The Fourth of July edition of the SouthEast Square News will be out on the Fountain Square news stands shortly and finally I am playing with finger puppets. I’m bringing back the robot and Detholz! monster for this edition-don’t worry you won’t see the last of them and they may multiply into a family of other cast mates.

My dream is to have a photo sent to me of these two guys battling it out Michel Gondry style or just colored and crayola’d out for the kid in me to enjoy posting in the Back to School (September/October) edition.

The SESN newsletter is a neighborhood centric rag that is made up of content contributed by the residents of FSQ. So if you want to know about music, art, development and fun going on in the square-check it out.

Events
1. Friday, May 28: Portland ambient trio Eluvium at Big Car Gallery.

2. Friday, May 28: Fez Fest at the Melody Inn. The Dockers, Playboy Psychonauts and Vinyl Shriner. Yep get out your best fez, retro sunglasses and smoking jackets and ladies find a pair of go-go boots, vintage dress and sock it on over to the Mel.

3. Thursday, May 27: Grey Granite and Oreo Jones at the Blue Lounge-you can escape from the Indy 500/ hair band/so-co rock crowd by stepping into this electronic, trip hop oasis.

4. Friday, May 28: Have you been to a Polka Rave yet? Well here’s your chance-the Slovenian National Home starts the night out with traditional button box accordians and then Nathan Zarich DJ’s the heck out of some polka electronica.

Quick Links
1. Think twice about crowdsourcing-the pros and cons-frankly, I feel it has its place, but not in the design process.

2. Wanna conduct an acappella group or a blue whale singing? Now you can.

3. Tokyo Taxi Cab Tops

4. Place your vote-corporate Moulin Rouge logo vs. Licensed Logo

5. I’m ready to trade in my Saturn for a small “Ape” (pronounced “ah-peh”), I’d trick it out with spinning hubcaps and lowlights.

Girls Rock Indianapolis! approached me to create a poster for their upcoming rock and roll camp. I couldn’t let the ladies of GRI! down, so in order to keep the poster artwork true to the indie roots of GRI! I contacted a fantastic local illustrator, Aaron Scamihorn.

Have you heard of Aaron? If not, you better look him up now!

As an illustrator he has a wonderful edge that keeps his work fresh and unique. The older I get the more I’ve come to realize that it’s better to collaborate with as many talented individuals as possible to come up with a unique visual solution, than to try and hammer it out by myself and miss the opportunity to create something very out of the ordinary. Illustration is not one of my strong talents and I love working with illustrators like Aaron because of two things:

1. No stock photography.

2. No stock vector art.

It’s a great opportunity when you have a client that understands how important it is to keep their identity/message original by staying away from stock photography and stock vector art. Why? Because stock web sites that sell cheap stock images to you and I are also selling the same images to millions of other marketing companies and design firms. It’s not an all together bad thing, but it makes it very hard to advertise a service as being truly unique when the same artwork is used for a feminine hygiene product that winds up being used for a software design guidebook.

It’s not always easy to convince clients to use original artwork/photography…budgets and time has to allow for you to use an illustrator or photographer. But when you do get a chance to use artwork/photography that is created uniquely for your client’s services-it makes all the visual difference.

I know I’m a day late and probably a dollar short, it’s been CRAZY hot and busy for Cleis Design HQ. Have a great week!



Events

1.Wednesday, April 7: Sharon Jones Listening Party hosted by Root Movements at the Jazz Kitchen.

2. Thursday, April 8: Get your indie rock on at Radio Radio with Japanoids, Avi Buffalo and Thunders.

3. Friday, April 9: Rock for Riley/MOKB presents Julian Casablanacas (The Strokes) at the Vogue. Stop by Luna Music (52nd St. and College Ave. location) earlier that day to get signed copies of his new album…be sure to check out the always amazing Amy McAdams poster promoting the event.

4. Saturday, April 10: Musical Family Tree is bringing local music back home to Radio Radio. Gentleman Caller is worth it!

Quick Links
1. Somebody invite Andrew Maynard to a cocktail party, he might be the perfect designer-friendly nano-scientist to strike a conversation with.

2. Carl Bower explains his Columbian Beauty Pageant series-As for me, I’m just fascinated with the naming of these beauty queens-Miss Honey, Chica Barbie, Miss Legs.

3. Hamburger zines? Yep that’s right, get em while they’re hot.

4. Worlds oldest emoticon has been found in a 1881 issue of the magazine Puck.

5. Next week is the big preview for Adobe Photoshop CS5, the individual demonstrating the warp transform is annoying but the upgrade for warping images will save me some time on photo-touch ups.

Events
1.Friday, March 26: Roman Candle at Radio Radio

2. Friday, March 26: Nuvo 20th Anniversary at Talbott Street. Come celebrate with Reverand Peyton’s Big Damn Band.

3. Fear of Flying: Provocative installation exhibit at the Christopher West Presents Gallery. Catch this before it closes on April 10.

4. Installation Nation: It’s BAAACK! The second annual installation art exhibit event is going to be back on Michigan and College (Downtown Indy) on June 4. Call for artists is happening now. Submit your concept to fill a 8ft x 20ft container.

5.Monday, March 29: The Woodhands at Radio Radio. Keytar Rock, enuff said.

Quick Links
1. Seed Cathedral, yes a building made of plant seeds. And you thought your stoner friends were crazy….

2.  OCR a PDF portfolio file, not super exciting, but you have no idea how many times I’ve been stuck laying out an annual report with no way of un-embedding all the text and tables from the client’s pdf portfolio and other assets.

3. Original Beans Chocolate: I want to eat the packaging and the chocolate.

4. Hot Chip: Or the wtf video that uses a bald Steve Coogan impersonator and floating head to put the hurt on a boy band. Random, I know-but I can’t take my eyes off of it.

5. Before there was John Waters, there was Russ Meyers.