just a napkin sketch

a friend of mine, xi lin, sketched this portrait of me on a napkin in less than two minutes. i think my nose is more pug than pointy, but it’s definitely a great snapshot. xi is a talented graphic designer and teammate of mine in the american poolplayers association.

sun and moon yoga studio – advertising

i’ve completed work on new advertising for sun and moon yoga studio, the premier yoga studio in arlington and fairfax counties, va. amir tahimi, one of two who run the business, was recently featured on nbc – which makes the effort even more timely. the yoga studio has several unique aspects, including an unusually high number of certified teachers, diverse class options, a summer camp for adolescents/kids, and the fact that they’re open 7 days a week. the ad will be featured in the forthcoming spring issue of the fairfax county recreation guide.

why less can be more for local musicians

i had chats with three separate indie musicians last night, two of whom are full-time and have no safety net underneath them (a.k.a. no dayjob). one of these musicians was jason dolan, a talented songwriter i recently worked with on a cd artwork project. all three musicians touched on the immense challenge of getting people out to their shows. of course, i know this firsthand in that i once ran a music festival in 2007 at jammin’ java and managed a recording artist for a year. there’s also the very small detail that i am an indie musician myself – on the side (and i only surface every couple of years). any way, i suggested the risky (yet also sensible) concept of less being more. read on for what i offered specifically.

Read the rest of this entry »

copy that looks good AND performs well

i was exchanging ideas with a client today on copywriting, with regards to writing copy to fit space. notice that i didn’t say to fill space – since fitting to space is usually about being leaner in the end. i told him that when i write copy for an ad, i often ensure that it not only looks good but also performs well. when i say “looks good” with regards to copy, i mean that certain lines in a group of bullets or paragraph will each contain the same number of characters . this has the effect of creating a visually clean series of text. while not always possible to get just right, it’s a challenge worth taking and a fine art that’s difficult to master. essentially, it comes down to how expansive your vocabulary is and how deep is your desire to keep copy as lean as it can be – without sacrificing effectiveness, of course. i suppose you also have to be patient and avoid the temptation of hitting the justify key. doing that can create uneven spacing between words in bullet groups and paragraphs – a.k.a “holes” in the text.