Azul 7 launches M&N Structures a local steel manufacurer with a reputation for structural engineering that is second to none.

People have been dreaming about video calling for decades. iPhone 4 makes it a reality. http://www.apple.com/

Between now and February 15th. you can send a valentine to your sweetie and Target will donate $1 to Avenues for Homeless Youth. Visit the site for details. And thank you for your support!

The other night I was at the MPLS AIGA show. The show is intended to display the best of what the industry is doing to solve problems for our clients. It's intent is to highlight the best of what those in the MPLS market are doing in design, annual reports, identities, ID systems, collateral material, packaging, etc. I've been fortunate enough in my career to participate in shows all over the world. I have worked with Kevin Swanaple from the One Club, one of the most respected leaders in the world.

Kevin maintains an honorable standard, he educates and he has crossed continental boundaries by bringing the One Clubs to places like China - a communist country where capitalism is evolving. He travels all over the world with his show, which teaches young people about the power of design, advertising, and interactive. And his peers respect him for it. I saw a lot of beautiful art work that, in the past, I would have categorized as illustration. There were a couple of very nice designed bottles and a couple of nice posters. I say Charles Andersen defines the new role of design in MPLS as an Arts & Crafts show.

What I didn't see was real work done by clients. Where was General Mills, 3M, Activision, Toro, Imation and Andersen Windows? Are you kidding me? And the work that was done by clients, such as Target, wasn't new, fresh or something we haven't already seen. It was a complete abomination of what this industry should be teaching and guiding. Where were the ID systems, packaging systems and collateral materials? I'm assuming that companies aside from design and advertising firms do them. I didn't see one annual report. And maybe they were there and I'm not remembering them. Sad. What makes a show work is the leadership that guides them. These people must see their craft stand above themselves. This makes them respected and honored. AIGA would be well served to find leaders like Kevin, someone that can bring focus to an industry and not self-promoting bias.

Let your passions move you. Don't be defined by what you aren't; be defined by what your vision of the future will be. Don't be afraid to think big. Think. There's a bigger ocean. Your only limitation is your confidence in your compass. In the last few years I've been listening to a debate about what the future of advertising isn't. I sometime find it ironic that an industry that should be creative has such a difficult time articulating a vision. As I look back and I consider what inspired me. What stands out to me is that the people I recall first are the ones that were the smartest, kindest, and the most thoughtful about their profession. They never stopped studying, teaching, exploring. Their lives were defined by their passion and they shared their passion every hour of every day with those that were willing to learn. Inspired by a life of work, Saul Bass www.designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass Burne Hogarth www.bpib.com/hogarth.htm Jack Unruh www.jackunruh.com/real.html Stan Richards www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1999 Milton Glaser http://hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/milton.php Woody Pirtile http://www.pirtledesign.com/index.htm Eric Madsen http://emadsen.com Matt Mahurin http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=3345 and http://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/videos.htm People I love to watch: Joe Duffy www.duffy.com/duffy/index.aspx Alan Colvin http://designcue.com Woody Pirtle http://www.designerid.com/video.php Pentagram http://hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/pent.php Russel Davis http://youtube.com/watch?v=6F1T9RDBY3I IDEO http://ideo.com Miscellaneous thoughts; Stanford Design www.fastcompany.com/fast50_08/index.html Ted www.ted.com Art Center www.artcenter.edu One Club www.oneclub.org Cannes www.canneslions.com Second Story http://secondstory.com Communication Arts http://commarts.com

Creative Director Chris Cortilet was admitted yesterday to Methodist Hospital after loosing his fingers in a vise grip. Chris and his team were out scouting possible imagery to illustrate a story they were doing on safety, when all of a sudden Chris was being tortured by a vise grip. “I didn't even see it coming,” said Chris, “One minute I'm walking through the plant looking for a story to tell and the next minute I'm in the throws of a life struggle with a vise grip. It just wouldn't let go, and I could hear the bones breaking and blood was everywhere. Eventually someone released the grip and I fell to the ground. The next thing I know I'm in the hospital. They brought the fingers back to the hospital, but there wasn't anything that they could do at that point. They put them in a jar for me and I have them in my room.” After Chris was removed from the facility around 2 pm OSHA sent a team in to examine the scene and to access the vise grip. It's likely that they will have a report by the end of the week. One of the experts on the scene said, “We can't understand what happened, vises just don't do these things. We've never seen anything like it. It's likely that we won't have a complete picture until we finish the interviews with witnesses, clean up the scene and have a forensics expert review the fingers. At this time everything is a mess.”