SCION is a modern-thinking brand on the forefront of youth culture and innovation, known for engaging its consumers in an interactive quest for creative ideas. One of SCION’s trademarks is its support of organizations that also seek to connect with children and young adults in expressive, artistic ways.

In its mission to advocate community outreach and foster creativity in the younger generation, SCION now joins forces with Cut&Paste in the FRESHLY SQUEEZED WEB DESIGN CHALLENGE (”Contest”). The website design competition will benefit J.U.i.C.E., a non-profit weekly after-school program that allows the underprivileged youth of Los Angeles to express themselves artistically through dance, music, visual arts, and MC skills workshops.

As J.U.i.C.E. focuses its resources on programming and operations, they need your help: SCION’s new online competition, the FRESHLY SQUEEZED WEB DESIGN CHALLENGE summons all web designers, illustrators, graffiti connoisseurs, coding geniuses, hip-hop enthusiasts, and creatives all around to help J.U.i.C.E. refine their online presence with a brand new homepage design. Web designs submitted for the competition should embody J.U.i.C.E.’s urban aesthetic and youthful spirit, while adding to the site’s functionality as a user-friendly vehicle for communication.

So, help city kids, put $5K in your pocket, and get your work seen. Submit your designs for a new and improved Web site for J.U.i.C.E., a nonprofit hip-hop arts program for LA’s urban youth, and you’ll be entered to win five grand, courtesy of SCION. All entries must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on April 10, 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

I’ve enjoyed this summer with my 17-year-old daughter, as it may be the last full summer that I spend with her as a “dependentâ€? child. She’s about to embark on a new adventure in a special school for the arts. This school will mark her last two years in high school, and then she’s off to make her own mark on the world (she’s a much better artist than I was at her age…).

She’s the reason why I haven’t posted much other than design competitions to this site this summer. And, to milk the most out of this time with her, I’ll drive her down south to visit with relatives and then to school. So, for the next two months I’ll be on hiatus. When I return on the last weekend of the month, I’ll report the plans I have for this site.

Until then you might stay on top of some design news through the “News/Rhetoric” categories listed in the menu at right, below the flickr sitings…

Ciao!

Don’t miss your opportunity to enter the 15th Annual HOW International Design Awards. It could be your chance to gain international recognition, feel like a star and show off your hard work Winning entries appear in the April 2007 issue of HOW. Entry deadline is September 1, 2006. Rules and entry form available on the HOW site. Also get a glimpse at who and what won last year so that you can gauge your competition.

I’ve wracked my brain with ways to pay for this blog, and I’ve tried everything over the years. Amazon, Google Ads, etc., all bring bread and butter to the table (thanks to my readers who trust my choices). But, when I spend time writing reviews, opinions, and critiques, I want more than a copy of the book or a few pennies each day. While the books and pennies are greatly appreciated, I want someone to actually pay for my expertise (over twenty-five years in the visual arts business). One way to accomplish this feat is through http://www.payperpost.com, a company that pays bloggers to write about certain products.

If you focus on a given field, http://www.payperpost.com will give you fodder to express yourself and to earn money while you write. You’ll need to sign up first before you can access the fine print, but you can view the offerings before you commit. Plus, once you’ve committed you can refuse to use any of the products shown. Surely, however, you can find at least one product or service that might bring a few more bucks to pay that hosting bill! Good luck…

San Jose, Calif. - July 10, 2006 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the Adobe MAX 2006 Conference, to be held Oct. 23-26 in Las Vegas. MAX 2006 will give developers and designers a forum to network, share ideas, get hands-on technical training from certified experts, gain new skills and learn about new and emerging Adobe products and technologies. Adobe also announced the call for entries for the fourth annual Adobe MAX Awards, which recognize customer achievement in eight different categories.

With the conference theme of “Beyond Boundaries,” the event will feature keynotes by Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen, President and COO Shantanu Narayen and Chief Software Architect Kevin Lynch. The winners of the 2006 MAX Awards, to be announced at the conference, will honor the most effective and compelling customer work in eight categories: achievement (high return on investment); advertising and branding; industry innovator; interactive process management; media and entertainment; mobile and devices; rich Internet applications and Web development; and training and collaboration. Adobe will begin accepting submissions on July 17. All entries must be submitted online by September 1. Read the rest of this entry »

You can win a trip to Barcelona simply by creating a “skin” for the HP (Hewlett Packard) Designjet. To begin, download the template on the contest section, take a look at what others have done (the one shown is entitled, “Return of the Tiger,” by Linny Jories) and start designing. Deadline: 31 October. See site for details.