Ok, award season is over… time to start caring about basketball.

As the wife of an avid sports fan, the spirit of competition has been something I’ve grown to very much enjoy. From baseball to football to hockey, I’ve found myself looking for ways to engage myself with athletics, whether it be by joining fantasy leagues or taking in a live game—everything short of actually playing. However, around this time of year, it’s always a little bit easier to immerse oneself into the sports world. The time when everyone and their kid sister gets involved. I’m talking about March Madness.

I realized a handful of years ago that this is the best time of year for people like me (a.k.a people with limited sports knowledge). Why? Because no matter how much you watch ESPN or track players throughout the season, the March tournaments always end up being fairly unpredictable. It’s amazing how many upsets there always are.

With that said, there are multiple ways to approach the tournament bracket. We have our own techniques, of course. Inspiration for picking who will go to the final four can be drawn everywhere from steadfast design principles to high school memories. Here are some we suggest trying when you go to “design” your winning bracket next week.

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Thanksgiving has come and past, and with that, our fourth annual By a Show of Hands competition has drawn to a close. The Rule29 crew was faced with the difficult task of setting down our turkey sandwiches and picking the winning examples from an amazing turnout of 134 hand turkeys. It wasn’t easy. There were some fierce arguments over personal favorites but we came to a peaceful consensus on this year’s winners.

Without further ado… Read the rest of the entry >

What is it about graphic design that moves us and drives us?  The image above says it all: design ignites change.

But how has design itself changed over the past decade? “Graphic design has broadened its reach dramatically over the past decade,” which has become the basis of an international exhibition on display at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN until January 2012: Graphic Design: Now In Production.

The exhibit examined the growing cultural role in mainstream design and the designer’s expanding role in content creation as well as in bridging the gap across once exclusive fields and roles, such as typeface design, product design, animation, and more. Read the rest of the entry >

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since our third annual hand turkey extravaganza ended with these great winners. The time is here once again, our friends, to charge up the tryptophan motivation and be a kid with some hand turkey works of art. Please check out our updated Show of Hands site, download the form, read the rules or check out the 2010 entries, and be among the first to enter the 4th annual Show of Hands competition. Remember outside of the sheer glory of being named champion, we enhance the sweet taste of victory with some  iTunes gifts to go with it.

PLEASE NOTE – part of your jury selection will be based on tweets, likes and comments. So enter early and enter often. Let everyone know about it and get some social networking love. Get your office into it, break out the crayons or oil pastels, make Grandma bust one out and your kids (oh yeah, we pick a kids winner too). Bottom line: Have some fun.

We are excited to see your tasty turkey creations, let’s get it rolling!

It’s Christmas time and your scouring the Sears catalog circling everything you want/need for Christmas from your parents. And then there it is, the ultimate present… The Omnibot 2000. It’s almost like it’s meant for you, right? Except for the fact that in 1984 it was retailing at $600.

Alright, now come back to reality, it’s 2011 and there is no such thing as a Sears catalog, there is a Target on every corner and an occasional Toys R Us. For a moment there I thought that I was really missing out on this decade’s toy selection. But now, as I look back on what is really going on in the land of toys, I realize that I have never been so wrong.

Recently I got my brother’s old Tomy 2000 Robot up and running and had this realization. He got this gift in 1984, when it was the hottest toy around. This puppy has been in seclusion in a corner of my basement for years, going through multiple floods, numerous moves, dropped, neglected, and ultimately forgotten. Read the rest of the entry >