Junior Art Director/Designer: Brand Response
AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah

Come work with one of the country’s most respected brands: AAA.

This job is at AAA headquarters in San Francisco. Please note that we (and this job) will be moving to Pleasant Hill in late 2009.

You’ll join a 14-person creative group committed to helping make the 100+ year old AAA brand speak with a fresh voice and make a positive impact on the lives of 4.3 million AAA Members in Northern California, Nevada & Utah.

Specific Skills

We’re looking for a junior art director/designer with:

• 2-5 years experience in developing consumer communications for major brands (agency or design firm experience preferred).

• experience producing direct-response communications, ideally this includes retail promotions and direct mail work.

• a portfolio that demonstrates a sensitivity to the interplay of concept, words and design. Online portfolio or PDF samples required.

• a strong background in print communications. Ideally this is complimented by an understanding of digital communications.

• a fondness for—or out-right love of—the AAA brand. A respect for AAA values, including workplace diversity.

Posted by Megan

And we thought writing a blog every day was hard ... then we find Embloggery, whose author is, you guessed it, stitching her (almost) daily entries. Sheesh.

The next time you need to communicate an important message, say it with cake! The Alphabet/Number Cake Pan allows you to create any letter or number using movable blocks in an aluminum pan.

Posted by Megan

Designer/Developer
Punchcut

We specialize in user interface design across all channels with a core focus on mobile user experience design.

If you’re looking to move beyond the web and design experiences for next-generation interfaces then Punchcut is the right place for you.

We’re looking for a designer with 3-5 years experience with portfolios that demonstrate not only conceptual thinking and unique creative solutions for complex interactive experiences but also demonstrate solid flash skills.

As a Designer at Punchcut, you will design projects across all channels and be responsible for understanding our client’s business and project goals, translating them into unique and thoughtful interactive experiences. The Designer will work with interaction designers and developers to implement visual design concepts into pixel-perfect, bullet-proof user interfaces that demonstrate a solid understanding of where visual design, interaction design, information architecture and technology come together to create smart, compelling and usable experiences across channels and devices. Your work will demonstrate innovative and appropriate navigation systems, solid typography, iconography, effective storytelling, an understanding of color theory with a meticulous attention to detail.

Posted by Megan

I saw brief preview of this stop-motion animated movie recently and thought it looked cool. Then I stumbled on the movie website created by Wieden+Kennedy and now my stomach aches in anticipation. Everything in the movie is made by hand: all the sets, all the puppets, all the props. There are little video snippets around the site that give a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the amazing miniatures. It will blow your mind!

Posted by Megan

Illustrator Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studio recently created Madame Moonbeam for Target's "Funny Fortunes" gift card. (Hey friends and family, my birthday is next week. You don't even have to put any money on the card and I'll love it!)

Posted by Megan

Business coach, MYOB speaker and networker extraordinaire Donna Karlin sent me this bit of wisdom and encouraged me to share. Thanks, Donna!
 
One of my favorite lines is, "If at first you don't succeed, try something you've already been successful at and then build on it. And if someone tells you it's impossible, then look them in the face and say 'Nothing is impossible! It just hasn't been invented yet. Let's just invent it!""

Doubting Thomases … they're prevalent in any organization, any field of practice, especially in a struggling economy. It takes building on some wave of success to keep them in line. I would reward people for screwing up, even if only for the reason they're trying, taking the plunge and diving into the deep end to see what will come to the surface. If you don't try you don't know if it's possible, and if you do the same old same old then you'll get the same results. Few companies can survive long-term on that.

Shadow coaches [like me] are anthropologists. The truth comes through us, not from us, and we make sense out of chaos. We help our clients look deeply into how any organization operates and then contextualize it for their worlds. We help create a vehicle for moving forward with energy and momentum. Sometimes it's not looking at doing new things; it's looking at doing things in a new way. You know where you're successful. How can you build on it? The wheel doesn't have to be reinvented, just perhaps improved. It's a matter of looking at how it can work smoother, smarter and be more inventive and creative. The wheel, however is the wheel and it fundamentally serves a purpose.

What would it mean to those you worked with if you could take what's already working and make it amazing? Just what do you have to do to make it happen?
 

Senior Graphic Designer
Gunn Jerkens Advertising

A Long Beach, CA advertising agency seeks an experienced, fast and talented senior graphic designer to bolster our art department. We deal heavily in designing visually compelling ads, brochures, print collateral, web design etc., and need someone with expertise in these areas along with the flexibility to branch out when needed.

This is not an entry-level position. We are looking for a seasoned designer with 7+ years of design experience. The qualified candidate should possess experience with logos, color, brochures, newspaper/magazine ads and web design; a hands-on approach and positive, problem-solving attitude with an acute attention to detail.

Posted by Megan

Gap and Pantone have paired up to offer a colorful array of T-shirts at Gap’s rotating concept store on 54th Street and 5th Avenue in New York City. They even have a shirt in "mimosa," Pantone's 2009 color of the year.

Posted by Megan