My portfolio site is currently under reconstruction and will relaunch soon.
Below is some design work I've done since graduation from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1991.
Good Design Makes a Difference
Good design (and the creative use of new technology) is important to small businesses and non-profits. Here is an excellent article on that topic; posted on www.openforum.com and written by Scott Belsky (Behance)
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
"We love great products and services even more when they are designed well. Among the many reasons for our appreciation of good design is that it helps us understand things better. Design can simplify the mission of an organization or the purpose of a product. As a result, design helps us engage..."
Great images from http://twitpic.com/photos/scottharrison ...photo caption reads: "ICDI uses vergnot pumps. The children often make a game out of the back and forth pumping motion." Photo by @estherhavens (twitter)
Another famous Montessori graduate…
Will Wright, creator of the best selling PC game in history, “The Sims” was a Montessori kid. Here’s a TEDtalks video where Wright briefly talks about Montessori and how it contributed to his success.
Online Films - NFB - Obachan's Garden
You can now watch many NFB films online, including Obachan's Garden. (Many scenes were filmed in Steveston, BC)
Description from the NFB site:
"Delicately peeling back the layers of her grandmother's life, filmmaker Linda Ohama discovers a painful, buried past in this feature length documentary. In poignant interviews, Asayo Murakami, now 103 years old, recalls life in Japan, her arrival in Canada as a "picture bride," her determination to marry a man of her choice, the bombing of Hiroshima and the forced relocation of her family during World War II. Beautifully rendered dramatic sequences are merged with an exquisite collection of memories, feelings, images and voices. Culminating in an emotional reunion with a long-lost daughter, this film is a personal reflection of Japanese-Canadian history and a testament to one woman's incredible endurance and spirit."
You can visit the restored Murakami home in Steveston, BC. Visit this link to read more about the Steveston area of Richmond.
A Creative Resource - Adobe's Edge Newsletter
As a designer, it is important for me to maintain my library of creative resources. One of my favorites is Adobe's Edge Newsletter.
The August 2009 edition features an amazing site by Sprint (http://now.sprint.com/nownetwork).
Here is what Adobe's Edge Newsletter says about it:
"This one has been called a widget and also a microsite, but whatever it is, it's groundbreaking in my opinion. This site aims to demonstrate the power of Sprint's network by linking a huge number of data streams that change by the second, and features data from babies being born to a live cam of Niagara Falls. Can you say information overload? Never.I believe this site also populated ads across the web. You'll certainly find this a mesmerizing experience. I can easily imagine some of you being overwhelmed with it, but it's a fascinating experience that I'm sure you'll never forget."
Television for Breakfast
I did a "fill-in" shift in the graphics department at CityTV recently. I was there for only a few days, creating graphics for the live shows "Breakfast Television" and "Lunch Television".
It was interesting to visit the station I'd worked at so many years ago when it was known as UTV. Everything has changed and the number of staff is now a mere fraction of what it was back in 1994. I must say though that it has become an even friendlier place and I really enjoyed my few days there. All of the staff and on air personalities were very welcoming and fun to work with.
Key skills for a broadcast designer? Remain calm under pressure and maintain a very quick pace - not an easy task when creating graphics for a live show which airs at 6am.
The designers at CityTV are certainly talented and very generous with their knowledge - I picked up some great tips and tricks.
It was interesting to visit the station I'd worked at so many years ago when it was known as UTV. Everything has changed and the number of staff is now a mere fraction of what it was back in 1994. I must say though that it has become an even friendlier place and I really enjoyed my few days there. All of the staff and on air personalities were very welcoming and fun to work with.
Key skills for a broadcast designer? Remain calm under pressure and maintain a very quick pace - not an easy task when creating graphics for a live show which airs at 6am.
The designers at CityTV are certainly talented and very generous with their knowledge - I picked up some great tips and tricks.
Vista D'Oro
We spent last Sunday at Vista D'Oro Farm. The kids ran around and played in the walnut trees while I, and several other family and friends of the farm, chopped green walnuts used to make the farm's superb fortified walnut wine "D'Oro" - it is excellent!
Farm owners Patrick (left, standing under the walnut tree and holding green walnuts) and his delightful wife Lee sell unique and delicious products at their Farmgate Shop and Winery.
They also produce exceptional:
Hand Crafted Wines
Artisanal Preserves & more...
Cooking Classes & more...
Custom Furniture Pieces
Vista D'Oro Farm is in beautiful South Langley, BC. Well worth the drive!!
Farm owners Patrick (left, standing under the walnut tree and holding green walnuts) and his delightful wife Lee sell unique and delicious products at their Farmgate Shop and Winery.They also produce exceptional:
Hand Crafted Wines
Artisanal Preserves & more...
Cooking Classes & more...
Custom Furniture Pieces
Vista D'Oro Farm is in beautiful South Langley, BC. Well worth the drive!!
Painter Tutorial
A good tutorial (PDF) on how to create digital portraits based on photographs using Corel's Painter software.
Budgies Win The Lotto!
Our two budgies won the bird-lotto this week after being accepted to live out their lives in the Bloedel Conservatory. Situated in Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park, the conservatory is a tropical oasis and home to over 100 birds and plant species. A truly heartfelt thanks to my friend Shelley and to Bruce who graciously accepted our request to give our beloved birds such an incredible home.
Goodbye Pineapple and Lemon, have a good life in the jungle, no more cages for you!
Please support bird rescue organizations.
Matt Belzberg - Bean Services
I have recently had the pleasure of working on a project with one of the brightest people I know, Matt Belzberg. Matt is a highly skilled programmer and his solutions are often creative and innovative. Matt has a great company by the name of Bean Services. They provide a "user-friendly web-based accounts payable solution designed to save significant time and costs processing invoices". Definitely worth checking it out!
Touchscreen Interfaces - Marine Discovery Centre - Hamilton, Ontario
I am really looking forward to moving to Steveston and taking my little "fish-fanatic" on an adventure to the nearby Gulf of Georgia Cannery.
Someday I will also take him to the Marine Discovery Centre in Ontario and finally see the work I did on several of the interactivities on permant display there. One of those interactivities is seen in the photo above. The touchscreen interface sits inside a canoe which was carved by a Haida artist from BC. Visitors to this kiosk are presented with a wealth of fascinating content including images and videos about Haida fishing practices and traditions, both modern day and historical. Created while employed at 7th Floor Media.
Celebrate Black History
The recent election has reminded me of a website I worked on a few years ago (as lead designer). I believe this site is still one of the best online resources for information about black history in Canada. blackhistorycanada.ca
Illustration styles - 1950, 60 & 70.
Image by Kevin Dart - "Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"I am a big fan of the retro illustration styles. One of my favorite sites for inspiration: grainedit.com
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DB's January 2010 play list: Latin Rock II
"Feliz Año Nuevo!I'm in Mexico for New Year's... so, appropriately, here's a collection of recent (and not so recent) Latin Rock tunes. Some artists are Mexican (Natalia Lafourcade, Julieta Venegas, Los De Abajo), some are Spanish (Bebe, Peret, Macaco), Cuban (Orishas), Argentine (La Portuaria), and some are even from New York! (Navegante, a great new band here). Touring, for some of these bands, is complicated outside of their home region — the distances between big cities are too great to travel by tour bus, and flying is expensive. But some have become very successful, so they play NY and elsewhere regularly. Happy New Year—DB"
Check out David's book while you are at his site...
"Reading Bicycle Diaries makes cosmic indifference a lot easier to deal with."
—The Seattle Times