Events:
1. We Were Promised Jetpacks at Radio Radio-angsty, Scotch music worth enjoying a pint or two on a Sunday night. {Sunday, March 14}

2. Winter Farmer’s Market: Have you had juice at the Natural Born Juicer’s stand yet? Mickey and Mallory would approve.{Saturdays, until April 24}

3. The Playboy Psychonauts at The Vollrath. Get out your fez and join the “Cassanovia” musicians for an eclectic world music night out. {Saturday, March 13}

Quick Links:
1. Who wouldn’t want to be making phat beats in retirement like Grandma DJ?

2. Urban Outfitter is going to the chapel, and well, some lovely hipsters are going to get married in UO’s alt-fashionable wares.

3. Have you ever thought of writing a self help book and joining a cult along the way?
Me neither but The Moth podcast has an AWESOME Starlee Kine story about it.
(WARNING: adult content and profanity)

4. Porcelain Pop Art

5. The iMaxi for the iPad: I am speechless, really I do not know what to say.

I am super duper sorry for the pause in Ephemera. Cleis Design is growing (woohoo) and I have been neglecting my Ephemera/Blog posts. So like a good freelancer, I’ve started time managing the hell out of my week so that I don’t get behind here again. I hope I see y’all out and about this week.

Events
1. The Eiteljorg Museum: The Pistol packing exhibit. Dirty Harry has nothing on Annie Oakley.

2. The Dirty Dozen: IMA style. I’m bummed I didn’t get to see the Peter Bogdonovich/Touch of Evil viewing, but getting to see the Dirty Dozen on the big screen is a pretty awesome perk.

3. Do-it-Yourself Utopias by Jeff Eisenberg at the Christoper West Presents Gallery.

4. The Earth House presents: The End Of the Line. I saw the film, The Cove last year, and it convinced me to stop eating fish. The End of the Line, I’m told is an even more evocative tale about our fish-depleted seas and oceans.

5.A Squared Industries, Jookabox & more at the Vogue. There’s something local & hot cooking on Friday night.

Quick Links:

1. You have the right to remain obnoxious in some Po-Po stilettos.

2. Breaking down Color theory.

3. Some strategic food for thought on the marketing hot points for 2010.

4. It’s one part geek-design humor and one part hilaaaarious: Unhappy Hipsters.

5. These people are influencing the design around you, take note because their mark will not be fading away anytime soon.

Events
1. Soup swap: I had no idea Indianapolis participated in this, but this sounds like a great way to get stocked up on soup for the next two months or so.

Saturday, January 23
(see website for more details)

2. Fiery Furnaces at Radio Radio: Indie Rock goodness, that’s all I need to say.

Friday, January 22
Radio Radio
1119 E. Prospect St.
$10 Adv / $12 Day of Show
21 +Doors @8 pm
Buy tickets

3. MOKB Presents..Local Music Git Down: My Old Kentucky Blog is one of the musical treasures of Indianapolis. On Saturday, MOKB will be hosting a hootenanny of who’s who of local music-it’s practically an all day event. Come on out as they celebrate local music at where else? Locals Only.

Saturday, January 23
Locals Only
2449 E. 56th St.
Starts: 12pm-who knows when it’s gonna end.
Admission: TBD/Free

4. Arsenic and Old Lace at the IMA. What fond memories I have of this Cary Grant film. I used to watch this movie over and over with my family growing up. If you have a dark/twisted sense of humor like I do, you will find the timelessness of this flick. If not, then well I guess you are just weird .

Friday, January 22
Indianapolis Museum of Art
4000 Michigan Rd.
Toby Theatre
7:00 pm
Admission: $9 public/ $5 members/ $7 students with ID
Buy Tickets

5. Reserve your tix while you can: Free Crazy Heart viewing from the wonderful IFF. This one is sure to be the Oscar clincher for Best Actor. Jeff Bridges already has won the golden globe for it, and T-Bone Burnett has made the soundtrack into a supporting role all by itself. (As of this posting the film has sold out…sorry.)

Quick Links:
1. Logorama: I want to see this soooooo bad.

2. Rapunzel: I want to live in this world, what a beautiful visionary collaboration between Polina Osherov and Nikki Sutton.

3. The man behind the “I’m with Coco,” campaign. Bravo sir, bravo.

4.bRaZiLiAn Design: they even screen print their leaves, that’s how eco friendly and design forward these cats are.

5. Crayon sculpted people: I want to color with this guy, his crayons are definitely cooler than mine.

6. Do’s and Don’ts of Online PR: I really agree with Lindsay Robertson that if marketers of bands and artists followed her outline, there would be less annoying email blasts in the world.

So you start out thinking one way with a client’s identity, and usually you wind up somewhere else. It’s pretty rare when a designer can start with a logo design springing from one’s head like Athena, and then have the identity get approved as is by the client. Even before showing a client the final two or three logo options to choose from, I’ll work through several versions and then narrow those down to the best ones. It’s a good method of controlling the outcome, that way you have back up versions if the client doesn’t like what you have chosen, and you can keep what you view to be your best work in front of the client without giving the impression that you are indecisive. In my opinion, it’s better to not overwhelm the client with too many options or else you wind up doing more work than quoted originally for the job.

{Beginning logo idea for client.}

I almost had a first proof – approval happen with The Rhinestone Collar. TRC (as I like to call it) is a fantastic local pet grooming service. If you ever get a chance to use Jeff Campbell’s services, the first thing that you will notice is the orange painted house he works his magic out of. In our beginning discussions about his brand update, Jeff had mentioned he was in love with the colors: black, orange and pink. Bright fun colors that reflect such a fun and artistic man.

Only issue, is that as a designer, you have to have a little restraint with color. In previous posts I’ve mentioned how you should limit your colors for a logo to two at the most (more than two is do-able, but it gets complicated.) I need to add to that post that if the colors are orange and black, be careful how you position them or you might wind up with a Halloween themed brand rather than a brand that is reflective of the business’s personality and services. There is nothing wrong with using orange and black, plenty of brands in the consumer/business world use black and orange. TRC will be using an orange/black palette it’s ongoing brand identity development.

Originally I wanted to steer the client to a heather or charcoal gray (Pantone cool gray 10) but I had to be open to the requests of the client. Jeff likes orange and being the vibrant wonderful personality he is, he wanted orange. So after we discussed the pros and cons-the front cover of the business card displaying the logo went from cool gray 10 to Pantone orange 1665.

{Businesscard/logo setup in cool gray 10.}

Here’s where we ended up with. Not a bad compromise, and really I didn’t have to change the layout/design elements – only the color.

{Final business card and logo with diamond shape mock up in orange 1665.}

I hope you are cozy, warm and relaxed from all the holiday cheer. Have a wonderful New Year-hope 2010 is good to all of us!

Events
1. A Hipster New Year: Otis Gibbs, America Owns the Moon, The Academy and Vess Ruhtenberg. Local music faves and the lovely Otis Gibbs (Nashville) are playing NYE at Locals Only. It’s predicted that this show may sell out, so call ahead and get your tickets before Thursday.

Thursday, December 31st/New Year’s Eve
Locals Only
2449 E. 56th Street
Cost: $12 Advance / $15 Door
Doors at 8pm
No one will be allowed in after capacity hits.

2. Staying in before New Year’s Eve? Relax at home and watch Steven Sebring’s documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life on PBS.  Nuvo has a great inteview with Smith that discusses her career and the doc. It’s also Smith’s birthday on Dec. 30th.

Wednesday, December 30th
9:00 pm EST
PBS
Check your local PBS channel listing for times.

3. This is the last week you can see the Sacred Spain Exhibit at the IMA. The exhibit it free, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you must take advantage of the holiday slowdown this week and get on over there.

Last day of Exhibit is Sunday, January 3rd
The Indianapolis Museum of Art
4000 Michigan Road
Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday 11 am to 5 pm
Thursday and Friday 11 am to 9 pm*
Sunday noon to 5 pm
Closed New Year’s Day

4. Leisure Kings, Born Again Floozies and The Playboy Psychonauts: New Year’s Eve at Radio Radio. Well, if you are in the FSQ neighborhood or looking for a great place to chill out and get your 2010 on-come on down. BTW, you can bet Mike Wiltrout will be spraying fire from his mouth at some point .

Thursday, December 31st/New Years Eve
Tickets: purchase at Future Shock and Radio Radio or online
Advance: $15/at the door $20

5. Dean Johnson Gallery: They are open on New Years Day, so stop by and view contemporary design by Nick Allman, Morgen Bosler and Lauren Zoll. All local designers who have re-interpreted objects like vases, urns and various furniture.

Friday, January 1st
646 Massachusetts Avenue
Fri 11–5
Admission: FREE

Quick Links
1. Ten start up questions: Jason Cohen has ten questions to help you assess your business self for the new year.

2. French Puppets confuse the hell out of me: This site represents the musings of a French puppet who really loves hip hop, I don’t understand a word of French (*le sigh*). I wish I did ’cause the wallpapers are aces!

3. Not sure what sort of laptop you should buy? Should you work for free? The gentlemen of Freelance Switch can help you decide.

4. Typography is Everything:The portfolio of Simon Page makes me green with envy.

5. Do you know how to properly focus a camera? Well, I received a few new lens for Christmas and I’m learning all over again.

6. Best of Photoshop Tutorials from 2009: Here’s something to do while killing time before 2010 arrives.