Blogs

In honour of Wordless Wednesday (one of those fun little blogosphere themes), today I bring you a series of illusion images. May they inspire you in your pursuit of great graphic design.

Does spelling still matter?

A teacher friend of mine told me about a new software program being used in the younger grades in her school. It's used to help with reading and writing, and provides a spell checker and word prediction. Instead of marvelling at this innovative technology, she actually lamented. She feared that instead of teaching the students to spell, it would just do the job for them. (And for those of us who have predictive text on our cell phones, we know this is a scary thing.) For years now, educators and their government counterparts have been promoting literacy with programs such as DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) and Family Literacy. But why learn how to spell when, truthfully, computers can do it for us, quicker and better?

I had an interesting experience related to my Facebook account last week, which I think might be worth sharing. Here's what happened:

A friend (that is, a real friend who is also a Facebook friend) told me that he wasn't able to see any of my updates on his mobile device/smart phone and that he'd been missing out on all my big annoucements. (I recently shared news of my engagement.)

I'm vigilant about keeping my Facebook settings up to date, so this problem surprised me. Had Facebook been making even MORE changes to its privacy policies? Had I missed something?

Even established newspapers can fall prey to the dreaded typo.

Last year, I came across a great post on getting more out of your marketing agency. This post came to me via the CMO newsletter. Written by Kent Lewis, a veteran agency expert who has worked at nine different creative organizations in his time, I've been meaning to share it with you ever since.

When deciding to work with any sort of representative agency, whether you're looking for advertising, design, communications materials or anything else, it's important to find a relationship that works for both parties. This is especially important for not-for-profit organizations that are often under-staffed and particularly budget conscious. With everything else you have to worry about, a good working relationship with your creative agency should be a given.

Well, it's January and we've got news:

the results of the 2012 Nyman Ink Holiday Give-a-Thon are IN!

This year, the Give-a-Thon pulled in nearly 22,000 votes in the month of December. Judy's pick (The Peter Munk Cardiac Centre) pulled ahead early, and while Nicola's charity (endMS) followed closely behind for much of the month, the PMCC eventually emerged as the clear winner. The voting results for each of the charities are as follows:

It's been a busy December here at Nyman Ink. We finished up a few projects, blogged up a storm, and launched the 2011 Holiday Give-a-Thon.

Right off the bat, Sketch, a great not-for-profit in Toronto, explains that its mission might seem like an odd one. On the organization's home page, the first line reads:

“Art making is a curious way to address homelessness or poverty - growing issues in Canada, one of the wealthiest nations in the world.”

It's hard to argue with this sentiment, but it's true nonetheless that art making, at least the way Sketch approaches it, has the power to make a difference. As an artist myself, I know that art making offers an outlet for self-expression, that it can help young people build skills, and that it truly does allow people to participate in the making of culture.