No doubt, this time of year most offices are being inundated with the usual barrage of candied, chocolate coated and nut-rolled holiday gift confections.

So for our holiday gift, we decided to give something different.

And we decided to make it ourselves.

After all, each project we work on here at BG has our own hand-crafted touch—there’s no reason our holiday gift should be any different.

Using water-based organic matsui inks and organic cotton bags from terratote the team screenprinted a series of five bags. One for each area of BG’s expertise—advertising, public relations, media, interactive and design. And each with it’s very own representative icon created by art director Nik Helgaas.

Right here at BG we burned the screen printing screens using photo emulsion and printed each bag with our own little hands. It was a little stinky at times (thanks to the screen cleaner) but overall lots of fun and a true team effort.

To finish, the bags were tied together with hemp rope and an accompanying note and hand or rush delivered to each recipient. Thanks to all involved!

Oh, and don’t forget to keep an eye on your inbox for our holiday e-card. It features Jon and Indra in tacky Christmas sweaters (not to be missed!).

One of the reasons I agreed to join the SUSHI board was so our creative team would have the opportunity to do some really ‘out there’ work. It’s hard to find those opportunities with most clients. With SUSHI we’ve been able to stretch our creative wings a bit.

Francis, designer extraordinaire, has been working on a series of postcards for various special events. For the monthly Fresh Sounds series he came up with three very different approaches. The “smiling man” as we call him was ultimately selected, but I had to share all three with you. They were just too cool not to. What’s interesting is that it appears they might have been a little too out there for SUSHI. I didn’t think that was possible, especially after last weekend’s grand opening, but evidently the chicken just went too far. Which do you like the best? I’m really curious.

With aching shoulders, frozen nose, and numbed fingers, I found a spot for my moto just outside Petco Park. Ninety minutes of riding was a commitment—to anticipate the day’s event. This was Saturday evening, November 8, the second day SUSHI opened its doors. Riding soothed some of the excitement and expectations of the event and the performance space everyone was talking about.

The new SUSHI, A Center for the Urban Arts, found its way home back to the ICON complex near Petco Park. Not a bad location. Surrounded by pubs and cafés, a ballpark where the Padres play, SUSHI may well be the center of it all! At least for me.

I volunteered to set-up and strike for the event and performance that evening. A special event indeed since hors d’oeuvres and wine were served and, of course, for the main event, a performance by JORDAN FUCHS and dancers titled THICKET. As a volunteer, I had the pleasure to tour the new space and see the performance for free. As a member of the audience, I was a part of something new. Something different—a tribe in black whose faith lies on that fly on the wall; curious for that notable smell, that tasty treat, or the contrast in dark and light. THICKET was performed in the midst of an audience thirsty for a new experience in the performance arts. Mr. Fuchs delivered an exploration of human interactions; entwined audience members with sights, sounds and movements; and conveyed an intimacy beyond the tradition of performer-audience relationship.

It was 5:11pm when I arrived at the door (6pm was the call for volunteers). I didn’t mind I was early. Quickly stripping my gray and brown riding gear, I was ordained.

Photography by John Warner

The ad below ran in USA Today Main News on November 5.

On the surface, the ad seems like a smart concept.  But the ad fails to account for the psychology of the American public the day after the historic day.  As such, it falls under the category of “Clever” but does not fall under the category of good.  

Where does the ad fail?

Over 64 million people voted for Barack Obama.  Ostensibly, most of those people were attracted to Obama because of his 21-month-long message that  “We are not a collection of Red States and Blue States — We are the United States of America”.  I was one of them who drank the purple kool aid.  I woke up on November 5 excited about the mere possibility that a new less-partisan political age was upon us.  66% of people under 30 years old voted for Obama.  I would imagine that The Sopranos’ sweet spot is in that demographic.  The ad turned me off on a day I was ready to embrace a new political landscape that at the very least is less devisive than it has been.

Does the ad resonate with the almost 57 million McCain (who also touched on a message of coming together) voters that woke up November 5 disappointed?  Maybe.

And maybe McCain voters are more likely to enjoy The Sopranos than Obama voters.

I think that even most McCain voters felt proud of the country for rallying together and electing the first black president–regardless of political affiliation.  The news of the day certainly was not about partisan divide.

The ad would have been more appropriate for 2004 when there was not such a message of unity from both campaigns.

Have you ever wondered what you and your co-workers would look like if you had lived in the 17^th century?

We have.

A few weeks ago while standing around having a chat with Kelly Johnson, and Jennifer Williams our Account Director this very topic came up.

Completely normal right?

We thought it would be fun to take a photo of each person in the office and Photoshop their face into a creepy 17^th Century portrait. So we combined forces, conjured a plan and set it fourth into motion, hoping to have it completed in time for our Halloween Potluck Party.

I should mention that this was solely a side project. We’ve got plenty to keep us busy around here, but when you get a few creative brains together some weird stuff is going to happen.

So I found a few images off shutterstock.com and Gettyimages.com that I thought would fit our BG staffers. Some fit better than others, but since this project didn’t have a work order I couldn’t get too picky. On average, I’d say it took me about 10 minutes to do each portrait. Susannah chipped in and did a couple as well.

As you could imagine, being in a small office with a 23” monitor at your desk surrounded by very curious co-workers, the project was bound to leak. Word got out and our secret project became public. But to see them all up on the wall just in time for the Halloween party was awesome.

During the party we all got a chance to laugh at each other’s portrait. Questions like, “why does my head look like a cone?” or “who is that?” and even, “is that a dead lamb in my lap?” were all asked. Executive Creative Director/Canadian Ian Graham even put voices to the portraits insisting that Sr. Web developer Ivan Prokic’s character (Black haired warrior with red sash) spoke with a lisp.

I’d say all in all everyone in the office was a good sport about having their faces put onto someone else’s old and weird body. As unflattering as it may have been, it was awesome nonetheless.

Enjoy.

Today is the official launch of Seaport Village’s new and improved website. Working with 1011, the new site design takes a cue from the look and feel recently developed by Bailey Gardiner for Seaport’s new advertising campaign.

Among other features, the site boasts a time lapse video of a day at Seaport. When you visit the site during the day, the time lapse goes from night to day, and when you visit the site in the evening the video plays from day to night. The video was shot by photographer Paul M. Bowers and the photography he created for the new ad campaign is also featured throughout the site as well as in SV’s outdoor and print advertising—sample pieces below.

Other website features include a slide show of images of Seaport as well as an updated nav bar and homepage that showcases the latest posts from Seaport’s favorite blogger, “Boardwalk Betty.”

Last week Paul Boutin declared that blogs are dead. On Wired’s blog. Hmmmm.

Yes, there are lots of continually “new and improved” ways to communicate. Twitter, Facebook, etc. offer different ways to connect, but just because there are options doesn’t mean you must kill one that works quite well and move on. This desire to declare things dead and “oh so tired”, makes me tired. Boutin’s thesis is that since blogs have become a tool for marketers they are no longer genuine. I don’t buy it. There are still millions of people using blogs to express their personal opinions, share their art, and just plain get out there.

Read Technorati’s recent State of the Blogosphere 2008 if you believe blogs are a dying art. There are 184 million blogs world wide, with 26.4 million started in the US. What in the world is Boutin talking about? Today, Brian Solis posted some interesting stats on bub.blicio.us about readers using blogs over search and the influence of blogs on purchase decisions.

I read blogs everyday. They keep me connected, informed and I would feel the poorer if they went away. And while Twitter is fun and great for quick sharing, you can’t get the info or thoughts out in 140 characters the way you can with a blog.

So, I’ve started a new blog. It’s called adifferentkindofsushi and it’s about my exploration into the world of extreme performance and visual art. As a new board member of San Diego’s historic Sushi, I have a lot to learn and hope to share that learning with others who may be new to this inventive, radical and sometimes in-your-face art. It’ll have interviews with the artists, guest posts and lots of photos. I’m sure at least 5 people will read it.

Maybe it’s old school now to start a blog. Isn’t that hilarious?

Let’s face it, politics as a category itself is a little stuffy and it’s no surprise that in the past a typical candidate’s key campaign art would picture his or her face floating on a flat red (Republican) or blue (Democrat) background with their name in white type. But during this election season I’ve been noticing something that I’ve never seen before—a lot of the political art (on both sides of the aisle) is actually, dare I say…. cool.

From blogs that are devoted soley to talking about campaign art to artists like Shepard Fairey that have created a line of politcally inspired artworks, well designed election art is everywhere. Maybe it’s because campaign marketers are realizing how important it is to target the youth vote, maybe it’s just because youth are becoming more involved in politics (I hope!). Who knows but campaign art that looks this good certainly makes me much more likely to purchase, wear and display it. Enjoy this small selection of pieces I found below:

I have been invited to join the board of Sushi Performance & Visual Arts.  Sushi was kicked out of its downtown home about four years ago while its historic building was rebuilt into a mixed use condo. They will move home in the fall and start their performance series in November.

I’m excited about it because BG will get to work on its brand. With Sushi, our creative team will get to stretch its wings very wide. I’m also psyched because I believe Sushi is an important part of San Diego’s art community. I may not always “get” what their doing, but I know they are pushing the art envelope in a way that no one else in town really does. He’s only given me the slightest smile as indication, but I think our resident ‘dancing truck driver’ and designer supreme, Francis, is stoked. This combines all the stuff he loves into one account. Has Sushi done anything with an 18-wheeler yet?