Gallery 1313 Anniversary Wordmark

Gallery 1313 is a Toronto-based, artist-run gallery exhibiting local, national and international contemporary art. The not-for-profit organization is celebrating their 13th anniversary, holla! The lovely (and incredibly talented) Natalie Castellino is on the board of directors and invited me to create an anniversary wordmark for the gallery. I was quite flattered to say the least and very excited about this project! The gallery's mission is to "promote creativity, learning and growth in the careers of artists, and to inspire passion and appreciation for arts and culture in the public." I definitely wanted to create something that was custom, visual and expressive, but also celebratory and fun. Natalie explained the board was having trouble choosing between the concepts I presented so they picked two, cool! Check out Gallery 1313, and fosholy check out Natalie's work as well. Happy Anniversary Gallery 1313!

Existing Logo

Gallery- building reference

Concept- Celebratory

Celebratory Concept- Final

Concept- Graphic/Iconic

Graphic/Iconic Concept- Final

Chocolate Cream Cake

I was fixing for chocolate cake, but not just any kind of chocolate cake. I needed something that was rich and over the top dense (light and airy cakes have their place, but not this time :P). The contenders were Laura Calder's Craggy Chocolate Cake and Delicious Miss Dahl's Flourless Chocolate Cake. However, in my Laura Calder cookbook I found a recipe for Chocolate Cream Cake. This recipe came from Julia Child (so right then and there we knew this thang was going to be RICH!). The cake was made of all the bad stuff (literally just chocolate, eggs, sugar, cream and some flavourings), but was oh so good! You definitely need the lightness of the whipped cream to balance the dense, chocolatey cake (I gussied it up with vanilla bean). This cake was a force to be reckoned with, a small sliver is all you need- it was like eating a slice of truffle!

mmm'mmmm :)

RM&R Wordmark and Poster

RM&R (Resource Matching and Referral) is an electronic tool that allows for the matching of patients to appropriate clinical programs and the electronic transfer of patient referrals (ie. no paper!). RM&R is currently in effect at a cluster of Toronto hospitals and is working to create change within the health care industry by improving communication between the health care sectors and health care providers to make the patient's journey through the continuum of care as efficient and seamless as possible. I had the pleasure of working with the RM&R program team in the Shared Information Management Services department at the University Health Network to create a wordmark for the new tool as well as a oversized poster (wow, and now we know why the health care industry runs on acronyms!). It was a good challenge and a welcomed change to put on the Info Design hat! My main concern was for the end user (conference attendees) to be able understand RM&R fairly quickly and easily. I hope there is more opportunity to work with the RM&R team in the future, it was a great project! The 4 foot x 8 foot poster was presented at the eHealth Conference held in Toronto, Ontario.

Wordmark

Poster

A Random Online Encounter

On Tuesday I was feeling a little blah and decided to search online for some inspiration and motivation. I began on the lulu blog (naturally) and read a post entitled "Love Your Failures" from September 2010. Matthew Corker was the writer of that post so I had to check out his website/blog, and let me tell you I was SO glad I did. His writing and posts are filled with nuggets of inspiration, perspective and brilliance more or less. One post in particular really got me, "Living My Life Free From The Past." The post explained his personal journey on taking control and ownership over his past, which was leading/lead him to a newly liberated future. The posting was honest, vulnerable, human and made me feel SO good, my heart smiled as I read his words. I decided that I had to create a type treatment with one line in particular that I felt was very powerful. Again, this was another exercise in moving mediation; feel the meaning, draw the type and just go with it. DEFINITELY check out his website, http://www.thatsacorker.com/ Thanks Matthew, you're AWESOME! Keep the inspiration and forward thinking coming!

Hand Type and Photo

Mixed Flo Yoga at LuluSQ1

This holiday Sunday I tried my very first community yoga class at lululemon Square One and it was quite an enjoyable experience :) In addition to the instructors, there was a guy playing music (mainly the drums) which was pretty cool and different! The goal was to connect our breath while in postures, to the rhythm of the music. I found the addition of some sort of rhythm helped to remove the thinky- brain and get the yogi-brain going a lot more, in a weird way the music helped to create focus. I'm not sure if it's because I practice Bikram, but 10 minutes in and I was pretty soaked! Yikes to those around me (who's brows got a little dewy, while I was the gross sweaty guy :S). I would definitely recommend people giving one of these classes a try, it exposes you to different forms of yoga practice (and....did I mention it's free?!). It is pretty awesome that there is available access to health and wellness right in our own communities, well done lululemon! I will be going next week as well, Lisa from BYM is teaching, holla!

On a side note, I'm trying to be more sincere with the aspect of 'moving mediation' while practising- just letting MY mind go, and following the dialogue without thinking/hesitating. It is TOUGH to say the least, but I'm gonna stick with it! This illustration was an exercise in moving mediation applied to design: creating something, seeing where it takes you and not thinking about it! Now, to apply similar principles in the hot room...

Mixed Media Collage

Top Chef Canada

Top Chef Canada is in full swing and I think we are getting an indication of who may make it to the end and who... may not.  I LOVE Mercatto! My bro, sis and I have eaten there many times and I have never, ever been disappointed (tried my first ever deep fried lemon slice there- heaven!). As a result I am rooting for Rob Rossi, I definitely think he has the skills to be the first Top Chef Canada champ. However I am certain Coonie, Andrea and Dale will give him a run for his money (their awesomeness is pretty up there as well!). Either way, should be a GOOD season, especially when it's down to the final four. I think it is pretty cool that Rob is so young and doing SO incredibly well for himself- very inspiring! GO ROB!

Mixed Media Collage

Marker

Pencil

RIO!

I saw Rio over the weekend and my I just say WOW WOW WOW! The film was spectacular!!! I do realize I have a self-serving bias but a movie about tropical birds that takes place in Rio DURING Carnival- come on! That has me written all over it :) I am in love with this movie! 


There were some very powerful and relatable themes going on as well. Messages about species extinction, environmental protection, connecting with you're inner strength, finding true love and believing in yourself were all explored during the movie. Talk about feel good!
I really like the idea that through this movie children will be exposed to images of Carnival, and in turn inquire what carnival is all about.


The soundtrack is killer! The title song 'Real is Rio' has been on repeat on my iPod since Saturday, I can't stop listening to it! Over the past few years or so I have been trying to keep up with sambas in competition for Brazil Carnival, I felt the title song remained true to pulsating Brazilian samba rhythms (YAY for not North American-ing it up!). 


I thought the visuals were stunning! The animation was top notch, the way their feathers were rendered was so real! The Carnival scene in the movie was wicked, plain and simple. To see an animated version of the Sambadrome in full action was incredible! I know during my lifetime I WILL design Carnival, and for some reason seeing this movie made me feel validated, lol. I fosholy recommend watching Rio, you won't be disappointed :D 


Opening scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ81_Q0lYAM  
Carnival scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUpFSu9az6Q

"ALL THE BIRDS OF THE FEATHER

DO WHAT THEY LOVE MOST OF ALL

WE ARE THE BEST AT RHYTHM AND LAUGHTER

THAT'S WHY WE LOVE CARNAVAL!!!!!"