what’s it like to be a graphic designer

for some of you, it’s definitely something that has to do with computers, for others you think i do advertisements, my teta thinks i design clothes… but, regardless of what a graphic designer does for a living (because that’s not the issue here) he/she may choose a particular lifestyle that differs him/her from other people because of the way he/she has been taught. however you do not get to ask me the following requests just because i am a graphic designer:

graphic design does not mean A DEGREE or a any degree

graphic design does not mean a degree in arts & crafts.

i decorate the christmas tree just the same way you do!

do not ask me how to improve the way your crib looks either.

i do not have an inventive way to color easter eggs as well!

i wrap or have my gifts wrapped just like you do.

i do not decorate houses.

i do not necessarily make paintings.

i do not carry an imaginary bag of beautiful ideas with me.

and no i do not own every product apple has invented

photoshop is not everything i know!

i do not respond to the phrase  عمليلنا شي هيك حلو ومهضوم

or فكريلنا بشي حلو 

i am not a fashion consultant, if it makes you fat, i will tell you because that’s just common sense

i do not like to be referred as weird or as من جماعة الغرافيك  (maybe i am weird but trust me it has nothing to do with… )

i do not necessarily have an opinion about everything (maybe i do, but you do not need to ask me every second of the day!)

i do not do miracles!

i am not a writer nor a copywriter.

do not come to me every time you have a problem with your pc.

and last but not least do not come to me because i am the only graphic designer in the family!

بالعربي

this is an unfinished one, but i ‘m posting it here before it goes through the usual revise and uglify process

le liban… c’est petit!

don’t you ever feel that certain cars attract certain people, almost every time you see a vehicle you sort of kind of predict the type inside it. it’s starts to be so true around here that it’s becoming funny!

TOP TEN:

stereotype #1:  have you ever noticed that the girl in an X5, is always wearing a ‘casquette‘ (inside the car, wtf!)

stereotype #2: now, a guy in an X5 is a different story! he is all about the dark sunglasses (even at night ), with an attitude (that you can quickly grasp) of I am in an X5, i am on top of the world, i can crush all the cars to pass by!

stereotype #3: the gigolo in a nissan z350 (or infinity G35, it doesn’t matter they all have the same ugly shape!), well this guy is always tanned, with dark hair and sometimes a beard. you never see that blonde cute guy cruising in a nissan (or even nerdy guy, and if you ever do meet that 0.01% studious smart looking guy in one, you will immediately think Noooo he doesn’t belong there! )

stereotype #4: Honda, Hyundai, Renault and familia, scream clerk  really loud!

stereotype #5: the guy in a BMW (zouzou eba woza, excuse my french!) is usually the guy, for whom it takes 15 minutes to pass across a speed bump. 

stereotype #6: cadillac guy, is over 60, grey hair, suit and tie, never smiles.

stereotype #7: Mercedes guy, looks like he probably works in a bank, and if he doesn’t work yet, he definitely stole it from papi.

stereotype #8: Mercedes girl (for those of you who know what i drive, i am only talking about brand new cars, mine doesn’t count ) always looks like she never knows how to park it!

stereotype #9: Peugeot guy/girl… well i just don’t get why people buy peugeots!

stereotype #10: save the best for last! Picanto! picanto girl is most probably the type of girl who puts butterfly vinyl stickers all over her tiny itsy bitsy car (believe me, it doesn’t make it any cuter!). and picanto guy is always the type of guy driving his car with the intention of Hey! i bought it for 9000$ i don’t care if i smash it i ‘ll just get another one tomorrow! (so imagine his wonderful driving skills).

and there you go! and i mean this with the most respect for all car owners, but when you spend too much time on the road you can easily notice these 99% cases

try it!

motherly loved

Now it’s not mothers’ day or anything (it’s at least 2 paychecks away ) but i read something inspiring this morning on the subject.

i never thought that, that day will come and we would 
understand the logic that motivates a mother: love

she loved us enough to ask where we were going,
and what time we would be home.
She had to know who our friends were
and what we were doing with them.
She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

she loved us enough to say No
when she knew we would hate her for it.
She always insisted on us telling the truth,
By the time we were teenagers,
she could read our minds (and our eyes for that matter)
and had eyes in the back of her head.

Then, life was really tough!

she wouldn’t let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up or miss call us to come down
They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.

Because of our her

we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced: smoking, drugs, alcohol… (not that there is anything wrong with that, for you practitioners! whatever makes you happy! )

And then this day comes, when we are old enough to
understand the reason mothers act the way they do 

and we’ll say: 

‘Was your Mom mean?  
 
I know mine was.
We had the meanest mother in the world!

When others had a Pepsi and chips for lunch,
we had to eat a home cooked meal. 

None of us have ever been caught drunk, hurt, in trouble
or ever arrested for any crime. 

we were certain that she would lie awake at night searching for ways to torture us: get straight As at school, clean our rooms, preventing us from becoming spoiled brats, etc…
 
It was all her fault.’

Now that we are all educated, honest  working adults. We say that we will never raise our children the way our parents raised us, but deep down, we want to try our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.

mashrou’ leila

Mashrouʼ Leila is band composed of a microphone, a violin, a bass, two guitars, drums and keyboards.

Hamed Sinno: Vocals
Ibrahim Badr: Bass
Carl Gerges: Drums
Haig Papazian: Violin
Omaya Malaeb: Keyboards
Andre Chedid: Guitar
Firas Abou Fakher: Guitar

for me i can call it mashrou’ nayla :P because it’s my beautiful friend nayla who got me to listen to this amazing music, good lyrics (ok lyrics are a bit off for some but anyhoooow…), and watch very nice clips! shim el yasmin, raksit leila, and fasateen…

technology, i love you , i love you not

i killed myself for a mobile phone, when i was 16-17, NOW i want to kill my phone especially when it rings (just about) every time i close my eyes for 5 minutes.

i hate my alarm clock for waking me up, instead of Oups! i overslept!

… so how do you think i feel about my phone alarm clock

i hate internet for, nowadays, if you don’t check your email (and facebook, as if, we needed another inbox to check) AT LEAST once a day, you’re retarded!

i hate T.V. for hooking me up with shows i could probably do without!

i hate the doorbell for being so loud.

i hate cars, for you can never get in an accident on a bicycle!

but what i hate the most is, my neighbor’s car alarm going on every night at 2:00 a.m.

nutritive brochure

Bon appetite! 

secret doodle project

well i figured out that if i keep it to myself, it will stay there! but if i post it here, i put myself under the pressure of finishing it.

material: canvas, felt pens.

final outcome: should be many many many canvas, with the proper encouragement (of course ).

till then here’s a little peek!

PS. will keep you posted on the updates (if any )

happy new… faculty of nursing

well today i am not only celebrating my birthday, which was yesterday actually and which i think everyone is pretty much fed up with by now, but what the hek! i should mention it at least once on my blog no? anyway  i am  also celebrating my 100 post on the blog hurraaaaaay!!!! happy birthday me, happy birthday blog ( i guess the ‘3a2bel l miyeh‘ saying is appropriate here ) and and lets not forget we ‘re celebrating the new faculty of nursing and health science with a new image!  so ladies and gents i give you this:

living in a 10×15

i want to live in a picture, because:

nobody is talking, yelling or fighting

i am always happy or smiling

i am constantly surrounded by people i love

or in my favorite place in the world

i can have unlimited and permanent retouching(bye bye acne )

i am sure i can 100% recreate the same happy moments (just by printing!)

i can live in black & white if i want

or can be in 2 places (or more) at once

i can make people laugh or go: awww!!

i can be eternal (ok except for floods and fires )

i can travel light

i can have red eyes, or not!

i can live surrounded by money (in every wallet )

or treated like a movie star (on every wall)

and finally because a picture is worth a thousand word!!!