Everything for Everybody?

15th Mar 2010 Opinion 0 Comments

In the real world there are walled gardens, ivory towers, private clubs.
Some places have dress codes, some require gobs of money, and others you need to pass a test in order to gain access.

But on the internet this is unacceptable. Online communities need to be open, transparent, and free. This philosophy has taken such roots, that to a lot of people the only way to move forward and succeed as an online community means being those things, throwing your gates open and breaking down the walls.

But should that always be the case? Last week I came across an article by Darren Hoyt that got me thinking about the type of community that could swim against the that trend, and possibly be better for it.

Dribbble is that type of community. A place for creatives to share what they’re working on with other creatives; to generate feedback, bounce around ideas, and otherwise hang out with peers.

Currently in beta it’s invite only, and those invites have been tough to come across. Only a handful of invites have been given out to the top designers in the industry, and only some of those users are able to invite others into the fold. It’s caused some to cry foul, claiming the service to be elitist and purely for the in-crowd, an ivory tower. And I can sympathize with them, I’ve yet to be invited myself, but I also see this sort of walled garden for professionals as an opportunity. So …

Read More

An Inch of Joy

10th Mar 2010 Opinion 0 Comments

Lately I’ve been on a bit of a button kick, of the one inch variety, gathering a respectable collection of them in the last year or so to show for it. The majority of them are design and civic pride related buttons, but I’ve also convinced a few clients to get in on the mix as well.

Last month I did three sets for PodCamp Toronto, and one for Leschinski Design; a little less recently I did a series for CastRoller at PAB. All were a big hit with people, and I often get asked where they were made.

Read More

PodCamp Toronto

2nd Feb 2010 Clients 0 Comments

After the great experience working with the PodCamp London team, and knocking it out of the park, I thought I’d see if I could hit two for two with PodCamp Toronto and have as much fun. PodCamp Toronto is the premier social & new media event in Toronto, maybe even all of Canada, but they’ve always faltered on the visual composition of the event. The logo was rough, no real central website, and heavily relying on a wiki to keep it all together.

That’s where I come in.

I updated their branding, and designed a new website to be a single point of reference, moving completely away from the wiki model used previously. I didn’t do it alone however; Tommy Vallier & Bill Deys helped on the back end, pulling data from third party sites like Guestlist and Speaker Rate allowing us to use those services yet maintain the information on our own site. Daniele Rossi & Mircea Baldean helped keep things moving smoothly on the administrative end and managed the transition over to a single host and domain. They also provided a good sounding board for ideas I pitched at the committee before they were pitched.

The big event happens this month on the 20th and 21st at Ryerson’s Communications Centre. 600 plus have already signed up and 30 plus sessions lined up, so make sure to get your name in today!

Hello 2010.

26th Jan 2010 Updates 0 Comments

It wouldn’t be a new year if I didn’t push out some new updates for the site and reflect a little on the previous year’s comings and goings.

A Year in Review.

2009 started off rather briskly with the work on CastRoller going public as the service came out of beta. Almost immediately people took notice and it appeared print and numerous design sites online.

Next was PodCamp London, the social media event of the year in London Ontario. It’s possibly the most fun I’ve had to date with a project thanks to the great people organizing it. It also allowed me the opportunity to do a session with Mathew Hoy on brand guides that people loved, and paved the way for me to do a talk latter in the year on email marketing at SMArts London.

Deys Fabrication and Stratford Festival Review came shortly after, followed by a new business card for Titus Ferguson and a new logo for the Punk a Day podcast.

Stamps, stickers and business cards were another milestone of the year, showing off the new branding and new information after my move to Toronto. And finally, CodeCamp Waterloo rounded out the year.

Realign

The previous version of this website was less then eight months old, but before the year was out I was already working on this update to the site. Not just a fresh coat of paint, but a realignment of the goals and …

Read More

CodeCamp Waterloo Identity

28th Oct 2009 Clients 0 Comments

CodeCamp Waterloo is a BarCamp style event for programmers and developers in Waterloo Ontario Canada. Will Spaetzel, lead organizer, approached me to create their events identity and this is an insight into the creation of it.

final

« Older Entries