Powerpoint Exhibit created for the Center for Diversity Education in Asheville NC

November 7th, 2009 / Filed Under: Uncategorized / 2 Comments

Check out the powerpoint I created for the Center for Diversity Education’s Forever Free exbhibit.

The exhibit closed October 30, but the presentation, “Slavery & The War in WNC”, is still available online as a free resource!

Steve Lambert // SelfControl

May 13th, 2009 / Filed Under: Gadgets / No Comments / Tags: , , ,

Not getting enough work done?

Check out Steve Lambert’s OS X application SelfControl and get your worklife in working order. SelfControl “blocks access to incoming and/or outgoing mail servers and websites for a predetermined period of time. For example, you could block access to your email, facebook, and twitter for 90 minutes, but still have access to the rest of the web. Once started, it can not be undone by the application or by restarting the computer – you must wait for the timer to run out.”

Fierce! Are you way behind on deadlines? Maybe this is the trick for you!

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The Photographic Dictionary // Accepting Submissions

March 28th, 2009 / Filed Under: Photography / No Comments / Tags: , , ,

Found a clever photographic project online today: The Photographic Dictionary curated by Lindley Warren.

The idea? “The Photographic Dictionary is dedicated to defining words through the literal, figurative and personal meanings found in each photograph.”

For instance, the word “love” is defined below.

Warren is currently accepting submissions from photographers in order to grow the dictionary. See the specs below and consider getting involved!

Love the concept. Excellent, minimalist execution. Bravo!

Free St. Patrick’s Day Maze

March 17th, 2009 / Filed Under: Personal / No Comments / Tags: , , ,

Below is the newsletter I sent out today, St. Patrick’s Day 2009. Read on for some info on my freelance business and for a free treat for kids or the young at heart!

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to say hello and wish you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Can you believe it’s already March 2009?

Things are going very well with my freelance design work and I’m always looking for new clients and referrals.

Most recently I’ve been working on several cycling jersey designs for the Bike MS event being held in October by the National MS Society in Charlotte.
In February, I designed a gala invitation for the Oscar Night America event organized by the Community Theatre of Greensboro. Their gala event sold out!
And in January, Carolina Music Ways held a CD release launch party for All Roads Lead Home, my first CD design project. All Roads Lead Home was featured in CD Baby’s “For a Good Cause” collection March 2–March 9!

I’ve also been working on a special little side-project lately: a St. Patrick’s Day maze for kids! It’s perfect for your little tykes or a mid-day stress reliever for yourself. The maze is available online here in the “freebies” section.

Feel free to pass my name and contact information (and this St. Patty’s maze!) along to friends or colleagues who may need some design work done.
And be sure to keep me in mind if you have any other projects coming up!

You can check out my online portfolio at ashleymcfarland.com

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoy the festivities!


Ashley McFarland
ashleymcfarland.com

Design Charts // Weekly Top 40 Website Design Charts

March 10th, 2009 / Filed Under: Web Design / No Comments / Tags: ,

Bored? Need some inspiration?

Check out DesignCharts. A sweet site design on its own, link through to their top 40 sites each week.

This week you’ll find Ciril Jazbec’s slick photography portfolio in the top 5. Check them out!

MOMA Exhibit // Color Chart: Reinventing Color from 1950 to Today

March 1st, 2009 / Filed Under: Art / No Comments / Tags: , , , ,

MOMA held an exhibition from March 2 to May 12, 2008 entitled Color Chart: Reinventing Color from 1950 to Today.

The exhibition, according to Ann Temkin, “takes as its point of departure the commercial color chart” and features the work of 44 artists who “take a position in which art and life mingle rather than remain separate, and where beauty is found in the everyday rather than in the ideal.”

In a stunning flash presentation, viewers can browse the featured artwork by artist, medium or position on the timeline from 1950 to today.

You’ll see work by Andy Warhol, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, Gerhard Richter and more. You’ll find everything from bitmap drawing and prints to vivid photographs and intricate wall drawings.

MOMA offers so many online resources and exhibitions - be sure to take advantage of them!

TED Talks // Elizabeth Gilbert

February 23rd, 2009 / Filed Under: Art - Graphic Design / 2 Comments / Tags: , ,

A captivating lecture at TED.com from popular novelist Elizabeth Gilbert.

“Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person ‘being’ a genius, all of us ‘have’ a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.”

Philip Spradley // Jason

February 11th, 2009 / Filed Under: Graphic Design - Packaging / No Comments / Tags: , ,

This is just a quick re-post of something I saw over at TheDieline:

Student Philip Spradley is responsible for this phenomenal design. I couldn’t resist putting this one out there. Hair! Beards! Genius!

Kimm Saatvedt // Website Design

February 5th, 2009 / Filed Under: Photography - Web Design / No Comments / Tags: , ,

Popular Norwegian photographer Kimm Saatvedt has got a website to which other photographers should aspire.

Why clutter the screen with writing, navigation…anything really, when you’re a photographer and your photos are what you’re trying to promote? Kimm has nailed it.

Two full-screen shots grace every step of the portfolio section of the site and until you scroll over the center of the screen, you see nothing but the glorious photos themselves.

The navigation is minimal, but functional: a thin black line contains all the links you need, for contact info, blog and forward and backward movement. Simple and elegant.

Check out v9 here!

Simon Hoegsberg // Thought Project

February 2nd, 2009 / Filed Under: Photography / No Comments / Tags: , ,

It’s true that I just wrote about Simon Hoegsberg for VewdNews, but I’ve found another project of his that is just beautiful.

For Vewd I took a look at “We’re All Gonna Die - 100 meters of existence,” an image that incorporates 178 people in a 100 meters-long panoramic.

Now I’d like you to take a look at “The Thought Project.”

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From Simon’s website: “Over a period of 3 months I stopped 150 strangers on the street and asked them what they were thinking about the second before I stopped them.” He snapped their photo, took down their responses and chose 55 accounts that are featured here.

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This is such a personal project–you are given an insight into exactly what someone was thinking, or daydreaming, or worrying about. Not only that, but Simon had such an intimate interaction with them as he spoke to and photographed them!

A voyeuristic project, sure, but also a touching, snapshot of life.