Squee! Shetland ponies wearing cardigans made of Shetland wool! (And a video of them getting dressed for their photo shoot.)
Scotland already has haggis and Scotch; now this? I’m booking my trip even as we speak…
Squee! Shetland ponies wearing cardigans made of Shetland wool! (And a video of them getting dressed for their photo shoot.)
Scotland already has haggis and Scotch; now this? I’m booking my trip even as we speak…
It’s been nearly a month now, but I can’t let another day go by without acknowledging the great Charles Durning, who died Christmas Eve at the age of 89. Take just a moment of your time to read about this extraordinary man’s life. I promise you won’t regret it.
Along with all that re-branding and name-changing and whatnot (you may have heard about it—if not, go here), it seems we’ve done something most creative firms around here haven’t: design a dedicated mobile website.
No, not just a landing page with a phone number and directions; not just a responsive design that adapts the same website to fit individual screen sizes; but an actual mobile site.
Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself. Just type “helveticka.com” in your phone’s browser—don’t worry, we’ll take care of that pesky mobile-specific URL—and you’ll see a site that was created to get you the information you need in a way that you can not only see, but (gasp!) use.
Now. Imagine what we can do for you.
*If upon reading this you immediately began singing the second song on side two of Who’s Next, the 1971 album by The Who, well…you’re awesome.
So. It’s my first time posting on the new site. I think I’m finally ready. Just…please be gentle with me.
Thylacine caught on video! Or not.
Belgian woman leaves for a train station 38 miles away; a glitch in her GPS sends her to Croatia.
From what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground? The answer may surprise you.
Slow-mo video of fireworks exploding inside buckets of paint.
The Periodic Table of Typefaces. Hmmm…I wonder which font is numero uno?
Last week we launched our name-change video. Hopefully, you’re among those who saw it—but if you missed it, you can see it here.
A couple of Spokane collaborators assisting in the development of the video are worth noting. The voice talent was from out of town, but the animation, voiceover recording and editing, and sound engineering were handled by local firms. Thanks to Mike Bold of Digital Itch for his beautiful and sensitive animation of the world’s greatest typeface, and to Dan Mortimore and Ray Gross of Mortimore Productions (who recently celebrated their own 25th anniversary) for all things audio.
Another testament to the importance of collaboration and the talented folks working right here in Spokane. Thanks guys.
Today marks the very first day of helveticka. (In case you missed it, here’s a link to learn more.)
While the spirit of Anderson Mraz Design lives on, the name itself is no longer relevant. There are a lot of reasons for making this change, most of which are way too dull to get into here. But I will give you one:
It’s simply better.
Better because it represents something that we’ve known for many years now: that good design is driven by good creative. Our evolution from a pure design firm to one that places creative thinking at a premium has come naturally to us. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we continue to strive to set our clients’ brands apart with elegant yet simple visual solutions that express their unique personalities. (And occasionally, we actually achieve this goal.)
So, with that creativity in mind—and thankful for never having to spell “Mraz” again, we now have a new name.
Now, before you make too much fun of the photo…
Celebrating one’s 25th birthday is nice and all (I should know, I’ve done it more than once), but reaching that milestone as a business is, well…not so easy. You set out to succeed, but you don’t set out to hit an anniversary like this. When John Mraz—my former partner and co-founder—and I formed Anderson Mraz Design on January 1, 1988, we simply wanted to create meaningful design. And, frankly, help support our families. It really was that elementary.
I’m grateful to all who have been a part of the firm’s 25-year history. I’d like to thank John for his many contributions over the years. And to a few others, from family members to employees, former clients to new patrons, talented collaborators to kind landlords, and so many more… I humbly say “thank you.” Without all of you, hitting this milestone wouldn’t be possible.
We wish all of you a prosperous new year, while we look forward to adding more candles to our cake.
Do you prefer red wine or white? Chances are, you can’t tell the difference. So why bother with wine labels? The answer goes back a few thousand years.
Why do so many people insist that you can’t begin a sentence with a conjunction? Or end one with a preposition? Anthony Esolen thinks our high school English teachers are to blame.
I’m normally loath to point fingers at teachers, whose jobs are not for the faint of heart. But in this instance, I’m with Esolen. My son’s English teacher, for example, won’t allow split infinitives or sentence-ending prepositions. (Both, by the way, are nothing more than shibboleths.)
I shouldn’t complain, though. Knowing how and when to bend the “rules” of grammar and usage is what pays my mortgage.
It’s lonely being a logophile. For reasons still unclear to me, any word not immediately familiar to the average 12-year-old is anathema to most folks—such that those of us who derive pleasure from words like, well…anathema are sometimes treated like Mohammet, Jugdish, Sidney, and Clayton at Omega House.
But then, who needs friends when you’ve got Robert Fulford’s explication of palimpsest?
This just in: Poetry makes you weird.
Looking for a gift for the person who has everything? We’d recommend donkey cheese—but somebody just bought the world’s entire supply. Related: pre-historic cheese. Also: Random Good Stuff’s Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide 2012.
Truth: TV is a massive rip-off. About a year ago, I dumped everything but basic cable—the $13/month variety—and bought Apple TV and a streaming Netflix account. I’m saving $100 a month and loving it.
North Korean Propaganda posters. This one says, “It is exciting to play soldiers and seizing the Americans!”
The results are in: check out the winners of the Nikon Small World 2012 Photomicrography Competition.
The best cup of coffee in Spokane? It’s not even close: Coeur Coffee on the corner of Monroe and College. They’re a little pricy, the hipster factor is almost uncomfortably high, and you’d better not be in a hurry. But man, oh man…it will change your life in ways you can’t even imagine.
My recommendation? Block out half an hour and order up a cup of the Chemex-brewed stuff. That’s all. I mean, there are pastries and such, but they’ll just get in the way. And yes, you’ll need every one of those 30 minutes: 5 for the coffee to be prepared, 20 to enjoy it, and 5 for the cigarette you’re going to need afterward.
For the four or five of you who regularly turn to the last word for keen insight and the latest in breaking news, my apologies for ignoring you this week. It’s been busy. I know, I know: excuses. So I’m going to make it up to y’all with three—that’s right, three—posts in one day. It’s never been done before. And it won’t likely be done ever again. Ready? Here’s the first…
Would you be a good network executive? Rob Long has the answer—which applies even if your question is more along the lines of whether you’d be a decent creative director, a competent graphic designer, or, well…a client.
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