PCDC wishes!

APPRECIATE: blue christmas

Thanks to Elvis, blue and christmas is forever a bad combination.

But these days, Pocket Change is seeing blue for what it really is: a unique holiday color that captures the winter season. Unlike the classic Christmas red, blue is a cool color. It's the color your lips turn after that seventeenth ski run. Good design is sometimes so fitting that it is overlooked. A string of blue lights can look right at home against a dark sky and white snow. It's even a color known to have a calming effect, and if you've been to the mall lately, that doesn't sound like such a bad thing.

So next time your rainbow colored, blinking, singing, slightly obnoxious, string of lights goes on the splits, try adding a simple blue and your holiday will instantly calm.

-jules and nate.

PCDC at the end of the world

Even if you live under a rock, you've probably heard that the world is ending this Friday, 12/21/12.

PCDC begs to differ. Here at Pocket Change, we believe the 21st of December will be the beginning of many new things, rather than the end of humankind's existence. After all, it's the winter solstice and our days will only get longer. That means there's that much more time in our day to hash out our business plan, research capitalization details, and OH YEAH, design. So keep an eye out for what we have coming!

And in case we're wrong about the impending apocalypse, at least our followers who live under a rock will appreciate this entry...

-jules and nate.

APPRECIATE: bar codes

No one goes to the mall anymore.

Small joke, but in all seriousness, many these days have found online shopping to be a win-win when it comes to holiday gift preparations. The benefits of online shopping mean instantaneous results, and most importantly, no searching for a parking spot.

We can already tell that online shopping is the next 'simplicity to overcome habit', a definition previously describing the bar code in yesterday's Bloomberg Businessweek article that describes how the bar code came to manifest. Imagine waiting in the grocery checkout for the cashier to type in every number code of every item!? Pocket Change certainly wouldn't have the patience for that; appreciate the design of bar codes...

-jules and nate.

APPRECIATE: crisp weather

It's cold; there is no denying that! As winter sets in the city take a second when you head home from the office. Step outside and take a deep breath. Because the air is so cold your lungs can actually take in more oxygen giving you more pep in your step. So instead of rushing for the red line tomorrow morning take your time and enjoy the air!

PCDC buzz!

As the gingerbread auction comes to a close, the buzz is just starting.

Thanks to the Community Design Resource Center's reception, held on November 28 at the headquarters of the Boston Society of Architects, word has spread about the 9 competing gingerbread projects. If you didn't make it to the reception, or happen to walk down Congress Street last week to see the display, you can read what others, like BostInno and We Love Beantown, thought about it right from your computer.

And yes, that woman is totally checking out the blog...

-jules and nate.

APPRECIATE: Chairs

It's time chairs take on a new adventure.  They are getting tired of being pushed in, rolled around, folded up, and staying on all fours.

Every object, whether useful or artistic should flip roles.  It's time to appreciate the chair as a piece of sculpture. Chair sculptures show the unique structural character of a chair. A chair follows the same governing laws, we'll say tension and compression, as more common structural materials.

It's time to re-imagine the chair and push it to its limit, who knows, you may end up creating something fasinating out of something you sit on everyday.

APPRECIATE: a red door

Or, a neighbor's red door.

Either way, in the drab-almost-winter weather of a city, this dingy old red door is not afraid. Red is the color of energy, power, and strength. Red pops.

In appreciation of red, Pocket Change is doing some research. For starters, Mondrian was also an artist of red. His use of primary colors reflected more of his inner feelings, rather than the reality of an object. Artists are passionate people, it only makes sense that we're drawn to red, even if it is just the color of an old door to a city apartment.

PCDC has Business Cards!

APPRECIATE: saddle shoes

Fashion's funny.

As the saying goes, sometimes it's 'in' and sometimes, it's 'out'. For example, saddle shoes, seemingly associated with nerds today, were sports kicks for almost everyone 50 years ago. We challenge you to find a photo from your childhood that doesn't both embarrass you, and delight you, based on what you were wearing.

Pocket Change would like to appreciate the fashions that we've seen before, seen go, and seen come back with new life. In fact, with a little graphic power, nerds could be the future of fashion.

-jules and nate.

APPRECIATE: dinner

Pocket Change is in the kitchen, again.

But this time, in honor of one of our top three favorite meals of the day, we're designing in appreciation of dinner. Check out these graphics of The Dinner Plate Collection. It's not about being what you eat, it's about being what you eat on.

Happy Thanksgiving from Pocket Change Design Collaborative!

-jules and nate.

PCDC on FB!

Look for us on Facebook!

Our growing design firm now has its own Facebook page; find us by searching for 'Pocket Change Design Collaborative' and stay even more up to date.

After all, we never know what kind of project we'll end up with next...

APPRECIATE: identity

The idea came from a simple thought; finding change in your pocket puts a smile on your face.  Why not make design do the same thing?  We want design that everybody can understand, simple, pleasing, and appreciated by everyone.  Using change as a metaphor for our designs, often times change becomes a hassle, no one wants to carry it around because it becomes too overwhelming, and more often than not it becomes overlooked.  However, there are some instances, and these are the instances that we are shooting for, when you find change in your pocket that was forgotten.  That’s when you consider yourself 25 cents richer!  Our designs are trying to bring that simplicity to light for everybody.  Pocket Change is not just for other designers to appreciate, we want everybody to stumble upon our designs and smile.  It is that simple, just change in your pocket.  The bottom line: we want our designs to make your day.  

Cheers, Nate and Jules

APPRECIATE: vintage

Pocket Change goes vintage!

A wedding invitation is the first impression. It's an introduction by the couple to the guest, stating the intended feeling for the event. It sets the tone, stirs the excitement, and most importantly, lets the wedding information be known.

For Chilean couple Carolina and Victor, the feeling was vintage for their January 2013 wedding. Pocket Change has created an invitation to match this theme, equipped with flapper style cartoons and faded colors.

...what feeling will you want for your wedding? PCDC can help!

-jules and nate.

PCDC at ABX!

ABX is back for its 2012 season, which runs November 14-16. Pocket Change popped into room 161 of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for "The 90-minute MBA for the emerging professional," a lecture by Jim Kimball of Phase Zero Design.

We're brushing up on our business skills here at PCDC, and advice for the day, straight from ABX: find what you're passionate about and do it!

EVOLUTION: of a gingerbread house

PCDC is competing!

And we're doing it through gingerbread. That's right, this year the CDRC of Boston is hosting its first annual gingerbread house design competition. Entries will be on display at the BSA space November 26 - December 7.

After craft stores, supermarkets, coffee runs, and a big bowl of nachos, the Pocket Change team set to work. Prep included building a base, which the challenge defines as a 2'x2' board of plywood covered in tin foil. And OH YEAH, an exorbitant amount of gingerbread.

Though we're not done yet, we're making progress. Our Boston inspired model is due on Friday...

...so much sugar!

-jules and nate.

EVOLUTION: of a logo

It started out as an idea. And with any idea, there is always two directions: reality or fantasy. The only difference between these is who the idea takes with it. With fantasy, the idea takes only its thinker, but with reality, the idea shows itself to everyone. 

Pocket Change is our idea, and we want everyone to see it.

And like a baby or a plant or a puppy, or any other seemingly insignificant thing with the ability to live, an idea needs to evolve. 

Check out how our logo is evolving. 

-jules and nate.

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to the blog of Pocket Change Design Collaborative...

... a graphics company of [appreciated design]

more to come!