grantspanier.com featured on Compkarma!
Brian Cheung, San Francisco based Art Director, wrote an immensely flattering article on this website/my portfolio in general. Brian has a way with words. And swearing. And fart jokes. He’s far too nice. But I appreciate the nod. Click here to check out the full article. ...
read moreThe Great Sandy Skip
As many of you know, the tropical-storm-turned-nasty-disaster-sometimes-known-as-Frankenstorm-AKA-Hurricane Sandy is pummeling the East Coast at this very minute. Fear not, I have a plan to combat her. The storm is upon is. And in this desperate time, I’m afraid chaos will rule the day. I tremble thinking about Sandy’s icy wrath raging across the Eastern Seaboard, leaving millions without power, sending floods roaring through the streets. Supplies and hope will both be in alarmingly short supply. And inevitably...
read moreMess with my friends, you mess with me.
Let me preface by noting that I strongly believe in staying informed — in having an opinion, participating and most importantly, giving a shit about your community/state/nation/etc. Despite this, I’ve desperately tried to stay out of the political fray as much as possible this fall. It’s been an absolutely toxic environment filled with accusations, half-truths, outright lies, elephants, donkeys, and a ton of mud flying from both corners. Honestly, it’s sickening. And there’s one topic that’s really...
read moreThe Art of Happy
As I write this the clock is ticking past 7 AM on Tuesday, September 18. I haven’t gone to sleep yet. I probably won’t before my class at 10. I started writing last night, at a time I can’t be sure of, and I didn’t stop until now. I’ve always been inspired by the night, but never like this. From a most unlikely trigger. It began as I was cleaning up some of my project management software, I use Basecamp, and I realized I had accidentally upgraded an account I didn’t need. So, naturally,...
read moreAn Idea
An idea, to me, is like a vodka. It does not reach its full potential on first blush. It needs to be refined, processed. It needs to be distilled down to its simplest, most powerful form. When it is all it can be and nothing more than it should, we’ve done our job. An idea is the most powerful weapon, yet it can be inherently powerless. It’s a paradox wrapped up in gray matter, stowed away in perfection and tied with a big, shiny red bow. What is an idea, to you? /grant
read moreNow Blogging: Advertising Week
I recently got some really fantastic news. I’ve been invited to blog for Advertising Week in their student section. My first post went up yesterday, Life & Advertising: What Batman Taught Me. I’m so excited and thankful for this opportunity. Along with the blogging/tweeting, I’ll be going to this year’s Advertising Week in New York City, October 1-5. Travel is one of my favorite things to do and after my recent trip to New York in May I’ve been itching to get back to the East coast. Stay tuned for...
read moreWhat Batman Taught Me About Life, Advertising
Note: This post originally appeared on the Digitaria blog. – A couple of years ago Batman changed my life. Sounds silly, but it’s true. I was watching the Dark Knight and I was struck by something remarkable — not an epiphany, per se, but a profound moment that sent me into deep contemplation. These deep thoughts were a result of two distinct scenes. In the first, Harvey Dent (now Two-Face) squares up with his first victim after going rogue. The man looks wide-eyed with fear at Dent’s deformed complexion. At 35 seconds of...
read moreRebranding Canada — simple, elegant, badass.
Recently I came across a FastCo Design article about an incredible new project from Bruce Mau Design. If you’re not familiar with BMD, you should be. Bruce has been a personal design hero for a couple of years now. This new project reeks of his aesthetic — simple, bold, strategic, easily recognizable, extends across platforms. First, the short video they produced with Studio 360: The task was to rebrand Canada, a “brand” that has become cliché and outdated (see: maple syrup, mounties, igloos). BMD produced a...
read moreVideo of the Week: Predictably Irrational
This video is a couple of years old. It’s a talk Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University, presented in which he examines the natural irrationality of humans. Spolier alert: we are all completely ridiculous. And our decisions oftentimes seem rational, but are quite the opposite. His research is absolutely fascinating — from a sociological, psychological perspective, yes, but also from a marketing perspective. How can we apply the principles of predictable irrationality to our marketing? How can we use our...
read moreNew website. Same ol’ Grant.
I recently went on a bit of a bender finishing up a few projects. Three massive design + writing projects. Two of the projects aren’t quite ready for the public eye (OMG site and University of St. Thomas grad campaign), but the third is (the death of my old identity + development of my new style). You’re on my site, so it’s safe you are currently experiencing the new identity I put together. It is by no means a final product, so I’d welcome any and all feedback. Some examples of feedback I’m not looking...
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