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I know 2007 is SO last year but I just wanted to list the good things that came out of it, in no particular order.
1. Poptastic and The Paper Basket, our Cafepress shops. Yay to designing for fun — and getting paid to do so!
2. The trips to Japan (March), Singapore (April), Dumaguete (August), and Hong Kong (November). We hope to do more sightseeing this year, finances permitting.
3. Engagements! Some of our close friends and a family member are tying the knot soon and Arn and I couldn’t be happier for all of them.
4. Reconnecting with long lost friends & relatives, strengthening ties with the ones I’m in touch with, and making up with missed, estranged (well, estranged no more) ones. All thanks to Facebook.
5. Papa coming home for good. He’d been travelling to and from Japan since I was little and had lived there as a visiting Professor for a year in 1978, three years in the ’90s and then another six years before retiring last year. It’s such a comfort to know that he and Mama are both at home, right next door.
6. Arn and me turning four years strong as man and wife. Looking forward to many, many more wonderful years together.

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So this year kind of started with a bang — on my hard drive and consequently, my wallet. One of our home computers, the PC I use for work, CRASHED. See if this happened to my Mac³, I would’ve known how to fix it but PCs are as alien to me as Bode Miller⁴ so I had no choice but to bring it to a shop that charged x amount for labor, another x amount to install an OS, and x amount for a new hard drive to replace the damaged one. But then I was prepared to spend whatever it cost to retrieve the magazine layouts I slaved on over the holidays (wouldn’t you, now?) and hooray, hooray they were all safe. So yes, Wedding Essentials Jan-June 2008 will be at the stands soon … er, soon enough.

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It was a different case for our media collection though. We lost ALL the music, tv series episodes, and movie files we’ve accumulated these last couple of years. A few had been backed up on file, some are in our iPods, but most are now gone… forever. Lesson learned? Backup your files, backup your files, BACKUP!
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1. Get ready for this: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3395. Where was TinyURL when you needed it?
2. A slightly easier to remember http://members.tripod.com/~cbauzon
3. Actually I hardly use my Mac for work anymore, it’s so jurassic it can only handle web-based projects (which I choose not to do so much anymore too).
4. Sorry, Arn is watching the world cup right behind me and I know absolutely nothing about speed skating and curling and what other winter sports there are

The first two are the booklet’s back and front covers and the rest are sample inside flaps.
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I wanted the design to have a painted, dreamy quality using macros of almost indistinguishable nature elements because the “want” in the album title connoted “dreams, desires, & wishes” to me. (Uhm, that made sense, right?)
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After I submitted them, there was no word for a few days. I finally called to ask what the status was and then was told that they² wanted something that looked like her old stuff³ and so have decided to just ask their in-house designer to do it…
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And this⁴ is what it looked like when it came out.
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Oh well. But there’s a happy ending to this tale: I was paid a discontinuation fee.⁵
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Here’s another design story, one that pushed through. San Miguel Philharmonic/Master Chorale’s “Great Original Pilipino Music album”.
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Mr. Ryan Cayabyab is always a joy to work with, mainly because he has excellent taste not just in music but in the visual arts as well. He especially likes it when there’s a concept behind the design you present him.
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When I was sent the track list for the GOPM album, “Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka” stood out at once so I started sketching a couple of lovebirds under a red umbrella almost immediately. I wanted to show the surroundings in blue so that the couple (who were in color because they’re in love) would be the main focus.⁶ As for the jeepney, well there had to be something to make it Filipino, the title is “Great Original Pilipino Music” after all.
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Here are my rough, initial studies. First in pencil, then a study in color.

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Mr. C liked it right away! I told him I would clean it up and improve on it, i.e. ask my talented artist hubby to render it like a painting.
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Arn actually took it a step further. He thought the jeepney was cluttering the background so he arranged the elements in such a way that the artwork looked like it was telling a story.⁷ I liked it much better already!

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But then Mr. C said that he liked the fact that the couple was already together under the umbrella in the first study although he likes the impressionist quality of the new layouts. He also told us that we could lose the jeepney if we wanted. Hmm, maybe he was right.
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We came up with this. The lamps are supposed to make it look like the scene is in Luneta, but if you didn’t get that it’s perfectly okay. Overall, I thought it looked more romantic and was quite sure we had nailed it.

And we did! It got approved. And produced shortly after.

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Before I end this, I would like to share something with you.

We met him! And had dinner with him⁸!
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The last time he was here, we queued in Gateway but didn’t get a chance to have our books signed, although Arn had a lucky encounter (and photo op) with Mr. Gaiman in the washroom. A few days later, Azrael posted that photo in his blog. Mr. Gaiman saw it and wrote Az: Thanks to you… I learned that the nice man next to me at the sinks in the mall was Arnold Arre, whose art I had been admiring a few hours earlier. (And I wished he’d introduced himself.) Mind-blowing, right? Two years later Arn, who was a judge for the Graphic/Fiction Awards’ comics category, finally had the chance to introduce himself properly, and Mr. Gaiman was gracious enough to actually remember Arn’s name and the incident, and reiterate that he really does like his art. What a fine, fine gent.
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More kwento and tons of photos in my Multiply.

1. My G4 is turning 8 next month! I hardly use it anymore.
2. I’m actually not sure as to who “they” referred to.
3. Why oh why?
4. It doesn’t look bad but I’m sorry, looking at it again 6 years later, I still think my design should’ve been given another chance. At least mine had a concept.
5. And so should you if you begin a project that doesn’t get fulfilled. Remember to have that clause in your contract.
6. Cliche, I know but hey, it works visually.
7. That’s my hubby, a natural storyteller!
8. Well technically with him tablehopping in the room. But we got to talk to him and we actually really had dinner with his son Mike who was seated at our table.

Dead meat, don’t you know you’re dead meat?
You just messed with the wrong team
Better not try and fall asleep now.

Watch the video here or download the mp3.
At first glance² and maybe because of his trademark mellow vocals, it seems like a harmless albeit angry letter to a person who wronged him. It turns out that the song is addressed to an ex-girlfriend³ who cheated on him with his childhood friend who subsequently died in an accident before he and Lennon could reconcile. Yep, heavy stuff, a big departure from the easy, breezy, crashing-on-Yuka Honda⁴’s-couch days of old. With that back story in mind, give it — and the entire album — another listen. It just brings a whole new dimension to it. As for my favorite tracks, everything sounds fabulous really but I like listening to “On Again, Off Again”, “Spectacle”, and “Tomorrow” over and over.
I think what I especially admire about Sean Lennon is that he struggles to make the music he wants without resorting to the obvious (i.e. going the POP music route and capitalizing on his larger-than-life surname).
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SCRUBS⁵ – Because of the void left by “Heroes” and the demise of a certain feisty little blonde girl’s tv series, I had to look elsewhere for entertainment. I remembered that Budz & Nest told me that it was a good show so I decided to check it out. Suffice it to say that now, a day is not complete if I don’t get to “spend time” with JD and company. I think it’s also because I’m reminded of when I wanted to be a [insert gasp here] doctor when I was 5⁶. It also doesn’t hurt that a lot of Felicity alumna appear in the series from time to time.
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HARRY POTTER 7 THEORIES AND WHATNOT (SPOILER ALERT). In anticipation of the final book of the series, fans all over the world — yours truly definitely included — have been speculating: Will Harry survive the final battle with old Voldy? Will Hogwarts reopen? What or where are the remaining horcruxes and will some of them represent the 4 Hogwarts founders? Will Harry reconcile with Ginny? Will Ron & Hermione end up together? Will Dumdledore reappear ala Gandalf or Obi Wan? Was Snape ordered to do the deed (see book 6) by Dumbledore himself? Alas, only she knows. Incidentally, with regards to the last speculation — I personally believe that Snape was under Dumbledore’s orders and that he is not evil.
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I seem to be getting quite a number of hits for the following terms: “Arnold Arre” (ahem, my hubby), “Andong Agimat“, and “movie”. So… is there anything you guys would like me to confirm?
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Sorry I have to cut this short, work awaits. Follow my tweets, if you will.

1. And I have to credit an old …friend for giving me that album as a birthday gift hence introducing me to Sean’s music.
2. and if you don’t follow his career like fans (like me) do
3. Not Yuka Honda. I’m talking about the more recent ex, Bijou Phillips.
4. Don’t get me started on Yuka, she’s another musician I greatly admire. It broke my heart when she and Sean broke up.
5. I know, I know, I’m 6 seasons late in the game!
6. My mom’s a pediatrician and I used to tag along when she did her rounds/attended to her patients in the hospital. My bubble burst when I didn’t make the cut to enter PSHS by a mere 4 points — I passed the screening to take the test though. On hindsight, I think pursuing the arts instead did me good.

1. Oh no, Peter’s trademark “bang” (singular of bangs) got cut off! I don’t think it’s the end of him though.
2. Also because I’ve been glued to the TV and my deadline is looming and on top of that Arn and I are FINALLY going away on vacation again next weekend
3. it’s still accessible though
4. like the world cares, right?

1. And I was in 3rd year college when that song was all the rage with the new wave crowd. Do the math if you like.
2. Oh please don’t say we’ve sold out, we already know that. We just never say no to SonyBMG because they’re wonderful people and are like family to us.
3. check out our new Heroes-inspired designs!
4. As opposed to this one which is 90% written from stream of consciousness
5. Hot off good ol’ Isohunt

Stefan Sagmeister. He’s worked on album packaging and posters for music industry giants The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, etc. and is best known for his trademark hand-made typography. With an emphasis on concept over style, everything he churns out has an exciting, “made you look, huh?” quality. His mantra? Work slower, do less work, do it better.¹

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Paula Scher. I love designers who play with type and Ms. Scher is certainly one of them. She designed the uber-cool “Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk” posters² as well as the simply clever “Citi” logo of Citibank and the globally-recognized elegant branding for Tiffany&Co. How’s that for style diversity? Incidentally, she’s one of the partners at legendary design studio Pentagram.

Next time, I’ll tell you all about my web design heroes.
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By the way, Graphika Manila — the first ever design conference in Manila — is happening on December 2 at the Mall of Asia. It’s gonna be a huge event guys, design biggies of the new skool, Joshua Davis and MK12, are flying over to speak alongside local talents Team Manila, Blackflood and our good pals Rex + Jois of Inksurge (yay!). Count on us to be there for support
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We have back-to-back shoots this week so do check out the phlog from time to time for updates.

1. I’d love to apply this work ethic but sadly, in the third world we’re often driven by extremely tight deadlines, not to mention the need to make ends meet as soon as we can.
2. I actually watched the show on Broadway (’98) just because the posters grabbed my attention.

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David Carson. He was the Nirvana and Pearl Jam of the visual movement in the 90s. His work on Raygun changed the way I looked at graphic design forever — now here was someone who came up with attention-grabbing work by tossing the rulebook out the window. If you’ve seen the Pillbox magazines and a lot of the local Pepsi ads in the 90s, you’ll see how heavy his influence was on the art director.¹

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Neville Brody. Consistent use of loud colors, big and bold type, and striking graphic elements make his work distinct and memorable. It was also through studying his work that I learned the proper use of typography² as a design element. His designs seem to have a life of their own, they leap out of the pages containing them, just like the designer himself — he didn’t stop at print and has branched out to motion and space design as well.³

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Saul Bass. This man is a legend, just take a look at the work he’s done — they include iconic posters and logos that have stood the test of time. The use of flat colors, blocky hand-lettered type, and simple shapes define his minimalist style. It’s most likely a testament to the limitations in printing during his time but I’ve always believed that when it comes to visual communication, the simpler and the more straight to the point, the better. Right?

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Milton Glaser. You’ve seen his “I *heart* NY” logo a million times, but the body of work he’s produced speaks volumes about his range as a designer. I can’t say he has a particular style because when you look at his designs, they don’t look like they came from just one person. But the randomness is good in that it shows versatility. Of his work, I like the ones that have illustrations the most. His psychedelic, free-flowing drawings seem to take us back to a time when producing art actually meant freedom of expression (and didn’t involve deadlines).

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Locally, I have my design heroes as well and fortunately I’ve had a chance to work with them.

Robert Alejandro. Sir Robert is best known for his whimsical and stylish artworks for Papemelroti and the Ayala Malls. He was my Figure Drawing and Advertising 101 teacher in 3rd year college⁴ at the UPCFA and he just blew everyone away with his art and out-of-the-box way of thinking. Ask anyone in my class and they’ll tell you that he was the one who inspired them to be (a) an advertising art director; (b) a children’s book illustrator; or (c) a graphic designer — all of which he was.⁵ How cosmic is it that we formed and now belong to the same design group?

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Raymond Legaspi. He’s not as publicly known as Robert but he’s a force to be reckoned with in the Direct Marketing world, having won a ton of awards locally and internationally. Mr. Ray was my very first boss — I had my OJT at J. Walter Thompson in 1991 and was assigned to be his trainee. A few years later, we worked in the same company, Ogilvy & Mather, as colleagues where he was certainly one of the few art-based Creative Directors I had huge respect for because he always stressed on the importance of a big idea in visual thinking, unlike some who focused primarily on execution.⁶ Incidentally, he retired from the corporate world just a few weeks ago to pursue his first love, painting.

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And of course,

Arnold Arre. I know, I know, he’s my husband but to be honest, I’ve admired him and his work waaay before we even met. The first time I ever saw his paintings for Mythos, my mind just reeled at the detail he put into all of them — intricate brush and pen work, the stories behind them⁷ — the overall distinct style and theme of the entire exhibit was just so well thought of that I knew this guy was an intense and very passionate artist. The same goes for every piece of work he churns out, everything has a story. Everything has a reason. And isn’t that what good design should have? Reason. To matter.

1. Oh wait a minute, that’s me hehe.
2. My ultimate pet peeve: “designers” who stretch, squash and distort type. Ugh, I see it here all the time.
3. By the way I have a copy of the Propaganda album, 1234, which is one of his earlier designs. I swear I’ll have it autographed someday.
4. In 1990. That was the ONLY year he ever taught, lucky us.
5. I guess I’m guilty on all three counts.
6. I think the ultimate compliment was when he recommended that I be part of the Design Jury for last year’s Ad congress Araw Awards. I knew then that I’ve somehow earned his nod.
7. Yes can you believe it? Ask him about a character in his painting and he’ll tell you the back story he thought up for it.

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My Arn turned, umm, another year wiser last weekend! How did we celebrate it? Why with food, food, and more food of course. See the phlog for more pics.

I got him a dress watch and the first season of the 1970s series The Incredible Hulk on DVD and I’ve been watching along, which is a first since I usually get him DVDs for his birthdays¹ but I don’t last long watching them. I didn’t think I’d actually get hooked on Hulk since I never got to watch it when I was young² but it’s very engaging and the way it’s produced makes the situations look so real — bellbottoms, sideburns notwithstanding.

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Hanging out and spending time with good friends has become extremely difficult now that everyone’s always busy nowadays. Thankfully though, most of us were able to sync our schedules these past couple of weeks. Again, more pics in the phlog.

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Check it out, the great komikero himself, Gerry Alanguilan made a short video featuring an interview with Arn in time for his birthday, no less. Thanks “cousin” Gerry!

You can view — and learn from — all his videos here.

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By the way, for those of you looking to find extraordinary works to experience, I made a list of graphic novels that are big in heart — basically, stories that made me fall in love with the medium of graphic storytelling. These exemplify what I think has just the right mix of narrative and pretty pictures: not too artsy that the stories don’t make sense anymore, and not too wordy or high falutin that there’s no room to appreciate the story and illustrations. Let me know what you think.

1. Last year it was The Alien Quadrilogy, the other year it was Flash Gordon and Battlestar Galactica, and the year before it was the collector’s edition of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
2. Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman being whom I considered superheroes

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And since I mentioned it above, don’t you just love Technorati? It’s sure a big leap from the vanity search phase we all went through when Google was new (admit it, I know you do it too) because, for one, it can list mentions of any topic, an assigned URL, or yes, your name in any blog according to “freshness”. We always use it to research on how our mag is doing in the blogosphere (and thru it we even learned that Arn and I figured in the #9 spot of Adam David’s list of top moments in comics, naks naman!) Go and sign up.

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Oh boy this is turning out to be a really busy 1st quarter… but definitely not too busy to meet up with dear friends, especially ones I haven’t seen in ages (months=ages).



One of my bestest pals Sheila was in town (to attend a creative guru’s Bora wedding) last week so we moved hell and high water to meet up for a long lunch at the Fort. Shei is based in Singapore and both she and Tippi had just returned from a month-long US trip (with their respective hubbies) so there was a lot of catching up to do! I missed you girls, let’s do it again soon ok?

Captions: 1. Sherbet Sundae: strawberry, lemon and pistachio hehe. 2. Shei and Tippi- both sought after in their respective fields! 3. Tips and I showing our identical ponytail clips (given by our friend Pia last Christmas).