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 Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Blog Love
I just fell in love with a blog called Hula Seventy, written by Andrea in Portland, OR. I don't think she's a designer, but she's extremely creative and likes to create lists of creative challenges for herself. Get some great idea from 37 things to do before I turn 38. 2. make 25 small collages 5. hang the wall of inspiration 13. take a photography class 14. experiment with cross processing 24. spend an afternoon at a museum by myself 25. develop three rolls of film a month 26. sample a cereal-covered doughnut from voodoo doughnuts
 Posted by Megan Creativity
5/7/2008 1:58:22 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Loving Vintage Design
As I noted in yesterday's post about competition judging, we're seeing lots of vintage elements and inspiration these days -- the most successful designs update that old imagery with a modern (and not ironic, thank you very much) twist. If you're looking for some retro design eye-candy, check out a couple of sites we've stumbled across recently: The German-based web design-focused Smashing Magazine has a gallery of retro goodies. (Thanks to the HOW Forum for the link.) And GrainEdit.com features vintage children's books and other ephemera (like these gorgeous Israeli stamps from the 1970s), plus modern works that carry that same aesthetic. The site also includes interviews with current designers, like the guys from Wink in Minneapolis, whose work echoes the past in a cool way.  Creativity
4/22/2008 8:41:02 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Friday, April 11, 2008
Creative Agency Workspaces
Need a little inspiration or just want to drool? Take a look at the collection of creative agency workspaces on This Ain't No Disco, a blog dedicated to providing a peek into the best offices in the world. Here's a look into San Francisco-based Chen Design:  Posted by Megan Creativity
4/11/2008 8:31:49 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Monday, April 07, 2008
Ikea Design Stories
The new Ohio Ikea just opened less than half an hour from my house and I braved the crazy weekend crowd on Sunday to check it out. But before I went, I logged on to the website to get directions. While I was there, I came across a link that said " Ikea Madness" and I had to click. What I found was a great little section all about the Ikea designers with stories about how specific products were developed. It's an interesting peek inside the creative process.   Posted by Megan Creativity
4/7/2008 8:35:28 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Thursday, March 27, 2008
Best Opening Credits
Creativity
3/27/2008 8:58:33 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Color Inspiration
Creativity
3/25/2008 11:42:50 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Monday, March 24, 2008
A Crest for Your Car
If you're a Scion driver, that is. (My fellow blogger, Megan, should show this to her husband, who steers a Scion to his web-design job.) Advertising/marketing firm StrawberryFrog developed a website for die-hard drivers to create a coat of arms or crest for their trusty Scions. ScionSpeak.com allows users to play with graphic elements created by graffiti artist Tristan Eaton, then post their designs in an online gallery or download them to print and apply to their cars. via NYTimes.com Creativity
3/24/2008 8:43:01 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, March 04, 2008
What Do You Want?
New York City-based artist couple Justin and Christine know exactly what they want so they paint the objects and sell them for what said items would retail for in the real world. They've just posted new March Wants like this one: "Drinks On Us" for $500.  Posted by Megan Creativity
3/4/2008 12:11:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Monday, February 25, 2008
Temporary Type
Creativity | Typography
2/25/2008 11:25:40 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Friday, February 22, 2008
Zine and Noted
Over on the HOW Forum, folks are celebrating the arrival of HOWie Zine No. 11, the alphabet edition. See what all the fuss is about here and see pix of the project here.  Posted by Bryn
Creativity
2/22/2008 11:38:41 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Things I Have Learned
Creativity
2/20/2008 1:06:05 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Friday, January 18, 2008
Art On Fire
I get a great email newsletter called Design Arts Daily from American Illustration and American Photography. Today it featured the work of photographer Sara Pickering. Her most recent work consists of images of burning homes taken as part of her work as the artist in residence at the UK Fire Service College. The pictures are mysterious and haunting and beautiful.   Posted by Megan Creativity
1/18/2008 8:29:25 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, January 09, 2008
HOW Online Exclusive
Great Expectations by Todd Henry For some artists, our expectations of ourselves and our work form a
subconscious barrier to full, free creativity. In my work with creative
pros, I've uncovered three main sources of potentially unhealthy
expectations.
Unhealthy Expectation No. 1: Our heroes
Many of us began making art because we were inspired by others to
do so. If we're not careful, however, our "hero worship" can become a
creative noose. We can easily begin to think that our work is sub-par
because it doesn't seem to measure up to the invisible standard we've
unknowingly set. In his incredible book "Free Play," Stephen Nachmanovich
writes, "It's great to sit on the shoulders of giants, but don't let
the giants sit on YOUR shoulders! There's no room for their legs to
dangle."
In other words, we can carry the weight of our heroes on our
shoulders and feel the burden to carry their work forward. When we do
this, we're denying our own creative skills and passions and trying to
live up to someone else's standard. We're also discounting the
failures, doubts and missteps that our heroes made on the way to
creative success. It's great to strive for brilliance, but it's also
important to be patient with our own growth process.
Read more. Posted by Megan Creativity | HOW Magazine
1/9/2008 2:40:16 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Thursday, January 03, 2008
Peace Out
Fifty years ago, Gerald Holtom designed what is today one of our most recognizable symbols: the peace sign. To celebrate, www.happybirthdaypeace.com is hosting an online gallery where visitors can reinterpret and upload their own version of
Holtom’s 50-year-old design. So take a creative break and contribute yourself!  Creativity
1/3/2008 2:44:20 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Friday, December 21, 2007
Behind the Scenes: February Cover
 So, just how passionate are you about type? Like it enough to pay eight dollars for a two hour movie about one font? Love it enough to get your favorite typeface permanently tattooed to your skin? This is the excitement and enthusiasm for type which we set out to illustrate on our February cover. Our photographer, Deogracias Lerma ( www.dlermaphoto.com), and I set out to see what the father-son duo at Designs by Dana ( www.danatattoo.com) could show us about a traditional approach to tattooing. Turns out Dana, owner and tattoo veteran, and his son, Jason Brunson, tattoo artist and illustrator, are as passionate about tattoos as we are about type. They were excited to create this old-school, customized tattoo of our logo complete with traditional tattoo motifs like a swallow, rose and arrow. After spending about three hours creating this artwork on our lovely model’s back, it was time to shoot. Check out some behind the scene shots from this issues cover shoot below. 
Posted by
Bridgid Creativity | HOW Magazine
12/21/2007 12:14:27 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Quirky Christmas Cards of Yore
I just got word of a really interesting find: Designer Mollie Siu-Chong's friend found some amazing homemade Christmas cards tucked away in her grandmother's house. "They were made by
Ted Sears, Disney animator from 1931-58,
and feature Sears, his wife Vee, and
their daughter, Marcia. His IMDB bio
states: 'To amuse himself, Ted
still drew for his friends and made
props for the plays his daughter
appeared in - he also produced his
family's Christmas cards which employed
his old love for trick photography an
special effects - these holiday cards
took months to prepare and were awaited
with great anticipation by over three
hundred recipients. (he lettered the
envelopes individually, turning each
name into calligraphy.)'"    Mollie's curious whether anyone knows where Marcia, Ted's daughter
who was featured prominently in many of the found cards, is now?
Creativity | Just for Fun
12/12/2007 10:29:17 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Well-Designed Wine
Portfolio magazine has an interesting little story about wine label design and how makers are taking more risks to make their products stand out on the crowded shelves.  Posted by Megan
Creativity
12/5/2007 10:26:01 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Overcoming Barriers To Creativity
by The Creative Group
Breaking new creative ground can be a challenging proposition for
designers. In a recent survey by our company, eight out of 10 in-house
designers said it's difficult to convince senior management to accept
ideas that deviate from the prevailing corporate style. And more than a
quarter of respondents cited their company's unwillingness to take
risks as the most frequent obstacle to creativity.
On the bright side, many in-house designers feel they can
exercise more creativity than they did five years ago. However, it
remains difficult to break certain barriers. Following are seven
strategies for overcoming challenges and enhancing creative freedom. Posted by Megan Creativity
11/27/2007 10:03:10 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Monday, October 29, 2007
Winning Letterhead
Strathmore just annouced the winners of its third quarter letterhead design competition. My favorite is the silver winner created by Milwaukee, WI-based Becker Design. You can see all the winners at the Strathmore site. Just click on "Strathmore Graphics Gallery."  Posted by Megan Creativity
10/29/2007 9:13:56 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Thursday, October 18, 2007
Inspiration Afternoon
Yesterday, the HOW staff took the afternoon off and went searching for ideas, trends and cool stuff in Cincinnati's design-y stores and galleries (yes, there are such things here). Here's a bit of what caught our eyes: Carmen was fascinated by gorgeous, elaborate chandeliers, like the ones we saw at High Street (by far our fave stop):  Megan, ever the science and nature fanatic, loved the insect specimens encased in blocks of resin. (Sorry, couldn't find a photo.) Bridgid and I were drawn to the new trend in wallpaper: flat patterns rendered in huge scale on colored backgrounds, in amazing color combinations, like this scheme from Designers Guild:  Sarah was keen on all the eco-friendly goods at a shop called Park + Vine in Cincinnati's burgeoning Gateway district:  Creativity | HOW Magazine
10/18/2007 9:37:34 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Bunny-licious
This TV spot airing in Europe for Sony's Bravia brand features stop-motion animation showing Play-Doh bunnies taking over NYC. Freakin' amazing. Via VeryShortList.  Creativity
10/9/2007 11:32:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Wednesday, October 03, 2007
DIY ON D*S
Design*Sponge (my all time favorite blog) just launched a new column called "DIY Wednesdays." Every week, Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom of the Curiosity Shoppe will share a new project. The first project is a wooden wine box lined with gorgeous paper to use for storage. It would be great on a desk or office wall (if you're lucky enough to have a real wall). 
Posted by Megan Creativity
10/3/2007 3:42:19 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Thursday, September 27, 2007
Collage A Day
Doing something every day is an abitious creative challenge and one that more artists and designers seem to be taking on. I just came across A Collage A Day where artists Randel Plowman posts a new mini-collage every day. Best of all, each the 4-inch by 4-inch creations is available for $25.  Posted by Megan Creativity
9/27/2007 2:59:13 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Thursday, September 20, 2007
Pretty As A Picture
Oh Joy! (one of my regular blog stops) had a post today about designer Rebecca Thuss (former style director of Martha Stewart Weddings) with a link to ThussFarrell, a design and photography site of collaborative work with her husband Patrick Farrell. I spent some time looking at the photography side of the site and was taken with some of the lovely image juxtapositions in the portfolio there. Stop by for some tastey eye candy.  Posted by Megan Creativity
9/20/2007 2:11:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Thursday, August 09, 2007
Creative Challenge
Speak Up has posted the latest Word It creative challenge. August's word is "gender." If you're looking for more visual stimulation, check out The Word It Book. It's full of visual challenges and solutions sure to spark your imagination on an impossibly hot summer day. 
Posted by Megan Creativity
8/9/2007 11:27:51 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Digging The Skulls
Posted by Meganvia Craft Richmond, VA-based designer Noah Scalin of ALR Design has an awesome creative challenge blog called Skull-A-Day. Noah has pledged to design a new skull every day for a year and the results are already interesting.  Creativity
7/10/2007 11:01:43 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Friday, June 22, 2007
I Wish I Could Read Italian . . .
Creativity
6/22/2007 11:43:41 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Book Covers
Posted by Meganvia Oh Joy! Book By Its Cover is a blog about . . . book design. Its author is talented pattern designer Julia Rothman. Her carefully curated selection of books is absolutely inspiring.
 Creativity
5/29/2007 1:09:50 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The Art of Coffee
Posted by MeganTwo things designers love—coffee and creativity—come together in this collection of cappuccino art images.  Creativity
5/8/2007 11:06:35 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Epiphanies with Drawing
Posted by
Carmen
So, back to the Y Conference I had the chance to attend about a week and a half ago. If you’ve never had the chance to check out this West-Coast event, one thing to say for it is that it’s a really great size for 1) getting to know people and 2) getting to experience everything that goes on. They keep the size at a couple hundred, and everyone watches every speaker together in one big lecture room. (The conference took place this year on the University of San Diego campus.) And another aspect of this bigger-isn’t-always-better mentality is that everyone participates in what’s called a “Thinkshop” on the second day of the conference. There are multiple sessions to choose from, and many imply a hands-on aspect that takes information into a DIY-atmosphere. There were Thinkshops about stamp design, collaborating with photographers and hand lettering. About a week before I headed out to San Diego, I got an email telling me I still needed to register for one of these Thinkshops. There were five to choose from, and I narrowed it down to Stefan Bucher’s “The Beauty of Multiples,” because I was familiar with and admired his work (he’s designed one of our covers and illustrated a fun, interactive worksheet/feature for us about discovering what you love and how to steer your career that way). Evidently, I didn’t read the description too closely, though. Because when I showed up, I discovered that I—with no drawing abilities beyond hearts and stars and swirly letters (I’m an editor, remember)—had selected the Thinkshop that required you not to draw just one item—but 100. Now, last year, you may remember that HOW’s August 2005 issue was themed “All About Design & Illustration.” Danny Gregory penned a feature about drawing in a journal everyday to energize your creativity. And he cautioned to not edit your drawing—to just draw. That was impetus enough for editors Bryn and Megan: On papers, one would sketch an impressive picture of her Starbucks cup or draw what someone in the room was wearing. Soon, doodles would fill the page. I, however, didn’t bite. So imagine me sitting in a room full of professional designers and being told, for the next two hours, to draw (what they, in the brochure, referred to as “zen drawing”). The thought crossed my mind to get up and leave. But then I wondered what I’d do instead, so I decided to give the old college try. I considered the things I typically doodle in meetings (because we all do it): Usually it consists of outlining headlines with puffy clouds and jagged lines. The most exciting it becomes is adding in flowers and leaves and maybe a unicorn (seriously). (Evidently, my drawing never really progressed past 6th doodling.) So I decided to start there, drawing what Stefan described looked like “an herb garden.” (I thought that was very nice of him to say.) At my table, the guy next to me was drawing a panoply of intricate hearts (which made me think of a Valentine’s Day mailer by Marian Bantjes). Across the table, one girl was drawing a slew of eyes and another girl 100 faces. Other people in the class were drawing gerbils and cupcake homes for them; all kinds of airplanes or jet fighters; and another drew 100 things she missed about home. Suffice it to say my “herb garden” was quickly paling in comparison. But then (because I couldn’t think of any more reiterations of leaves and flowers) I started to pay attention to my tablemates and the way they were working. I started to see how they weren’t merely drawing 100 things, but how they were using those 100 things to tell a single story—how they pulled them all together to form one narrative. For instance, I saw how the 100 hearts didn’t just stand alone, but how they fit together, one atop the other, in an intricate sort of dance. The 100 faces all melded together, as a collective sort of memory—a medley of moments in time. (Stefan’s posted images of everyone’s drawings on his blog.)  So, I started looking at my clusters of sprouts and fallen leaves and four-leaf clovers differently. I tried to figure out how to bring them all together and make them stand as one, not 100. I started weaving in huge, curly-cue ferns and flitting insects and oversized fronds that wrapped around the flora, and an idea that spoke to the wilderness and mystery that’s an essence of nature.  I still don’t consider myself prone to take up drawing as a regular hobby, but this experience gave me a new, realized perspective, and truly I think that’s what it’s all about. (These photos were taken by new conference pal Kirby Yau; you can see others from the Y Conference on his site). Creativity | Events | HOW Magazine | Illustration
4/11/2007 10:31:39 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Friday, March 30, 2007
brilliant book design
Posted by Triciavia Readymade Judging books by their covers was never so easy. Fwis, a graphic design group in Portland, Denver and Brooklyn, has a very simple, totally visual book cover blog. They have tons of gorgeous covers for pure eye candy or if you prefer to dig deeper, a few features on book arts.  Creativity
3/30/2007 10:06:23 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Designed By Nature
Creativity
3/28/2007 8:40:20 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Gorgeous Photography
Creativity
3/20/2007 4:20:31 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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 Wednesday, March 07, 2007
SketchFighter
Posted by MeganI can't help but think that if Napoleon Dynamite got to play SketchFighter, a new game from Ambrosia Software, he'd say it was pretty much his favorite thing ever.  Creativity
3/7/2007 12:28:52 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Visual Inspiration
Posted by MeganComic Abstraction, on exhibit at MoMA from March 4 - June 11, explores the intersection of comic and animation imagery with contemporary, abstract art.
 Creativity
3/6/2007 10:09:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Thursday, March 01, 2007
The Beauty of Security
Creativity
3/1/2007 3:26:44 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, February 21, 2007
my hero
Posted by TriciaAs a magazine designer, I've long considered Rodrigo Sanchez a hero for his Metrópoli covers. So, I was excited this week to see Armin Vit's interview with him on Speak Up. We are in the planning stages of the next cover here at HOW and it was refreshing to hear some of the same excitements and struggles. Even if you don't have time to read the whole thing, be sure check out the gallery and do click on each cover to see the detail in the enlarged versions. His concepts will knock your socks off.
 Creativity
2/21/2007 10:30:29 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Thursday, January 11, 2007
HOW Hits Close To Home
Posted by MeganI just got a great email from Guy Kelly, one of the book designers who works here at HOW's parent company. "I just saw the February issue of HOW, and the article about Fingerprint. Interestingly enough, without knowing about this book, I recently made a book cover with hand-made type myself."
 Nice work! Creativity
1/11/2007 1:38:57 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Thursday, January 04, 2007
Keep Up The Tempo
Posted by MeganTempo, a new online magazine, is just another example of how sophisticated design is being created by more and more people. A group of Canadian high school students started the zine as their final senior project, but decided to keep it going online after they graduated. We'll been keeping an eye out for the next issue!
 Creativity
1/4/2007 9:31:51 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Thursday, December 14, 2006
Constant Creativity
Posted by Meganvia Boing Boing The work of 40 New Orleans artists has been collected in a 96-page, limited-edition magazine called Constance, which "explores what might come in a place that strives to redefine the present as it reinvents the past." Check out some great contemporary design, illustration, photography and other art in this independently produced publication.   Creativity
12/14/2006 11:44:37 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Monday, November 06, 2006
Blogging Creativity
Creativity
11/6/2006 12:12:19 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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