Is Vice Nice Now?

Imagine my surprise, when I tripped over an article about Vice Magazine... advertising for BMW... ! I guess the street kids have grown up and discovered that money can, in fact buy nice things. What a change from the Vice I knew--the one that told the next gen where to go and what to do with themselves.

A few years ago, I worked at a web design shop in Montreal, Normal (later re-named Normal Solutions). We prided ourselves on being "cutting edge", ahead of our time, and indeed, we were. We were designing 3-D models for virtual shops before others were, and coming up with cool and new designs. I was, at the time, new on the scene, and so I took a back seat to the more senior designer... until, one day, I got my big break: I was allowed to re-design the web site for Vice Magazine (they already had a web site, but it was mostly images, and not very user-friendly). How cool was that? To be a part of the hip and trendy mag with a smug, socially defiant culture! I was very excited at the prospect.

The magazine staff were located in the same open-concept building as we were, and so I got used to regular visits at my work station, asking me if I'd mind being photographed for the "don'ts" section, and taking pictures of various items located on my desk. My personal office supplies were well documented in the pages of Vice, that year.

My Favorite Design Magazine

My favorite design magazine, hands down, is a slick, glossy-paged, paper one... For a couple of years now, I've subscribed to Communication Arts. They entertain me with their fresh ideas (or rather, the fresh ideas of contributors). My precious mag is delivered but only once every two weeks... perfect for me, as I have trouble focussing on the more than one task at a time in my otherwise busy life. Heaven forbid that I should have to eat up more incoming content than I'm able to digest! I love the faint smell of the ink on the pages, when I first open the package (yes, it arrives packaged, like a gift), and relish the time I spend with it on my couch.

Fodder for later.

Keep Your Creativity Flowing

Do you suffer from creative boredom? Do I? Well, sometimes. Are ideas slow to come to you? The can be to me, at times.

Well I found a resource full of ideas at the designer mag, How Magazine's web site. It's chock full of creativity exercises... Creative exercises are not only for artists, but they're just good for the soul--any soul--in my opinion. If you are a CEO or an accountant, or the coach of a hockey team, you also need to "think outside the box" at times, here's your chance to re-engage in the "ideas world". Now go to it, and save the world from drudgery!