Recently by Erin St. Pierre

When I was 17, I worked in the Junior's department at Penney's. We were given the incentive of getting a $1 bonus for every catalog we sold to customers.  It was pretty motivating given the $5-7 extra I could earn each night would go a long way on coffee at Denny's later that evening.

Given the fact that I still have a warm place in my heart for JCPenney catalogs, I was very sad to read today that they will no longer be offered.  However, honestly, I'm incredibly surprised they've lasted this long.  I'm imagining an elderly layout designer, working in the same spot in the office since the 70s.  He decided to retire, and therefore, the catalog was laid to rest.  I'm sure that's not the case, but it's a cute little dream. 

Here's the article on designrelated.com where I discovered this news item. 

Happy New Year!

I was speaking to a great candidate this morning about the job market.  She mentioned that she was a little down on herself for not landing a new job yet after she was laid off 5 months ago.  We recruiters hear this sentiment often from wonderfully qualified candidates, and I always like to offer the following thought: don't be hard on yourself, be patient and flexible.  There are a lot of candidates out there right now and not nearly as many jobs. 

The thought reminded her of this British poster printed (but not fully distributed) in WWII.


Apparently, poster was printed and on-hand in case the German Nazis took control of the UK.  Click here to read the full history.   I loved the simplicity paired with the irony of using red when the message was to "keep calm."

From there, the candidate mentioned that "my designers" would get a kick out of the Brit who recently enjoyed the poster as well and made a play on it with this one:

Read his blog here and you can even get a t-shirt! 
 

AIGA recently put up a great case study on the redesigned NPR.org website.  Take a look at the full article, as well as additional views of the site's UX process and before & after shots:

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/case-study-npr-org

Editor's note: On July 27, 2009, National Public Radio (NPR) relaunched the website www.npr.org through the efforts of its in-house design team and interactive agency
Schematic. The following case study was written at AIGA's request and
coordinated by Sarah Zimmerman. Please contact the editor if you would also like to provide a case study.

A Seattle startup company wants to help!  Take a look at the article below from TechFlash.com. 

Gist looks to help Web users manage information overload

After about a year in private beta, Gist today plans to open up its online information management service to the public.

The offering -- which will remain free for now -- allows users to aggregate information flowing through various social networks, email programs and news sources. That means a sales person, real estate professional or journalist for example could prepare for an important meeting by locating all of the Tweets, email messages or recent news stories about key contacts.

"The user gains all of this insight from all of those different places and essentially spends no time to do it," explained Gist Chief Executive T.A. McCann. "We think that is pretty revolutionary in a lot of ways."

About 10,000 people have been testing the product, with McCann saying that they've incorporated a number of features based on the user feedback. McCann said the tool is mostly being used by people to organize their days, prepare for important meetings or find information from key contacts.

In a way, McCann said Gist is kind of like having the equivalent of a great executive assistant.

Gist -- which also is announcing integration with Salesforce.com -- isn't the only company thinking about this problem.

As we've pointed out, Google is positioning to attack information overload with Google Wave. Xobni is looking to help people better manage email messages. And Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz addressed the issue in her recent interview with CNBC, saying the next big thing on the Internet will be tools to help people manage their information intake in a more efficient manner.

"When you get up in the morning you gotta have your life a little bit organized," she said. That's also the pitch of Gist, with McCann saying that one of the key ways people have been using the service is to prepare for their days.

In May, Gist raised $6.75 million from Foundry Group, Vulcan Capital and others.

Seattle design studio Design Commission, put together this site of their favorite Seattle Architects.

http://seattlearchitectslist.com/firms/54-Domestic-Architecture

The site itself is nice and simple, but the content is pretty awesome.  Check out the Domestic Architecture page.  My husband works for as the finisher for Domestic Furniture.  Like those green stools above?  Yep, me too.

Fast Company featured an article by Julie Rutherford, highlighting successful efforts of social media tactics by large brands.

Check out the article here

I've had this Paul Arden book on my shelf for years and found myself reading it again. It's a simple read, featuring graphics and great typography to illustrate the point. Definitely a nice Sunday read to get your week going the right way. I particularly enjoyed the quote:

"The best piece of advice ever given was by the art director of Harper's Bazaar, Alexey Brodovich, to the young Richard Avedon, destined to become one of the world's greatest photographers. The advice was simple: *'ASTONISH ME.'* Bear these words in mind, and whatever you do will be creative."

A short and sweet video on quickly editing work in Illustrator CS4 - using multiple artboards! Hooray multiple artboards in one file, you're finally here!

Watch the video here

Advertising Agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London produced this commercial for Mentos gum. It is weirdly reminiscent of the famous banjo scene in the 70s movie "Deliverance" starring Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight.