Archive for 201041 results found.The highlight of Geneva’s winter
A few photos from the past month… In Geneva, the highlight of the year is the Escalade, a one-week event to commemorate and celebrate an important part of Geneva’s history. One of the main events is a 7km run around Geneva’s old town of It usually takes place in the second week of December. This year winter came early and so there was a ton of snow around the city. Beautiful … Read more → Winter’s early arrival
Geneva is covered in snow. Starting last weekend and continuing to today, Geneva is being blanketed with snow. From yesterday’s prediction of 20cm to today’s latest dump, there’s probably about 50cm on the ground. As people keep telling me, it’s abnormal for Geneva, which sits in a valley, to get such a big dump of snow, especially early on in the winter season. An “Orange” alert was declared, bus and tram … Read more → Bazaar Bonanza
Every year the UN Women’s Guild in Geneva holds a bazaar to raise funds for children and showcases flavors and products from around the world. Since it was my first UNWG bazaar I was excited to take my camera to capture some of the moments. What I didn’t realize was how popular and busy the event was. The bazaar took place over three floors of the convention area. The 2nd floor … Read more → Winters can be beautiful
It’s amazing how winter can be beautiful. The last couple of weekends in Geneva have been an absolute treat… the sun was shining and the temperature was balmy. With an average of 16C, the weekends were warmer than normal and that meant people were out walking, drinking, running, shopping, etc. – any way to get out to soak up the sunshine before the grey and dreary Geneva winter starts. It was … Read more → The Mind of the Strategist
Strategy. The word is one that gets thrown around a lot especially with more and more opportunities to start a business, improve an organization, or just be plain, dare I say it, “strategic”. I’m guilty of using the word more often than I need to. But I decided while reading books on advertising that it would probably be a good investment to learn really what all this talk … Read more → RGB… and all the colors in between
Fall (aka autumn) is a beautiful time of the year… colors are changing, temperatures are dipping, and the air smells different. It’s been a while since I’ve really experienced a fall, and the up-coming winter for that matter. The hardest part of it all is trying to get accustomed to the cold weather – in the past five years the closest I’ve come to living in a cold climate was three … Read more → October 13th is the International Day for Disaster Reduction
One of the things I’m doing at work is preparing for the International Day for Disaster Reduction on October 13th. This is the day when government, international organizations, and communities celebrate and promote reducing disasters. In most cases, “disasters” are labeled this way because it has an impact on human society. It’s kind of like saying, does a falling tree make a sound if no one is around to hear it? … Read more → The Return of Euro-Work
Geneva. This is where I’ll be for the next 6 months. International development work especially with the United Nations is generally sporadic and short-term – that’s why I’ve been moving around a lot these past few years. I finally made it back to Europe – in 2005, I spent almost half a year in Eastern Europe with a week stopover in Geneva. Even … Read more → Shouldn’t parks be green?
Having lived on and off in different countries in Asia since 2000, moving from one country to another for short periods of time to renew visas (i.e. the visa-run) is a fact of life for lots of tourists and foreigners. Last week my tourist visa to Indonesia expired so I took a short (i.e. one night) trip to Singapore. The city is like a second-home to me so when I arrived, … Read more → Two thumbs up for Megaria
From stores and vendors selling rows and rows of pirated CDs and DVDs, art-house movie groups, to luxurious and plush movie theatres, you can watch just about any movie in Jakarta – although I have a feeling there’s a bit of censorship around. Cheap, air-conditioned, and comfortable, going to the movie theatre is an inexpensive and entertaining thing to do in this hectic city, as long as you can brave the … Read more → Java Love
Conceptualized and designed this logotype on a fictional coffee brand from Kenya as part of an online graphic design course on typography and logo design. Only two things were given for the project was a brief and a two-week period to complete the logotype. The process included coming up with the concept, researching type and background on the fictional coffee brand, sketching the idea, and designing the logotype on Illustrator. Perpsectives from August
It’s been a busy August so far. First, there’s getting use to being married, then there’ the traveling, moving around, settling-in, and adjusting to a new culture/country. I’ve been exposed to an overflow of visions, perspectives, colours, cultures, people, and thoughts. One things is for sure, life is a surprise – when you think you know what you’re doing, life throws you a twist to keep you on your feet. There’s … Read more → Jumpin’ Jakarta
After a quick 20 hour flight, I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia. One of the first things I thought while waiting in line at immigration was that I’m in one of the most populated countries in the world (over 200 million) . At most airport immigration points I’ve been to, there’s usually a longer line of foreigners at immigration, probably because of longer visa/immigration procedures. But, when I came … Read more → Voigtlander Poster
As part of a graphic design project on photography, I wrote the copy, photographed, designed and art directed this poster for a Voigtlander lens I recently bought. The concept was to practice photography in a studio setting and to take the photograph and put it into a advertising format. The main photograph was taken in New York, near NY University, the lens photo was taken in a home-made studio, and the … Read more → A small and low-key affair
Some people might want to call it a secret, but we wanted a low-key affair in Canada. Everyone (a party of 6) arrived at my brother’s house at around 6pm. After a nice dinner that included tasty sushi from Fuji Sushi, a couple bottles of rosé from the south of France, a 30-minute ceremony with the commissioner, a delicious mango cake, a bottle of champagne, and a … Read more → Obedient
This logotype was created for a personal graphic design project. The brief was to produce a logotype that captured the represented the meaning of a word. Mind maps, typography research, and sketching were used to conceptualize and design this logotype, before using illustrating on the the computer. Marketing with a bit of a conscience
I’ve enrolled in a three-week course at New York University on using marketing and communications for social/environment/development issues… basically – taking what Coca Cola, Nike, Nestle, etc. has done with selling their products and applying it to more social justice issues. It’s an interesting concept and one that I’ve been thinking about for a while especially since I’ve been reading … Read more → Logo for Timor and Signs in NYC
If you’re wondering about the photo above, yes, that’s NOT New York… that’s Timor-Leste and that’s the logo I designed for an Asian Foundation project on Community-Police Partnership (the one on the far right). The whole process was an experience and interesting working with Asia Foundation and their local partners on figuring out how to represent their project as a logo and to … Read more → Sightseeing in English is a weird feeling
One of the strangest feelings I had when we first came to NYC was being a tourist in an English-speaking country. It was strange to not have to argue, bargain, or explain myself in another language other than English. I was so use to trying to converse in another language (very limited French, Thai, Tetun, Bahasa Indonesian) that being in an ALL English-speaking country … Read more → “Hiking” through Manhattan
Because we wanted to get out and do some walking – a great way to see NYC by the way – and to meet some new people, Muriel and I joined a walk, or as our guide Dorian told us, an “urban hike”. I’ve been on hikes through the countryside and around islands before, so what would be the big deal in “hiking” through New York’s urban environment, where … Read more → B is for Brooklyn and Brownstones
I’ve been in New York for a whole week (2 more months to go) and I haven’t even scratched the surface… so far the city has blown me away. Temperatures are rising, people are on the streets, free events starting, and the food has been diverse and delicious.
Our first exposure to NYC was staying at our friend’s 100+ year-old brownstone building in … Read more → Re-bienvenue Sanary
I’ve written about Sanary sur Mer before (here and here), I can’t say enough good things about it. We spent the last 2 weeks in France after leaving Timor-Leste – one week in Paris (photos are here) and one week in Sanary. Although Paris was great with food, museums, cafes, and people watching, it was also great to have a week in the south of France in the small … Read more → In life there are leaders and followers…
Like the title says, even if you think things are balanced and equal, life tends to categorize things into leaders and followers… both has its challenges, and both definitely has its responsibilities. Whether you think one or the other, at some point in life’s crazy path, you’ll have to be both a leader and a follower – and that goes for everyone! I won’t bore with the philosophical details, but let’s … Read more → Community-Police Logo
I was approached by a community policing project run by the Asia Foundation and funded by the United States International Aid Department (USAID) to help create a logo for their project. The logo was designed with community and police feedback to gain their acceptance of the logo and ultimately of the project itself. The green represents the local community-based initiative, the blue for the official color of the police force in … Read more → Unemployment just means you’re a “freelance consultant” (Week1)
It’s weird to be unemployed. Every time a contract/job finishes, there’s always this downtime that inevitably occurs. During these periods in between jobs, I’ve volunteered, gone back to school, picked up a new hobby, and just taken the time to relax. This is the first time I’ve ever had this downtime outside of Canada. I spent … Read more → FREE isn't forever.
Today was the last official day of the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics (and the free stuff events around the city). Vancouver has graciously received visitors from all over the world and the city has a few new ‘green’ buildings, a important transportation line/link, and progressive ideas for the future. From the Richmond Olympic Oval, the Canada Line, to reviving … Read more → Resume/CV
In early 2010 I decided to redesign my resume or Curriculum Vitae in somewhat of less traditional way. The idea was to highlight my work around the world in a visual way and make the document standout more given that I was applying for highly competitive jobs in the United Nations and other international organizations. The document is only two pages. The first page is designed with a map to highlight … Read more → NGO Small Grants Funding
The Early Recovery Project for the United Nations Development Programme needed to report on the progress of the Project to their donors. This map was part of the report to highlight the number of projects in Timor-Leste funded under the NGO Small Grants Fund. This includes the total funding for the projects, as well as the locations of these small grant projects to help the development and rebuilding of communities around … Read more → IDP Dialogue Activities
The Early Recovery Project for the United Nations Development Programme needed to report on the progress of the Project to their donors. This map was part of the report to highlight the number of mediations and dialogues the Project had with local communities to help with reintegrating families who had left because of political crisis back into their communities. Fresh air, snow, and mountains
Whistler is a great place to visit, especially if you’re a tourist. There’s lots of shopping, food and a different way of live 2 hours by bus north of Vancouver. I went up to visit my brother and to catch one of the paralympic events at the Whistler Olympic Park. We had free tickets to the men’s and women’s cross-country (sitting) event. Even though it was a bit of an adjustment … Read more → Never too late for photos…
Just got back to Vancouver a couple of days ago and was able to catch a little Olympic fever. Yes, I’m a couple of weeks too late for the main event, but the Paralympic Games will be starting soon. I was in downtown Vancouver yesterday and even though weather wasn’t the greatest (i.e. rain, rain and more rain), the fever was building for the paralympics. After getting off the skytrain I … Read more → There’s still more Olympics to go… up next, the Paralympics!
Canada comes out of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics with the most number of gold medals of any country! Even though I couldn’t catch most of the games while I was in Bangkok, I was glad to catch the biggest gold medal won during these games – Canada’s 3-2 overtime victory over the USA in men’s hockey. Just because Vancouver had the Olympic closing ceremony, there’s still more on the schedule… the … Read more → UN Virtual Library in Timor-Leste
While working for the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s office in Timor-Leste, I was asked to put together a virtual library so that all the UN’s publications from Timor-Leste could be accessed online. At the time there was no systematic organization of the UN’s publications in an easy place to find. The virtual library was built using WordPress and featured tags and categories to organize the publications. Environment Logo
I was approached by the Environment Unit of the United Nations Development Programme in Timor-Leste to help design a logo for a newsletter that the Unit was producing. The purpose of the newsletter was to highlight current environment initiatives taking place in the country, as well as a way to educate readers about environmental issues in the country. L'amour…
It’s that time of the year again… where love is in the air, chocolates and flowers fly off the shelves of stores, and passion and romance peak…yep, it’s Valentine’s Day (Feb 14). If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, Wikipedia and the History.com website might be able to enlighten you on the Day of Valentine. Like most years, all the movies that come out around this time has a … Read more → Going for gold… the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
It’s almost showtime! If you didn’t know the 2010 Winter Olympics will start on Friday, 12 February in Vancouver, Canada. It’s one of the biggest events that has come to the city in a long time, and while there are concerns over urban displacement, indigenous issues and budget/debt after the games, the excitement leading up to the games is undeniable… especially being a world-away in Timor-Leste. The official Vancouver Olympic site has … Read more → Going for a stroll
For some reason taking photos in Timor-Leste isn’t as relaxed as other places – well that’s what it seems for some of us amateur photographers. After spending over a year in Timor, I’ve chalked up approximately 5 rolls of film and probably a total of 500 photos from friends. To get out and take more photos, we decided to setup a small photo club so that we could get together to … Read more → Philippe Schneider – Photographer
While working in Timor-Leste, I helped an Australian/French humanitarian photographer to put together a website to showcase his photos from his work around the world. The website was developed using WordPress and was built so the photographer could manage his own photo collections. Originally designed in black, the website was changed in late 2010 to utilize a white background to ensure the photographers vision of a minimalist style to focus on … Read more → Google Map for Recovery Project Management
As part of a Early Recovery Project for the United Nations Development Programme, this interactive map was developed to showcase the possibility of using Google Maps and data from the project to help real-time project management and monitoring. The Google Map uses information entered into a Google spreadsheet to show the projects spatially and by organization. The idea was to have each project manager for each initiative to maintain the spreadsheet … Read more → Data Can Be Cool.
Anytime you hear the word “data” or “statistics”, the image of a geeky-looking guy (probably with a pocket protector) probably comes to mind. We’ve come a long way from this image and hopefully the idea that data is boring and only for nerdy people will change. Technology has come a long way to both help people interested in data to be a bit more creative in presenting this stuff and also … Read more → |
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