I love Google doodles. Google doodles are the daily design features, or what the company calls “decorative changes” on the Google homepage that commemorate an event, holidays — current or historic — or anniversaries. They are generally a theme-based twist on the company logo that can be static or interactive. They have become so sticky over time that people come to Google’s landing page out of sheer curiosity about the day’s doodle. People even collect them. View entire collection here. Read more →

Devine Design Website for Beyond Barre

BeyondBarre’s custom ballet barre workout, created by New York Pilates and dance professionals, focuses on proper form and can be done by all fitness levels.They offer introductory, Level 1 and Level 2 classes as well as BeyondBarre with Ball and Band classes for an enhanced workout session. This is definitely NOT your daughter’s ballet class! Read more →

You work in this biz long enough, and you get to know a lot of faces. Typefaces, that is. We love the fact we now have a bazillion faces to choose from, and the list is growing daily. With all those purdy faces out there, you gotta wonder WHY WHY WHY in the name of humanity and all that is sacred in the world,  do people select some really butt-ugly, hard to read fonts for their logotypes and literature?

1) Comic Sans. Every kid’s party place or preschool thinks this is cute and kiddie- like and fun (that’s fun!!! with multiple exclamation marks)  It’s not. It’s just poorly designed, and has bad, bad spacing issues. So stop the insanity now. Check out bancomicsans.com to see a real rant on this one. Maybe buy a tee shirt for me.

2) Papyrus. Papyrus is supposed to look Middle Eastern, Biblical, scholarly. This was selected as the title font for the movie Avatar. I saw it up there on the silver screen and cringed in my seat. But, the font choice didn’t seem to hinder the movie’s success. To date, Avatar is the highest grossing film ever…$2,782,275,172 and counting. Go figure.

3) Brush Script. Come on. A font is a font. Don’t try to pretend someone is in your PC with little paint brushes. Ugly, unbalanced and ugly. And it’s ugly.

4) Curlz. Unless you’re a 9 year old girl in pink tights, inviting your little girlfriends over for a My Little Pony Party, you have no excuse for using this one.

Ok. I’m done. I feel much better now. Thank you.

Bread Alone Email sample.

Bread Alone send out an email, with coupons and a recipe link each and every month.

The brown marmorated stink bug is damaging fruit and vegetable crops in the Middle Atlantic States, and these six legged stinkers are now invading homes to prepare for the winter to come. We had 8 of these little visitors in our home over the past week.

They have also been observed on ornamental trees, butterfly bushes, sweet corn, field corn and soybeans, but their pilgrimage into homes is causing big problems and what is making the news most recently.

The brown marmorated stink bug was first detected in the United States about 10 years ago, and is native to Asia. It is different from our native stink bugs that are kept in check by natural enemies. When irritated, stepped on, or crushed, they emit a pungent odor that is sometimes described as skunk-like.

PS: ” Marmorated” .. I looked it up.. means “Having a marbled or streaked appearance.” They really ARE kinda pretty, with the marmorated shield like body…though I am  glad they are only about .75″ long!!

The guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea. They originated in the Andes, and earlier studies based on biochemistry and hybridization suggested they are domesticated descendants of a closely related species of cavy and do not exist naturally in the wild.

Biological experimentation on guinea pigs has been carried out since the 17th century. The animals were frequently used as a model organism in the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in the epithet “guinea pig” for a test subject, but have since been largely replaced by other rodents such as mice and rats. They are still used in research, primarily as models for human medical conditions such as juvenile diabetes, tuberculosis, scurvy, and pregnancy complications.

Why all this? Well, first because this photo is so darn cute. And second, because I really can’t imagine testing lipstick or shampoo on this little guy. Can you?

I know, it’s silly. But talking dogs always work for me! Here is an example of an embedded YouTube Video. Videos can be larger, taller and wider, too.