark of genius. We are all familiar with the Telus ad campaign that has been running for years, featuring a simple white backdrop and cute animals. But I would guess that most of my Canadian friends haven’t seen this really innovative campaign created for AT&T.

Below is a strong sample of the campaign, I hope you all enjoy.

Conclusion:

This post goes to show how creative one company can be with there advertising. I’d like to give a special thanks to Don Tait of Tait Business Services for contributing to this blog.

50 Creative Band Logos

Calin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:31:15 +0000

Band logos, much like band posters, are cut from a different cloth than traditional branding. The logos are usually designed by amateur graphic designers giving them a raw, artistic, non-traditional style and feel.

This week I’ve compiled 50 band logos that have survived to become the iconic symbols behind some of our favourite artists. If I’ve missed one of your favourites don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

1. Nine Inch Nails

2. The Who

3. ABBA

4. ACDC

5. Buzzcocks

6. Daft Punk

7. Franz Ferdinand

8. Klaxons

9. My Chemical Romance

10. The Libertines

11. Husker Du

12. Iron Maiden

13. Jamiroquai

14. Kiss

15. Misfits

16. Metallica

17. Motorhead

18. Muse

19. Public Image Ltd.

20. Queen

21. Scissor Sisters

22. Slayer

23. Sex Pistols

24. Ramones

25. Linkin Park

26. Queens of the Stone Age

27. Anthrax

28. The Beatles

29. Arctic Monkeys

30. Black Flag

31. Blur

32. Green Day

33. Korn

34. Led-Zeppelin

35. Angels & Airwaves

36. Scissor Sisters 2

37. Nirvana

38. Oasis

39. Public Enemy

40. Prince

41. Red Hot Chili Peppers

42. The Doors

43. Slipknot

44. Rolling Stones

45. Three Doors Down

46. The Cramps

47. The Strokes

48. U2

49. Weezer

50. Whitesnake

Extra Resources:

For more great band posters, album art and band logos design visit Band-Brand.com.

100 Amazing Movie Posters

Calin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:48:12 +0000

If a picture is worth a thousand words than a movie poster is worth a million!

If you are a frequent movie goer like I am, you’ve seen your fair share of movie posters. They are plastered on the walls of your local theater like wallpaper. Some are really creative giving you the “I’ve got to see that” feeling; others are just plain awful!

This post brings together 100 examples of amazing movie posters. One side note for you real movie geeks; all of the posters in this blog can be purchased online from The Movie Poster Shop.

1. 300

2. Lord of War

3. The Dark Knight

4. The Watchmen

5. King Kong

6. Saw 5

7. Spider-man

8. Pan’s Labyrinth

9. Cloverfield

10. Napoleon Dynamite

11. The 40-Year-Old Virgin

12. Halloween

13. Perfume

14. 2012

15. A Christmas Carol

16. Clockwork Orange

17. A Scanner Darkly

18. Ace Venture – When Nature Calls

19. Adventureland

20. Alice In Wonderland

21. The Amityville Horror

22. Anti Christ

23. Away We Go

24. The Chronicales of Narnia

25. The Clash of The Titans

26. Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls

27. Dead Alive

28. Dead Snow

29. Despicable Me

30. District 9

31. Donnie Darko

32. Enemy At The Gates

33. Fido

34. Food, Inc.

35. Friday The 13th

36. Che

37. Gomorrah

38. Gonzo

39. Death Proof

40. Hancock

41. The Hangover

42. I Am Legend

43. Identity

44. Independence Day

45. Inglorious Bastards

46. Invincible

47. Kill Bill

48. The King of Kong

49. Aqua Teen Hunger Force

50. Kung Fu Panda

51. The Lord of The Rings

52. The Dark Knight

53. Indiana Jones

54. Up

55. Muppet Treasure Island

56. Inglorious Bastards

57. Shaun of the Dead

58. No Country For Old Men

59. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

60. Office Space

61. Pathfinder

62. Pirates of the Caribbean

63. Death Proof

64. Poltergeist

65. Poolhall Junkies

66. Rent

67. The Ruins

68. Session 9

69. Sharkwater

70. Show Girls

71. Shutter Island

72. The Silence of the Lambs

73. The Simpsons

74. Sin City

75. Skeleton Crew

76. Sweeney Todd

77. Terminator Salvation

78. The Hurt Locker

79. The Descent

80. The Devil’s Rejects

81. The Exorcist

82. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

83. Bruno

84. There Will Be Blood

85. There Will Be Blood

86. Thirteen Ghosts

87. Toy Story 3

88. Trailer Park Boys

89. Transformers

90. Wall-E

91. Where the Wild Things Are

92. Zombieland

93. The Howling

94. The Pacific

95. Into the Wild

96. Avatar

97. 10,000 BC

98. Zodiac

99. 30 Days of Night

100. A Crude Awakening

Amazing Engagement Rings & More

Calin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:28:52 +0000

Wow, all of my friends are getting engaged! And I mean all of my friends, it seems like just about every month another one takes the plunge. So this week I’ve put together a list of engagement rings, men’s rings (I got bored of looking at engagement rings) and just plain cool rings for all my readers to enjoy.

The rings in my list range from over-priced Tiffany princess cut diamonds to bargain bin rings for under $400 smackaroos. So buckle yourself in for a ride on the sparkly, bank breaking roller coaster of compacted carbon. Enough chit chat, lets bring on the bling.

Diamond Cuts

Engagement Rings

Visit Site

Men’s Rings

Visit Site

Unique Rings

Visit Site

This is the title

Visit Site

Patrick Bateman Business Card Scene

Calin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:03:05 +0000

This is a scene from the 2000 film American Psycho directed by Mary Harron. In this scene Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) and his group of 80′s Wall Street cronies discuss their businesses cards with remarks like, Egg Shell White, Bone, and Off-White colouring.

For anyone who hasn’t seen the film, Bateman is a delusional, psychopath that hates being beaten at anything. I thought I liked my business card designs but these guys are nuts.

Look at that subtle off-white colouring.
The tasteful thickness of it.
Oh my God, it even has a watermark.

And a really cool promo image for the movie:

Top 10 Professional Sports Logos (By Sport)

Calin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:50:56 +0000

People love professional sports and why not, they come in every flavour, they are a great way to socialize with your friends, and they are competitive (“you play to win the game”). As a graphic designer I really love the logos and emblems that fans proudly wear on jerseys, hats, bags, etc. Some of the worlds most widely recognized brands are ones dawned by professional athletes; that’s pretty cool.

So here by popular demand is a list of my “Top 10 Professional Sports Logos (By Sport).” I’d like to dedicate this blog to one of my best friends and sports fanatic Brendan Wagner (you didn’t think the LA Kings would actually make the list on their own did you).

Thanks everyone for checking out my blog, enjoy!

MLB

Montreal Expos

Toronto Blue Jays (New)

Yankees

Baltimore Orioles

Toronto Blue Jays (Old)

Milwaukee Brewers

Chicago White Sox

Florida Marlins

Pittsburgh Pirates

Cleveland Indians

NBA

Cleveland Cavaliers

Vancouver Grizzlies

Houston Rockets

San Antonio Spurs

Sacramento Kings

Chicago Bulls

New York Nets

New Orleans Hornets

Toronto Raptors

Boston Celtics

NBA

Seattle Seahawks

Atlanta Falcons

Denver Broncos

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphines

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NHL

Anaheim Mighty Ducks

Chicago Blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche

Los Angeles Kings

Pittsburgh Penguins

San Jose Sharks

Vancouver Canucks

Quebec Nordiques

Hartford Whalers

New York Islanders

CFL

Saskatchewan Roughriders

The 9 Steps Of Making A Band Poster

Calin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:43:59 +0000

Band posters are one of my favourite things to design. Unlike corporate design which must adhere to brand standards and marketing objectives, band posters are free, they are organic, and they allow for more creativity.

We’ve all seen the final version of cool band posters hanging in our favourite pub or bar but very few people outside of the design community have had the opportunity to see the whole process and layers of a band poster. Below are the steps I took to design my latest poster for The Nix Dicksons and Frankie McQueen show on June 19, 2010.

For this poster my creative direction was as follows: tropical theme, feature Zharu the Volcano God, the three bands, sponsors logos, and brief “when” and “where” info.

Step 1

With all of my projects I start with a blank sheet of paper. This is definitely the most intimidating and exciting part of designing anything. I slowly collect my thoughts and envision what I would like to create.

Step 2

Once I have a defined image in my mind I start from the bottom layer and work my way up. For this particular poster I needed to use tropical elements to stay on theme. I found an excellent royalty free image on www.sxc.hu, of a bamboo curtain, it looked like a good starting place so I got to work. You’ll notice that the image has a weird splotchy texture to it, that’s no accident. I applied a filter known as Artistic Cutout, it turns a full colour image into an image with a specified amount of colours, for this piece I used 8. The Artistic Cutout filter eliminates most of the depth in the image, which is great because as a background image i didn’t want it to be to overpowering.

Step 3

The texture used in step two was great for creating an attractive background but it won’t work so well for displaying content. Therefore, in the next step my goal was to create a defined content area. I took a grungy piece of paper and applied the same Photoshop filter Artistic Cutout. The filter once again reduced the complexity of the image and matched up nicely with the background.

Step 4

Step 4 is very subtle but extremely important to the overall look of the poster. What I’ve done is set my foreground colour to orange then apply what is called a “blending mode” to the solid colour. The blending mode I used is called Overlay. Overlay multiplies or screens the colors, depending on the base color. Basically the entire image ends up with the same, consistent colour tones.

Step 5

This was a crucial point in the poster design because to be completely honest I was stuck! I had tried incorporating the typography over the grungy paper texture and it looked awful. Then a spark of inspiration, “why not use a word bubble… gunge style”! And that is exactly what I did, if you can notice there are actually three different layers to the word bubble. The background layers are once again set to Overlay to give that cool colour blend and since no content would be directly over those two layers I could get away with it. The dark brown bubble, however, had to be solid so that the typography would be legible and easy to read, so there was no Overlay fun there.

Step 6

Step 6 was really fun for me because I got to incorporate Zharu The Volcano God! I’d like to take credit for the cool tiki illustration but my heart of hearts will not allow it. As in most cases when you see a really cool illustration, it was purchased from a third party stock photography website (in this case www.fotolia.com).

This step may seem out of order with step 5. Why did I decided to create a word bubble content area before I found the image of Zharu… good question. A lot of times with my design I have a vision for what I want, and I just adapt to what the creative universe provides, this time it worked but other times it has failed miserably.

Step 7

Next we tackle the typography. As you can see in this step the poster is really starting to come to life. I had played around with all types of fonts, thin ones, thick ones, tiki fonts, and Hawaiian font but nothing was working. Then I tried a seldom used font in my arsenal, it is a font called Capture It. It reminded me of the fonts you would see spray-painted on the side of wooden cargo boxes, kinda grungy but still extremely legible. Although it wasn’t exactly on theme it just seemed to fit for some reason, plus it is bold enough to be seen by your grandma without her bi-focals at 20 yards.

One piece of advice I would like to give about typography for band posters is this, nothing else is as important as prominently featuring the band names! Having a cool poster is great but it no one can read the band names then your entire poster design has just gone down the drain.

Step 8

We are getting really close now. In this step we add the supporting content and the sponsors logos. My thinking in designing band posters is this, a person will see the bands who are playing, if they are interested they will take an extra step forward to see when and where the show is. Therefore, i usually make this info smaller then the band names.

Once the supporting content is in place I add the sponsors logos. I hate adding sponsor logos to posters, the colours are always off, they usually sit awkwardly at the bottom of the page or are hidden away in a lonely corner. However, the sponsors are usually the ones who pay me… did I mention I love sponsor logos!

Step 9

Well this is the last step, adding the final touches. A great artist once said, a painting isn’t finished until you cannot add or subtract anything from it. It’s amazing how true that statement is because although I thought I had completed this piece something just seemed to be missing. I an online search for some really cool palm trees and these are what I came up with. I Overlaid a fee trees behind Zharu, and on the background to create another dimension to the poster. And last but not least I included a few palm trees on Frankie McQueen’s name as a final touch. Voila!

So that is how I created the infamous Nix Dickson and Frankie McQueen poster. I really hope I didn’t mislead anyone into thinking this was a tutorial as it most certainly was not. Anyway thanks for reading my blog, and check back with me soon.

For more excellent tips on band posters, and band promotion visit www.band-brand.com.

15 Inspirational Logos

Calin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:55:42 +0000

Ask any designer and they will tell you that logos are one of the most difficult things to design. The success of a brand is hanging on one little icon and a few lines of typography. That’s pretty powerful.

Over the years I have collected an enormous amount of design reference materials but now I’m starting to open the doors to my personal collection. Below are 15 of my favourite logos. To the experienced eye many of these logos will be familiar but some have never been seen before.

Let me know which logos you love, and which just don’t do it for you.

1. Kite String Studio

2. SquareRoom

3. SIC Group

4. Egypt

5. Eight

6. Gulp

7. Fresh Fish

8. Raw Photography

9. Spry

10.Caviar Dinning

11. Sticky

12. Get Wired

13.Wiesinger Music

14. Olive Restolounge

15. tmiint

11 Of My Favourite Images

Calin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:30:38 +0000

As a graphic designer the fate of my work is directly linked to the images I have at my disposal. Great imagery is very powerful, it has the capacity to surprise, horrify, inspire and disgust. Below are my favourite images of all time. This sample of images is drawn from photography, 3D renderings and digitally enhanced photos.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Sugarpine:

Unfortunately, I don’t have any information about this image, except for the title Sugarpine. This is one of my favourite images for obvious reasons, the Milky Way Galaxy is stunningly visible due to a long exposure by the photographer. It is possible that this image has been digitally manipulated but it is impossible to be certain.

UPDATE: Thanks to Kadir (who directed me to the source), I’ve located the original photographer. His photos can be viewed here: http://www.astrophoto.com.

The Pale Blue Dot:

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken in 1990 by Voyager 1 from a record distance of 6.1 billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles). The image illustrates the insignificance of Earth against the overwhelming vastness of space.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany.

Man On The Moon

This is one of the most icon images of all tme, Buzz Aldrin poses on the Moon as Neil Armstrong captures his own reflection in the visor.

Sharkwater

This image was taken by Rob Stewart, director of Sharkwater, a documentary about the declining population of shark populations all over the world. The message behind the film is very somber but the imagery is breath taking.

Digital Blasphemy

This image was created by Ryan Bliss of Digital Blasphemy. Digital Blasphemy offers some of the most stunning desktop backgrounds you can find online. This particular image graced my desktop for almost two years while I was a student at the Lethbridge College.

Child & Vulture

This is the most disturbing photo in my list, however, it is extremely powerful. The small staving child is slowly crawling towards a feeding centre as the vulture patiently waits for her to die. The photographer Kevin Carter snapped this photo in 1993 in Sudan. The experience had a severe impact on Carter, and three months after this photo was taken he committed suicide.

Earthrise

A photograph of the Earth taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission. It has been called “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.

Guerrillero Heroico

Guerrillero Heroico is an iconic photo of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960, in Havana, Cuba. It is the most reprinted image in the history of photography. Interestingly, Alberto Korda claimed no payment for his picture. A modified version of the portrait through the decades was also reproduced on a range of different media, though Korda never asked for royalties.

Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field is an image of a small region in the constellation Ursa Major, constructed from a series of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. What is interesting about this photograph is that the area was thought to be empty but after a ten day exposure this image appeared. The HDF displayed over 10,000 points of light, each point being an entire galaxy containing billion of stars.

The Clash – London Calling

The photograph of Paul Simonon smashing his Fender Precision Bass at The Palladium in New York City on 21 September 1979 is one of the most icon images in rock and roll. Pennie Smith, who photographed the band for the album, originally did not want the photograph to be used. She thought that it was too out of focus, but Strummer and graphic designer Ray Lowry thought it would make a good album cover. In 2002, Smith’s photograph was named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine^.

20 Excellent Law Firm Websites

Calin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:58:30 +0000

Law firm websites tend to be quite conservative in an effort to build trust, prestige and a sense of security. This week I’ve researched some of the worlds largest law firms and hand picked my personal favorites. The websites are still conservative but the use of interesting layouts, unique navigation systems and playful colour combinations set these websites apart from the rest.

So as always thank you for visiting my blog, if you have any websites to add to the mix please leave a comment.

Bennett Jones

Bingham

Cadwalader

Clark Skatoff

Fish & Richardson

Goodwin Procter

Landye Bennett Blumstein

Lawson Lundell

Linklaters

Miller Thomson

Morgan Lewis

Morrison Foerster

Ogilvy Renault

Pillsbury

Simmons & Simmons

Sjberwin

Slaughter & May

Vasquez Benisek & Lindgren

Weil & Associates

Wilmer Hale

Calgary DUI Lawyer

80 Freakin’ Awesome Album Covers

Calin — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:16:34 +0000

As a designer I love album art sometimes more than the music itself. Therefore I’ve collected 80 of my favourite album covers for everyone to enjoy.

The genres range from death metal, to Disney and everything in between. I’ve tried to include a mix of illustration, detailed graphic design, and stunning images.

If you enjoy this blog please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

The Clash

The Used

Fires At Night

Cartel

Muse

Boys Like Girls

Crush Luther

Dashboard Confessional

Jay-Z

Kevin Hearn

Cha Cha Cha Time

Rush

The Cardigans

Cheap Thrills

Puddle of Mudd

Incubus

Scheherazade

Mae

Pearl Jam

Cort Minor

Jack’s Mannequin

Gym Class Heroes

Say Anything

Linkin Park

Riot

Sugarcult

Meat Loaf

Yellowcard

The Used

Kucz Kulka

Hidden In Plain View

The Wailin’ Jennys

Shawn Morris

Arsonists Get All The Girls

Green Day

Rise Against

RJD2

Herbie Mann

Bishop Allen

Barenaked Ladies

Johnny cash

ABBA

Madonna

The Shins

Cocteau Twins

Crush Luther

Kid Cudi

Cunninlynguists

Daniel Johnston

Mikey Factz

Devo

Dinosaur jr.

Eureka Birds

Paul Fogarty

Matthew Blacklock

Gallows

Gnarls Barkley

The Donnas

Haidian Park

Jimi Hendrix

Bloodhound Gang

Gorillaz

Jadakiss

Jamie Cullum

The Acorn

Library Voices

Muse

P3

A Frames

Arlo

Blitzen Trapper

Love As Laughter

Eugene Mirman

It’s A Small World

The Sandinista Project

Gnarls Barkley

Them Crooked Vultures

T.I.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Yo La Tengo

5 Not-So-Corporate Web Designs

Calin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:16:30 +0000

When I think of a standard corporate website I think of a white background, a large image banner featuring standard stock photos, and plain text navigation links. However, I’ve found a few companies that have pushed the limits of standard corporate design and won big!

Below are five of my favourite corporate websites.

1. Head Play

2. NASA

3. Vermilion Energy

4. Blackberry

5. Campaign Monitor

2010 Winter Olympics Medals

Calin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:32:27 +0000

The 2010 Winter Olympic games officially open tomorrow night and Canadians are hungry for gold.

The Olympic medals, designed by Omar Arbel and Corrine Hunt, are stunning. The unique undulating surfaces are representative of the rolling landscape of the greater Vancouver area while the laser engraved west coast aboriginal artwork is a tribute to Canadian culture.

The design of the medals went through a number of phases, starting out as a locket, but eventually landing on the extraordinary design we now see. Below are a few preliminary designs on the medals and the final versions. Enjoy!

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Finished Product 1

Finished Product 2

Finished Product 3

Big Rock Eddies Documentary

Calin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:54:45 +0000

The Big Rock Eddies have been referred to as the redneck Oscars but this design competition has gained national recognition over the last 15 years . Last year I was interviewed for the documentary Eddies: The Documentary (clever!) for my one minute cartoon Triple XO surprise. Somewhere in the excitement of being in a professional documentary, and wanting to cover my own ass incase I said something stupid, I agreed to design the documentary packaging.

Here is a quick teaser from the cover. Producer Mike Peterson and I agreed on a National Lampoons feel for the packaging. So armed with low resolution images (F#*!) I hit the ground running. I hope you all enjoy, let me know what you think.

80 Years of Olympic Logos

Calin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:31:53 +0000

Continuing in the spirit of the Olympic games, I’ve collected all 35 logos from the last 78 years to share with my readers. Some are excellent, while others are just plain awful. I hope you enjoy Blog 2, in my week-long tribute to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Enjoy!

Vancouver 2010

Beijing 2008

Torino 2006

Athens 2004

Salt Lake 2002

Sydney 2000

Nagano 1998

Atlanta 1996

Lillehammer 1994

Barcelona 1992

Albertville 1992

Seoul 1988

Calgary 1988

Los Angeles 1984

Sarajevo 1984

Moscow 1980

Lake Placid 1980

Montreal 1976

Innsbruck 1976

Munich 1972

Sapporo 1972

Mexico 1968

Grenoble 1968

Tokyo 1964

Innsbruck 1964

Squaw Valley 1960

Rome 1960

Melbourne 1956

Cortina d’ Ampezzo 1956

Oslo 1952

Helsinki 1952

St. Moritz 1948

Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936

Berlin 1936

Los Angeles 1932

Lake Placid 1932

30 Years Of Olympic Medals

Calin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:45:58 +0000

In honour of the 2010 Winter Olympics being help in my home country, Canada, I’ve decided to do my small part for the design community. Sure the games are about brother-hood, friendship and the competitive spirit but let’s get serious here for a moment, when it comes to the Olympics it’s all about the bling.

So for your viewing pleasure I present the raison d’etre of the Olympic games… the medals.

Canada 2010

Beijing 2008

Torino 2006

Athens 2004

Salt Lake City 2002

Sydney 2000

Nagano 1998

Atlanta 1996

Lillehammer 1994

Albertville 1992

Barcelona 1992

Calgary 1988

Seoul 1988

Sarajevo 1984

Los Angeles 1984

Lake Placid 1980

Moscow 1980

10 Excellent Free Fonts

Calin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:12:46 +0000

Today has been a day jam packed with typography. I’ve created two billboards, a magazine ad and a logo for a website header. Honestly if I were to sleep now I’d be dreaming in Helvetica. As a way to clear my mind, like a form of typography meditation, I decided to package up 10 of my favorite free fonts in today’s blog. Enjoy!

Jellyka Gare de Chambord

Karabine

Nashville

Quicksand

25 Excellent Bottle Designs

Calin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:00:09 +0000

Like many of my fellow countrymen I enjoy the odd glass of wine, shot of tequila or beer bonk. What can I tell you I’m Canadian. What I enjoy even more, however, are the bottles that house some of my favorite wines and spirits. Below are 25 Excellent Bottle Designs.

10 Cool Country Music Sites

Calin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:42:27 +0000

At Calin Daniel we’ve recently landed an amazing client and very talented musician George Canyon. So as in any other project I undertake I like to do competitive research to see what his competitors are doing. In the last three weeks I have reviewed literally hundreds if not thousands of websites and at the end of the day these are 10 of my favorites.

25 Cool Halloween Pumpkins

Calin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:07:11 +0000

The time for ghosties, ghoulies and things that go bump in the night is once again upon us. Halloween is here, Hooray! In the spirit of the season, and because I have a pumpkin carving competition tomorrow, I’ve decided to feature “25 Cool Halloween Pumpkins“. I hope you enjoy.

1. The Twins Pumpkin

2. Halloweiner Pumpkin

3. Space Invaders Pumpkin

4. Darth Vader and The Trick or Treaters Pumpkin

5. Super Mario Pumpkin

6. Hallow-Burger Pumpkin

7. Phoenix Pumpkin

8. Crazy Face Pumpkin

9. Death Star Pumpkin

10. Witch Pumpkin

11. Pumpki-Wona The Volcano God Pumpkin

12. The Snack Pumpkin

13. Turtle Pumpkin Pumpkin

14. Hallowini Pumpkin

15. Apple Pumpkin Pumpkin

16. Vote For Obama Pumpkin

17. Octopumpkin

18. Booty Grab Pumpkin

19. Predator Pumpkin

20. Mario Pumpkin

21. The Snack #2 Pumpkin

22. Nightmare Before Chr… Halloween Pumpkin

23. Pumpkin Suicide

24. My Neighbor Pumpkin

25. Wario Pumpkin

10 Inspirational Album Covers (Part 2)

Calin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:26:07 +0000

Welcome to the second rendition of my inspirational album covers montage. This week I’ve devled even deeper into the Calgary music scene to find album artwork that will melt your face off. I hope you enjoy.

Amazing Zombieland Typography

Calin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:29:28 +0000

This is the fifth rendition of my lead that I have written, reread, then quickly deleted. So I’ve decided to give it to you straight, Zombieland is the coolest movie of all time! Enough said.

Anyone who is zombie movie fanatic like myself will truly appreciate the cheesy gore, special effects and “zombie kills of the week.” However, Zombieland incorporates one feature all but ignored by the movie industry; dynamic, animated, absolutely kick-ass titles.

Below are a few screen shots from the film trailer (also in the film). Although it is impossible to do them justice in image-flats I figured it was still worth recommending.

Zombieland opened Friday, October 2 but I’m sure we’ll be hearing about it for years to come.

10 Inspirational Album Covers

Calin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:42:22 +0000

You don’t have to look hard to find inspirational artwork in Calgary. No I’m not talking about dusty old paintings of abandoned houses, saddle-broken horses, or calf-roping cowboys. I talking about experimental, adventurous and inspirational artwork. All you have to do is follow your… ears?!?

That’s right album art. The face of music. The visual soul of sound. Oh what a beautiful thing it is. This week I’ve compiled some of my favourite album artwork from Calgary based bands. I hope you enjoy.

Seven Story Redhead

The Dudes

Woodpigeon

Cripple Creek Fairies

The Fast Romantics

The Nix Dicksons

Nushi

Chad Van Gaalen

This is a Standoff

Women

30 Retro War Posters

Calin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:35:06 +0000

This week I had the pleasure of working with the town of Wadena museum on one of my recent projects. In collecting images and information I stumbled upon one of the most amazing collections of Retro War Posters I have ever seen. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.