HDN inspiration

In like a lion...

I wish I had a dime for every emergency, rush, immediate, ASAP, due yesterday project that has come in HDN's door.  Projects arriving with a roar is something we are extremely familiar with, and I have to admit, do quite well.  We know urgency because we met it years ago working for a large PR firm and it hasn't left our side.  As we say, it's the nature of our business.  Designers are at the end of the food chain which means we better be fast.  Fortunately for our clients as well as our reputation, we are!  "Meeting deadlines that defy the fundamental laws of design."  This is a direct quote from our website that rings true weekly.  Over the past 20 years, we have tamed lots of lions by using our vast knowledge of how to get projects completed in a short amount of time.  First we focus, then act quickly and then call upon vendors needed that we have developed long-lasting relationships with to react with our same level of urgency.  Knowledge. Teamwork. Results.  And in the end what the client sees is their lion transformed into a lamb. 

Who the hell is Roy G. Biv?

(aka: Color lesson 101)

Or in other words... red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. We all learned the colors of the rainbow when we were little, and I believe it is the last color lesson many of you received. I was reminded of this as I witnessed a double rainbow on December 27 and started discussing colors with my 14-year-old daughter. ROYGBIV. Amazing what nature can create. And, just as impressive is what science and technology (and Pantone) has done with the colors we use daily.  Let’s start with what most of you all know best — RGB (red, green, blue).  RGB is defined by Wikipedia as the “additive color model in which red, green, and blue light is added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors.”  When you take a photograph with your digital camera, phone or whatever handheld device you possess, you are taking an image using the RGB format.  This format is usually saved as a JPG and can be put into Word or PowerPoint documents or for online usage.  Amazing, right?  Well, for those of us in the design world it gets better and sometimes more complicated when we add CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black).  The print world combines these four colors using various percentages to create a wide range of color.  Most TIFF files are CMYK, and what we use to send to “print” — also known as four-color printing — the four colors being cyan, magenta, yellow and black.  Amazing again, right?  Now, as you can imagine crossing over from RGB to CMYK will usually never give you the same exact color.  Our job is to do our best to adjust numbers and colors so that the colors you see in a corporate PowerPoint presentation are close to the colors of the printed corporate brochure sitting in front of your audience.  It’s not a perfect science, but then again... what could be more perfect than a rainbow?

Image above shows our HDN red broken down into RGB and CMYK values.

It’s the spread-the-cheer time of year!

Did you ever get those “How to draw” books as a kid? I think I asked for a different one every Christmas: How to draw people, How to draw horses, How to draw cartoons. Now at Christmas time I have the fun of making my own sparkly, snow-filled animations for many of our terrific clients. I don’t use a pencil or magic marker anymore. It’s a little more complicated than that but the idea is the same…a simple animated sequence that plays quickly like an old-fashioned flip-book. These days I use Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash to make the animations come to life.

Here are a few examples of this year’s creations, spreading cheer to offices everywhere!

http://www.hdnstudio.com/clients/augustconsulting/August%20_bus_holiday.html

 

http://www.hdnstudio.com/clients/THG/THG-holiday_2011_3.html

 

http://www.hdnstudio.com/pmpa/holiday/pmpa_holiday_11.html

 

Left or Right?

Being in a highly political town you may think this blog is about Democrats and Republicans. I gladly assure it is about a left and right of another nature.

Post rotator cuff surgery on my right (and dominant) shoulder, I find myself in new territory as I am tasked with the challenge to do EVERYTHING left handed. While I was terrified of how this would affect my fast-paced work ethic, I found that it has given me a much-needed wake up call.

Life in the right-hand lane is unknown territory for me. I have had to slow down quite a bit because I have to think about every move rather than have it be instinctual. This carries over to other aspects of my life. Just the other day my husband made an observation that I have been pointing out more things on our usual routes around town — might I add these things have been right where I am noticing them for years. I didn't realize I was so fixated on where I needed to be that I was forgetting the fabulous journey. There are many clichés here you all know — I just never thought I was actually living one.

With today's left-lane environment, let's not wait for a surgery to slow us down. Whether you are left or right handed, STOP. Take a minute to appreciate the simple things — such as what is immediately around you, how easy it is to sign your name, or where the first snowflake falls. And if you really want an adventure, try doing something with your opposite hand and notice how your brain awakes! It just may surprise and inspire you.

HDN is now 9!

Turning 9 is really just another number closer to the much anticipated 10.  I wonder why that is?  Is it because 10 is two digits instead of one and an even number because who really wants to be odd?  Or, is it because "nein" in German means "no" and who really wants to be negative?  Not us.  So, we celebrate turning 9 and find many inspirations in doing so.

Did you know that when we design we often follow the rule of odd?  Five images to a page instead of four.  Three rings in a logo instead of two.  There are many other famous nine scenarios that seem to provide a better balance and design inspiration.  Nine supreme court justices.  Nine baseball players on a field.  Nine colored billiard balls.  And as we learned it, there were nine planets in our solar system.  Nine is a great number and one we will enjoy...at least until we're 10!

HDN takes GOLD

HDN does it again — not once, but TWICE.  On April 29, we received two gold awards from the Hermes Creative Awards 2010 competition for the identities we developed for MINDlink Foundation and Rainmaker Fundraising.  We really enjoy creating new organization identities, especially when the founders and the reasons behind their endless efforts inspire us. 

MINDlink's inspiration came to us through Catie Lake.  Catie suffers from a rare disorder that robbed her at age 20 of her future. Now unable to speak or walk, Catie inspires us through her drawings that were the foundation to this identity.  We can only hope this award inspires her to create more works of art!

Rainmaker Fundraising is the brain child of our friend Larry Wigger. His creative vision and efforts to save the world truly inspire us to reach for the gold.  We've enjoyed keeping up with his adventures and good doings from Haiti, as well as, seeing the brand bring new hope where it is needed most.  Keep up the good work, Larry!

 

HDN turns 8

Eight has always been my favorite number.  It's so...well, it's so symmetrical.  And, when rotated 90 degrees becomes the sign for infinity.  Not to mention there are several famous 8s:  the magic eight ball (prominently displayed in Chris' office and often used), Crazy 8s card game, and people with type eight personalities — including Pablo Picasso.

A lot has happened in our eight years.  9/11, moving to our own location, signing new clients, finding the right team dynamic, taking on the Web world, and now, economic challenges.  We've also had our share of business decisions, long-term plans, short-term plans, and even the occasional "what do we do for lunch today?".  These are all important and at times, stressful. 

Happily, we found a groove.  And now that we have, it's time to shake it up.  First, we're taking on the GSA schedule (more on this to come).  Second, we created our first marketing piece. 

And lastly, we've donated a commissioned piece, painted by our own talented designer Joan Cox, to our long-time client the American Horticultural Society for auction at their Fall gala.  To read more about AHS, Joan and the painting visit Washington Home & Garden online.

All of these three things are in answer to the economic challenges we face.  And when faced with a challenge...HDN rises to the occassion — if even we are only 8.

in • spi • ra • tion

A movie scene that my family often recites is the one from "Night Shift" where Michael Keaton tries to break down the word "prostitution" in his black board speech to a room full of working women. It is quite comical. And while it is not quite the word I had in mind here, it is a great movie about being an entrepreneur, an "idea man", and discovering something by starting with the roots.

Inspiration is all around us. Chris finds it in nature's tiny details; Joan by a blank canvas and the future it holds; Cyndi from DC's energy and diversity; and I find my inspiration during my morning run along the Potomac. All in all, we're just artists with a passion to do what we love for clients that allow us to transpose our inspirations. That is the greatest form of entrepreneurship one can find. And for eight years, we've been doing it at HDN.

With this, we invite you to take a look at some of our most recent works by visiting our updated Web site: www.hdnstudio.com. Also, we hope you return to this blog to learn more about us as designers as well as get the latest tips for stretching your dollar during this economic hardship, find out about new ways to deliver your message and possibly discover a few tricks from our trade.

We hope you gather ideas from our site, learn a few things from our blog and are truly inspired by everything in life.