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Halloween has passed, which our local CVS emporium interprets as a signal to bust out the Santa hats and dreidel cookies, frosted in a most fetching shade of blue. We're getting into the holiday spirit with a contest. The prizes: fame and free iTunes downloads of the documentary we've been talking about since it was in pre-production: Gary Hustwit's Objectified (find it on iTunes here; we've posted the trailer after the jump). Entering is as easy as looking around your desk. Just complete this sentence:

The most interesting object on my desk at the moment is __________.

Then snap a photo (a .jpeg, if you please) of the object and send it along with your one-sentence description to unbeige@mediabistro.com with "Contest" in the subject line. You have until industrial designer Dieter Rams' half-birthday—that would be Friday, November 20—to objectify yourself. We'll announce the three winners shortly thereafter. Remember that we're equally enamored with the beautiful (a pristine cup of Blackfeet Indian Pencils) and the odd (that ceramic doughnut your friend brought you back from Japan), so think creatively. The UnBeige legal team reminds us that because we're working with the iTunes (US) store, we can only give away downloads to U.S. residents. International readers are also welcome to enter—we'll find something cool to give you, too. Good luck!

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It's Election Day, and political types are everywhere you look, including magazine covers. The November 9 issue of New York features Marco Grob's Rorschach blot of a photo of Nancy Pelosi: wide-eyed, intense, and grinning in gumball-sized pearl earrings. An all-caps headline across her forehead brands the House Speaker "The Most ________ Woman in the United States*," with the asterisk inviting readers to fill in the blank with their choice of adjectives: powerful, reviled, effective, oblivious, sincere, plastic, or misunderstood. Less open to interpretation is the cover of the latest issue of Fortune, which has President Obama seeing the world through the distinctively hued Catull o's of the Google logo for its feature, "Obama & Google: A Love Story" (the photo is by Ben Baker, with the spectacles added by the digital wizards at Splashlight). Inside—but alas, not online—the piece opens with a dynamite full-page illustration by Stephen Kroninger of Obama embracing the Google logo amidst an explosion of hearts. "The President relies on Google execs for tech and economic advice," reads the dek. "But Obama's own regulators are scrutinizing the online-ad behemoth: Is the romance starting to sour?" Read on here to find out if there's trouble in paradise.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Leaving school but staying in the same place, we turn to this great story in New York about David Burney, an architect many people might not know, but whose work is helping transform New York one small project at a time. Burney is the commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, and in his past half-decade on the job, he's been actively trying to update and modernize (in a design sense) many of the new building projects the city decides to push through. With new procedures like altering the hunt for architects so that the best plans are chosen, not who can do it the cheapest, and convincing firms that building for the city isn't always a painful, fruitless endeavor. And it appears, at least through the lens of this piece, that he's finding success (the included slideshow of new buildings he's been involved with are beautiful, modern, and don't read at all as "government designed"). It's a great read, particularly if you've never heard of Burney and had wondered how it happens with the city (any city really) decides to build something not horrible to look at.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Staying in school for a big longer, and for a far more upbeat post, we turn to one of Archinect's terrific School Blog Project contributors, Mark Faulkner, who is studying at Cooper Union and reporting on his experiences as a student. His most recent post talks about his interest in Crocs, those shoe-like objects that nearly everyone seemed to be wearing these past couple of summers. Faulkner's interest isn't of the "Can you believe adults, people who have the right to vote and drive automobiles, are appearing in public wearing these things?" variety, which has long been our very-base reaction to them. Instead, he delves a little deeper, and therein lies the interesting, as he talks about Crocs' design blurring social constructions and how he's "been using them as a window of interpretation into our culture and how they relate to our floor surfaces and spaces":

The continual adaptability of public/private spaces and floor surfaces requires an equally responsive piece of footwear. Crocs are a symbol for our leisure culture and a symbol of adolescent adults. What is the nature of our current public spaces when we are allowed to and can wear Crocs in them? Crocs are the free plan of footwear. They free the barriers of the floor surface; sand to water to hospital, to home, to kitchen, to 5th Ave. No other shoe can achieve such a diversity of surfaces. They democratize footwear and break gender barriers.

Granted, the company may soon be out of business, and seem most certainly to have reached critical mass a while ago, but we have to hand it to Faulkner for looking at how such a piece of design can (did?) transform how society operates, albeit perhaps on micro-levels. Also, he chops one in half and photographs its innards, which is awesome.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The signs have really been there from the beginning, so this should really come as no surprise. Despite an influx of out of work students returning to school to receive various degrees in architecture, there have been questions over whether this is such a good idea, horribly gloomy reports from those inside university programs about future prospects, and even schools themselves telling students to scram for a year. And just a view of the industry itself these past couple of years doesn't paint a very rosy picture at all either. So when the Higher Education Career Services organization in the UK announces that a study has found that less than 50% of graduating architecture students are finding jobs, it isn't very revelatory. But it certainly doesn't make it any less unfortunate. Here's a bit:

Mike Hill, chief executive of HECSU, said: "We're now starting to see the extent of the impact the recession has had on graduate employment.

"Any signs of economic recovery may not be reflected in the destinations of new graduates until the 2010 graduating cohort. In fact it's likely that unemployment for 2009 graduates may be even higher than that reported here."

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

One of the best outlets for an American photographer to enter the international market used to be through the German publication GEO, known for their publication of lengthy photo essays and giving work to up and coming and experienced shooters. Unfortunately, Photo District News reports that the company has decided to close their New York office immediately, while also laying off their two main employees there, their bureau chief Nadja Masri and the photo editor Tina Ahrens. A sad day for sure, given the publication's outreach and availability to working photogs. Here's a bit about their history and spread:

The New York office has been in operation since 1976, when GEO was launched as an extension of Stern, a news magazine. The German edition of GEO is published monthly, and the brand includes several spin-off titles and 17 international editions.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Whether you covet an Odyssey putter or think it has something to do with ancient Greece, you could be the Tiger Woods Foundation's ace in the hole. The Irvine, California-based nonprofit organization is searching for a graphic design coordinator to help tee up its efforts to inspire youth. As the leader of the foundation's graphic design and collateral production endeavors, your responsibilities would include assisting in the production of materials ranging from annual reports to event invitations, coordinating mailings, and keeping tabs on the photo and video libraries. Bring your "innovation, creativity, organizational excellence, and core graphics and production skills," and the ability to quote liberally from Caddyshack—it's Tiger's favorite movie.

How's your follow-through? Learn more about and apply for this junior graphic designer, Tiger Woods Foundation job or view all of the current mediabistro.com design/art/photo jobs.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

(Photo: Prix Pictet)

It's been quite a year for London-based photographer Nadav Kander. In January, he made a splash with the special inauguration issue of The New York Times Magazine, which devoted its entire feature well to his 52 full-page color portraits of "Obama's People." The quirky portfolio garnered him the title of International Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards, announced last month during the Lucie Awards Gala. Kander's latest honor spotlights a body of work far beyond the Beltway. He is the winner of the 2009 Prix Pictet for his photographs of the life and landscape along the banks of China's Yangtze River, which he traced from its mouth in Shanghai to its source—about 4,000 miles away—in Qinghai Province. Kander was presented with the CHF 100,000 (approximately $98,000) award by former United Nations Secretary Kofi Annan at a ceremony held last week in Paris.

Now in its second year, the Prix Pictet is a Pictet & Cie-sponsored global photography competition that seeks to promote sustainability. This year's theme was "Earth." The twelve photographers shortlisted for the 2009 prize included Andreas Gursky, Edward Burtynsky, Naoya Hatakeyama, and Ed Kashi, who was awarded the 2009 Prix Pictet Commission. The American photographer will travel to Madagascar and produce a series of photographs to bolster the work of Azafady, a charity that works to eradicate poverty, suffering, and environmental damage in the island nation. An exhibition of work shortlisted for Prix Pictet is on view through November 23 at the Passage de Retz in Paris and then tours to Thessaloniki (December), Dubai (January), and Eindhoven (March). Go here for an online preview.

Previously on UnBeige:

(Logo: Young Guns 6 winner Craig Ward of Words Are Pictures)

The jury has spoken, and the Art Directors Club has announced its newest group of Young Guns: 50 creative sharp-shooters from around the globe that are doing great things in discplines ranging from graphic design and art direction to environmental design and video. The winners, all under 30, hail from 14 countries, including Lithuania (PetPunk), Denmark (Peter Michael Willer), and Japan (NOSIGNER). More than half (26) of this class of Young Guns are based in North America, and many are already working for some big guns: among those now in possession of coveted award cubes are Timothy Goodman (a designer with COLLINS:), Karim Charlebois-Zariffa (Sagmeister, Inc.), Qian Qian (McCann Erickson), and Ben Wiseman (Rodrigo Corral Design). Others are doing great things on their own, including U.S. winners Jessica Hische, Mixtape Club, Dan Saelinger, and Matt Smithson. Check out the full list of Young Guns 7 winners here. Those in the New York area can head to the ADC Gallery, where a selection of the winners' eye-poppingly good work is on view through Friday, November 6.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Thanks to a tip from Art Info, we can now start living vicariously through Nancy Spector. The Guggenheim Museum's Chief Curator for the past two decades, Spector has crafted loads of exhibitions (of course), worked with nearly every big name in the industry, from Matthew Barney to photographer (and U2 favorite) Hiroshi Sugimoto, and worked in organizing things like the Venice and Berlin Biennials, as well as art programing for the Olympics. And now she's on Twitter, allowing us into her world, albeit it briefly, with messages like "On my way to Frieze. Looking forward to Pop Life at the Tate to see Spiritual America's absence" and "Balka turns Tate's Turbine Hall into a dark abyss. Children laughing and playing anyway." She doesn't have many followers yet, so here's your chance to lock on, to later be able to brag that you were there first. And while you're there, you know that we're on Twitter too, right?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Beautiful as our architecture is here in Chicago, a lot of it wasn't built with the green, LEED-happy practices we use today. Fortunately, there's been movement toward revising some of those negatives, as Julie Wernau reports in her piece about architect Sara Beardsley's efforts to turn the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) totally green. The project, which would make the US's tallest building energy efficient, is through local super firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and is expected to run somewhere between $200 to $300 million, doing things like replacing all of its windows and adding all sorts of green rooftop additions some hundred stories above the ground. It's an ambitious project, to be sure, and hasn't picked up full steam yet, with plans for funding this massive endeavor still in the works, but here's to hoping it all works out and inspires other older buildings to do the same. Here are some of the details on the changes:

In design plans, the "green roof" project would be expanded to the building's multiple roofs, along with wind turbines and solar panels. But those rooftops would be more symbolic than anything else. The real energy savings will be culled from the 16,000 windows that will be replaced and from lighting automation and reduction.

The window project is estimated to be enough to cut heating needs by 50 percent and allow for new, smaller mechanical systems with a significantly lower environmental impact. A plumbing upgrade is expected to reduce water usage by 24 million gallons a year.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

You're familiar with the recently buzzed about blog, Letters of Note, right? It's a fun site, run by Shaun Usher, who created it as "an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos." It features things like famous people writing to other famous people about famous things, historically important documents of all sorts, and pieces of writing made funny in hindsight. That latter category wound up sharing with the world a bit of an embarrassment for the Museum of Modern Art late last week, when the site published a rejection letter they had sent to Andy Warhol in the mid-1950s. The museum was turning down the now-famous artist as he tried to donate a piece from his "Shoes" series. Although the letter has appeared in books and elsewhere on the internet, the growing popularity of Letters of Note brought it out in the limelight again, which led to the museum having to shrug if off and once again regret this long-ago decision. But what can you do, right?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

HypeForType just released Exclusive Faces Volume 02 including one off type creations from the likes of Non-Format, Research Studios, MWM Graphics, Suprb, and Richard Perez. To celebrate this HypeForType are offering 10 free typefaces (one per person, non exclusive only) for the first 10 people to comment on the release. All you have to do is write down the font of your choice in the comments box, and it will be mailed to you free of charge. Here's a preview of Exclusive Faces Volume 02 featuring Otto, Capset, and Vetena.

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There was an error in our email subscription module which resulted in sending out a lot of email notifications from creativebits to some members. I would like to ask for apologies and report that the problem has been fixed. You won't be getting any such emails unless you specifically subscribe to them.

You can check your settings by going to My account/ Subsciptions and Settings. Let me know if you need any help with anything and thank you for being a creativebits reader and member.

Google Wave seems to be a game changer in online collaboration. It's improving every day and several people started using it seriously for real work.

Following up on our tradition of giving away invites to beta services I would like to offer up my invites to creativebits members. The first 12 commenters will get the invites.

No need to give your email in the comment. I can get it from your account.

Hope you will enjoy it!

Anyone here worried about developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or has anyone suffered from this? Are there techniques or exercises to offset pain or problems with the mouse wrist?

Hitachi today announced that their similar image search engine, GazoPa application will begin open beta testing and is available to the public at large. All features are available for test users without log in.

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I read about people having problems with Illustrator.

There was a forum item about filling live text with a gradient and not being able to do so. Changing an effect on an object, putting a stroke at the outside of a character, and so on

Often all those problems can be solved with the "Appearance panel". This little devil is one of the most powerful panel tools that you have in Illustrator.

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Adapted from Glitch: Designing Imperfection (Mark Batty Publisher)
By Iman Moradi, Ant Scott, Joe Gilmore & Christopher Murphy
Dateline: October 23, 2009

Q: Please outline your working ethos and history as a graphic design studio—your experimental glitch research and the commercial side. How did this way of working come about?

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I think the new iMac 27" inch is the ultimate designer machine with its 2560 by 1440 pixels resolution and 375 cd/m2 brightness thanks to the LED technology. But for those used to 15-20" screens. Just how big is it?

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