Design Rangers Camp Blog

Happy almost end of the week! I apologize for not getting to the round-up last week, the excuse is we have been busy! That’s good, right? But, unfortunately I wasn’t able to make time for the blog…

So, better late than never, here are the fun, cool, smart, great things we saw or did over the past 2 weeks:

1. We were honored and excited to be asked to design a bookmark for the “No Impact Man” book. Colin Beavan, the author, will hand out the book mark at his books signings. After we designed the bookmark they also asked us to create a on-line ad from the bookmark design – we were happy to do it. The book is quite amazing and the blog also has a lot of information.
2. After working with the “No Impact Man” we decided to follow him on Twitter. One of his recent tweets was regarding the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. As you know (or are just now learning we are big advocates of bikes, bike trails, and SAFE routes for kids to walk or ride their bike to school.) Remember when you were a kid – there was nothing better than the freedom you felt while riding your bike. Consider sending a letter to Congress asking for their support of the Safe Routes campaign.
3. Have you been to Mule Design’s Feed Store? If you love a good T-shirt there are plenty here!
4. We are recent members of the National Parks Conservation Association. Their mission is to protect and enhance America’s National Parks for present and future generations. We love our National Parks and wanted to be a part of assuring their future.
5. Finally, something to make you smile. What a great project!

Please check back for a blog dedicated to the No Impact Man and the work we did for him. We also have quite a few exciting projects in the final stages of completion. We are looking forward to posting them as soon as they are approved and ready for the public eye.

Happy Trails!

TGIF Readers and Happy 3-Day Weekend!

Here are a few things that caught our eye this week:

1. Yes, we are procrastinators… but at least we are self-aware. Check out The Now Habit, maybe we can overcome procrastination together. But, we’ll have to put it off until mid-October.
2. On the same note – we came across this site on a great blog we follow. Yes, life is busy and we are still learning to keep it under control. But it’s always nice to know you have lots of company.
3. Well, enough of that – let’s get to the fun stuff! We LOVE logos. We love to look at logos. We love to read about logos. We love to design logos. As designers we do lots of logo research, always wanting to be hip to the newest trends – good or bad. We learned a lot from logo trends of 2009. We are looking forward to 2010!
4. Design Rangers love boy scout merit badges. I wonder if you can just buy the entire set for like 50 bucks? They are all great, but I think this is my favorite!
5. You know that song you love – well, you know how you REALLY love minutes 1:38 – 1:52. These guys feel the same way! It’s about a 30 minute podcast – make sure you hear the first 6 1/2 minutes and the last 1 1/2 minutes (the remaining minutes in the middle are for more mature ears – parents out there with young ones, be warned). This is the spin off site from that podcast – songparts.biz where you can buy you favorite song parts – for cheap! Hear the song part before you buy it if you click on the gray “click to play” bar. Joni Mitchell spazzes out and fake laughs(?) at the end of “Big Yellow Taxi” $.04 - DEAL!
   
6. On a more serious note – our hearts go out to our friends in California. All the talk about the forest fires there reminds us of our good friend, Smokey Bear. What a great guy! (A blog devoted to Smoky and his 65 year campaign coming soon…) Remember, Only YOU can prevent forest fires.

Hope you have a great weekend and as always, Happy Trails!

Happy Friday Dearest Blog Readers,

We want to share with you some great sites/images/information/etc. that we came across this week…

1. Typedia (it’s like wikipedia for fonts) just launched their site. Here is a great blog post about the creation of their logo.
2. A few months ago we wrote a post about how/why to have fun with your brand. This week we found a great site that features some fun & creative business cards. If you ever need a crazy cool business card you know who to call… (shoot us an email if you don’t have a set of Design Ranger cards, we will send some your way!)
3. Our friend and copy writing partner, Tammy, came across this site and thought of us.  Yes, we love it! Also, on the same site a image for our coffee loving friends (you know who you are!).
4. Lastly, every now and then design*sponge will feature a post titled biz ladies. (The post may be called biz ladies but it is just as informative for biz men.) The article features an expert in the field that will offer advice on anything from writing a book to making a strategic business plan. One post we found very informative was advertising 101 for small business owners.
5. Bonus: once you view the biz ladies link you will know why we found this noteworthy.

Well, that wraps up the Ranger Round-up (say that 3 times fast!). Have a great weekend and of course, Happy Trails.