The Casual Effect

Thanks Grasshopper Restaurant, the food was excellent and we had a great time there. The one negative thing (but somewhat positive for Grasshoper) I have to say about the vegan restaurant is that there weren't enough seats to accommodate the large amount of customers coming in. Personally though I'd highly recommend this place, as I was really confused on whether their vegan "Chick-Un Nuggets" Were chicken or not. Left happy, with a light stomach. Grasshopper is located west of Spadina and College, right by Kensington Market. 

I finished editing some photos from RGD's Future by Design: Designers as Entrepreneurs, featuring Gary Ludwig, Russel Gibbs, Aaron Draplin, and Jessica Hische as panelists. Taking an event online can be tricky and quite awkward especially when you come across technical difficulties. But it can also be one of the most intriguing ways of having a panel discussion! 

Here are some examples from Tuesday night and how you can liven up your next webinar!  1. Pan in & pan out. Add pointing and finger explosions to make a stronger point.  2. Make shameless promotions & Ape faces. 

3. Whenever possible, use available props to make creative expressions. 

If you’d like a quick recap of the event, you can visit:  http://www.rgdontario.com/2013/12/04/design-entrepreneurs-discuss-business-.php

On Evergreen's shuttle bus, winding through the DVP to the Brick Works. Our mayor facing Council on the radio. 

Everygreen Brick Works, at the heart of Don Valley! A bit of a delayed post, but on Nov 13, a friend of mine Yulia, who works for Evergreen, gave me a quick tour around the area.  A few cool things I've learned: Once you get out of Broadview Station, a shuttle bus will take you straight to the Brick Works. 

Evergreen is a charity organization and is now located at the Brick Works after doing several restoration projects to the abandoned brick works park. 

These heritage buildings used to be Toronto's brickyard, producing building materials for homes and buildings such as Toronto's Old City Hall and Massey Hall. The first picture shows the inside of a building that shows the front part of the kiln. 

RGD VIP Party after Studio Open Doors. A preview of some notable figures from the night at Ocho. I linked up websites to majority of the names below, check them out for more info!

(Top to Bottom) The always friendly Kimi and Jayla from Creative Niche, independent designer Morag Myerscough with partner/artist Luke Morgan and freelancer Ross Chandler, Creative directors side by side Darhil Crooks of 'The Atlantic' and Shawn Peterson of Portland studio 'Instrument' with infographic designer Nicholas Felton. Next is Terra Loire and Heather Angell, committee chair of RGD provisional and student members. Posing together is RGA executive creative director, Chloe Gottlieb, with James Griffin, head of mobile design for Thompson Reuters. Finally the last photo consists of Toronto based-designer Barr Gilmore with graphic design chair of OCAD University, Roderick Grant. 

Thanks for attending the conference, hope you enjoyed DT 2013. 

Design Thinkers is back for 2013! As part of the annual conference, RGD organizes a package of events for graphic designers who are attending. Studio Open Doors is one of them, where a handful of design studios voluntarily open up their space so that people can take a look and have a conversation with designers who work at the studio. 

Over the past couple of months, I was lucky to grab a couple of video projects on the side. Andjelika, a pianist and composer who I went to highschool with, mentioned that she wanted to do a shoot of one of her recordings to promote her upcoming concert in November.

With that she booked a recording studio at Humber, and rented out a camera for the shoot. The video was taken with a Nikon d90; 50mm f/1.8, and a Nikon d600; 24mm f/1.4g (Amazing lens! Creamy but sharp). Check out this video we’ve recorded to promote her upcoming concert “November Vault” featuring Sara Papini, and Bret Holt at the Glen Gould Studio on November 15th 2013. Sound engineering by Andrew Kesler

Visit www.andjelikajavorina.com for more information or the facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/534245479987019/.

While working on a promotional material for Andjelika who lives nearby on Jane and Annette, she recommended Patisserie 27 and mentioned that one of the owners studied in Paris and made their own macarons. With that I visited the shop and surely enough Walter makes all the breaded goods, while Azumi, who studied French culinary in Japan and France, makes the macarons, and other pastries. You’ll also find Yoko and Marin (missing from the photo below) running the café as well. Check out their menu on their website - www.patisserie27.com

What I like about this coffee shop is that It brings a cultured flavour to the outskirts of downtown Toronto. It’s quite hard to find a nice indie coffee shop within the realm of Etobicoke. The people who work there are really kind, and welcoming as soon as you enter the door. The environment is cozy, down to earth, and full of natural lighting, which I think really suits the people who work there and the pastries they sell. The coffee and macarons I had were delicious and fresh, I might have eaten too many but it sure didn’t feel like it!

It’s a great café to have in the neighborhood and from my first impression, there are many people who came in with an appreciation for the intimacy that Patisserie 27 provides.

Patisserie 27 is located on 401 Jane, just north of Jane and Annette. Check out some of the photos below!

I was asked by Sally, a fellow friend of mine at OCADU to take some photos of her thesis work. Her work, Bitskit, consisted of a desktop app and a prototype that helps manage tasks especially those who are contributing to a particular project. Her prototype is a module that will identify a particular disc which links to a designated project. From there you can set a recorded timer, file storage, tasks, and analytics of that one project. Pretty cool eh?