Hey, wait…that’s Michael’s Cookies!
Dang… the packaging is BEAUTIFUL… I wonder who designed it?

**hint** We did!

Invest in innovation at all times. Read the full story

Friends, Hotflash readers, bloggers and clients are wondering where Da Haus has been lately…and we ask for forgiveness! We promise we’ll crawl out from under the rock in the new year, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to be funk-a-fresh again.

You see, your friends at Fuelhaus have been a little preoccupied. We’ve been busy writing content for the next best thing in graphic design education. Fuelhaus President Kellie Schroeder and Creative Director / Technical Guru Donovan Mafnas have been writing the twelve core modules and supporting video tutorials for a groundbreaking international online design course.

We’re really excited about it because The Graphic Design School is the right idea at the right time. The expense of a traditional brick and mortar University education is prohibitive to a majority of brilliant minds throughout the world. Ironically, as a traditional University education is becoming more prohibitive, technology is heading the other direction. Developing countries are capitalizing on the efficiencies of new technologies and are quickly becoming commercially viable. As they begin to compete in a global market, these countries need a more sophisticated visual design language.

By providing an affordable, online design degree to more students… a fresh, global design language will emerge (it may not have as much impact as the printing press did to culture, but we’re aiming high!).

The Graphic Design School course uses the advances of the internet and social networking to teach the course. It is affordable and can be purchased within a reasonable payment plan. The student downloads the text and completes assignments using online videos that have been developed for each module. This format allows students to work independently on their own schedule, providing a great solution for nontraditional and working students. The self-guided assignments are submitted to a professor at the end of each module. Their tutor reviews the work and provides one-on-one feedback and guidance via email or instant messaging. Students approve of this framework, as the individual attention from a tutor is often more personal and focused than students would receive from a traditional University.

The course isn’t your classic four-year degree, but the content is just as rich and comprehensive. Students are provided with a 12 module course, complete with video lessons and software tutorials that illustrate basic software tools. In the interest of being budget-friendly, the course offers education for industry standard software Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, as well as the free open source equivalents of Inkscape, GIMP and Scribus.

The 12 module course is comprehensive in content, providing students with the fundamental tools they need to begin a graphic design career. Rooted firmly in Bauhaus and Swiss design education, the course includes a history of design, typography, photography and illustration. It teaches the fundamental design principles of Josef Albers, Johannes Itten, Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, and Herbert Bayer, as well as other ground breaking contemporary professors. It covers key concepts in color theory, typographic design, visual communication, photography and icon development.

It’s also rich in resources. Designed in a straight forward, easy to read format, the text for the module provides samples, books and online resources that help students get the additional tools they need to enrich their education. Oh…and because Donovan and Kellie wrote it…it’s fresh and fun.

The Graphic Design School opens for business in January…so if you know anyone who wants to learn more about design, or a young person who has a passion for art and wants a rich, diverse career…this is the course for them! Visit the site today and sign up for the mailing list.

It looks like Fuelhaus is starting a tradition! We just found out that one of our 2008 logo submissions was selected for LogoLounge 5 (pictured above). We’re proud of this one. We helped name and develop the mark for this great new San Diego based microbrewery. Look for it…on beer bottles and in the book, slated for a Summer 2009 release.

PS…the model for our fabulous logo is Kevin Breedlove…the coolest designer in the land.

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Details (from the official announcement):

For Book 5, there were 33,000 logos submitted for consideration and the caliber of work was exceptional. Each judge reviewed thousands of logos from around the world, each mark submitted by talented LogoLounge members. The final collection is not only an excellent point-in-time examination, it is full to the brim with inspiration, higher thinking, and craftsmanship.

The new book will be released by Rockport Publishers in early Summer 2009. Thank you to all LogoLounge members who participated in this project. We hope that the book, its predecessors, and the web site will continue to feed your mind, inspire your creativity, and further develop your sense of community amongst designers and peers around the globe.