ALR designletter [5.4]
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Welcome to a new issue of the ALR designletter. As always we welcome your comments, suggestions, criticism and/or praise. Thanks for reading.
Noah Scalin, president
ALR design
socially conscious graphic design
http://www.ALRdesign.com
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[01] ALR NEWS
While ALR is known for our design work, we also offer a wide range of illustration services as well. We now have a promotional package available to anyone who is interested in hiring us for illustration work. If you are interested please call us at 804.321.6677. To see a preview of our illustration work visit http://www.alrdesign.com/illustration
[02] ACTIVISM
Stop global warming from your swivel chair. That’s the idea behind Stop Global Warming’s yearlong virtual march on Washington. You can follow along from your monitor as the organization highlights cities and solutions for climate change. In between stops you can monitor celebrity marchers like Al Gore, Arnold Schwartzenegger and even Leonardo DiCaprio to see who attracts more pledges. There’ve been eight stops so far and it ends in D.C. on Earth Day 2006. Check in or donate at http://www.stopglobalwarming.org.
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In issue 5.2, the Designletter included a link to Computer Take Back, an organization that was pushing for Apple to institute a recycling program for their notoriously short-lived iPods. Since then, Apple has announced that iPod owners can return their old units to any Apple retail location for domestically processed recycling and a 10 percent discount on their next iPod that day. Computer Take Back now wants Apple to go further and take back all their products for safe recycling. Let Steve Jobs know how you feel at http://action.computertakeback.com/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10205
[03] WAR + PEACE
What would the war look like without the U.S.? The interactive map at http://www.obleek.com/iraq/index.html lets viewers watch as small red bursts mark where fatalities have occurred in Iraq over the course of the war. You can re-run the clock, filter out place names or compare the impact from individual members of the coalition of the willing and see just how much damage Latvia has done so far.
[04] DESIGN
This Halloween, think stencils not costumes. Soft Skull Press (http://www.softskull.com/) is looking for easy to copy graphics and illustrations for its forthcoming book “Reproduce and Revolt!,” and they need them by October 31. The project is supposed to be used as a visual toolbox to help activists and organizers make their stencils and T-shirts sharper than ever before. Soft Skull’s looking for grayscale, high-resolution images no larger than six by six inches from artists of all backgrounds and skill levels. Send your radical clip art to reproduce@justseeds.org or mail it to Josh MacPhee/R&R, P.O. Box 476971, Chicago, IL 60647.
[05] ADVERTISING
A woman in a blue bikini drapes herself over an inflated workout ball. Is she selling gym memberships? Deodorant? Liposuction? Try beer. Test your ad savvy at http://www.kellycrystal.com/impressions where graphic designer Kelly Klocke has removed all the copy and logos and just leaves the women in a series of print advertisements. The site, which has a bulletin board for discussion, is an excellent teaching tool.
[06] ART
There’s more than one reason to go to a cheap motel. The brave people at http://www.secretwalltattoos.com have added to the motel mystique by leaving stealth wall art directly behind whatever mass-produced art the management has put up. Another tool for the subversive’s bag of tricks, just don’t tell anyone we told you to do it.
[07] RESOURCE
A Google search can bring you information about a topic, but an Activista search can bring you information about the people resisting it. The search engine links to primarily activist and vegan/vegetarian pages and lets you suggest sites, instead of just linking to the most popular links like Google does. Check it out for yourself at http://www.activista.org.
[08] HOW TO
Let your creative work take on a life of its own. Unlike traditional copyrights, Creative Commons issues flexible copyrights for creative work so you can safely sample and reference other people’s work and let them use bits of yours. Creative Commons has even developed an easy tool to help you mark your audio and visual material with information about your license in six simple steps. It also lets you upload Creative Commons protected material to the Internet Archive for public use. Download your copy at http://creativecommons.org/tools/ccpublisher.
[09] COMMUNITY
Having more eyes on the street is an accepted crime deterrent in urban planning. Thus the anonymous architects and planners at http://www.heavytrash.blogspot.com decided to help neighbors of gated communities in Los Angeles feel a little safer by erecting viewing stations on the outskirts of the locked compounds that surround them. People on the outside can now look over the gates and keep an eye on what’s going on inside.
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Not another Starbucks! The Delocator is a web application that will help you find all the independently owned coffee shops and cafes in your area. The organization hopes you’ll copy their database code and start new ones listing other kinds of socially responsible stores and venues, but coffee first at http://www.delocator.net
[10] SHOPPING
Blackspot sneakers have a red dot on the tip of the toe marking the spot where the shoes “kick megacorporate ass.” The message (from the company that brought you Adbusters magazine) might be a little rough, but the shoes themselves are environmentally and labor friendly. The sneaks are made out of organic or recycled materials in a union shop and everyone who buys a pair automatically becomes a voting shareholder in The Blackspot Anticorporation. Plus they've just added a new pair designed by John Fluvog. Check it out at http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotsneaker/home.html. For the less aggressive shoe shopper, the Red Mojo No Sweat model at http://www.market.motherjones.com/shoes.html comes without a bloody toe.
[11] FOOD
According to the Green Restaurant Association, restaurant business makes up a hefty ten percent of the U.S. economy. The organization has formulated guidelines to recognize businesses whose practices are eco-conscious and lay out a path for those who would like to be. GRA helps restaurants take less energy, move away from Styrofoam take-out containers, buy foods that were grown using sustainable methods and use energy efficient building strategies. Find a GRA certified restaurant in your neighborhood at http://www.dinegreen.com/
[12] ENTERTAINMENT
Hog hunting in your kitchen? The Alliance to Save Energy has put together an online game where you track down the snarling energy hogs lurking in your unclosed refrigerator or using all your hot water. A great teaching tool for kids. Give it a try at http://www.energyhog.org.
[13] LEXICON
Postsecret-n.-back formation of postcard; an original work of art, usually collage, transmitted via mail like a post card but necessarily a containing secret, confession or riddle specific to the sender. Also a website located at http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com, updated Sundays, displaying postsecrets varying in design acumen and degree of disclosure, but uniformly entertaining.
[14] NOSH
The Lost Liberty Hotel is one step closer to reality. Project organizers want to build a hotel on land currently owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, whose controversial ruling on eminent domain last month, they argue, has cleared the way for them to ask the city to seize the land and put something with a higher tax revenue in its place. Eminent domain is an old practice that allows governments to move residents out of their homes, compensate them and use the land for other projects. In the past it’s been freeways or other railroads that governments argue are useful to the community as a whole. But last month’s Supreme Court decision granted the economically depressed city of New London, CT the right to exercise eminent domain over home owners to make way for a Pfizer complex, saying the increase tax revenues generate by the new development would benefit everybody. Organizers plan to open a “Just Desserts Café” and distribute copies of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged” rather than the Bible. Read more at http://www.freestarmedia.com/hotellostliberty2.html.
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The ALR Designletter is a semi-regular update on the activities at Another Limited Rebellion design, the world of socially conscious design, and beyond. You are on this list because you have worked with, contacted, or have a personal connection to ALR design. The names on this mailing list will never be sold or given away. If you no longer wish to be on this list, just respond with "REMOVE" in the subject section and there will be no hard feelings. Back issues can be found on our web site in the ISSUES section.
Sources are listed when information was found in one specific location. However, articles are not quoted verbatim in this newsletter.
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