13, The luck of the draw

Dear friends, clients, suppliers, competitors and so on, “Poor things” you may be thinking, “bad luck turning 13 years old on one of the most unlucky years in the history of humankind!” Well, it is true, from this historical fact we won’t get rid. Today we make 4749 days, 678 weeks, 156 months, 13 years, damn! And we have to celebrate this day in a scenario of “monsters” without “cookies”, in a blind fight against an “invisible enemy”, where clients disappear and partners desert.

But don’t fool yourselves. We may be bombarded from everywhere, take a stray bullet, be forced to crawl and beg for shelter… Stoping, never! We lick our wounds with spit and crawl forward.

13 is just a number. And because it is ours, lets  finish him by taking the best of both: the 1 is for courage, initiative and wilingness to take chances; the 3 is the selfconfidence and optimism to believe on a better life. Gibberish? No, it is simply our way of being and continuing to be and making the difference. Each on her corner, in a silent retrospective work, we prepare the future the best way we know.

“They don’t know, they don’t even dream, that the dream commands life”. But I know creativity extrapolates the dream.

It is time to sit, meditate, inspire and expire Or simply let the nature speak… And read, a lot. I have chosen 13 essential books for my mental and creative balance: CHANGE, since this is the right opportunity to finally do it; GARFIELD, because it makes me laugh; AUTUMN, because we draw it tenderly; TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and THE GREAT GATSBY, classics to read one more; DITOS BURRIQUITOS because it was offered to me a long time ago by an artist friend of mine and I hand’t had the time to read it yet; HISTORY OF FILM, because why not? I’m addicted to films; DISEÑO DE INVITACIONES e DICIONÁRIO DE TERMOS ALFARRABÍSTICOS to activate the technical knowledge; THE FIVE THINGS WE CAN’T CHANGE, tips to overcome evils that fall on our lap; THE WORLD WHERE I LIVED and THE WHY OF LIFE for a spiritual reflection. At last, and by irony of fate, NO ONE IS ALONE. We are isolated, but together in the same dream!

REGINA

Tea or coffe, hot or cold, I don’t care! I only need it to be strong, true and delicious. I brought home the team habits, and along the day I choose the best company for my mood: the MORNING COFFE awakes all the senses; the DETOX TEA burns the negative energies; the COFFE WITH MILK is perfect to mix concepts; the mighty EXPRESSO COFFE decodes any briefing; the LONG BREAK and AMERICANO gives me time to create; the GREEN TEA releases all the toxins from the 5 o’clock snak; the BLACK TEA gives me force to keep going; the CAPPUCCINO is the right excuse to a bit of conversation with my cat; the MINT TEA refreshes my ideas; the hot MOCHA sweetens my thoughts; the biological LEMON TEA makes me more positive; at last, the CHAMOMILE TEA relaxes me after a day’s work. 13 addictive nectars that make me drunk of joy because, in the end, I know everything will be alright.

INÊS

To be happy you only need a piece of paper and a pen. I pity how may try to take my ability to write and draw! I wouldn’t be able to scratch at my work as designer without a scribble and a paper for every occasion: I draft on the RECYCLED; I use the IOR for black and white prints; the COUCHE MATE I leave for the avant garde clients and the  COUCHE GLOSSY for all the others who want cheap luxury; on boxes i use the CORRUGATED PAPER; for an artistic finish I choose the KRAFT; the color trials in PHOTOGRAPHIC paper; the FINE ART paper seduces me for the colors and textures without end; the NEWSPAPER is the only for its own purpose; the WALLPAPER for big layouts; the TRACING paper for technical tasks; the TRANSFER paper for objects. At last, the TOILET PAPER, true companion of every day that in the right moment eclipses all the others. Its basic simplicity remind us that there is no need to spare suffering and worry for a future that is not here yet, because that is like design on a toilet paper and then clean the we-know-who over our most noble ideas. Let’s make a positive role!

ANA

The best gift I can give to someone is time. And my time dedicated to communicate and draw continues, at the distance of a single pixel.

07h13 is time to wake up, reminds me my cat Gaspar with a lick; 08h13 é exercise the body because the skeleton was not made to be kept sit; 09h13 starts the day with a new project; 10h13 the neighbour knocks on the window asking for sugar; 11h13 I have a videoconference meeting with the team; 12h13 I go back to draw a website; 13h00 pause for a chickpeas and avocado salade; 14h13 an urgent call from a client; 15h13 I read again the briefing and I do some creative work; 16h13 the postman rings twice; 17h13 time for myself and my aromatic water; 18h13 I send a proposal  and update the planning; 19h13 time for the family.

Says the popular wisdom that for major maladies, major remedies. And the best remedie is to give time to time. Every second is time enough to change everything, and for the best.

JULIANA

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT KEEPS BELIEVING IN US…
THE ONES WHO DON’T BELIEVE, BAD LUCK!

See you soon.

Uma série de quarentenas

Everything is strange! Work, the supermarket lines, socializing with friends, the online gym… As much as it may cost us, the social distancing is the key for this pandemic. But, between you and me, when everything gets back to normal, some people could well keep a distance of 2 meters (even without the virus)…

Did you think staying at home was the same as paradise? It know that you intended to read that book, do more exercise, renovate that chair and learn how to play the guitar….  But, after enduring the kid’s whine, cook and doing 5 laundry machines in a single day, any paradise turns in a leaving hell and you even miss the old office routine!

We “assaulted” the supermarket shelves for him. It is also him whom we look at in times of “affliction”.  Be it the newspaper, a letter, the supermarkert leaflet, a kid’s drawing sheet or toilet paper, it is in times like this we give it real importance.

“One hand washes the other”…and with both we finish the enemy! Each wash is like a stab in Covid. It is the perfect crime and, in this case, without trial or imprisonment, only water and soap – the perfect weapons for a “clean” execution.

Drag the right leg, then the left. Between dragging comes a grunt. We extend the arms and slowly reach the so desired door… of the refrigerator! When hunger strikes, we enter in zombie mode and the damage is complete. The victims are our pantries and refrigerators, which are decimated in this withering attacks!

The kitchen is now a mess hall. The living room a gymnasium. The bedroom is now the office. The balcony hold school hall C, where the Portuguese classes are held. During quarantine times, the spaces adapt and we only have to pray that the dog won’t bark, the kid won’t call us, and the neighbour won’t yell while we are in a conference call!

Tip: click on the link below and get in the spirit with the theme of the series: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evf-U8he-6o&list=PLrRwF9_dIWUqrPAtXYo8jpd8FdOqNeeqp

Because today is our day

As graphical designers we have heard everything. Our family, friends and clients seem as they don’t know what we do. But at Red is not that difficult to explain. Because we do EVERYTHING! For for other colleagues of the this trade, things may be more complicated…

 

Graphical Designer Day

“You can finish that later. Scribble something, put a nice font and done!” FRIENDS

“Forget it, my nephew can do that on Paint. It is free!” CLIENT

“You spend your life in front of the computer. I don’t understand…” PARENTS