The DFG Project :: ActionProfiles.com

Thanks to everyone who helped get the Design for Good project off the ground. We have been getting submissions from all over the world. It's great to see the youth stepping up to support a good cause. A big thanks to Zac Folk and Monica Staniec for the extra PR muscle. Check out the press from Transworld and WIAS.

Design For Good – Get Creative for African Orphans

Common Threadz a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has partnered with Action Profiles to create the Design For Good campaign to benefit orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. Action Profiles will be hosting a design contest with its action sports community to create a new shirt design for Common Threadz’s line of stylish, eco-friendly apparel. The theme of the contest is “hope”. Common Threadz will sell the winning designs, with 100% of funds raised going to the orphans; no funds will be diverted for administration.

“Common Threadz is one of those rare non-profits that is extremely effective in their mission while staying relevant to youth culture,” explains AP Co-Owner Jesse DenHerder. “Action sports athletes are creative by nature and ActionProfiles is a perfect venue to harness it.” Zac Folk, founder of CommonThreadz added, “It’s great to be working with Action Profiles on this project and to witness how the nonprofit and private sector can work together in a win-win fashion. We’re excited to see the designs and hope to make this an annual contest.” AP has also put together an elite team of judges who will be announcing the winning design including:

Monica Staniec - Board member of WIAS (Women in Action Sports) and VP of Marketing at iMa, a marketing and PR agency that targets the actions sports, art, music and fashion markets. Monica is also an active Snowboarder and enjoys surfing.

Luiz Calado – Photographer, writer and award winning editor, Luiz’s work has been published in many US and Brazilian publications including Thrasher, Tribo, SKT, Veja, and Yeah! Magazine. With degrees in Communications and Photojournalism, Luiz blends insight and ingenuity in his reporting, while remaining true to his skateboarding roots.

Wendy Burkman – Co-Founder/producer of the Wanda Show and media personality for ActionProfiles.com. Wendy is also a talented singer/songwriter and model.

The Design For Good T-shirt design competition kicks off on Nov. 1st. Submissions are welcome from November through January 20th, 2009 and we encourage artists from all over the world to submit their entries. The winner will receive national exposure as an artist/humanitarian, and a generous prize package from our sponsors, including watches, headphones, apparel and much more. Presentations to the winner and commercialization of the T-shirt designs will take place in January. For more info go to: www.actionprofiles.com/designforgood or www.commonthreadz.org

There's still time to submit some artwork... for more info check out: ActionProfiles.com/DesignForGood or CommonThreadz.org/DesignForGood.


I'm also very honored to have the original DFG logo used for one of CommonThreadz new line of African inspired shirts. With every Africa Series T-Shirt you purchase, Commonthreadz is able To feed an orphan for 1 month. An awesome gift idea this Holiday season!

Jeremy Mason

As an overprotective big brother, I've been very blessed to have cool brother in-laws. My younger sister Kristen married a pretty neat guy named Jeremy Mason. Jeremy's a great catch, he has everything I could want in a brother-in-law: he's funny, in a band, likes handcrafted beer, has awesome taste in music & films, good fashion sense, etc... oh yeah and most importantly, he's really good to my little sis.
Jeremy also happens to be a very talented up & coming artist. I love the rawness of his work, and his use of graphical elements. I was lucky enough to get a piece of his work for our living room, and I'm hoping to get my hands on some more at his upcoming show...



Jeremy will be having his first solo show in Nov. at the Creole Gallery in Lansing , MI

Event: Creole Opening Show
Start Time: Sunday, November 1 at 1:00pm
End Time: Sunday, November 1 at 4:00pm
Where: 1218 Turner St, Lansing, MI, 48906

Check out his Blog or Facebook/JeremyMasonGallery

Cover Illustration :: Brain, Child Magazine

I was recently asked to illustrate the cover for the upcoming Fall issue of Brain, Child Magazine. I pulled my inspiration from a recent situation that revealed the true vulnerability of our son Jonah. The Illustration was created with pencil, acrylic ink, scanned images and Photoshop. A big thanks the the talented staff at Brain, Child for consistently creating such an honest and relevant publication for Moms and Dads. Not many Family magazines have the courage to write about real-life parenting issues. Brain, Child is distributed in independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble superstores and Borders, with subscribers from every state and as far away as Sweden, Egypt, and Hong Kong.

Give a Dam :: Updates

Thanks to everyone who has stepped up to support the Give a Dam project. The response from the AP community has been tremendous, and we're happy to finally have some images up from Shawn's trip: ActionProfiles.com/GiveaDam. It's inspiring to see so many youth get behind this effort. In less than 1 month the first fresh water reservoir dam will be in full production. The 4 acre dam will feed newly engineered irrigation lines and sustain over 8,500 men, women, and children. Stay tuned for more info on the progression of the campaign, including availability of the limited edition T-shirts, and wakeboards.

Its $10 a year to rent space on the side of a building in Kebweze, Kenya, that includes the paint and labor. Our team paid more because they did such a great job... I love this image!

For more info check out: InOurOwnQuietWay.org
Be sure to follow the GAD project on Twitter: @SupportGiveaDam

Give a Dam :: Kenya, Africa 2009

Here's a sneak peak at ActionProfiles.com humanitarian campaign for InOurOwnQuietWay.org. Building reservoir dams in Kenya and filming an action sports film to promote the cause. What an honor to be part of this....



ActionProfiles.com along with Quiet Way will be raising money and awareness to the drought problem in Kenya. Every day young Kenyan people (mostly female) have to travel up to 10 miles each way to retrieve water for cooking and drinking. (Which is where the silhouette of the Kenyan women with the water jug on her head become so recognizable.) QW is working to build dams that would take water from the streams a create a reservoir in the dry season to eliminate the need for leaving children behind most of the time unattended for hours to fetch more water, not to mention the sickness and exhaustion experienced by these women during the trek. These reservoirs would keep fresh water during the drought season to make life for Kenyans healthier, more convenient, and most importantly eliminate the need for leaving children unattended unnecessarily. The quality of the water in our dam's will be 200 times more sanitary as well.
For more info check out: InOurOwnQuietway.org

Editorial Illustration :: No-Fly List

I recently had the pleasure of illustrating an essay for Brain, Child Magazine's summer issue. The essay was called "Baby Grounded" written by Sarah Zapolsky, who tells the story of her innocent, 11 month old son who gets put on the TSA No-Fly list. Unreal...

Rucksack Films LLC :: ICO MEISHI Books

A DHD business card design for Rucksack Films LLC, was chosen for the artistic business card book MEISHI, "Little Graphic Art Gallery Of The World".
This 272 page hard cover book, with jacket, is printed in full color.
MEISHI is overflowing with hundreds of examples of artistic business cards, from 28 countries around the world. For a preview of MEISHI please visit www.1worldart.com

Thanks Coroflot!

One of my favorite design sites, Coroflot.com has featured one of DHD's latest promotional pieces! When it comes to design/portfolio sites, Coroflot has one of the most respected in the industry. With a clean user interface, insightful blog, and amazing global talent, Coroflot is a must for any designer's self-promotion strategy.

New Projects....

I recently took on a cool new venture/side project by acquiring an online action sports community called ActionProfiles.com. I've thoroughly enjoyed skateboarding & snowboarding for years, and always admired the "community" vibe that riders embrace. Our vision for AP is to rebuild a more core environment for the riders as well as the brands that advertise with us.



Since we weren't immediately re-branding the website, we wanted to add our thumbprint to any new material we sent out. So I came up with an idea for a business card, using the scratched underside of a skateboard; one of the rawest elements I could think of. The final card was a unique example of a riders experience but also effective visually.

Zeixs Design Books :: Germany

I recently had some work published in "Best of Poster Design" and "Letterhead & Business Cards", by German publisher Zeixs Books. Check them out for some inspiring work from across the globe.



Zeixs – the portal for interactive books for designers – founded by the publishing house Feierabend Unique Books and the design agency 12ender. What is zeixs about? It’s about the fusion of online and printed media. Both forms complement each other. Zeixs is about all forms and fields of graphic design – from typography, illustration and photography to animation and industrial design.

zeixs.com

Thanks Mr. Harper

As a new Father, there are many rewards. Watching Jonah go from a swaddling infant to a rambunctious, curious toddler, has been one of the greatest joys in our lives. As a big fan of children's literature, I have thoroughly enjoyed buying Jonah hip, quality board books. So you can imagine my excitement when I came across CHARLEY HARPER ABC'S by Ammo Books.



The late Charley Harper (1922-2007), is one of my favorite illustrators of all time. His geometric, graphical depictions of nature were clean and vibrant. He often described his work as "minimal realism", a style emulated by many artists of today. In 2001 Designer Todd Oldham collaborated with Mr. Harper to create "An Illustrated Life" a complete retrospective of his career. Get the limited edition set through Ammo Books... it's a must have for any design, art or children's book collection.