For our gift exchange we each had to bring our favorite dvd and a cd of favorite songs from high school. We took the White Elephant route and things got pretty heated, but all in all everyone walked home with some premium items.

Thanks to all our voters we were able to make a very special Christmas for a local Thousand Oaks family.  We first received word of the Peralta family through St. Maximillian Kolbe Church.  It was very hard not to fall in love the Peralta’s and we felt so great to be able to help them out.  We bought lots of fun toys for their 5 year old son and gave them an Albertson’s gift card to help out with groceries. All of the Tonic team has agreed its better to give than to receive and we are already looking forward to next year’s event.

“S&S” Letterforms represent concept of marriage
Type patterns, framed art prints, Designer: Shawn Randall

(click on image for larger view of all three)

Recently I was asked to submit work for a local gallery show. My wife and I are coming up on our 8th wedding anniversary and so I decided to focus on the concept of Marraige in this triptic piece entitled “S&S”.

Each piece is framed in a solid wood black frame and was printed on a fine art velvet paper. The two smaller pieces measure 15 inches square and the center piece measures approx. 23 inches square.

Each piece was created from a single letter/symbol: S, &, S (Mine and my wife’s initials with an “&” in the middle). The letter was repeated, rotated, mirrored and composed by hand. Each piece has a short description of its content as well as of its concept:

“HUSBAND”

(click here for larger view)

– The first initial in my name is S. This piece represents the concept of husband. It is made entirely from the swash capital italic S from the typeface Adobe Garamond Pro. The general composition is more square and geometric thanthe others and represents the distinct and masculine attributes of the husband.

Notice how the softer features from the wife and more geo-metric features from the husband exist simultaneously in the center composition which represents the union of marriage.

“MARRIAGE”

(click here for larger view)

– The composition above is created entirely from the “&” symbol. The symbol has been repeated, mirrored and rotated several times. Each time two symbols overlap, a bright spot is formed. Each layer creates new areas of interest and new shapes and patterns. Joining two people together in an eternal marriage also creates these areas of overlap. Husbands and wives complete each other and strengthen each other just as the individual letterforms do when repeated and intersected. Sometimes marriage isn’t pretty, (just look closely at some of the areas of the composition) it can be quite messy and difficult to understand. With personal imperfections, the difficulties of life and children, marriage can seem at times to be anything but beautiful. But it is important to see marriage and the family from an eternal perspective. And from that perspective, it is beautiful.

Why use an ampersand?

An ampersand {&}, also commonly called an “and sign,” is a ligature or union of the letters in “et”, Latin for “and”. Two separate letters become a new single symbol, a powerful conjunction, a unifying force in the English language.

Eternal marriage functions much the same way. Two people come together as separate entities but are bound together in a new and everlasting covenant. Husband and wife, united in the eternal marriage covenant, are the central unit of the family. Eternal Families become a strong unifying force for their communities, cities and nations around the world.

“WIFE”

(click here for larger view)

– The first initial in my wife’s name is also S. This piece represents the concept of wife. It’s made entirely from the swash capital italic S from the typeface Adobe Garamond Pro. The general composition is more circular and softer than the others and represents the feminine and distinct attributes of women.

As mentioned before, it is only through marriage that two people can be truly united and bound together as with the visual language of these two pieces. Each piece visually completes the other, thus marriage is the “union” of man and wife.

I absorbed a lot in this one day course and came back excited to apply some of these techniques into some of the different applications in which we present data and information here at TONIC.

I was lucky enough to pick up a print of a statistical graph poster of Napoleon’s march to Moscow. As described on Tufte’s website: “Probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, this map by Charles Joseph Minard portrays the losses suffered by Napoleon’s army in the Russian campaign of 1812. Beginning at the Polish-Russian border, the thick band shows the size of the army at each position. The path of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in the bitterly cold winter is depicted by the dark lower band, which is tied to temperature and time scales.

I also jumped at some signed press sheets from some of Edward’s books. Check them out below:

-g

Moleskine Journals

It is two centuries now that moleskine has been the legendary notebook of European artists and intellectuals, from Van Gogh to Henri Matisse, from the exponents of the historical avant-garde movements to Ernest Hemingway.

They now have a new soft cover.

Alphabet Paperclips by Stephan Reed

ICU recycled readers

Good choices for costumes include those that demonstrate your creativity, those that display a business-appropriate sense of humor, or those that show your talents in a favorable light.

For example, one good choice for a costume would be to use common items, like large rubber balls hooked together to make you look like a bunch of grapes or a Post It note man.

Do’s and Don’ts for office costumes:

Do wear a costume you office mates will appreciate.

Don’t forget you have to wear it for 8 long hours.

Do plan out a theme!

Don’t live out your secret fantasy at the office party.

Hope these Halloween tips help! : )

Check out our team’s creations:

Think you can build something even more innovative? Send us your Play-Doh creation photos at info@thinkTONIC.com and you could be featured on our blog!

So I asked myself and the rest of the Tonic team, have you ever actually made a purchase as a result of email marketing? The answer was surprising. Yes, every single one of us has. Of course I probably dump at least 95% of my spam, but there are a few emails I read each time that definitely convince me to make a purchase.

So I sought out to determine what it was about those emails that converted each of us into a paying customer.

The Headlines.
Here are the headlines of the emails we found compelling:
“Holt’s High Noon Special - 24 hour sale with free shipping every Tuesday & Thursday!”
“Coldplay - act now for presale ticket opportunity”
“Complete your iTunes album now for $6.00!”

Theme One.
Each email was from a company we had made a purchase from before. It’s surprising how many companies I come across that do not have a email mailing list set up. If I trust a company enough to make a purchase from them, many times I’d be interested in finding out about special promotions in the future, so I’d be more than happy to get on their mailing list.

Theme Two.
Each email was about a product we had each purchased before. If we were big enough suckers to buy it the first time, we’re probably big enough suckers to buy it again. And at half price? Sold!

Theme Three.
Yes, that’s right, at half the price. The cigar email offered a sale and free shipping. The iTunes email offered a discounted price on an album. Although the Coldplay email didn’t offer a discounted price, the intangible value is that the recipient gets to buy tickets before anyone else (what a true fan!).

Theme Four.
There is a time period in which to respond. Each offer was only available for a limited time, so we didn’t have time to stash it in our to-do folders.

Theme Five.
We really, really, really want what they have to offer. And how did they know that? Our guess is through solid research based on our past purchases. Without this important piece of the puzzle, direct email becomes, well, just junk mail.

The Takeaway.
The bottom line is, when used properly, email marketing can be very, very effective, and costs pennies to send. Even if it’s a simple monthly newsletter, ongoing communication with your customers can help build your relationship with them, keep your company at the front of their minds, and help position you as an expert in your industry. Tonic works with a best-in-class email marketing software that can help you develop a professional email marketing campaign, as well as providing you with detailed analytics for each element of your campaign. For more information, please email info@thinktonic.com.