2010 Seattle Show

Vivitiv partner Mark Kaufman joins the board of The 2010 Seattle Show, honoring the best advertising and design work created in Seattle. Follow the exploits of The Seattle Show and the board on it's Twitter feed and Facebook page.

Wake Up Call

It takes alot to get us up early in the morning, but the Technology Alliance's Science and Technology Discovery Series continues to impress. This past Friday, Dr. John Stark, Director of the Puyallup Research & Extension Center, Washington State University, gave an informative presentation on the effect of pesticides on salmon. Surprising, it's not the pesticides that may directly harm the salmon. The pesticides kill the salmon's food. Detergents, even ones that may be considered benign, actually DO harm the fish directly by coating the gills of the salmon. 

But it's not all bad news. WSU Puyallup is retrofitting their campus to reduce stormwater runoff, a major source of pollution in the Puget Sound. They'll also measure the effectiveness of various low impact development practices such as installation of permeable paving surfaces and stormwater bioretention facilities. As we are heavily involved in stormwater best practices education, we're anxious to see what proves to be most effective and what can be adopted throughout Puget Sound.

Merci Beaucoup to Matthew Porter

We are incredibly flattered that the noted design writer and journalist Matthew Porter included Vivitiv in his presentation to the Acadiana Ad Federation in Lafayette, Louisiana last month. The talk titled I Never Met A Stranger, A Design Journalist’s Life, featured Matt's travels and discussions with designers, photographers, illustrators and artists and their work.

We were flattered that Matt included a section about Vivitiv, but as always we were humbled to be in such great company. Martha Rich, Joel Nakamura, Chris Sickles, Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski, Brian Stauffer, Robynne Raye, Holly Linden, Terry Marks, Marc English, Michael Osborne…these are some heavy hitters and people whose work we have long admired. In the cajun vernacular this would be referred to as a Lagniappe, something thrown in, gratis, for good measure.

A big Merci to Matt, the fine folks at the Acadian Ad Federation, and Eddie Talbot at BBR Creative in Lafayette for the use of the graphic.

"Art Works" For Free

We just came across a Request for Proposal for a very ironic speculative logo project. It comes from the National Endowment for the Arts. What's so ironic? Straight from the RFP:

"Art Works" is a reminder that arts workers are real workers who are part of this country’s real economy. They earn salaries, support families, pay taxes. Artists are also entrepreneurs and placemakers, who revitalize towns, cities, and neighborhoods – both the economies and the ethos of them.

How better to champion artists and the American worker than by having them work for free?

For those unfamiliar with the term "Spec Work," it is work that is done upfront, without pay or a contractual agreement with the hopes of getting compensated when the project is completed.

This is extremely disappointing from an organization that supports excellence in the arts.