MVP (Most Viewed Post) For 2010

This blog has been an experiment.

Before setting it up in October '09, I decided not to be just another wacko dude posting items talking about favorite bands, cookie recipes, movie star gossip, fun fashion tips or quirky things to do with everyday household items. Instead, I decided to be just another wacko dude posting some work and thoughts.

Back in August the "Figurative Backbone" concept was posted and since then it has been viewed more than any other post here at Rand's Place in 2010.

I don't have a lot of ego in the site's popularity (the total all-time pageviews here probably equals what some other sites get in, oh, six-and-a-half minutes) but I must admit that having views from 76 different countries (places like India, Brazil, Japan and Russia) is quite astonishing. I am thankful for comments I've received here and elsewhere and for those brave souls who chose to become followers. The fact that there are enough pageviews to select a MVP is, in itself, quite remarkable.

Thanks to all who have tuned in. Have a happy and prosperous New Year.

The Cow of Turin

Isn't it great that we give ourselves the gift of faith in so many miraculous ways? Some miracles come dressed in religious garb, some in everyday clothes and others to suit purely private tastes.

The Shroud of Turin and the debate surrounding its authenticity notwithstanding (no disrespect intended in the visual above), religious images have been reported in varied media as cloud photos, Marmite, chapatis, shadows, Cheetos, tortillas, trees, dental x-rays, cooking utensils, windows, rocks and stone, painted and plastered walls, pancakes, tree bark, and toast.

Images have been recorded in the glass façade of a finance building in Clearwater, Florida, a fence in Coogee, Australia, a hospital in Milton, Massachusetts, and a felled tree in Passaic, New Jersey.

Images of the Virgin have also been reported on a rock in Ghana, an underpass in Chicago, a lump of firewood in Janesville, Wisconsin; a chocolate factory in Fountain Valley, California; and a pizza pan in Houston, Texas. A grilled cheese sandwich, a pretzel and a pebble said to resemble images of the Virgin Mary have been offered for sale on internet auction sites.

All this may appear silly to some but it seems to me, that whatever one's beliefs, wherever or whenever our imaginings lead us to solace, it is a wonderful place to be.

Happy times to all for the New Year. Peace. Rand

Illustration for Invite

Caption on the inside: "What happens at the Christmas Party stays at the Christmas Party."

I'm not quite sure if it totally worked but I heard no slanderous gossip, and there was nothing about any sudden divorces. Darn...

What? You expect pearls of wisdom with every post? LOL!

In Defense of The Humble Bubble

Lately, it's been quite trendy to see the bubble as a passing entity not worthy of consideration. After all, its only function is to ultimately burst.

The world of commerce and politics has relegated the simple bubble to a status of pure evil: the antithesis to what experts would like to sell us as "long term solutions". Media reports of real estate bubbles, the .com bubble, and sad souls living life in a bubble all seemingly support the modern redefinition of the term "bubble" as an entity not worthy of consideration and something to be readily shunned. Bubbles are transitory, not permanent and therefore untrustworthy and fleeting. Bubbles are bad. Bad, bad, bad.

In defense of the humble bubble, I offer this: Since childhood we've blown bubbles, made bubbles, watched bubbles rise and witnessed them pop. We've taken glee in bubble baths, taken comfort with a refreshing carbonated beverage on a hot day, soothed ourselves by the side of a bubbling brook, and even bubbled over ourselves at times.

Truth is, life is an effervescence with a limitless supply of bubbles. And the act of a bubble bursting is a quite wonderful passing of energy from one sphere of existence to another... and that when one pops it makes room for others to follow. May you have a never-ending supply of thoughts bubbling to the surface... Cheers, Rand

Wish!

Can wishes come true? An age-old question.

Making a wish on a wishbone is a tradition here in North America from my childhood. For those reading this post from other cultures, the wishbone is the "furcula" ("little fork" in Latin); a forked bone found in the breast of the holiday turkey and dried to become brittle. The practice holds that when two people hold the two sides of the wishbone in their little fingers and pull it apart, the one who gets the larger part will have their wish granted. Note: it doesn't work when one person holds both sides of the wishbone in opposite hands and pulls, as the two sides cancel each other out.

In folklore, opportunities for making a wish are many: throwing a coin into a wishing well, blowing the candles out from a birthday cake, or seeing a shooting star in the sky are a few. (Feel free to share your own wish opportunities here – but not your wishes as generally you have to keep wishes secret in order for them to come true.)

These days it seems there are so many good things to wish for. It's difficult to make a decision about what's most important. But I'm here to let you in on a little secret – there are no limits to wish-making.

Go ahead. Wish away... It can't hurt.

And may your wishes come true. :o)

Happy holidays. Rand

Empirical Evidence of the Passage of Time

I've been somewhat worried about the passage of time lately. I've honestly thought at times that it just isn't happening.

Why? Progress on issues (many of them of global import) seemed to be at a standstill. If you close your eyes you can almost hear the crickets chirping, even in December.

So I set out to do a simple experiment over the last month to give myself (and you folks) some assurance that time is indeed passing. But I didn't want to do it haphazardly. I wanted to be able to validate...

In scientific terms, "empirical" refers to the gathering of data using only evidence that is observable by the senses or in some cases using calibrated scientific instruments. I took this approach because if I were to just tell you about my experience, it would then become anecdotal evidence (not good). So I set up the camera to record my observations.

So, here is my report (above). And I'm pleased to announce that the passage of time is still happening, although sometimes we have to look in strange places to see it happening.

It gives me some hope...

Turning On To Turning Off

Rough icon and theme line for a new initiative. The tricky part here was to attempt a fresh perspective on a often over-saturated conservation/energy reduction theme. No leaves here. No recycling symbols and no tired stereotypical imagery...

The "power button" is an easily recognizable symbol, especially to a young and tech-savvy target audience. The addition of a downwards arrowhead customizes the symbol and allows it speak to the meaning behind the icon.

Including a "call to action" (at the bottom) means the members of this project initiative can use this as a signature on emails, a visual for posters, web site and reports, and other communications collateral.

Sunday iPhone Playtime

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A cold, bright, sunny day brings an incredible light to the table.

Question

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On the Explosion of Well-Meaning Advice

I'm normally a happy guy. I love people. I laugh a lot. 

Perhaps it's my advancing decrepitude that prevails when it comes to explaining my grumpiness about certain things in life. Maybe I'm just getting happy about bitching. But truth is I am becoming increasingly, effervescently, joyously pissed about stuff. 

Top of my list has always included the tongue-wagging, well-meaning comments that begin with the words "you should" or "try to"...

Well-meaning advice has always been all around us in form of friends and relatives ("Dear Abby" always seemed to be very sufficient when things needed to be aired out of the community) and up to now we've learned to deal with this type of information with kindness and politeness (if not the occasional gnashing of teeth).

But now the web is rampant with advice. Oh joy. We now have self-professed life coaches, business consultants, health experts, attitude adjustment therapists, coach coaches and gurus galore.

Thanks to the internet, we don't have to depend on mere family, community friends and wide variety of news services for well-meaning personal advice. We now have access to a myriad of so-called 'experts' on various topics including: parenting, divorcing, business dealings, web SEO, web site optimization, sexual competency, social media, what to eat, what not to eat, what causes cancer, what didn't cause cancer in the past but now does, how to slim down, how to bulk up, how to reduce debt, handle debt, get out of debt, build a nest egg, how to Feng Shui your home, what facets to buy for your bathroom, how to interview someone, how to prepare for an interview, how to prepare a résumé to get an interview. We know, through these learned sites and blogs: what exercises to do, what exercises not to do, how to act, how not to act, what wine to drink with whatever you're eating, what movies you should watch, what people to watch, what food to eat, what food to watch, how to 'properly' handle bereavement, how to deal with homesickness or possible alcohol, psoriasis, relationship, insomnia, anger, or procrastination problems... I'm just touching the tip of the iceberg here.

I could go on.

But then I'd be giving advice.

Rant over...

Through The Observing Glass

"When you read Alice in Wonderland, you will find yourself trying to make sense of an illogical story. Alice, the key character, also experiences similar frustrations. But in the end, she emerges wiser with the learning involved in each situation. Everyone faces absurd choices in life. If you shrug off these choices as anomalies to your perfect life, you gain nothing. But if you try to learn from these absurdities, you will gain a lot of wisdom." Simran Khurana

Been doing a lot of thinking, researching and back-and-forth chit-chat recently about the effectiveness of stories: the age old method of learning, predating even Aristotle's discovery of logic. Wisdom, legend and truths mired in fables have been passed down from generation to generation even before the written word.

Today, modern cognitive scientists and behaviorists are finding a new effectiveness in a very old communication technique.

Neuroscience has concluded that the human mind works much, much better when a subject is broached through a story. They are apt to identify with the main character, get wrapped up in the overall subject matter and ultimately come to their own conclusions.

As cognitive scientist Mark Turner puts it, "Story is a basic principle of mind. Most of our experience, our knowledge and our thinking is organized as stories."

Minimizing inhibitions to communication. An age old issue. Whether it be in a formal presentation, writing an ad or a casual conversation, we all might take a clue to this age-old technique of erasing the confrontational nature of discussion by simply engaging our recipient, telling a story and giving our correspondents the ability to come to their own conclusions.

The Duchess: You're thinking about something, my dear, and that makes you forget to talk. I can't tell you just now what the moral of that is, but I shall remember it in a bit.
Alice: Perhaps it hasn't one.
The Duchess: Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.

The Weekend Mystery of the Missing Socks

The age old phenomena. Missing socks syndrome. We search laundry baskets, closets, around the washer and dryer, in the fridge, under the dog's bed... Many have tried to solve or explain the quandary. No one seems to have the definitive answer but some have some views.

Survivalists contend that socks are the 84th thing to go missing after the world as we know it ends (1st are generators). Interesting certainly, but I think that's a topic for a whole new post.

Missing "single" socks. Gone after an innocent exercise in washing. There are those who claim that the dryer is a harvester of alien intelligence, that aliens are amongst us and are curious as to the use of such objects and take samples in order to study them. Being superior beings (without sock knowledge) they are selective in their sampling and that would explain why the remaining sock is always the left one.

Moralists would explain that socks become dirty over time and because they are trapped in a life of sin and depravity, devoid of morals, they deserve to 'disappear'.

And, my favourite, that there is a Sock Ring, a criminal entity who captivate wayward socks for nefarious purposes. Perhaps to make them do their evil deeds.

Finally, we have those who propose that there is a quantum mechanics reason behind it all:

"The first modern attempt to explain the fundamental questions of laundry involved the decay theory. The decay theory states that the quantity of socks in a load can be expressed as a decreasing exponential function of time which is analogous to radioactive decay (see equation 1).

N_t =N₀*exp(-pt) ⁽¹⁾"

I don't get that one but maybe you will. If so please explain to me. You have my email...

A Rebranding Process... Back To Business

My life for the past while has largely been taken up in this rebranding project. What an adventure! The above is where the client started off (their old identity) and below is where things are heading...

A ton of research and many details have led to where we're at now. Let me give you an overview of the story.

The challenge is to position this community credit union in the marketplace as a state-of-the-art alternative, supporting it's traditional client base while positioning itself for new business. In examining alternative banking experiences, the major differentiation was clear that this client is a local entity, centered on the community and, as a credit union is a caring banking experience where the members are the owners. In short, this is a beneficial banking experience (without a head office in a distant city) where people know you by name and not just as an account number: with competitive rates and superior customer service.


Above are preliminary layouts for a full page ad, web home page and web banner. These are used to demonstrate how the new identity can be portrayed in concept layouts and how the benefits can be incorporated into a call to action.

Additional collateral for the presentation include stationery, signage and billboard/bus shelter advertising. But this will give you an idea as to direction.

Corporate rebranding is a long, involved process that takes into account not only a logo and tag line but a look at how the total communications package strategically focuses on benefits - consistently across all media over the long term... and it takes months if not years to fully integrate itself into the public consciousness. This is just a start.

Would love to hear your feedback on the approach!

The Pie Story

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I'm Sorry, What Was The Question?

Questions enable us to make changes in life, to devise new and better answers. They carve into what has been conventional wisdom in order to come up with answers that allow us to move ahead with greater wisdom and fewer problems. 

But have you ever gotten yourself into a quandary regarding an issue and found yourself mired in indecision? Yeah, me too.

Perhaps looking at the original question, redefining it and framing the query with a fresh perspective might lend to an easier answer...

"The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions."

(Claude Lévi-Strauss)

The exercise of design and communication is a lesson in problem solving. Simplifying, redefining and giving the original problem can often lead to easier, clearer and more understandable solutions... any intelligent person who gives themselves permission to do so, can. 

We're not often told that, are we?

Have you the determination, courage and ability to change the question?

Scary Thought 2

Happy Halloween everyone, with my yearly celebration of how even Mr. Potato Head can turn evil...

Mixed media on canvas, 24" X 24"

Leadership Group Graphic

A project group identifier for a leadership course I'm taking...

I can't remember the exact rationale behind the name, but I believe it to be derived from an exercise that involved an item about shoe size.

Nevermind... the important thing is that the group is comprised of six women (all vastly more intelligent than I) and myself... (I'm the fella)!

Sunday Dance

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"Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?"  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

One reason I don't own a cat....

Thanksgiving Playtime

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I feel I've been using up too many of my own words lately. So I decided this post should use the words of someone else so I don't run out.

Freeing Restraints

Recently, a well-respected online friend came "out of the closet" (so to speak) to disclose what he termed to be a "disability".

A group of us have been corresponding with this chap (I'll call him Jeff because that's his name) in discussion threads for going on years and have delighted in his wisdom, wit and intelligence. No one knew Jeff had suffered any type of extraordinary hardship. Far from it.

His comments came out in response to a word someone used off-handedly – in conversation – innocently. Others took exception to the word. Then Jeff posted. His comment was based on the hurt that words command. He was gracious enough to explain that it's not the word that offends, but the intent of those who utter it.

He taught me a lesson today. Thanks Jeff.

Who amongst us cannot claim some personal deficiency? Who are not sensitive to those deficiencies being used for others to feel superior?

The bigger question, I suppose, might be: what would happen to this world if we were to concentrate on what works as opposed to what doesn't?

The handcuffs that society places on all us imperfect people might come off...

Hello Again Yellow...

I've been wondering  why I've been lately attracted to this particular color.

So, being the curious person I am: I investigated.

What's with this color?

Gut reactions in North America may automatically associate the color yellow referring to "yellow-bellied" and "caution" but there appears to be much more to the color than just that.

We all know the famous yellow taxi: this practice began in Chicago, where taxi entrepreneur John D. Hertz painted his taxis yellow based on a University of Chicago study alleging that yellow is the color most easily seen at a distance. In 1960, New York City ordered that all the city's taxis be painted yellow.

Scientifically, light with a wavelength of 570–580 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green. (Yellow's traditional complementary color is purple, violet or indigo, while its colorimetrically defined complementary color in both RGB and CMYK color spaces is simply blue.)

Around the world, yellow ("giallo") in Italy, refers to crime stories, both fictional and real. This association began in about 1930, when the first series of crime novels published in Italy had yellow covers. The term "yellow movie" (黃色電影) can refer to films of pornographic nature in Chinese culture (analogous to the English "blue movie"). It is also associated with sensational journalistic practices, called "yellow journalism" and resistance to militant trade unions.

Historically, clothing in yellow in the past has long been relegated to royalty. The colors of Elizabethan clothes, including the color yellow, provided information about the status of the man or woman wearing them. Only royalty were allowed to wear this color... In heraldry, yellow has always, or most always, indicated honor and loyalty.

In the metaphysics of the New Age, Alice A. Bailey, in her system called the Seven Rays - which classifies humans into seven different metaphysical psychological types, the fourth ray of harmony through conflict is represented by the color yellow. People who have this metaphysical psychological type are said to be 'on the Yellow Ray'.

Artistically, the pigment "Indian yellow" is a transparent, fluorescent pigment used in oil paintings and watercolors. Originally magnesium euxanthate, it was claimed to have been produced from the urine of Indian cows fed only on mango leaves. And the well-known Cadmium Yellow has been used in artists paints since the mid-19th century. Because of its toxicity, it may nowadays be replaced by axo pigments. 

Emotionally, it is the color of sunshine. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Philosophically, yellow is warm, said to arouse cheerfulness,  and stimulates mental activity.

All this tends to lend to my interest and support my attraction to this vibrant color. Or maybe I've just forgotten what attracted it to me in the first place...

Yellow.

Neat.

The Freedom To Rant

A Chicken Joke That Would Amuse Even A Scottish Chicken?

A Scotsman and an Englishman lived next door to each other. The Scotsman owned a hen and each morning would look in his garden and pick up one of his hen's eggs for breakfast. One day he looked into his garden and saw that the hen had laid an egg in the Englishman's garden.

He was about to go next door when he saw the Englishman pick up the egg. The Scotsman ran up to the Englishman and told him that the egg belonged to him because he owned the hen. The Englishman disagreed because the egg was laid on his property.

They argued for a while until finally the Scotsman said, "In my family we normally solve disputes by the following actions: I kick you in the groin and time how long it takes you to get back up, then you kick me in the groin and time how long it takes for me to get up. Whoever gets up quicker wins the egg."

The Englishman agreed to this and so the Scotsman found his heaviest pair of boots and put them on, he took a few steps back, then ran toward the Englishman and kicked as hard as he could in the balls.

The Englishman fell to the floor clutching his testicles, howling in agony for 30 minutes. Eventually the Englishman stood up and said, "Now it's my turn to kick you." At, this, the Scotsman said, "Aye Lad, maybe you should just keep the wee egg."

The Carrot? The Stick?

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Poster heArt

Roughs from a series of posters for this year's United Way campus campaign. When printing digital, it costs no more to output a variety of images to reduce eye fatigue... Here, a concept poster with two additional images...

Directions For Gathering Support

A recent presentation posing three different directions for "look and feel" branding for a capital campaign for a local hospital, based on gathering funding for three areas: 1) a new mental health facility that will also focus on 'whole health', 2) new surgical facilities and 3) new directions in research. Each concept was presented with a sample rough application – in this case an ad – to show the campaign brand in combination with type and photos... if you're into reading the small type, it's all from the client brief and for position only.... your preferences and comments are welcome!

Evoking Thoughts Without Words...

"Sandpipers Migration, N.B."

Successful storytelling and the effective capture of moments is a lifelong quest; a talent honed over a lifetime and normally framed by the clever use of words. But, as every writer knows, the most difficult task is to tell a story and evoke a response without the use of any words at all... this is the world of the visual artist.

Noted photojournalist (and much loved brother) Rod MacIvor, celebrates both his retirement and his love of the visual arts with a show of his recent works entitled "Definitely Not Photo Journalism" opening September 12th at 2pm and continuing until October 10th, 2010. If you are in the area it's at Victorian Woolen Mill, Philip K. Wood Gallery, Almonte, Ontario. Feel free to drop in and see the show.

"Girl in Straw Hat, Florida"

Wednesday Playtime

The Figurative Backbone

The backbone is a wonderful thing. After all, most if not all of about 58,000 identified species of vertebrates physically have one.

But one species, humans, felt the need to add another deeper meaning to the word. Humans do that. It's one of the benefits of having language and boring others with seemingly intelligent perspectives (like this one).

For instance, we term women as the backbone of society, refer to soldiers as the backbone of independence, information architecture as the backbone of SEO and usability, a talented quarterback as the backbone of his team and, just recently, DNA as the possible backbone of next-generation logic chips. According to Carl Sagan, the Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari desert in Botswana call the Milky Way (which is directly overhead there) the "Backbone of Night", thinking it holds the sky up.

It is when we turn our attention to the personal application of the term that things get messy. Some would say not having a figurative backbone is a crime. Others are fine with the concept.

After all, it is easier to agree with others in order to get along. To play nicely with the other kids in the sandbox. To avoid confrontation because those awkward, messy, emotionally-filled disagreements. To appear mindless and inconsequential in order to avoid having to make tough decisions with possibly dire consequences. It just makes life simpler. And I won't judge others for being easy to get along with. They have their own reasons.

It is possible though that the concept of a figurative backbone allows one to calmly stand up for oneself. To speak out when an injustice is witnessed. To listen not only to what people are saying but how they're saying it. To reach out and help others, selflessly, without judgement.

Plus, adopting one is a great way of keeping one's head out of one's butt. That can't be an entirely bad thing...

Our New Website

Long in the works, this new service site for McMaster University features recent work and allows for many online functions. Clients can order custom stationery, book photography and videoconferencing services and submit queries for cost estimates.

As an example of variable data functionality: faculty and staff can now go to the business card page, pick an appropriate secondary logo (if required), fill in the fields of the online form, (see their information appear in the card to the right as they type), proof, approve, submit client information and place the order online. A confirmation email is sent to the client complete with job number and a print-ready PDF file is automatically sent to our print department. Done.

The site is meant to simplify processes via the use of variable data and database technology. Kudos to senior designer Simon Oakley who lived and breathed this project.

Floating Cow, With Dice

Long Weekend Meter...

Chocolate's Lion's Share

It's certainly no news to us that people crave chocolate more than any other food.

Chocolate, made from the seeds of the Theobrama cacao tree, was known to the ancient Greeks as 'food of the gods'. The Aztecs reserved its consumption for priests, warriors and nobility and a beverage made from the seeds, called chocolatl, was a sacred concoction that was associated with fertility and wisdom. It was also thought to have stimulating and restorative values...

First introduced to Europe in 1528, it was not until 1876 that milk, cocoa powder and cocoa butter were mixed together to form what we now know as chocolate.

But who owns the lion's share of cravings in the world today?

The latest research I've found shows that 16 of the top 20 consuming counties are European. Switzerland leads in chocolate consumption at more than 22 pounds per person each year, followed by Austria at 20 pounds and Ireland at 19.5 pounds. America is estimated at a measly 11.7 pounds per person. Still, in 2001 Americans consumed 3 billion pounds of chocolate, which totaled $13.1 Billion in sales. 66% of chocolate is consumed between meals and it's been voted North America's favorite flavor by 52% of adults surveyed.

Most researchers believe chocolate's sensory qualities, chemicals, cultural values, social values and hormonal influences all play a role in chocolate cravings. It is the complete chocolate bar that people crave. Not one single chemical or quality can be soley responsible for satisfying a chocolate craving.

Whatever the reason, we all know it's definitely not advisable to get too close to a person's chocolate stash...

Retiring But Leaving Behind...

A rough illustration for an email retirement celebration announcement. The lady in question is a global traveler who has adopted animals from all over the world, from elephants in Africa to pandas in China... to strays at home. So when she retires at the end of the month, she takes with her an entourage... and leaves behind a plethora of examples of how to put your money where your heart is...

Temptation...

(Cue evil laugh: Bwah-ha-ha).

Push or don't push?

Queen Playtime

One of the differences Canadians have with our southern neighbors is our attachment to the Monarchy.

Some would argue that the royal link is outdated, irrelevant and should be rewritten. Others would claim that tradition and history has it's own special value, if not allure.

But whatever our positions, there is no mistaking the regal beauty of our Queen.

Anyway, the Queen is on Canadian soil until sometime after the weekend. I cut the grass, just in case she decides to drop by...

Sunday Playtime II

z-z-z-z-z

Giving a Brand Life

Above, some recent rough "look and feel" directions for a newly revitalized department. Capturing the spirit and energy behind an initiative can often be achieved in a minimalistic way by using simple and dynamic imagery. Combined with a push to a web site or a call to find out more, the results can be more effective than a word-filled layout.

This department incorporates services to students orienting them to the university, helping them gain experience while they're here and aiding them to attain career goals when they graduate.

"Teasers", like these explorations, can arouse curiosity and interest, and can be added to for other applications across media.

Conference Announcement Video

Traditionally, right at the end of a conference, the torch is passed on. The new hosts stand to announce next year's location, introduce the theme and begin to build excitement.

(Background) CANHEIT – Canadian Higher Education Information Technology – is an association of college and university IT professionals. Next year's conference is in the city of Hamilton... at McMaster University.

Here, a quick three week scramble produced this video including new branding and an introduction to the venue. Hopefully, it will serve its purpose well!

Thanks to the McMaster Office of Public Relations for supplying the still shots, MJM productions for the audio voice over and Inspired One for film work and editing.

I tried putting the video on this post, but it was slow, pooped out and looked crappy. You can find the HD version here:
http://www.vimeo.com/12407306

Love to hear your thoughts...