The Carver's House

Interesting. In the website Numismaster.com, Richard Giedroyc of World Coin News reports that the Philippines may just change the design of its currency . This reminds me of that campaign years ago to redesign the American dollar, resulting in some really fabulous ideas . (See other U.S. dollar ideas in the Dollar ReDe$sign Project .) Since my brain wasn't working at the office, I decided to give the whole currency redesign thing a quick and rough whisk. Here's what I came up with--a still quite conservative take on our 20-peso bill. (click on the image to enlarge) Or a "what-if" 2000-peso bill. (click on the image to enlarge) Why don't you have a go at it? Whether you're a designer or not, see where your imagination takes you. I can imagine some of you doing something really breathtaking, while some might go the satirical route. (Can you design a bill made out of smoke?) When you're done, do share!

Here are a couple of posters I did for the American Community Theater (Hongkong) through dear friend Mida , who used to perform for that group. This was four years ago, and I remember being really excited about doing their production posters. I've always wanted to add that "commercial" element to theater posters since, after all, they're supposed to attract attention and sell shows. If a theater poster was too artsy, or too symbolic, then how can the common citizen with extra cash know what the play was about? Yes, it's possible to draw crowds into a theater by the strength of a poster. But that poster has to hit its intended audience at the core.

When I was in my mid-twenties, I applied for a position in a company that published catalogs of Chinese products for industrial clients as well as a business magazine for managers. During the interview, I was asked what my five-year goal was. And I, in want of a decent answer, resorted to the clichéd "setting up a business." The interviewer, an American, then asked what kind of business I wanted to get into, and I said that I wanted to put together a business magazine that catered to young adults in their late-teens to mid-twenties. It was to be the "for dummies" type of magazine that covered the basics of setting up and operating a small business--think Entrepreneur meets Chalk . I had more conviction over that magazine idea, because back then I had already been buying World Executive's Digest on a semi-regular basis (it was my secret guilty pleasure apart from Tagalog melodramas and kungfu flicks), depending on how much money I had at the time. The magazine,...