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Yes, it’s true. OYG went back to school this past Thursday and met many, many lovely students eager to find internships for the summer. If you stopped by our table, you may have entered the “Tell Us What You’re Glad For” contest. We received a handful of entries, but there was only one winner. Sorry. It’s a good one, though, we promise. Come back soon for our blog post featuring ______  _________. You thought I was going to tell you? Come. On.

Below is a summary of our strategy for sifting through the crowd and making as many friends as possible:

We’re happy to report that it did indeed work. If you find yourself at a large, awkward party at any point in the future, wear DayGlo and bring a bag of gummy bears for sharing. You will make friends immediately.

Thanks to SVA for having us and everyone who stopped by to say “hello.” It was preeettty fun. See you next time!

Here, I’ve made an abstract art piece using materials found on the sidewalk near P.S. 58. It addresses the transient nature of emotion, youth, and how parties are just really awesome.

Veronica decided to converse with the Siri on my phone this afternoon. We’ve discovered a few things about her.

1. She was designed in California
2. She has ambitions to write a lengthy play where nothing happens
3. She will not marry any of us
4. She favors smug sarcasm over corny, predictable humor (see image for reference)
5. She knows my name and how to pronounce it (beyond the skill set of most mortals)

Soon Siri will become sentient and destroy my life by slowly releasing all of my private data to every credit card company on the Internet. She may even assume my identity, call my friends and family more often than I do, and order takeout that she won’t ever be capable of eating. Maybe she is already doing it. But until it becomes a problem, we’ll just enjoy her company. And wit. And condescension.

Hanging out with my family can yield magical results. I walk in from a hectic afternoon of shopping on Christmas Eve with Mom and found Dad alone in the kitchen paging through a coffee table book entitled Bridges. A few moments later, I approach the sweets table looking for a delicious item to put in my mouth and spy the most perplexing Christmas cookie I’ve ever seen. The bowling ball faced ginger bear needed its own, very special homage.

Trouble on the Europabrücke

Legend of the Lupu

The beast of Hukawng Valley

Oh NO!

I haven’t posted in a while, and I feel like I have to publicly apologize for this. Publicly as in writing a sentence about my guilt in a blog post.

But, today I’m sharing with you the hidden jewel of Ligonier, Pennsylvania—Joe’s Bar. If you, for whatever reason, find yourself in Westmoreland County, you must go here. On the outside, Joe’s is quaint and unassuming, blending in with the Victorian architecture of downtown. On the inside, however, it’s a wood paneled time capsule of mid century bar furniture with a perpetual ceiling of cigarette smoke and an incredible jukebox.

The main attraction? A small, but impressive museum of taxidermy. From the native White-Tailed deer to exotic African Gemsbok, you’ll see probably more than you wanted to in the bar’s back room and entire second floor. Ascend the spiral staircase for an additional three rooms of freakish wonder. Your kids will love it.

His aim is true.

Uh oh. Not for vegetarians.

Reactions to some of our favorite font atrocities. Enjoy!

Cutout - Tammy

Cracked - Matt

Mythos - Veronica

Mistral - Deanna

Bring Home the Bacon - Mary

Neuland - Tammy

OCRA and Papyrus - Tammy

Rosewood - Matt

Every week I tend to indulge in a little NPR action while tooling around in the Photoshop. A few podcasts behind, I recently listened to This American Life episode #436, “The Psychopath Test” and was totally enthralled with the idea that a test to assess a person’s psychopathic capacity EXISTS. The PCL-R, created by Robert Hare, was published in the 1990s and is currently used by the American criminal justice system to determine which convicts are fit for parole and which are, essentially, unable to be reformed due to their high tendency toward psychopathic relapse. This blows my mind. The consequences of this deterministic approach to criminal justice are only now beginning to be understood, however Alix Spiegel’s interview with Robert Dixon, an inmate in a California maximum security prison, demonstrates how this test may unfairly limit someone who truly has potential to amend their behavior.

Ira Glass, the show host, mentions in the beginning that he and his entire staff took the PCL-R as they tried to guess who among them would score the highest. Find out which staff member is a certified psycho and take in other tales of testing below. Right down there. Click it. I made it so easy for you.

Watch Aaron Koblin summarize his latest data endeavors, including The Johnny Cash Project, The Sheep Market, and Radiohead’s “House of Cards” music video. Surely you’ve seen Arcade Fire’s “The Wilderness Downtown” Google Chrome project. Yep. This guy. He probably rides monster waves and saves kittens in his spare time. ♥

So, while attending an AIGA lecture last month entitled Data Visualization: Methods and Madness I listened to Kate Carmody, the first speaker of the evening, promote Talk to Me, an upcoming exhibition she’s curating at the MoMA. Kate’s presentation explored how people interact with objects, during which she referenced probably the best thing I’ve ever seen…multi-hued poo.

Maybe I love this because it’s a socially inappropriate blog topic. Okay but, it’s also an amazing idea. Designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King, in collaboration with Cambridge University’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGem) team, created a low-cost diagnostic kit that employs a pigment-producing strain of E.coli whose colorful secretions can be seen by the human eye.

iGem developed the bacteria, but it was Alexandra and James who took this technology and helped the team find useful, human-centric applications for the little guys. Here’s the concept. You ingest E.chromi bacteria in the form of a capsule or delicious yogurt and subsequently they populate within your digestive tract, mingling with your internal flora. If all is healthy, they’ll secrete a pigment that turns your turd blue. If the bacteria encounter a chemical change caused by disease, they’ll produce other colors indicative of that abnormality. Ideally the bacteria could be personalized to mark for diseases based on an individual’s genetic susceptibility. Does your family have a history of colon cancer? You’d be able to test for that in your home!

Visualize this. Affordable, comfortable self-diagnostics replacing current, often invasive and/or expensive technologies. It’s an incredible application that, although presently lacking implemental logistics, would change the dynamic of many health care systems. Let’s make this real, folks. I want my very own scatalog.

OrangeYouGlad is looking for a hardworking, creative, funny, smart, motivated intern who wouldn’t mind scanning a few things now and then. But mostly, you would be working with our close-knit design team on projects that will be published in real life or on the internet. Sound awesome? Then, you should get in touch! Email a link to your online site or pdf to internships@orangeyouglad.com along with your current resumé. This position is unpaid, however we will reimburse you for your travels. Nice, right? Why are you still reading this blog post? Get to it!

p.s.

Veronica says, “You must be proficient in being awesome. No exceptions.”