Im Moving!!

This blogger is feeling a little cramped, so I'm moving on up...
You can find me here- nicoletlaursen.com

Golf Cart

We wrapped a golf cart:

What do the mountains think?

There is a small, microscopic, bruise on the skin below my eye. It is the remnants of a life that tragically ended this evening. I have heard that looks can kill. I never thought that the soft, fragile skin that cradles my eyes was capable of such a heinous act. The ground echoed through my shoes with each pounding step, creating a rhythm inside me that set the cadence of my rambling thoughts. The sting caught me off guard and interrupted my meditation. The insects tiny body bounced off my eye and quickly to the ground. I shook it off and kept on running.
It amazes me how many insects have ended their short lives by flying into me while I was running. I have inhaled them, stepped on them, swatted them, & swallowed them (one time a large insect flew into my mouth- I was disgusted, but having such a good run. So I swallowed it— felt it squirm and fight for life in my throat until it finally gave up and accepted it's fate). I don't really understand why they don't fly around me. Although, I bet mountains think the same thing when an airplane crashes into their snowy caps.

I almost ran over a cat today

Spunk and fearlessness drove her to do it.
She eyed the other side of the road. Adrenaline built inside her like mercury. She could see the car approaching fast. She lowered her head and raised her tail in the air. She knew she was the one with the heart and the drive. She was fearless. An eternity of safe crossing time came and passed. Aware of the time skipping her by, she chose to wait.
wait.....wait......wait........for it to be dangerous.
She has spent her life waiting for it to get interesting. Safety bored her. She preferred a short exciting life to a long boring one. The car was dangerously close now. Without hesitation, she darted across the road.

additive animation

My first encounter with William Kentridge's work was in the winter of 2005. I was at the Met in New York for the opening of the gates and as I walked through the museum I caught a glimpse of this beautiful film flickering on the wall. Kentridge's animations are composed of a single charcoal drawing that is altered in each frame, leaving behind ghosts of past drawings and creating a sense of motion. I was infatuated by this work- look him up if you get the chance!

Okay, so I'm not really going to do this, but someone should

Frustrated and annoyed, I decided earlier today that I am going to start caring a horn around with me when I go shopping for groceries. When I find myself stuck behind two girls gossiping about Britney Spears, instead of politely asking them to move, I will hold my horn in the air and honk it loud. Later tonight after the last stock boy empties his last palette, I will break into the grocery store armed with yellow and white road paint. Tomorrow patrons will find dotted white lines on one way aisles and yellow lines for those aisles wide enough to support two way shopping cart traffic. Customers will no longer stand in the way of my mac & cheese and the store will move like a well oiled machine. There will be stop signs installed and customers will be required to use proper turning signals with their arms. If customers need to back up, they will be required to loudly announce this with a "BEEP BEEP BEEP" noise. The deli will work as a drive-through with two windows (one for ordering your deli items and a second to pick up). The check stands will work like a toll at a bridge or turnpike. Customers will push their cart though a large scanner that will scan all the items at once. Then they will quickly pay with prepaid shopping passes and be on their way. This will revolutionize the grocery store industry, or get me arrested. Either way, it sounds like a good adventure!

Si Scott

Im going to do it

Yes, I have been thinking about it for quite a while now. Today I decided that I am in a perfect situation to go for it. What is it?
An MFA in Alternative Media. Wish me luck!

Insomnia

I went and got some chinese food to help me feel better. Yes, something about that orange chicken and greasy egg roll helped to ease my haunted mind. I feel somewhat uneasy about even posting this blog because it disturbs me so. So, there is a chance I will not post it. A chance it will be saved on my hard drive and never published.
I don't remember the course of events that lead to the situation I found myself in. I knew I was dreaming, but I couldn't wake myself. There was a woman in my apartment. She rummaged through my things and occasionally ran to my bed to try to wake me. I knew she was there. She was looking for something. She has been here before. The first time was about 6 months ago. I had just moved into my apartment. I was laying in my bed and having some crazy nightmares...happens often. I thought my eyes were open, but I knew I was still asleep. She held a cell phone up to my ear. I tried to move but my body felt paralyzed. There was a voice yelling to me through the phone. No matter how I tried, I could not understand. It was either a foreign language or she spoke too fast to comprehend. Then I caught the sound of velcro. You know the ripping sound it makes when you tear it apart. It was that sound I could hear coming from my living room. It sounded like there was someone fiercely tearing velcro—or doing something with a similar sound.
Then I woke up.
Last night my restless brain kept me awake until 3am. Then I went to work this morning at 10:30am. Once I got home from work, I found myself exhausted. My eyes shut. My brain sucked me into a strange world of fast talkers and indescribable landscapes. I wish I could remember my dream's storyline—or lack thereof. The only part I remember was pretty gruesome. I woke up this evening. Now I'm screwed as far as sleep goes tonight. I may just stay up all night.

Boom

I am pleased to announce that nico is being featured on Designers who blog. If you are not familiar with designers-who-blog.com you should really check it out. It's a fantastic collection of inspirational writing about design. I also want to thank cat for the complement on my blog. It's funny, sometimes I feel like my soul is drying up. Actually I think my soul did dry up. It morphed into a pile of gun powder. All I need is the occasional spark. Thanks for the spark!

iran

I think that apple and nike should team up to create a new ipod designed for runners. It would work just as any other ipod works. What would make this ipod so amazing would be the addition of the random sound of footsteps closing in from behind. I noticed today while I was jogging that I ran twice as fast when I could hear another jogger behind me. I'm not sure how they would pull it off without it just being annoying- but the folks at nike and apple are pretty smart, I'll let them figure out the details.

Jacob Two-Two

Jacob Two-Two

Everyone should slow down for a half hour on a Saturday morning and watch this show. The animation is fresh and the story lines are actually quite interesting—even for adults. Well, for me at least and I'm often easily amused...
Jacob Two-Two is based off of a series written by Mordecai Richler.

Richler is a Canadian writer—born in Montréal.

"C"

I was always a super star student in college. However, I did not do well in every subject. English Lit was one of them. I don't remember where I read this quote- all I remember was reading it my English Lit class (one of the few things that stuck with me):

Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.

~ Socrates

i'm flashing you

So I finally got my new site up! It still has a couple things I need to work on— but it is getting there. Take a gander if you dare... lettodesign

the google guys said it all with this one.

Ben Wilson- he's local and ridiculously talented. Check out these posters

I love my Jean

BIRDFLU

The Good Citizen's Alphabet

Make mine black- no wait throw in some sugar & ink

A couple weeks ago I designed stickers to promote a concert. These stickers were then stuck on thousands of coffee cup lids. They are now literally under the noses of many consumers who only really wanted their morning coffee. Today I watched this video.

Watch people get stressed out about relaxing

Food for thought.... damn it now I am hungry

Lascaux- the first graphic designers



Saul Bass- found a new medium in which to create art.

"My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the prime underlying core of the film's story, to express the story in some metaphorical way. I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it." -Saul Bass

Paula Scher

I like umbrellas and logos that do more than just look pretty. Plus this would be really easy to put up on a readerboard which is my personal test for strong logos.

Nouveau Salon des cent, Hommage a Toulouse-Lautrec.

Paula brings us back in history to this guy:

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Jane Avril Leaving the Moulin Rouge

Someone once told me that he was the founder or maybe the father of graphic design. Toulouse-Lautrec struggled with alcoholism and a crippled body due to the inbreeding of his family. It seems all the great artists had their demons. Van Gogh struggled all his life only to sell one painting and commit suicide before he could ever know of his impact on art.

It's getting late and my brain is getting lame. Good night