Cameesa - The Blog

While in the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport last week I realized I forgot reading material. Printed words on a plane are a must! I soon found myself wandering the little bookstore that every airport has and my eye was caught by a hardcover bearing a title I hold dear to my heart: Crowdsourcing. This momentarily blew my mind; I have never seen a book solely focusing on the subject. Although I feel confident I know the economics and current environment well, I just had to check it out. After I had a little LOL and an OMG, I admit my second thought was a bit arrogant: “I probably have more current knowledge on this trend than this book does” but I quickly caught myself and cracked it open. I thought it would be a healthy review and beneficial to hear another’s dictation of this market-changing force. And so I paid the hearty $26.95…thinking “this better be good.”

I have not yet finished it but have peaked at some of chapters that sounded appealing. The book’s premise is that organizations are learning that some of the best ideas come from the public, not the boardroom. It touches on businesses and various groups who have embraced and gained from crowdsourcing and others who were not so successful (which actually interested me more). Some companies in the former group mentioned were:Google, who awarded cash to individuals who developed contest-winning software for the iPhone;Advertisers, who now rewarding their consumers create their television and print placements; and Threadless, our Chicago friends who started letting web users design their own T-shirts a few years ago.

I couldn’t help but jump to the chapter dedicated to crowdfunding. Sellaband is highlighted, where “believers” financially support bands trying to make it big and Kiva, where people come together to offer loans to other struggling people to start businesses or get out of debt.

I hope next time a book covers crowdsourcing and crowdfunding Cameesa.com gets a mention

I can’t recommend it yet, but if you’re interested in learning more about crowdsourcing, hit up your local book store and check it out.

I received Kevin Lyons’ new book “Pussy and Papers Poetry Power and Pistols” the other day from Amazon. It is a retrospective containing five hundred of his t-shirt designs. For those who don’t know Kevin Lyons is, he is a notable figure in the T-shirt design community whose freelance clients include Nike Basketball, Adidas, Jordan Brand, Stussy and Beams-T in Japan. A keen typographer, Lyon’s shirts display unique type treatments that convey concepts with impact. The hip-hop influence is clearly present in all of his work. I also find it extremely interesting when Lyons references modern art movements within the context of contemporary hip-hop culture. An example is displayed below for a shirt done for Commonwealth Stacks, a shout out to MC Shan with visual references from the Dutch De Stijl art movement.

I’ve always been interested in Hydro74’s illustration work and apparel designs. Joshua Smith (aka Hydro74) is an illustrator/designer based out of Florida that designs apparel for the likes Quiksilver, Burton, Billabong and countless others. I initially found his work at the online design shop youworkforthem.com. Intrigued I found Hydro74’s site and his great T-shirt designs for brand name clients in the skate, surf and snowboard industry. His work is edgy, intricate, with a gothic feel and dark undertones. It appears that more T-Shirt apparel shops are utilizing this sort of look and feel. The most notable being the apparel shop Affliction, popularized by fighters in both boxing and the mixed martial arts community. I don’t know if Affliction was directly or indirectly influenced by Hydro74’s work; however I do know Hydro74 was on the scene before there was an Affliction, creating T-shirts for the top skate and snowboard brands. I do think that Affliction has definitely popularized the look.