The great 8by8 magazine looks at Nick Barnes' notes for his football match commentary. Sweet.![]()
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Nick Barnes' Football Notebook
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The User Is My Mom
"You should design with your mother in mind. If she can't understand your site, others will struggle as well. Your mom loves you too much to give you honest feedback. My mom thinks you're probably a lovely person, but may not like your work. She'll try to use your website and tell you how she really feels."![]()
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Broken Gold
"The Rockefellers, the Mellons, the Hiltons, all the great family fortunes started out with con men. Nobody makes real scratch out of nothing without bending a few rules." We Buy Broken Gold, by Clancy Martin.![]()
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Drunk Shopping
How does it work? "You text 'heyyyyyy' to 551-333-7865. Then at 2am on Saturday night (Sunday morning), we text you something great to buy drunk."![]()
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Reviewed: New Name, Logo, and Identity for VBMS by Studio Dumbar
You're in Deep Sea Now
Established in 2007 as a subsidiary of VolkerWessels, a major European construction-services business, and originally named VSMC (Visser & Smit Marine Contracting), VBMS (VolkerWessels Boskalis Marine Solutions) specializes in subsea power cable installation for offshore grids, onshore and in shallow and deep water. The name change was was the result of Boskalis, a company that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure, becoming 50% owner with VolkerWessels. The new identity has been designed by Rotterdam-based Studio Dumbar.
We worked with the client to create a new name that reflects the evolution of their company. VBMS (VolkerWessels Boskalis Marine Solutions) retains some of the company's hard-earned equity while stepping away from its heritage and into the future. The wordmark is clear, solid and contemporary, with its distinctive 'M' dipping beneath the baseline to suggest grid-to-grid connectivity.
Studio Dumbar project page
Logo detail. The previous logo was fine, focusing on the alternative energy source angle by showing an abstraction of a wind mill/turbine but the typography was as bland as it gets and the lock-up was unexpected, in the wrong way. The new logo is a custom wordmark with a subsea-level-dipping "M" that commands all the attention. Although the quoted text plays up the concept of connectivity (which the logo does convey) it also communicates going under the surface and not taking any shortcuts to do so with the long, winding slant downwards. Visually, it's disconcerting at first, but it makes a for a great and strong wordmark. I especially like how the "V" and the "M" are constructed from the same angles. Perhaps unintended, the wordmark looks like the side view of a ship with the "V" serving as the prow.
We explored this theme further, creating a series of slogans to convey the new brand proposition and support the VBMS strap-line, We Connect. Supported by a strong, sophisticated colour palette of black and silver (supported by brighter accent colours) and an improved approach to photography, the identity has been applied to everything from print and digital, to uniforms and vessels.
Studio Dumbar project page
Brand messaging. 
Stationery. 
Identity guidelines document. 
Office sign. 
Shipping container. 
Uniform. 
Drinking cups. In application, the identity couldn't be any simpler. Laid on a limited palette of grays, the logo is used large and with enough confidence to sink a battleship. No fuss, no decorations, just type and a perfect layout balance in every instance. A particular detail I enjoyed was on the guideline document where the elongated "M" wraps around the spine of the cover, creating a striking diagonal when viewed on a shelf. Overall, a memorable and adventurous corporate wordmark that isn't shy about being authoritative.
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Noted: New Logo for Gregory Mountain Products
She'll Be Coming Diagonally ’Round the Mountain
(Est. 1977) Gregory Mountain Products specializes in the research, design and build of adventure backpacks. Bonus trivia fact: Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (turned movie in Reese Witherspoon's Wild), wore a Gregory backpack during her trek.
Design by: N/A
Opinion/Notes: The old logo… wow. Where does one even find a font like that? I'll give them credit for trying to abstract a mountain with a scribble but it looks too stiff and more like a raccoon's signature. The new logo is a major improvement in every regard. The icon is a sharp (literally and metaphorically) depiction of a mountain that fits so much better a twenty-first-century product and the clean lines of the backpacks. The wordmark has a simple geometric construction that looks great small and large. What I like most is the attention to detail — even if it's not the best logo ever — where the cut angle of the top of the "G" and the left arm of the "Y" are on the same diagonal as the start and end of the mountain.
Related Links: Gregory news page
Select Quote: Expressed with a single, unbroken line to mirror the clean design of every Gregory product, the logo demonstrates that Gregory is constantly evolving and looking forward while never losing sight of its original mission.
Logo detail. 
Sample product. ↧
Auroras and Star Trails Over Iceland
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Essential Pieces of Mountain Gear
"The first time you drop the notebook in the creek, you'll know you made the right choice." The 8 Essential Pieces of Mountain Gear You Need This Summer includes our Field Notes Expedition Edition. Thanks for that.![]()
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Linked: Nike's GIG gig
Link
Through a public records request to look into Nike's redesign of University of Tennessee's athletics identity — specifically its decision to kill the "Lady Vols" nickname — Deadspin received a PDF of Nike's Graphic Identity Group capabilities brochure that outlines how they work with universities. The full document can be found here and a breakdown of some of the more interesting parts at the link.
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Wacky Packages
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XTC w Dave
XTC performs "King For A Day" on Late Night with David Letterman, June 30, 1989. Fab.![]()
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7 Online Business Ideas You Can Start and Run from Home
This article has been contributed by Ravinder.
One of the best ways to start your own business these days is to do it online. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars and sleepless nights to setup an online business. It can be up and running sooner than you think and for a fraction of a cost!
Starting a business is easy, running it is the hard part especially in the online space, where the competition is huge. You need to drive customers to your site and engage them in a manner to ensure they keep coming back. You can use some of these online business ideas to get your foot inside the proverbial internet marketing door.
Consultant Services for Social Media
While big businesses have the money to hire top notch social marketing consultants, the small ones have a budget and have to do this all by themselves. These business owners are already doing so much on their own that a little outside help that is reasonably priced will be welcomed. You can act as their consultant and give them the business tactics to connect with their target audience. As they gain success, so will you!
Ben Matthews is a great example who used his exceptional marketing skills to offer his service as a consultant to companies looking for social media engagement for their brands.
Affiliate Marketing
If you write a lot of customer reviews like on Amazon then you don’t have to do it for free anymore. There are still a lot of people who go by what the previous customers have to say about the product and the companies don’t mind paying for a little word of mouth advertising. You can start your own personal website and once it gains sizeable amount of followers you can easily start affiliate marketing to make money. All you need to do is sell products of other companies from your website and you will be paid commission for every sale that you make.
Yaro Starak is one such story who used the power of affiliate marketing to generate millions of dollars and do1ing so at convenient hours!
Seller of Handmade Crafts
The most famous platform like Etsy and Artfire allow the artisans to sell their products online by using this popular platform. The setup cost is very low hence anyone can be part of it. If you have good products then you would be able to turn orders around quickly and the profits will soon start flowing in.
Camille Storch, one of the famous sellers on Etsy who uses this platform to showcase her art and also make sizeable income on the side.
Development of Apps
Believe it or not, there are many people who have made themselves small fortunes by building apps. Mobile applications are at an all time high and people are willing to pay top dollar if the app is useful to them. If you have an app idea then start with a simple Google keyword search. The results will give you an idea about the competition so that you can build your app around the things that your competition does not offer. This is a great way to get something new into the market and make sure that it works.
Dong Nguyen, creator of Flappy Bird is a great example of making innovative apps for the mobile phone users. He has not only enjoyed great riches with his popular game but also made enough to last him well!
eBook Writer
If you enjoy writing, you can become an eBook writer and self-publish your book online. All you need is the right network and marketing tools and you can publish books on any subject you choose.
Lise Cartwright who makes over a $1000 each month from writing ebooks provide some valuable advice to budding ebook writers and how they can also be in the league!
Become a freelancer
There are many companies these days that are looking for ad-hoc arrangements to fill the skill gaps in their organization. This is especially true for people with web based skills such as web designing, graphic designing, content writing etc. You can start all of these businesses from home and with virtually no setup cost. If you are good at what you do, finding work will not be that difficult!
Carol Tice used her penchant for writing and became one of the top 10 blogs for writers. She enjoys great recognition for her contributions to the writer’s community online. More than 12000 subscribers strong, this award winning freelancer makes enough to sustain her hobby and her lifestyle.
Web Designer
Many companies need attractive and functional websites these days. If you are good at HTML and also have a creative side then this can be a good business for you, though it does require more upfront skills. Start with small freelance jobs and scale it up as you gain steady business.
Chris Howard has been using his technical expertise in web designing to create new and interesting websites for many of his clients. He has been in this for over a decade and has good number of clients to give him continued business.
Have any further online business ideas that have worked for you?
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Respectable Street
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Generals and Majors
…and lip-syncing "Generals And Majors" in 1980…![]()
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Mayor of Simpleton
…and their terrible Avengers parody which doesn't hold a candle to the Pretenders' amazing Avengers parody.![]()
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XTC-Live-Paris-1979
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The International Flag of Planet Earth
The international flag of planet Earth, a proposal by Oskar Pernefeldt.![]()
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Chalkhills
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Japanese Donut Museum
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ILM
Great read, full of surprises. Wired's feature on The Untold Story of Industrial Light & Magic, by Alex French and Howie Khan.![]()
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