in 'x' number of years...

On a lovely Sunday afternoon shopping rendezvous, I mentioned to my friend Josie that if I ever started my own business I would call it 'Ampersand.' I love the idea of having a brand that stand for infinite possibilities. She shared with me her desire to open her own shop one day. And the following series of connections unraveled...

The ever-informative Wikipedia filled me in on my favorite word and symbol:

An ampersand (&) is a logogram representing the conjunction 'and.' The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for 'and.'

And that's just the beginning of it. I'm a history junkie, so the origination of this twisty wonder in the first century A.D. is an intriguing quality.

As such a recognizable symbol, there are endless possibilities for design innovation. Designers often get bored with their own identity (visual identity - not themselves) so the convenience to morph a standard form any way you want is great. My mom is celebrating her graphic design company's (Ruzow Graphics) 25th year in business and it's been so entertaining to see her refresh her logo based on a season or holiday – whatever moves her. Note to mom: you should archive these on your website like Google does with their logos. Bottom line: the ease of refreshing a business's logo while maintaining it's core identity is incredible. Hence, the attractiveness of Ampersand as a company name.

The idea of creating your own brand to establish and grow is incredibly exciting. Having seen the growth of Ruzow Graphics, I've seen the perks of creating on your own terms. Anything that pops into my head could be considered 'on-brand' because it would be my brand! Ah, to dream...

Josie and I discussed this as we browsed Crate & Barrel for the umpteenth time, admiring the endless colors and cool way everything is set up in the store (which Josie informed me is called merchandising design). This led to the idea of how perfect a name Ampersand is for a home decor store. Think about the mental to-do lists of things you want to do in/to your home. 'I want to re-do the bathroom and decorate my bedroom and  revamp the kitchen table.' See the trend? And, and, ampersand. 

So in 'x' number of years, Josie hopes to open her own store. I hope to have a business called Ampersand. Maybe we'll merge these ambitions with a store named Ampersand! Something to ponder about the future. 

decorative arm art.

Shantell Martin was one of the more captivating and engaging speakers at the PSFK 2010 Conference yesterday (more to come on that). Shantell 'creates delicate, intricate, other-worldly landscapes' and 'expands conventional definitions of drawing.' The global attraction to her work is incredible, having shared her art in her native England, Japan, US and more. After her chat about 'Rediscovering the Creative Seed' she demonstrated her approach of just creating what your body feels by drawing on conference-goers in the lunch room. Clearly I had to get in on the action and spread a little Gawker Artists hype at the same time. Enjoy the final masterpiece below and check out Shantell's work (@shantell_martin).

daily drop cap meets cake.

Jessica Hische's Daily Drop Cap is already addicting enough. Now she has a cake for links service?! This girl is smart. And talented. I kind of want to get this S framed for my wall – it matches my room so well!

love affair with cb2.

First of all, love their navigation. It's so on-brand without being confusing. Some websites over do it with the insidery lingo resulting in pure WTFness. CB2 accomplishes clever simplicity with their lifestyle-themed navigation headers.

Second... such innovative design. Check out this eye-catching lime green table. Functionality is an art form. CB2 has mastered it. I've been looking for a small, collapsable table to eat dinner on since my apartment is too small to have a dining room table. The ones at Bed Bath and Beyond were way too boring. I know TV-dinner-table isn't this product's intended purpose, but I think it'll do the trick!

it has to be said.

Excited for this season to start. Hopefully I'll go to a game (or two!) with my dad.

Dontchya know, Robinson Cano.

GO YANKEES!

typographic sex appeal.

My friend, Sam (TOS - not me!) and I watched the Science of Sex Appeal on the Discovery Channel this weekend and inevitably, a dorky question about font choice popped into my head. I know, bizarre that 'font' and 'sex appeal' should occupy the same thought... Anyway!

There was a segment of the show focusing on how men and women react to different voices. Two women could say the same exact sentence, but the unique tone and rhythm of one woman's voice could attract a man more than the other.

Sometimes I think font- and typography-obsessed culture could form a whole different species based on the physical reactions people have to fonts. Far-fetched, yes. Illogical? I don't think so. Weird and probably shouldn't be shared with the public? Definitely. Whatever. Maybe a woman can have a stronger attraction to one man over another based on their typographic representation of a word. Fonts do have personalities! And maybe font choice is a facet of sex appeal for some people.

I don't think I'm that bad, though. I can safely say I've been attracted to people who think it's ok to use Comic Sans and Papyrus for... anything.

With that dose of weirdness, I leave you with the a font lover favorite from College Humor:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

disclosure (r)evolution.

I recently started looking into the developing regulations for sponsored social media and the blogosphere. FCC and FTC regulations have always been a societal point of contention, but creating disclosure rules must have been more clear cut in the post-computer world when publishing a message to the masses was a privilege of access, money and/or skill. Access to journalists and reporters; money to pay for coverage, ad space, etc.; skill to convey the message effectively and eloquently. Then the blogosphere exploded, diminishing the degree to which the aforementioned access, money and skill were needed to reach a sizable group of eyes. Access comes with a computer or smartphone and an Internet hookup; money doesn't need to be a factor if your writing isn't directly tied to your income; skill is debatable, but certainly not required for publishing.

Guidelines and rules seem to be developing too slowly for the influx of voices present on the Internet. Bloggers are required to clearly inform their readers of a paid message, but does that apply to John Doe with one follower – his mom? How many readers, followers, etc. does a person need to be held accountable by the FTC and FCC for disclosing if a message has been paid for? The girl who Conan O'Brien decided to follow saw her influential reach exponentially expand to 17k+ people with the blink of an eye. Does this formerly private citizen with no press credibility or industry clout need to say if Apple paid her to tweet about how great her new MacBook Pro is? Maybe it comes down to whether someone is a public figure or a private person.

Then there's the issue of private versus professional online identities of the journalists who did, or could have, written in the pre-computer era. Magazine, newspaper and broadcast journalists have developed their own online personas not tied to their employers – with sometimes unduplicated followers. If a NYT writer is approached as a private citizen to tweet on their private account about an upcoming event or product launch in exchange for some form of payment, will they be held liable if the paid nature of their message isn't disclosed.

Oy, that was a whole lot of rambling. Questions and scenarios are still mentally racking up, but at this point I think the most interesting approach would be to observe how disclosure surfaces naturally, before regulations are solidified. ReadWriteWeb recently reported a FTC supported WOMMA regulation that sponsored tweets have to include #spon #paid or #samp depending on the nature of the message. I haven't really seen this yet, but the presumably clear cut indications are already being dubbed unfit for clarity.

I'm sure the answers to my questions are somewhere on the interweb of knowledge already. Why? Because someone had access – even though their skill might be questionable. I would love to retake my Communications Law class after nearly a year working for an online publisher and seeing these questions come up in the real world.