Archives for category: design

… just doesn’t have quite the same ring as “shake it like a Polaroid picture,” does it?

Polaroid — whose name is indelibly linked with instant photographs — has left the film business. In addition to foiling the clever word-play of that Outkast single, this move has disappointed scores of enthusiasts nationwide. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia, but there’s something about the tactile, analogue feel of Polaroid snapshots. These photos, with their iconic built-in frame, were instantly recognizable, and evoke something you just can’t get from a 2.5 inch LCD screen.

This past week, we had begun to despair after searching Targets throughout America’s finest city to no avail in hopes of replacing our long-gone Polaroid camera. However, we managed to grab one of the last two cameras remaining at a local Walmart. The test photos we snapped of our daughter have that lovely old school feel they’re supposed to have.

While there are plenty of tutorials on how to make a Polaroid-type shot using Photoshop, it will never be quite the same as the real thing.

I’m heading out on a weekend retreat with our youth group. Please pray for me.

Here’s a little design I worked up for our retreat:

wr08-web-slide.jpg

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If I’m not back by Sunday evening, please send a team into the woods looking for me.

Registration for SDAALC 2008 is now up and running at sdaalc.org!

If you’re in the San Diego area, it will be well worth it to join us on the weekend of April 4th-5th. Thanks to the generous support of L2 Foundation and local churches, registration is extremely affordable.

I’ll be giving a seminar on Asian Americans and Postmodern Culture. I will be focusing on the unique intersection between postmodern culture and Asian American identity (so, Derrida and Foucault fans/foes please go easy on the philosophizing!). Hoping for an engaging and productive conversation…

sdaalc-card.jpgTo the left, you can find the postcard I designed to help advertise SDAALC (I tried linking a hi-res version, but it didn’t seem to work). All of the proceeds from the conference will go toward Love146, a group “working toward the abolition of child sex trafficking and exploitation through prevention and aftercare.”

sdaalc-header-small.jpg

The next couple of months look like they’re shaping up to be a great time for Asian American ministry gatherings here in Southern California. There’s the AALC gathering up in Los Angeles right after Easter and the San Diego Asian American Leadership Conference coming up in April. My wife and I have enjoyed being on the planning team for SDAALC.

I have been doing some design work for SDAALC, trying to pull together all of the visual elements in a cohesive, compelling manner — including the website header above. The website is temporary, but includes most of the important information (date, location, speakers, etc.). Next up is putting together a brochure that we can begin passing around to churches, fellowships and individuals who are interested. Hopefully, the brochures will be ready to go within the next couple of weeks.

At the end of this month, my wife and I will be attending the National Pastors Convention here in SD. I’m looking forward to hearing from NT Wright, John Ortberg, Phyllis Tickle and Scot McKnight, among many other wonderful speakers. An added bonus: DJ Chuang will be in town for part of NPC, so I’m looking forward to hanging out with him again (we got to hang out a bit this weekend while DJ was in SD).

v-day.jpgNothing says, “Hey, you’re pretty cool and I would totally have given you this friendship card even if it were not basically mandated to give one to everyone in the class” like this Optimus Prime Valentine’s Day message that my daughter gave out to her preschool classmates today (among other assorted, totally non-sequitur Transformers messages):

Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, Valentine.

I suppose if you’re going to look for every possible (or impossible) marketing hook, tie-in or promotion, then you might as well really go for it. Maybe I can turn this into an Easter outreach postcard for our church :)