Eric Demay

Oh, look at that: turns out my best loaves came out to also give my best bread photograph yet, no post editing whatsoever. I heart nature morte, especially on my kitchen table.

For the curious bakers: both breads are made with integral whole wheat flour (a current favorite), and the foremost loaf is spiked up with walnuts.

Lovely family portrait. All were present. All except Uncle Stan, sulking in the barn. (He’s so grumpy sometimes, I guess hay just doesn’t cut it after awhile.) At least everybody’s looking nice. Sally could have turned around fro the picture though.

The little’uns, on the other hand, are quite the loving type:

And my favorite:

Si tu défiles la page vers le bas vraiment vite, C’EST COMME SI LES CHIENS COURAIENT! Des fois je me sens comme les frères Lumière au début du siècle dernier. Et oh que des fois j’aimerais aussi faire des gifs animés grands format qui ne pèsent pas des tonnes. Mais, un peu penaud, je sais, ça s’appelle de la vidéo.

Some would argue italian pies, once risen in oven, are close to holiness. Necessity, mother of a heavenly confection of old country ingredients. Heck, look, they even glow with haloes!

Merci à Vincent et Olivier de nous avoir laissé utiliser/ternir leur four à 500˚F pendant quelques heures.

Prendre des captures d‘écran des films que tu écoutes! C’est rien de révolutionnaire en soit, mais là, la technologie facilite le processus à un point tel où c’est presque niaiseux de ne pas le faire. Pour mon ami Louis-Pierre et autres amateurs de cinéma et de photographie, en quatre étapes:

• 1. Avoir film en format numérique: en DVD, téléchargé d’un torrent, de iTunes, whatever.
• 2. Important: faire jouer le film à partir de ton ordi avec VLC.app (pour Mac/Windows/Linux, gratuit).
• 3. Avec keymote (une application iPhone, $3.99), envoyer la commande de capture d‘écran à l’ordi quand tu vois un beau plan. Si tu n’as pas de iPhone, tu peux toujours appuyer sur pomme-alt-s sur le clavier, c’est simplement un peu plus boîteux qu’une télécommande.
• 4. Y’a pas d‘étape 4!

Yo yo Montrealais, gros weekend en perspective. Entre autre, deux (2) choses:

Vendredi soir

À l’Atelier Punkt (5333, Casgrain · local 205), c’est le vernissage du concours annuel de design Carton Jaune: des objets usuels qui dérangent un peu et qui sont aussi—inconséquement—tous plus ou moins jaunes. J’ai soumis une pièce et serais parmi la foule. Pognez-moi une fesse. Ou pas.

Samedi

Et ce weekend c’est aussi les Portes Ouvertes Design Montreal, comme quand tu tombes sur un open house d’agent immobilier et tu fais semblant de magasiner des condos pour voir ce que ça t’achète 300,000 piasses sur le plateau, mais là c’est plus beau plus chic parce que c’est des studios de design et d’architecture. Tu entres et tu check la place, et t’en profites aussi pour voir ce qu’ils font dans leurs bureaux/lofts de créatifs mardeux. (Tip: les bureaux de pub c’est les pires).

Pour ma part, je serai chez gsmprjctº (777 de la commune ouest · #2) du samedi de midi à 17h, présentant le projet réalisé l’année dernière à Dubai: l’exposition et l’observatoire de la Burj Khalifa. Venez faire un tour, on va vous conter ça. (facebook)

Dimanche

J’fais de la baguette. Vous n‘êtes pas invités.

I attended yesterday a presentation for a large web site bid.

Managers for eight local firms were present in the room, there to hear the client explain the project. All ears to the presenter, everyone was attentive to the project’s different requirement and structure, trying to understand the project clearly to thus be able to bid accordingly. The client was presenting quite an open-minded brief, allowing what one could call a “creative bid”, suggesting not only and simply fixing the current problems, but also enticing innovative propositions to improve the overall experience. It pretty much boiled down to: be creative, money isn’t the only aspect we’re going to evaluate.

At one point, after a presentation of the current broken content management system, one of the attendees asked:

“What would you prioritize in the project: the content management system or the design of the site?”

This question was coming from some clean shirt and tie, leather briefcase, successful-looking manager in his fifties. Maybe I’m reading too much into this but through that simple question, medium aside, I could understand two things.

First off, a clear vision of his warped business approach to a simple design problem: instead of considering all the elements and focusing on serving the client to his full potential, he was already at work wondering where should he cut to lower his expenses. The client couldn’t be clearer in communication expectations of innovative solutions for the project as a whole, he seemed to be looking for a shortcut.

Secondly, you can also understand, with only business managers invited at these presentations, how and why designers—and here I also include all other creative stakeholderincluding engineers—are too often badly briefed. With such an incomprehension of design process and thinking, how can he turn around and explain anything correctly to his design team? How can they get a clear and honest summary of the meeting? Of the client’s real needs? On its views and expectations?

I sighed immediately.

The presenter was slightly puzzled by the question: “Well, I guess they’re both and equally as important.”