Someecards.


Someecards may or may not be the greatest thing since ecards. It was created by Brook Lundy and Duncan Mitchell, and designed by Jerry Tamburro. New cards, categories, and features will be frequently added until everyone involved with the site dies (or so they say). I swear I can think of at least one person to send every single one of their cards to. Hope you love it as much as I do.

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The Dogme Manifest for Advertising.

I came across this in the Design Annual 46 from Communication Arts magazine. Working in the business some points I wholeheartedly agree with, while others are a little much. Let me know what you think.

1. No headline will begin with “Something is wrong when…”, “Exactly at what point does…” or “Has it ever occurred to you that…”

2. Access to all awards show books shall be limited to one hour per month. Maybe

3. No commercial or Internet film will be shot in winter. In Jamaica. On a beach. WIth a little bar with a grass roof. Where they serve those blue drinks with mango slices.

4. No celebrity voiceovers shall be permitted unless at least three people in the country actually recognize who the hell it is.

5. No further use of chimpanzees on the Superbowl shall be allowed.

6. The same goes for chickens.

7. And gratuitous beasts.

8. Art directors will not be permitted to use Photoshop until an actual concept has been determined.

9. All creatives who get off on debasing, senseless or sexis humor and feel compelling to impose it on civilized society shall have all previous memories of Saturday night frat house binges erased from their memory banks.

10. No shots of mothers holding babies.

11. No meaningless taglines that don’t add a damn thing to the campaign other than give the client something to put on coffee mugs and t-shirts at the annual sales meeting.

12. Anyont caught sleazing a slash on an awards show entry form because, after all, “If I hadn’t suggested switching paragraph 4 with paragraph 2, this would have sucked,” will be dropped down the elevator shaft. Naked.

13. Creatives shall be barred from imposing the same idea that won them the Palm d’Or, gold One Show pencil and D&AD Best In Show on every project they come in contact with until the end of eternity.

14. Whining will not be permitted under any circumstances. This includes budget whining. Account executive whining. Client whining. Client’s wife whining. Lack of creative freedom whining. What-do-you-mean-I-can’t-use-Nadav-Kander whining.

15. No goatees.

16. Audible groans when being asked to do radio is off limits. Radio only sucks because you’ve made yourself believe it does.

17. When presenting, no words over three syllables shall be used thus allowing the actual work to prove how smart you are.

18. No vacation plans shall be changed at the 11th hour, thereby causing your spouse to question your life priorities in the name of taking one for the team, assuming the team has never taken one for you.

19. Except in dire emergencies which does not include “The client is going on vacation,” “I’m sorry I sat on the brief so long” and “I need to meet my roommate at the airport,” creatives shall keep the concept of the All Nighter a fond, but distant memory of college days, understanding that there comes a point when editing a brand video at two in the morning begins to feel a lot like walking out a 39th floor window on LSD.

20. During office hours, no billiards, dart games, Nerf basketball or other distractions masquerading as creative stimulators will be permitted. If you want stimulation, get on a plane for Amsterdam.

21. Every creative will be required to go through an entire day once a week without saying the word “viral,” unless you’ve recently been on a float trip down Ebola River.

22. The term “mockumentary” shall be banned at all times.

23. No account executive shall be permitted to actually suggest in client meetings that “we might want to think about street art.”

24. No further reference to hijacking shall be allowed unless you’re comfortable with the idea of several large gentlemen with wool suits, earpieces and Ray Ban sunglasses removing you from your cubicle while you’re playing Texas Hold ’em online.

25. Copywriters shall glue their laptops shut for a period of a month during which they will reaquaint themselves with a pad of paer and a No. 2 pencil. No, not a pen. Not a Pentel. A pencil.

26. All creative department wastebaskets shall be replaced with much bigger ones.

27. No copywriter shall own a thesaurus. There is no fancy word in a thesaurus that is better than the simple one that just pops naturally into your head.

28. Creative teams shall produce on campaign per year for a nonprofit organization of their choice with no interntion of entering said campaign into any awards show anywhere on this or any other planet.

29. The use of music shall be prohibited from all emotional TV spots until such time as the spot itself, sans music, is capable of making at least twelve people cry like a river.

30. For a period of one week, no creative shall use humor in a radio spot.

31. Especially a beer spot.

Shanked from Ernie Shenck’s article in the November 2005 Communcation Arts.

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Olive & Page.

I’m new to Olive & Page’s letterpress paper goods, but they have some really cute cards and gift tags. Not to mention a pretty homepage!


Here are a few of my favorites from their site.




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Rehabilitated Dishware.

Rehabilitated Dishware by Sarah Cihat is an exercise is sustainability that reincarnates existing products. Used or unwanted ceramics are redesigned and resurfaced then presented as new collections. Interesting designs and modern colors enliven the dish, extending its life cycle past the thrift store or overstock pile. Rehabilitated Dishware is a subtle statement of the importance of recycling and the renewed value of unwanted things.


The process begins by buying dishware from various second-hand stores, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, or rummaging through reject piles at retail stores. The dishes are then glazed and refired. Most are priced between $34 and $59.


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Paper Monkey Press.

Being a graphic designer I really appreciate a well thought out business card. I love seeing something that makes me wish I had created it myself. These are the things that you tend to save and tuck away in an Idea File or inthe back of your mind (or if you’re me, both).


That’s exactly how i felt when I saw this business card for Laura Suzanne Foote by Paper Monkey Press. It’s beautiful and ingenious. Mission accomplished.

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A Fanciful Twist.

Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist is simply this: amazing. Her art is completely beautiful and terrifying all at the same time to me. She has such a variety from original art, prints, greeting cards, ceramics all the way to jewelry. Take a look and let me know what you think. You can purchase her work online at her Etsy shop.



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Amy Jean Porter.

Amy Jean Porter is an awesome artist I’ve come across lately in My Search for Amazing, Life-Altering Art and Design (if i said that out loud, it would echo with immense importance). Her drawings, some of which resemble pencil and crayon mediums, make me think of what Napoleon Dynamite may have done with his career had the Liger made it big.

My favorites are the antelope jackrabbit (jackelope perhaps?) and the jaguar which is strangely Liger-esque. Don’t miss the best part – at the bottom right hand corners. The jackelope reads, “There’s something savant-like about you” and the jaguar, “Man, you’ve got good-looking handwriting.”


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How to know when you’ve done a good ad.

I love this…

It’s not an easy thing to know. A good ad isn’t like a ball everyone sees sail over the fence for a homerun. Or a kiss, that when it’s over your eyes open on someone else’s heat. A good ad is a tricky, slippery, evasice beast that doesn’t like to be caught, won’t stand still, won’t come out when called. A good ad is a greased pig when it comes time to put your hands on one. Masters of disguise, good ads sneak out of you in bars, the shower, dreams, even in advertising meetings, and run away to lost pages in your workbook or torn up sheets in office wastebaskets. There are even good ads that hide inside other ads and remain unrecognized even when shown on television. (Heck, there’s likely a good ad hiding inside this one.) Some people think you can only tell a good ad when it appears in an advertising award show. Some people would say theonly good ad is one that “sells product.” Whether or not these are helpful identifiers of what makes a good ad good is not the point here. (I would say emphatically they are not.) What we’re interested in is how do you know – the moment you’ve done it – when you’ve done a good ad. How do you decide to stop writing, talking ot thinking and grab the little bastard before he makes a getaway, pin him down on the floor and call for the creative director? One word. There’s one word that, if it fairly describes your ad, tells you you’re done. It’s not honesty though that’s an excellent virtue good ads often contain. It’s not funny or provocative or wow or … The word is art. In my gentle opinion, the word is art. An indefinable monster of a word that means something slightly different to each person is the secret to good advertising. When you’ve made art, stop. Until you have, don’t. I believe it’s that simple.

(stolen from Mark Fenske)

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Essimar.

Essimar (at Etsy) had some of the most adorable “mini” cards – the Pink Citrus Mini Card set to be exact. Two mini cards (2.5 x 4″) and two mini envelopes for $6.50. All silk-screened and printed by hand. Reminds me of summery goodness!



I’m also really into the Tea Chat cards. Get a set of four in peach, lilac, pink and white with matching envelopes for $12.

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Blackbird Press.

I love the Etsy Shop, I just say it enough times. I wish I could have an entire day just to look through the site – and since I’m wishing here, I’d also like enough money to purchase every single thing that I want. Thanks.

Today’s find is Blackbird Press. Here are the pieces that jumped out at me. The notecards are $10 for four and the stationary is $25 for ten. I love the delicate quality of the small initial in the center of all that space.


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