I just had to share these:

3M came out with a pretty handy tool for those folks that don’t have the graphics programs required to view .eps files. Just plug in the file and it’ll show you what the image looks like! Check it out here: http://promote.3m.com/eps_viewer/ (Thanks Joey Reedy)

There’s a new service called Cellblock where you can upload images from email or your cell and they appear nearly instantly online. It’s great for sharing and collaboration! Check it out HERE. Here’s what I made in a few seconds using just some random images I had on my desktop:

(Thanks Ryan @ MGHWOM)

Garret Ohm
http://www.orange-element.com

Mary Mashburn, our coaster guru, recently received some stellar press in the New York Times. Mary runs Typecast Press, which is where we recently had our sweet Orange Element coasters letterpressed. You can see them here, next to her work for Woodberry Kitchen, which is actually the subject of the Times article.

The article is about designers creating custom typefaces. It’s a great article and worth the read, so please check it out in its entirety HERE. This article really REALLY makes us want to come up with our own Orange Element house font…

Congrats Mary/Typecast – you guys rock!

Garret Ohm
http://www.orange-element.com

I’m excited to announce Orange Element’s first Freebie Friday!

The AAB Mini-Golf Madness tournament (which our very own Garret is chairing so beautifully) is tonight, so we thought it would be fun to share some graphics for the tournament with you.

Click a link below to download the “You’re Gonna Die, Clown” desktop wallpaper:

1024×768 (best for standard)
1680×1050 (best for widescreen)

The link should take you to a new page – just right click on the image and save. Enjoy!

For those of you who are afraid of clowns, I do apologize. You’ll just have to sit tight until next week’s Freebie Friday (can you tell I like saying Freebie Friday?).

Have a lovely weekend!

Sarah Rosenthal
http://www.orange-element.com

UPDATE: Thanks, all, for the great comments and emails you have been sending me about the poster. I’m glad everyone enjoys them as much as we do. Unfortunately, we only have a limited number to give away, and I’m in the process of emailing everyone back to let you know if you will receive one. If you didn’t, keep an eye out on this blog because we will DEFINITELY be doing a lot more fun giveaways. Keep reading, and as always, feel free to comment whenever you have something to say!

Hi all -

We’re releasing more of our limited edition Orange Element 5th Anniversary screenprints. If you’re interested in having us send you one all you need to do this time is leave a comment on this post and I’ll write you back to ask for your address. Simple. Get ‘em while we still have a few available.

If you want to learn more about this collection of sweet posters, go HERE.

Thanks to Beth Brady for passing along a very cool video about a British graffiti artist named Moose who has made his mark by creating clean graffiti. Clean graffiti, often referred to as reverse graffiti, is a method in which he finds extremely dirty urban surfaces and strategically cleans areas of them to form art, such as what you see here:

We enjoy this method because it isn’t harmful to the environment but also because It tends to draw more attention to just how much of a negative impact we each have on our environment if we’re not careful. The more we’re aware of the problem, the closer we are to a solution. Plus it looks super-cool!

The video you will see below is from http://www.reversegraffitiproject.com and is actually a cleverly disguised guerilla marketing campaign done by Clorox for their Green Works line of products. I think the promotion fits well with the product, and will definitely resonate with the Green Works target.

Garret Ohm
http://www.orange-element.com

As a design + visual communications firm that still does quite a bit of print work, we tend to be very strategic in crafting direct mail strategies for our clients. We want to first ensure that the purpose of the piece will be accomplished by our creative work, meaning that our advertising objective is met and the consumer is motivated to act. We also want to be sure to avoid creating wasteful junk mail, because as you know, we believe in integrating sustainable choices into marketing programs.

That’s why a recent mailing I received from the Internal Revenue Service kind of threw me for a loop. Now I love getting mail from the IRS as much as the next guy, but I recently received a letter that had some good news. It was in my mailbox when I returned home on 6.15 and if I may paraphrase said something to the effect of:

Hi. You are going to be getting an economic stimulus payment of $x. You can expect it to arrive in your mailbox by 6.20. If you have any questions, give us a holler. Ok, bye.

Now, I’m not saying there wasn’t a reason for this mailer. But was there? I seriously could have waited another five days without hearing from the IRS, especially since I had been waiting since early May-ish for the check to arrive. Five more days wouldn’t have upset me one bit.

To add insult to injury, 6.20 came and went and still no stimulus check! Had I not received the letter in the first place I wouldn’t have anticipated it to come then – go figure! So it makes me wonder even more whether or not this was a smart direct mail strategy on the part of the US Government.

According to sources, as many as 116,000,000 checks will be mailed out – which means that it’s possible that 116,000,000 extra pieces of mail will have been sent out letting folks know their check is a few days away. I wonder how many trees could have been saved? And fuel in mail trucks? And taxpayer dollars?

Just food for thought…But I’d love to hear what you all think. I’m guessing that if there’s any sort of explanation, it’s probably that there’s a law somewhere that says the Federal Government has to notify folks that a refund is coming their way.

If you’d like to read more about junk mail and the fight to rid the world of it – go here: http://www.donotmail.org.

Garret Ohm
http://www.orange-element.com