Truckee, CA – Beer Capital of The…

August 17th, 2010

…well, Sierras – at least!

Fifty Fifty Brewing Company is dear to our hearts. Way back in the day, BlaseDesign named the company, among many other projects to get them up and running. The owners left their smarty-pants careers in Sacramento to make great beer and live the life they had only dreamed of in the mountains. Inspired by the idea of living a killer, more balanced life we came up with “FiftyFifty”. It has a nice ring to it and also refers to a snowboard trick – not a bad coincidence for a ski-town restaurant/brewery.

After years of winning international awards for their beers they have finally decided to bottle the stuff. The first one is Donner Party Ale. We opted for a classic, but, rich and colorful design that focuses on the name and the icon-graphic that we created for each beer.

And there are more labels coming soon:

We are honored, as ever to be a part of this company’s journey. And love filling our bellies each time we head back to town.

Listening: School of Seven Bells

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So, this one time, when we got to work with Livestrong…

August 13th, 2010

Listening: The Cults

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impromptu kudos

July 22nd, 2010

We’ve been on vacation for the past three weeks. Which sounds blissful, but, when it involves a 2 year old, three cities and two sets of in-laws… it’s not all that restful. But, we did have fun.

We got back to Austin two nights ago and have been utterly slammed since – which is great, if not a tad overwhelming. But, then as if to say there is a reason for all of this hard work – a client just sent this note over via email. The really great thing? The feeling is mutual!

“I haven’t felt this excited in a while. I want to do more projects like this with you. I love my life when I’m working with Blase Design.”

Listening: Phosphorescent

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A Balmy 30 Degrees

June 21st, 2010

We miss living in North Lake Tahoe – for sure. But, then I see things like this weather-widget that Marc created for Marmot Vacation Rentals:

And I realize that sunny-and-30-in-June equals not-for-me. Not full time anyway.

Regardless of the icy temps, Tahoe is stunning indeed. And if you need a place to stay when visiting, take a look at this new company offering the best in luxury rentals. Designed, built and programmed by Blase Design, it is a beautiful site with a high-powered reservation system back-end.

Our client Marmot Vacation Rentals prides themselves on their unparalleled service and luxury resort rentals located in the best spots in North Tahoe and we were happy to help create an internet presence that represented that quality.

Listening: Free Energy

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A Nerd Is Born

June 15th, 2010

Blase Design launched a new website recently for Tahoe Mountain Resorts Real Estate and it is a biggie. I designed it and Marc built it in Joomla – giving the client the ability to update a great deal of the content on their own. There are a lot of moving parts and there is still more to come. But, I’m excited about the design and exceedingly proud of how big of a nerd my husband and partner has become.

Listening: Ty Segal

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Sneak Peak : New Tees for Dude Girl

June 7th, 2010

Due to the super-secret nature of these designs – as they won’t be released for sale for a while – i can’t really show you much. But, I am very excited about the new stuff we are designing for DudeGirl!

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Listening: Gayngs

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LASA Mentor of the Year

June 4th, 2010

I’m not big on the bragging – but, when it comes to mentoring for LASA (Liberal Arts & Sciences Academy an Austin, TX magnet high school) I feel compelled to. I have been mentoring for Ms. Richey’s eZine class for two semesters now, thanks to the invite from my good friend – the incredibly talented and sometimes freelance designer for BlaseDesign – Katherine Nesbitt. As mentors we are asked to guide the students and critique their project throughout the semester. The students work in groups and create an impressive +/- 20 page printed magazine. They name it. Design it. Write it. Produce it in InDesign — a program that the majority of them have never even heard of – and why would they? It is a program that is reserved for graphic design professionals. As I said – impressive.

I had the privilege of mentoring 4 groups this semester. Their work was fantastic. Here are some samples, including a cover article about our cool actress-friend Jenny.

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award

Oh, and I was awarded LASA’s mentor of the year!

Maybe it’s because I am a new mom and I’m just getting all sappy or maybe it’s because I hope that all of my good deeds will get our son in to the prestigious LASA school when he heads to high school. But, I am truly honored and proud.

Listening: Lightning Dust

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OK, Let’s Be Realistic

June 4th, 2010

A post-a-day for this blog as well as our “mommy-blog” was a futile endeavor. So, from now on I am going to post once a week. And, no I don’t consider this quitting… simply being more… realistic with my ability to BS about what it is we do over here.

Listening: Elvis Perkins (an oldie but, always a goodie)

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