What every Toy Marketer knows

Toy marketers have known for years that the focus in a toy commercial is not so much on their new product, as much as it is on the facial expressions of the child. They're showing the absolute joy and delight of playing with that toy. Often images in the mind of the child who is viewing the commercial might evoke a sense wonder, adventure and excitement. Sometimes, a toy marketer may aim much deeper psychologically by showing the child in their commercial, enjoying their toy with either Mom or Dad sitting on the floor playing with him or her. The child viewing the program may even desire that toy more simply because they think that 'if they only they had this toy', their Mom or Dad might take more time to sit down and play with them too!

But for your customers that are interested in interacting online, what do you think they want from you? And what should you do when you connect with them?

Read more: http://www.scottmonty.com/#ixzz0VNZTGhVR

Why Apply & Google Win, your company doesn't

Common sense dictates that the easier something is to accomplish, the more readily it will be passed along. What information do you ask your customers to submit? And of that, which is really necessary? Less is more.

Read more: http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/10/why-apple-google-win-and-your-company.html#ixzz0VNSVNQU9

Finally

Flat Foot & Bunions

Bunions enlargement of joint behind the big toe, calcium build up and inflammation surrounding the joint.

Symptoms:
Pain surrounding the joint
Irritated, sensitive skin surrounding area
Stiffness and cramping of big toe
Callus formation under side of joint at big toe

Distinguishing features:
Recurring pain and swelling of joint and appearance of joint growing in size.

Possible cause:
Pronation of foot, weak metarsal arch, ill-fitting shoes, sole of shoes too soft, high heels.

Solution:
'2.ft Orthotics' designed to control inward rotation of heel (pronation) and good fitting, quality shoes.

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Flat Foot both longitudinal and metatarsal arches have collapsed, ankles and knee fall inward and no arches are visible.

Symptoms:
General foot fatigue, poor balance
Ankle, knee, lower back pain
Calluses under big toe/bunions
Shoulder fall forward/slouching
More energy required to run or stand long periods of time.

Distinguishing features:
Inner wall of shoes streched & worn, foot appears abnormally wide, ankle and cuboid bone protruding inward, no arch visible.

Possible causes:
Hereditary, poor quality shoes (sole of shoe too soft), walking style, injury, wearing ill-http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giffitting shoes,etc.

Solution:
'2.ft Orthotics' designed to reshape and realign both longitudinal and metatarsal arches.

Note: Children with flat feet often achieve permanent correction; custom-fitted orthotics develop arches provided they are worn daily (prescribed time) and the child is below the age of 10 years old.

Crush

Meerly Go Round

I started to enjoy my work. So much freedom, so independent. There are pros and cons for sure. But Meerly just go around.

Dance for life

Credit: BlueRidgeLady

Lee Hom sees me

I think i inspired Leehom, muahahahha...

Prioritize your work and optimize your time, My Dear Colleague!

It's been the 4th day since I started my full time work. Oh ya, i am employed.
Everyone here is independent, but not everyone is efficient. hmm... how sad.

And I would like to dedicate the article below to my colleague:

Regardless of whether you are a student, work at home mom, a web designer, or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, prioritizing your work is critical to your success. Failing to prioritize your work load usually results in being extremely inefficient and extremely stressed out. How many times have you thought to yourself “I have so much to do today, how am I ever going to get it all done?”

There is no exact science to prioritizing, but there are several tips that should help you become a more efficient, less stressed version of your current self:

* Make a list

* Consider time constraints

* Consider people constraints – all things equal, move things that other people are waiting on to the top of the list. If you know that your manager can’t finish his proposal without your part, that’s more important than the thing that you always do on Wednesday that could just as well be done on Thursday.

* Consider the consequences – are you going to get fired if you don’t do something? Is another task going to give you the inside track on that promotion? Those things should be more important than mildly inconveniencing the sales manager by responding to their email a day late.

* Re-prioritize as necessary

* Remove unimportant items

Infographic for Dinner

Hellmann’s - It’s Time for Real from CRUSH on Vimeo.

I can see that Malaysian Food is being promoted. Alot of food blogger recommending nice food around their area, TV Program such as Ah Xian, Chui Ling's (yat yat mm can) always visit local food stall or restaurant to promote them. This is a very good effort!

Came across this article where they place their food on the map. We can do the same by placing food around malaysia on a table. For display or really for food tasting, up to your imagination.

Let your inner child out to play

Image credit: Veer

Bang Bang! 2 birds with 1 stone

Shrinking ideas

Found a magical shrinking paper. It transform into mini after I toast it with a toaster!
Stay tune! I've got a new idea in my busy head now.

Wanna see what I am doing with this magic shrinking paper? Or if you wanna try play with this,
visit me at Klang Creative Festival this 9th August 2009. For more info of this Festival please visit:
http://iconada.ning.com/

Swing my way out

Picture credit: Emily Song

I am starting a new life. Nothing much to do with design, however a lot to do with skills of organization, interpersonal, self-discipline, motivation, intelligent, accuracy, efficiency... Perhaps this qualities will somehow bring me one step further in my career, even life.

Part of my life is going the wrong way, I've tried a lot of stuff, be it activities, hobby, sports, job nature. Some said I'm greedy. I was just eliminating things that are not essential to me. My path is getting clearer now, anyone celebrate this with me?

My smile and laughter are real. I know that I always have, just like a girl on a swing.

The Future is Analogue

慢行

都係稳食啫点解要将自己摆底一味枱高自己
又唔见得你又几威压力太大係你以为自己唔够人快
又冇睇下会有几个成功几多个垫底

顾下你嘅脚步 咪再行到咁快啦
你有分数 你有你要去嘅路
你有你既一套 最理想嘅路
讲又一套 最弊到了最后你又冇去做

RM5 inspiration

Found an inspirational place in ioi puchong-Daiso. All of the items in this shop are imported from Japan and everything selling at RM5! This place will definately cheer up ppl who love DIY, handmade. My friend even visits this shop when she was feeling down. See, it uplift the mood!

I am in student gallery

Feel abit proud proud that Limkokwing publish my student work. =)

Work 1
Work 2
Award!

Dare you point at my nose?

Fishmotion

Diggin my fisheye records. Suddenly feel want to play with gif.

gif credit to: Bibinotchun

Not giving UP, but I'm giving IN!

A lil upset when my friend mocked at my uncertainty. Keep changing jobs. I shouldn't have concern of what other people say about me. This is a process. Process to know what suitable for you and what's not. The road of exploration needs time. Life's a journey, not a destination. How long you could really work for a company consider a stable job? 10 years? 20 years? The most important thing is that you found somewhere you belong!

Thanks to Gary, an award winning designer currently working in BBDO. Please keep winning =)
He reminds me of I used to dream to reinvent the world. I want to make a different.

I feel lucky that I found out which working way suitable for me in just a month. I've experienced freelancing, I've experienced working in a large firm and small agency. After the comparison, I am thankful that I now know that: I love to share; I have tons of ideas to be heard; I love to be inspired, by experts, people from other industry, or even ordinary people; I love to work with team; I love the interaction between people; I love having lunch together; I love spending nights working together; I love seeing my ideas create positive change in this world!

I am not giving up; giving in instead. =)
And you know what's next.

Freelance Apprentice

It's almost 3 weeks since I started my freelance life. Life is not organized. Haha... although has been setting myself working hours. I didn't follow, at all...

But I am enjoying the process of discovering. Finding out which way work the best for me. Most of the time you find me sitting at Asia One Cafe, Bandar Puteri Puchong. I travelled to Jalan Imbi to meet client, my programmer partner treated me Green Tea Latte at Starbucks, Uptown Damansara. But most of the time you find me shopping around boutiques at Puchong. My housemates said she wanted to have soup for dinner, then I went market to buy some ingredients. Sometimes I know I have tons of work to do, but myself is telling me that I want to have Wholemeal Bread with butter for breakfast, then I drove out. Hmmm... I spent alot without getting my first cheque from client. Well, what can I say. I need DISCIPLINE!

Being an freelance apprentice, there's alot I need to learn. I am pitching a project, I was finding my programmer friend to co-operate with me, it didn't work out quite well. And I need to repropose to client again. Well okay I admit, I cried. But I am truly grateful in heart, because I've learnt! I am learning the art of negociation, presentation skill, time management, commitment, setting goals, and the process of being a successful freelancer. My mom supported me, haha, when I said I was scared to talk about the price to client. She said: LEARN! I am thankful. I love you mom, and all the friendssss who supported me. I won't dissapoint you!

I should have working for now. Haha, but I'm still blogging. I want to practise blogging everyday because it really helps me to review my thinking, and my progression. I find out that I am more progressive and motivated during the night time. I've triend to work 9 to 5. It don't really feel right. Let's try working at night then. =)

Working at Asia One Cafe, Puchong

My workplace at Sungai Petani.

Daily Schedule

Okay, now that I’ve started my freelance work. But I’m a organized person. I need to schedule my daily activity, able to follow my planned schedule is a small achievement everyday.

Work: 9.30am – 1.30pm
Lunch: 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Work: 2.30pm – 5.30pm
Exercise: 5.45pm-7pm

*1 hour of learning time is allowed during working hours.
* Complete at least 1 case study(CSS/Design/Photoshop Skill/Javascipt) a week.
* Must remove sight from monitor every 15 mins.
* Must stand up and move around every hour.

Weekend: Tidy up research/references/resources

I want to be!

Whenever I see the word ‘creative multimedia’, I shiver. I doubt whether I am creative? Am I excelling in multimedia? I am so afraid of telling people that I am a designer. No! I am not! That’s the way I comfort myself. I do understand that you need to put in a lot of effort in order to be success. Therefore, I tell myself again: Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear. Guess what, I want to be successful! I just told my mom that I don’t have any New Year resolutions as I already have what I want. But it’s time for the next step. I need to plan on my future, sounds very cliché but yeah! I have to plan!

What I want to do in life? Well that’s a pretty tough question huh. People who know me know I like almost everything! I want to be inspirational, I want to be pretty, I want to be confident, and I want to be a WEB DESIGNER! Suddenly I thought of the fighting spirit during my sports and exercise is very strong and last long. Why never I apply the determination in my effort to make my dream come true?

Choice quotes

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

via Choice quotes.

I quote others to better express myself

Art is passion practiced with great discipline.

Science is discipline practiced with great passion.

Life is a perpetual randomness.

There’s something to be discovered at every passing moment.

I come to work for the diversity in the environment which allows me to jump from one culture to another.

Open collaboration enables us to continue growing and learning from each other.

The only constant is change.

We not only want to make a profit, we want to make a different.

Without the passion and camaraderie of every individual, the company would fall at the first hurdle.

Everyone has the desire to go above and beyond.

Creating an impressive online portfolio

The internet has make today’s communication much more easier. In the past, graphic designer always carry a big black file to keep all their works in. Now, with the convenience of multimedia, graphic designer can consider to create a website/blog for their online portfolio. Your chance of exposure will certainly increase. People can easily navigate your portfolio by just searching keywords at search engine.

When you are offered for an interview for a job, the interviewer will certainly ask you to bring along your portfolio. Your chance of being offered an interview is only depends on your academic results. If you can attached the links together with your cover letter and resume, you will have bigger chance to impress the interviewer, hence even if you are not really good in academic marks, just impress him/her with your creative portfolio!

Therefore, I am planning to do an online portfolio.

These are some example of an good online portfolio:
http://www.attitudedesign.co.uk/
http://www.steveleggat.com/
http://designforfun.com/portfolio.php
http://www.lysergid.com/
http://www.ginoorlandi.com/
http://ilkeryoldas.com/
http://greghoustondesign.com/

Here are some guides to create a good portfolio (print/web):
http://www.veen.com/jeff/archives/000935.html
http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2007/10/01/how-to-create-a-traditional-graphic-design-portfolio-yes-with-an-actual-case/
http://www.allartschools.com/faqs/graphic-design-portfolio.php

Trust between you and client

Adam Smith says

19 May 2009
A website holds the key to how a company is perceived and, in many cases, your company’s site has a major influence on whether a visitors ends up dealing with you or a competitor. The image your website project is critical, yet so many companies continue to fall short.
The final website is the effort and joint responsibility between the client and the agency. It’s the agency’s job to challenge the client and design the website for the client’s customers. Often what the website for the client thinks that great design, or a must-have technical feature, isn’t necessarily great for the user or the site usability. It’s the agency’s role to rein in the client if required and, while the client may understand itsbran and clients better, the agency will have much more experience and knowledge in usability. And that, after all, is what they’re buying: the value an agency’s experience can add. The brief is a springboard and agencies shouldn’t be afraid to challenge ideas in a pitching process. The most successful projects come from when the client and agency trust each other, and trust can only be gained from being confident, knowing your stuff and producing result.

The Marathon Begins

I resigned from my company as a so called Art Director. I knew it wouldn’t be my long term career but I had never thought it could be so short (lasted 2 months 2 weeks). I witnessed the greediness, lost, naïve of human-being. I cried for their ugliness. But I learnt to cherish the friendship. I am happy to have known a bunch of cute colleagues who care for each other so much. Farewell to another chapter of my life.

I finally have spare time to set up my blog as I have always wished for, and also revamp my portfolio website. “To do work you love and feel that it matters; how could anything be more fun? –Katherine Graham” I write on blog with the hope to inspire others, and also reminds me of what I have been always thinking. I believe it will motivate me during my climb towards whatever you may call it: goal, life, objective, and dream. It’s about the climb.

I bought a book by [Sam Horn – POP! Create the perfect pitch, title, and tagline for anything]. This is the most fascinating book that I’ve ever read in my life. It is a powerful tool for anyone who wants to break through the crowd, stay on top of mind, and make the maximum impact. I’ve got something out of it. Ladies and gentleman, please give a big round of applause to celebrate my new-born freelance agency – Athlete on the web. The book is so compact with inspirational quotes and techniques and I’ve pick those which inspired me to work on my agency pitch. I am not good in words. I quote others to express myself better.

- The goal is to break out, not blend in.

- It’s not enough to be the best at what you do; you must be perceived as the only one who does what you do. –Jerry Garcia

- Find something only you can say. –James Dickey

- If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else. –Yogi Berra

- Writing is not hard, just get paper and pencil, sit down, and write it as it occurs to you. The writing is easy; it’s the occurring that’s hard. –Steven Leacock

- When you can do the common things in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.

- Don’t fight forces; use them.

- All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.

- You’ve got to be original. If you’re like everybody else, what do they need you for? –Bernadette Peters

- Find what gave you emotion, what action gave you excitement. Then write it down, making it clear so the reader can see it too. –Ernest Hemingway

- A good conversationalist is not one who remembers what was said, but someone who says what people want to remember. –John Mason Brown

- I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. –Robert McCloskey

- Discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind. –Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

- You can sit there, tense and worried, freezing the creative energies, or you can start writing something, perhaps something silly. It doesn’t matter what. In five or ten minutes, the imagination will heat, the tightness will fade, and a certain spirit and rhythm will take over.

- Creativity is like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility. –Rosabeth Moss Kanter

- Turn assumptions upside down with ContraBrand. TV IS GOOD FOR YOUR KIDS. There are probably dozens of offerings similar to yours in the marketplace. How can you differentiate yourself so people have a compelling reason to pick you rather than your competitors? 3 upside down trees on its website, which touted their best attribute: Leaves more room on the floor for gifts!

- How can my business create a service that resolves or relieves a “secret pain” that is felt by many but rarely admitted? Write down all the norms that are accepted about your topic, industry, or profession. What do people believe to be true? Now ask yourself, how can I say the opposite of that? How can I introduce something that causes people to rethink their assumptions and question their current beliefs?

- Making the familiar fresh with meaningful metaphors. Instead of just talking about my subject/product, how can I share a personal example of hobby, accomplishment, or conquered challenge and then compare it to my issue or invention so people see it as if for the first time?

- The world is not made up of atoms; it’s made up of stories.

This action is good because it enables me to review whether my pitch resulted from the technique fits my objective. Anyone can come out with a pitch that POP! Haha, and I even thought of helping others to create pitch. The process is so fun and challenging! I started to fall in love practicing these mind exercise.

What I need next is an elevator introduction, and the design of the web. What do I do? How I break out? Why do people choose me? How to keep people coming back?

Design Inspiration

Sometimes when we are working on a project, we got blank mind. We just need some sparks and inspiration. Below are some links that trigger my mind, hope it works on you too:

http://abduzeedo.com/2007-graphic-design-inspiration

http://justcreativedesign.com/2007/12/12/101-places-to-get-design-inspiration/

http://www.lysergid.com/project5.html

http://www.medesignlab.com/inspiration.html#

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/graphic-design-inspiration

http://www.designflavr.com/

Handmade guru

I’ve met a few handmade guru through the net. They are extremely skillful. I always wonder how they got the time to do all those beautiful stuff and why can’t I. Only realized that they are full time crafter. Of course they have time! Below are some links to their website:

http://blog.xuite.net/kenny581118/bolg/12570369

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/bonnygb/3312261

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/Evangelione/11408111

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/ngbeewei&category_id=9488195

http://oneredrobin.com

Craft Bungalow

I dream to open a shop which combines crafts, workshop, cafe, and handmade goods under one roof. I will help sell handmade stuff from all crafts and handmade lovers i knew from the internet. Of course my handmade stuff will be selling in the shop as well. Ideal location will be at a single storey bungalow with large compound. One room will be used to sell craft materials and tools as I hardly find a supplier in KL provides all sorts all craft tools. Another room will be act as a workshop. Every weekend I will invite craft teacher to teach their skilled handmade stuff. Workshop can be for adults or kids. The living hall will be selling handmade stuff. A cafe will be set up to sell snacks, light food, coffee and beverages to provide a relaxing place for visitors to have a chit chat or chill out after their shopping.

I started to collect ideas and inspiration from my surroundings, books and magazines. I bought a magazine just now which I find it quite inspirational for my decor of my crafty shop:

Craft Classes @ Craft Haven

I always wanted to try on different kind of crafts. I found out a shop in One-Utama yesterday-Craft Haven. They are a craft shop selling tools and materials for crafts. Also, they provide craft classes such as Glass and Porcelain Painting, Fabric Painting, Polymer Clay, Faux Finishes & Effects, Scrapbook Basics, Candle Making, Decoupage and Fol Art. They also PEBEO Certification Program which is an internationally recognized Certification endorsed by Pebeo, France. This certification is useful for me as I always wanted to become an art teacher. =)

Craft Haven is located at:

Lot S211 & S211A, 2nd Floor, Promenade

1 Utama Shopping Centre.

tfx: 03 7727 3541

email: getcrafty@craft-haven.com

website: craft-haven.com