Hey folks! It’s that time of year when bills are coming due, and I want to keep sending these competitions, news, and interviews on to you. I figured it out - if every one of you purchased a book at Amazon this next week we all would be in great shape. But, for this to work, you have to click on the link in this post or on the book at right. You don’t have to order that book, just use it to get to Amazon, order something for yourself, and we’re done.

Enjoy this week’s interview with my old friend Bradley Schenck this weekend and I’ll see you on Monday. I’m going to put poor Fred to bed - he had WAY too much turkey yesterday.

Bradley W. Schenck, also known as BWS, is a name that may seem unfamiliar to you, but as soon as you witness his artwork and computer game designs through his original Webomator site, you might immediately recognize the style if not the face behind the work. Bradley has worked as a writer, a draftsman, and a sign painter before he entered the gaming industry as an artist, a designer, and as an art director. His styles range from dark Celtic to mystical to futuristic realism – and he renders his work with a professional grace and slickness that seems to transcend all those times and places.

These days, Brad hides out in the Midwest, where he’s working on a dream that’s “bigger than the Atlantic Ocean”…. Read the rest of this entry »

American Photo was chosen as Photography Magazine of the Year on 31 October this year by the Lucie Awards, the world’s most prestigious awards honoring the greatest achievements in photography. This magazine profiles the personalities behind the lens and their contributions to art, history, fashion, journalism, and advertising. American Photo often features reviews of exhibitions and books, readers’ photos and requests and picture portfolios and stories on working professionals. You’ll also get an eyefull on digital photography.

GRAVITY FREE is a unique multidisciplinary design conference… a one-of-a-kind showcase for the world’s most exciting rule changers — the designers and innovators who are redefining the categories in which they work. Their motto: Come Curious. Leave Inspired.

The GRAVITY FREE: 2007 theme will be “The Geography of Curiosity.” The speakers will explore a provocative and far-ranging landscape of essential questions confronting the design world. GRAVITY FREE: 2007 will bring together 300 curious designers from around the world with more than 50 speakers, world-class designers, design thinkers, iconoclasts and visionaries to discuss these (and other) questions. Each speaker will share his/her passion for a specific question, which will be illuminated by the projects and ideas which the questions produce. GRAVITY FREE: 2007 is, as always, a broad mix of architects, product designers, urban planners, molecular gastronomists, innovation strategists, experience designers, screen writers, graphic designers, authors, aeronautical designers, scientists, automotive designers, iconoclasts, retail designers, and visionaries.

You can’t miss this one. Visit the site to discover more information, sign up for the newsletter, and to register. GRAVITY FREE: 2007 will be held 14-16 May 2007 at the Chicago W Hotel City Center. Beautiful place, great time of year!

Create a winning snowboard design and win a full pass to Web Directions North, in Vancouver, Canada, 6-10 February 2007. Web Directions North features top-notch speakers including Dave Shea, Doug Bowman, Veerle Pieters, Andy Clarke, Cameron Moll, Kelly Goto, Jeremy Keith, Dan Cederholm, Derek Featherstone, John Allsopp, and many more. To make the gathering even cooler, the conference is followed by two days of optional skiing & snowboarding, with speakers and fellow conference goers, at the world-class mountains of Whistler-Blackcomb, home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Not much of a skiier/snowboarder? Whistler-Blackcomb features plenty for beginners, too.

In the grand tradition of pro snowboarders and classic boardsmiths like Burton, Lib Tech, and Sims, Digital Web Magazine invites you to put your design skills into the most radical snowboard ever. Make it geeky, make it awesome, make it classic—whatever you want, it’s your design. Visit the site to read the details and to download templates for the board. Better hurry - deadline is 4 December 2006.

I don’t know what my deal with fashion is lately - probably because I haven’t been out much. But this boot caught my eye, and not just because it’s getting chill outside. Other than the fact that the boot is a damn good-looking design, what else would entice you to purchase them? Price? Well, the pair costs $404, which might be a bit pricey to some, but perfectly logical to others.

The real deal behind these boots from Terra Plana is their materials and construction. On this particular boot, the upper is folded over the mid sole and then stitched through. The boot, therefore, has a smarter look than the stitch down method and an extra layer of stitch through the folded upper for strength. The leather in these boots is vegetable tanned, a natural alternative to chrome tanning. The leather is prepared by using vegetable extracts that create beautiful rich colors. Finally, where possible, Terra Plana tries to source materials local to the factories where these boots are produced, thus minimizing on transportation. And you should see the list of materials they use to create their shoe and boot designs… Read the rest of this entry »

Shahneshin Foundation announced that Emel Ardaman, Zeynep Aygen, Rami Bishara, Pallop Henpreserttae, Emran Hossain, Kitchai Jitkhajornwanich, Anton Legoo, Boris Ljubicic, A. Can Metin, Jacob Peel, Alaina Prokopchuk, Andrea Wilkinson, and Shannon Zandy, have been selected from a highly-regarded worldwide practices and institutions in the Shrinkage Worldwide Awards 2006 to design a multi-purpose poster capable of delivering the shrinkage nature. Read the rest of this entry »

I ran across this offer at A&E (Arts & Entertainment) and I wanted to pass it on to you…you have until 27 November 2007 to get the entire first season (eight episodes) of INKED, the saga of the Hart and Huntington Tattoo Company for only $13.97US. You know the nice thing about DVD’s don’t you? That’s right…you get a lot of extra glitz with the glamour on this one, including cast biographies, scene selections, interactive menus and shop talk. Just click on the Inked logo shown here to snag this deal.

In January of each year, the Horizon Interactive Awards receives hundreds of entries from all over the world. A panel of industry professionals, from diverse multi-media, graphic design and marketing backgrounds, review the entries to determine the work that is to be recognized. Entries are given either a Gold, Silver, Bronze, and in some cases honorable mention award distinctions. All Gold winners are eligible for the Best of Category and Best of Show award (the Horizon Interactive Awards highest honor).

The Horizon Interactive Awards is a prestigious international competition recognizing outstanding achievement among interactive media producers. The awards showcase the best web site design, cd-roms, dvds, video, kiosks, video games and other interactive media. New Categories this year: Blog, Government, Video - Documentary, Video Menu Design/Graphics, Video - Short Film, Video-Training. Deadline is 31 January 2007. See site for more details, past winners, and entry form.

Entries are now being invited for the 2006/7 Commonwealth Photographic Awards organized by the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU). The overall theme for the Awards this year is ‘Achievement’. This is an open competition for all Commonwealth residents. The photographs will be judged on the interpretation of the theme as well as technical quality.

The Awards offer a view of how people in the Commonwealth, with its mixture of races, creeds, cultures and ways of life, see themselves and others. In addition, there are two new categories: Read the rest of this entry »