Wednesday, December 23, 2009
While visiting some family members in the Bay Area, we went to The Tech Museum in San Jose. To my surprise, they still had a group of interactive exhibits/games that I helped design!! I had not realized that they were part of the permanent display. It was really rewarding to see groups of school children playing with and learning from something you put a lot of love into.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Similar layout, different color scheme. We built an email template for the Microsoft Advertising division last year (Email Newsletter – Microsoft Advertising News), which they have been using throughout the year. This year, we changed up the color scheme a bit to match their branding more and added some new sections. Again, with this one, as in the past, it needed to be easily update-able by internal marketing. Once imported as a template into Outlook, changes can be made without HTML knowledge. Because we were building a file that would end up being an Outlook template, the HTML had to be written in a very specific way.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Yes, we have reverted to being five years old and our parents will not give us a sip of soda even though they are chugging from the can.
My moment came yesterday in the midst of packing for a trip, trying to finish work so that I could have some semblance of a break (not happening) and thinking that I hadn’t backed up my files in awhile and must do it before traveling. When I am the good, responsible computer owner and business person, it gets done weekly – when I am not, well its too embarrassing to call. I can’t tell you how many times I have pleaded and commanded my friends, colleagues and clients to regularly backup their files up just in case something should happen, do I listen to my own tome? Nope.
I must preface this story with the fact that it does have a happy ending and that no files were destroyed in its making.
To begin, I realized my power supply no longer plugged into the laptop. First opportunity to save the day and back up my files, not taken. I proceed to open up the whole computer and then put it back together – to see if I could get what’s wedged in the socket out but couldn’t. I put the whole thing back together, try to turn it on, to of course now back up my files and it will not turn on. No power, no battery, nothing. Heart in my throat, stomach on the floor, my life is over without this computer.
In a panic I call my new friends over at Unitek, who by the way were closing in less than an hour. They were brave enough to have me try to beat the clock and make it out to them in rush hour traffic before they close. I made it with 20 minutes to spare, they popped it open and within five minutes had the laptop booting up. You can imagine my elation, yes, the happy dance was done. I promptly ran home, backed up my files and transferred them all to my husband’s laptop for our trip.
In the end, this was a 5 hour detour that I was just not prepared to take on many levels. We did make it to the airport on time in the morning but with only a few hours of sleep, combined. Universe, I have learned my lesson! Plus it’s time for a new laptop anyway.
Moral of the story is: Backup your computer files!
Monday, December 14, 2009
New Logo
Old Logo by Shannon Mocabee
We recently completed the logo refresh for Picotte Photography. We did a general clean up and balancing to the mark and text as a unit. Here is what we changed and why we did it.
To begin, we worked on the Picotte font and letters. You will notice that we elongated the arm of the P, bridged the minute space between the two Ts and matched the tail of the e with the curve of the c. These all brought the balance and harmony of the word Picotte as a whole and made it a little bit more distinctive.
Next we completely changed the font for Photography. Ours is more modern and compact with no serifs (sans-serif). The curves that make up the Picotte font and the Photography font now match more closely and feel more like a set. We also added more breathing room between the two words and placed Photography a little more cooperatively within the space.
Lastly, we tackled the bloom. The original was a little fussy towards the middle and felt a little off balance. We subtracted some petals, added a few and reshaped some others to create a more clear and steady counter weight to the text while maintaining an organic, non-symmetrical feel. We again gave it some more breathing room and placed the little circle strategically to match the spacing of Photography relative to Picotte.
To some up the main theme of this clean up in a few words: create clarity, cleanness and breathing room. All together these elements make up a modern, elegant and inviting logo.