Some of you may already know this. Some may not, but the truth of the matter is I work from home (please allow a moment of silence to enjoy the envy of those imagining themselves working in pj’s most days) … In all seriousness I rarely do work in that fashion. I treat my home office just as I would a real one, complete with a studio dog.

(Bob) Marley - FS mascot

This mornings meeting and revealing of the Franchise Studios virtual studio led to a few head bobs in a room of 5 and one uneasy smile. I must admit I always enjoy this portion of the meeting. I enjoy automatically being cast under a shadow. What that shadow is, I have no idea, but one can pretend to try and make sense of it all. There is a certain validity to your business if you are on the 100th floor of the John Hancock tower in Boston, I suppose there is also validity to grace a large open space with many work stations, fancy printers, receptionists and beyond.

For us our validity comes via our body of work and really that is all it should ever come down to in our creative line of work. FS is a virtual business. We work remotely and meet once a week (usually Monday’s) to go over the weeks work then the rest of our performance checks and meetings is accomplished through Skype, email & our shared server. There is a certain lack of understanding of a business truly running in the 21^st century purely off technology where location is but an afterthought.

So how do we conduct meetings?

Over fifty percent of our meetings are held in the actual work place of our clients. Why inconvenience them? Let them stay put and we will come to you. Sure there is a time suck that goes along with that travel, especially when we are off to the likes of Boston, NYC or even DC for a day meeting but when you can keep your client comfortable in their environment there is something to be said for the level of appreciation towards you. There is also something to be said in regards to closing deals as a result of meetings being held in your clients offices. The rest of our meetings are scattered over coffee shops in the area, Celtic Coffee House, Mirasol’s Cafe & Narragansett Star Cafe just to name a few. They all offer their own charm & specialty items. It also helps that the majority of our clients fiend for caffeine, but I digress.

For every head bob, frown and raised eyebrow there is another smile, applause and pat on the back. There is no right or wrong place to work there is only a right or wrong way TO work. We run our business on smiles (shout out to J Hook for the smiles mantra), hard work and quality of our portfolio … not the four walls that surround us when we are rocking our creativity.

However you do your work and in what environment you choose, not that my justification matters, know that whatever the structure that surrounds you, it’s the body of work that exemplifies your character and place of worth in your given field! Keep making it happen until next time …

- The Franchise

Recently, I got a gift card to buy fonts…it was a great Christmas present! I was a bit overwhelmed and excited but unsure of what type of fonts I needed and what I could get for my money’s worth. Most fonts come in families. A font family is a group of fonts that are related in thickness, weight, and orientation. Most families come in at least 2 or more than a dozen fonts, such as Helvetica Neue…ah, Helvetica Neue, every designer’s go to font!

So the question is…how do you determine which font or font family to buy? Most of the time it depends on the project and the client’s budget. Most fonts can cost anywhere from $2 to $500(+). Yes…you read that correctly! For example, the font Aaux family ( http://www.t26.com/fonts/6562-Aaux-Next-Complete ) values at $750 which also carries 72 weights. Investing in a font family with multiple weights is very beneficial because you are able to design more freely. In a typical design, the rule of thumb is to use no more than 3-4 fonts. With a font family like Aaux, you can use as many “versions” of this font in the design since it’s considered “one family / font”.

Another big question to ask…which type of font do you want; serif or sans-serif, or something funky like grunge type? For this post, I am simply buying based on want. I love collecting fonts but there is always a font that you wish you had or would really add value to your collection and be great to experiment with on your next design. One of the things that I love about fonts is that you don’t need to just use them for content or titles but actually make them part of your design…use them as shapes or design elements to enhance the composition. Check out this fun tutorial by Isaac Gube in which he hand draws a font face and creates a unique design – http://designinstruct.com/drawing-illustration/how-to-make-abstract-typography-art-with-illustrator/

As I look through fonts, I am really looking for a family that carries at least 3 variations, light, medium and bold. I contemplate; will I be possibly using these fonts for the web or print? Would it be best to just find a font that has 1 family and get as many as my budget allows? There are so many questions that arise in choosing the right font. One has to carefully research what the font will be used for, the history behind it or the era in which that style was used in if it pertains to a special project. Another recommendation is to never shop in one place. Visit a few font sites that sell quality fonts and decide which is best for you. Fonts are an investment. It’s just as valuable as a collection of shoes, baseball cards, sneakers or even cars…well maybe not cars, but you get the idea!

This past Monday, December 12, Pete Baker passed away at the ripe old age of 82. She was one of the most interesting people I have ever had the privilege of working with, dedicated to her love of historic preservation she will certainly be missed by many.

I was lucky enough to share many hours with her listening of her travels, experiences, run-ins with the law & through it all this enormous room shattering personality always came bursting through unlike anything I’ve really ever witnessed in another individual. The first time I met Pete was on the grounds at the Elihu Akin House built in 1762 in Dartmouth, MA. One of the oldest houses in the town of Dartmouth she was brought on to help save the Akin House due to her particular affinity for 17th & 18th century houses. Listening to her tell the story about the cape style Akin house was about so much more than the Akin family themselves. It was about the structural integrity that went into construction of homes during this time period, the way the roof had an uneven look to it to allow for headroom and often times water run off…

Listening to her talk immediately prompted me to get her book which she kindly gave to me called: Collecting Houses: 17th Century Houses – 20th Century Adventure. She opened the inside cover of her book as we sat in her historic house at the Head of Westport on a hot sunny day, a house which is talked about in her book in great detail, and she paused for a moment and looked up at me. She said, “isn’t it funny how people write books and then after the book is finished and published they will give out a book and the recipient will typically ask ‘will you please write something inside?’ As if I didn’t write enough on the pages already…” We both paused to laugh, realizing I had never asked her to even write a single word on the inside she simply wrote “Nick – I’ll think of it later, Pete.” I couldn’t have been happier and think it’s about time I give the book another read.

I would go on over each week to look at the many pictures she’d taken at various properties she had been a part of during their “saving.” We would share our favorite kayaking spots, trails through the woods and peculiar “lesser known” tidbits of knowledge about our little slice of sleepy New England coastline. I would often show up to Pete’s house to discover her, then at the ripe age of 76, pushing a push lawnmower around her yard cutting the grass, sometimes in flip flops. Her two dogs coming to greet me every time as she’d wipe her sweat off on her grass stained jeans and invite me in for a lemonade.

“They don’t make houses like they used to” she would often say and might I add they also don’t make folks like Pete Baker these days either.

The Youth Ambassador Program or YAP! as it has come to be known is a partnership project between the National Park Service and Third Eye Unlimited where teens communicate national park themes through hip-hop culture and social media outreach. This includes creating music and videos about local, regional, and national themes and sharing them through sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other music sharing sites.

The recently created “54″ is a song about the 54th Regiment to coincide with the Civil War Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary).

New Bedford Park Ranger Frank Barrows took the lead on this project and was a pleasure to work with along side the youth and Tem Blessed, a former NBHS graduate.

The video premiered on Saturday as part of the weekend long kick-off of the Civil War commemoration. The theater at the Visitors Center (New Bedford Historic Nat’l Park Headquarters) was standing room only and received a 2nd (encore) screening of the music video. We shot the video on location at Georges Island in Boston with several 54th Regiment re-enactors as well as in downtown New Bedford w/several green screen shoots at the mediumstudio Garage.

Without further adieu here is the video titled “54,” enjoy!

Today I write because I hope to get a few folks off their chairs and couches to excite and inspire them to think outside the box and see that this is some “noise.” In fact, this is more of a “making noise” and “creating noise” than actual background static and should not be overlooked. . .

10 years ago two of my greatest friends embarked on an idea of changing peoples perception of an otherwise negative word and transforming it into something that projects positivity and reminds all that it’s about sticks and stones and never about the words projected upon an individual. David Guadalupe is the creator and UGLY is the word. David or D. Lupé as he is better known these days took the word UGLY turned it into U.G.L.Y. which stands for U Gotta Love Yourself and ran with it.

His story is similar to many in that he thought the startup would take little to no time at all, but the ending is much different in that through the 10 yrs and many ups but mostly downs he learned, stayed true to his goals and mission to MIH (Make It Happen) and tonight, along with his cousin (best friend, brother & business partner in crime) Jeremiah Hernandez will deliver the UGLYgallery. The story is still the same, taking a negatively perceived word, UGLY, and turning it into beauty by altering your perception through art.

The UGLYgallery is located at 246 Union Street in Downtown New Bedford and opens tonight (May 12th) at 5pm. D. Lupé has taken his concept to the next level by bringing Urban Art and Street Art off the street and inside a gallery space. Watching Jeremiah and D. Lupé’s process, hard work and determination over the last 10 years but more specifically in the last 6 months has not only amazed and inspired me but has also turned me into one of their biggest cheerleaders.

It’s important to know that I’m not only a cheerleader but also inspired by their perseverance and the amazing talent they are bringing to the walls of their gallery. It’s not just a feel good story but one that could help persuade you and your view on art. It’s about creating culture through street culture.

I encourage all to check it out, engage with the artists who will be present and enjoy the art we sometimes phase out as “noise” amongst all the traffic of advertising, billboards and the like. These talented individuals deserve the attention and a voice, tonight UGLYgallery opens to give them just that. See you there!

The full studio interview will appear in a month or so but check out what our CVO, Nick Francis had to say in the meantime; Nick’s interview.

In case you don’t want to head over to QNT Gallery we’ve added the interview below.

Company: Franchise Studios

Website: www.franchisestudiosinc.com
Country: United States
Profession: Digital Design Studio

Publications & Awards:
We’ve been published on:
www.abduzeedo.com
www.welovewp.com
www.thecssawards.com
www.website-gallery.com
www.cssdesignawards.com
www.screenfluent.com
www.dzineblog.com
wordpress.cmsdesigns.org
www.csshunt.com
www.css-lounge.com

Tell us something about your background to introduce yourself.
We began our shop 5 yrs ago in January 2006 working predominantly in the web and print field as it pertains to brand development and design as well as in film directing and producing commercials and corporate videos. We have worked in these fields for such clients as AT&T, CyberTrust, the 2006 Winter Olympics, International Data Group (IDG), ConnectEdu and Timex. We have also spent considerable time in the Conference and Trade Show field as a Technical Directors, Producers and Executive Producers for several companies including: MFS Investment Management, GE Healthcare, Deltek, Software AG (formally webMethods) and AlwaysOn Media

Where from do you get your inspiration?
Inspiration is everywhere. It’s in a sleek pair of new sneakers, a billboard, other artists and designers and their websites. We draw on a lot from the music that we listen to, from websites like deviantart, abdeezdo and behance.net.

Inspiration is all around us. From the way the sun hits the folds on the sheets of my bed each morning to the way a commercial, radio ad, or tv show drops product placement to sell us. It’s all in how creative the messaging is which really sends a message to our creative minds and drives our creativity.

Do you use a sketchbook for your drafts?
We still sketch ideas when time allows. A sketchbook is the best place to start no matter the project.

What is your favored machine (Mac/PC)?
We use both at the studio but the MACs definitely out number our PCs

What new projects are you currently working on?
Our projects are across the board right now which is how we prefer it to be.

We are currently working on several promotional animations for a company in Los Angeles for the launch of their U.S. offices. We are also working on several website projects mostly in CMS platforms with full SEO / Analytics built-in. We have 2 promotional video projects for the launch of a new iPhone app coming out for a hospital group and are working on print advertising for Medicare and the various publications they advertise in around the country.

Does your studio occupy your life or is there more to the Franchise team?
Our passions run deep and aren’t just limited to our creativity within the studio walls. We are avid photographers, foodies and enjoy fine craft beer, ice cream and innovative technologies.