Hello people, I’m Matt Zolman, not Gregg (Matt’s UNITE!). You might have seen me before in and out of Real Art over the last couple of years disguised as a freelancer. As you read this, I am officially an employee and family member.
Now for the origin story: I grew up in the farm country of northwest OH and graduated from SAA a decade and a half ago where I met my beautiful wife. We’ve been married for 12 years with 2 incredibly wonderful children, a daughter who will one day be either President, a rocket scientist, an artist or a pop star (she can’t decide at the moment!) and a son is training to become a ninja and/or a superhero, whichever comes first (if there is only some way for me . . . I mean him . . . to get super powers).
In my spare time, I love spending time with my family, drawing comic books, shooting archery (former State Champ, believe it!), or finding ways to develop super powers.
We had a wine tasting on Thursday, thanks to a gift from a friend at Three Thieves.
Their Bandit wine was one I wrote about last week, but I like their whole personality and aesthetic. They’ve printed labels at Hatch Show Print, a fun design & screenprinter in Nashville.
We tasted the 1 liter boxes of Bandit Pinot Grigio and Merlot. Jenn got some tasty Amish cheese and crackers from the Market. Everyone liked the Pinot Grigio. It was fruity, and sweet, but not too sweet. The Merlot wasn’t as popular, but still not bad. It’s probably better with food. For under $10, I would buy either one again.
February 3, 2010
Posted by: Adam
Tracka2 – Swallow it, Follow it (http://www.tracka2.com/)
“A high-fibre cereal bar with a GPS tracking device buried in it, so you can track your ‘load’. Delightful.”
Tracking our feces… why didn’t I think of that?
Hmm, this does sound delightful. Oh, think of the wonderful possibilities… who wouldn’t want to know their poo-path? I mean, what if it got stuck somewhere? Did some alien race intercept it in order to learn more about us through our excrement? Most of us probably assume it goes through a series of tubes (no, not the internet) and eventually finds it’s way to some sewage treatment plant, but do we really know? Maybe some sewer system traffic analyst (is there such a thing? was that a pun?) somewhere would want to know the results of such an experiment.
If you bothered to click on the link, I’m sure you’ll quickly realize that this is a fake website, and sadly, a fake product. However, the crew at POKED in London have come up with a great way to inspire creativity in their group and keep things light and fun. I’m not sure about the details, but it looks as if they spend a full 24 hours working up crazy ideas and coming up with supporting marketing material. See more of these ideas on their HACKED blog post.
Is anyone seeing more details about HACKED? Maybe someone at POKED could inform us. Either way, looking through the rest of their website, I’m liking what I’m seeing. Definitely worth a gander.
So, exactly how do you debug this one, I thought all people were supposed to be treated equally?:
Unable to cast object of type ‘People’ to type ‘People’.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type ‘People’ to type ‘People’.
January 28, 2010
Posted by: Tom
Ran across these promo vids: no computer tricks, just sweetness:
I’m not a trendy person. I usually veer away from trends. There’s one growing trend, however, that I am all about: stylish boxed wine.
I enjoy wine, and I like the idea that it can be packaged in new ways – ways that make us think about the product differently. The fact that some of the new packaging materials is more environmentally friendly: even better.
Reading The Dieline today, I saw a new example: organic wine in “recyclable packs”
I like the Yellow+Blue design – bright and clean, with vertical type. I can never resist an octagon shape.
I first noticed boxed wine’s make-over when Target came out with its Wine Cube a few years ago.
It was smart of them to name it Wine Cube. That subtle difference pulls it toward a new category. It just sounds better than “Target Wine Box”
On Epicurious, Three Thieves Bandit is also pretty cool looking, but my favorite is French Rabbit.
The metallic hit is a nice touch, and I like the playful illustrations paired with the serif type.
Now, the only problem is: I’ve admired the packaging, but I haven’t tasted any of the contents. Have you tasted any of these fine wines? What did you think?
Below are the rules for the 2010 edition of the Real Art Beard-Off – a hairy contest open to Real Art employees only. All questions should be directed to Betsy for clarification.
Here’s the scoop on the categories and rules:
- Pre-contest mustaches are allowed
- Pre-contest beards are NOT – everyone begins with a clean face
- Beginning photo must be supplied to enter – Entry date: Tues., 1/19/10 (we can take dayton pics tomorrow – chicago, you’ll have to supply yours)
- Your creative contribution needs to be naturally grown before judging – end of contest photos will be taken, and judging begins Mon., 2/15/10
- Beards MUST be worn to the Hermes Award ceremony on Sat. 2/20/10 to avoid disqualification
- Judging will be done by secret ballot (girls only will judge and vote)
- You will be eligible to compete and win a Silver award in 4 categories
- Silver awards will be announced on Friday 2/19/10
- One Gold “Best-In-Show” Award will be chosen from the Silver winners – Gold Award will be presented at the Hermes Awards on Sat. 2/20/10. (you need to be present to win)
Silver Award Categories – one person wins each category:
- Most Original
- Straight-up Gross
- Styled – NO shaving or trimming allowed – just styling (use of styling product is encouraged in this category)
- Most Un-recognizable Face
Gold Award “Best-In-Show” – chosen from the Silver winners
Good luck ladies and gentlemen!
Steve Willings has been a dedicated Real Arter for several years now. Thanks to his hard work behind the scenes over the last year, he’s earned a new role: the new Real Art Account Executive. You know how Steve gets – I’m thinking we will have some good times ahead.
December 22, 2009
Posted by: Tom
We were lucky enough to work with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital again this year on their annual report. In 2009, they launched the first of three institutes – a model that will bring doctors and researchers together in a new way that will keep docs current and researchers surrounded by real world case studies. We developed the theme “Connecting the Dots” as a way of explaining how Cincinnati Children’s is aligning research, education and patient care.
Major props are in order to Patrice for leading the design and art directing the photo shoots. Supporting credits are due to Mary for assisting in the layout, Jenn and Andrew for creative input, Crystal for the cover design, and Rob for managing a major print run that included a 24+ hour press check. Finally, thanks are due to Ryan Kurtz for the great photography, and RR Donnelley for the beautiful printing.
If you think the annual looks sharp online, you need to hold it in your hands to enjoy its unique size, gorgeous spot uv cover, and rounded corner goodness.
