Mystique Creative is proud to introduce and welcome our latest staff member, graphic designer Rene Tan, to the company and our clients. Rene graduated from Ontario College of Art and Design.

Rene brings a fresh and energetic approach to his work and has already contributed to a variety of brand development projects that include logo design, corporate collateral (stationary, business cards etc), print advertisements and online newsletters.

Rene adds significantly to Mystique's creative abilities, both in online and offline design.


Rene Tan

Position: Graphic Designer
Born: Manila
Education: Ontario College of Art and Design
Likes: basketball, tennis, video games, art, design, photography, film
Dislikes: comic sans, movie musicals (yet I'm currently a fan of the show Glee) and when bread gets stuck to the roof of my mouth
Inspirations: Lewis Nicholson (my college professor), Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, Paul Rand, Demetri Martin


Please stop in and get acquainted with Rene or send him a note at rene@mystique.ca.

Paul Bies

President,
Mystique Creative

In an effort to help create a cleaner, healthier environment for future generations — Mystique Creative is proud to announce that since July '08 our office now uses Bullfrog Power. Bullfrog Power is a leading provider of 100% green electricity. All of Bullfrog’s power comes from clean, renewable sources like wind power and low-impact water power that displace polluting and carbon-intensive sources like coal.

Making the choice for clean, green power is a breeze. Find out more about bullfrogpowering your home or business today!

http://www.bullfrogpower.com

Paul Bies
President,
Mystique Creative

It's been a while. Yeah, I know, I know - too long. I've come to terms with the fact that unless I schedule time to write that it won't get done. And starting today, I'm committing to writing a brief message on a weekly basis. Anyway…

First off - I'm sad to report that Shawn has returned to the Soo. Shawn came to Toronto with the intent of gaining a few years of big city experience to take back home to Sault Ste. Marie. We consider ourselves lucky that he stayed with Mystique for 8 years and in that time produced a lot of good design. We wish him continued success.

I'm pleased and excited at the addition of three new designers to the Mystique Creative family: Alyssya Polsinelli, Renee Richards, and Vincent Hiemstra.

Many of you may already know Alyssya as she's been on our payroll for a quarter now. We hired Alyssya after a successful internship with us.


Alyssya Polsinelli
Position: Graphic designer
Born: Toronto
Education: Durham College
Likes: Dancing, Baseball, Music and Traveling
Dislikes: People leaving garbage in my car and when my desktop is messy.
Inspirations: My mom


Renee Richards
Position: Graphic designer
Born: In Toronto but lived in North Carolina most of my life
Education: Appalachian State University
Likes: Seeing anything I've never seen before, innovative designs, traveling
Dislikes: Puppies with clothing, lemon meringue pie, movies with subtitles
Inspirations : Stephan Sagmeister, John Saunders, Lance Wyman, Sean Ohlenkamp

Renee has just moved back to Toronto and is looking to make her mark in the TO design community. Look for her blog tomorrow.


Vincent Hiemstra
Position: Graphic Design Intern
Born: Zeist, the Netherlands
Education: Graphics College Utrecht
Likes: Reading, Traveling, Online Gaming
Dislikes: Ketchup Flavored Chips, A line at the movies, Traffic
Inspirations: Chris Metzen, Jack Vergel


Please stop in and get acquainted with the new design staff here at Mystique Creative.
Paul Bies
President,
Mystique Creative

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year.

This simple act has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. As a result, at 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel Aviv will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.

Earth Day is the perfect time to think about conserving, saving, recycling, and discovering new, more efficient products to help us do the things we do every day. Consider some of the consequences of your choices, what should you avoid purchasing or doing, and what products are better for the earth. Even something as simple as turning out lights when you’re not in a room and switching to cleaner sources of electricity like “green power”, make a big difference. Every little bit helps when we're talking about saving the environment. Help make Earth Hour 2008 even bigger. See the difference you can make – visit http://www.earthhour.org/.

Paul Bies
President,
Mystique Creative

We’ve been thinking about starting a blog on our site for some time now. We struggled to answer the questions that I’m sure many other business managers ask: Do we need a blog? How will this blog help us to achieve our commercial objectives? Who’s going to write it and maintain it? And above all this – do we have anything to say worth reading?

The answer to the first question seems self-evident after answering the rest. The answer to the second question seems relatively easy – If our content offers expert information, insight, and practical tips or tools, then not only does it build our equity as a generous brand but also it invokes something more valuable – dialogue with our customers and prospects alike. Having a blog makes this a whole lot easier, not to mention, a whole lot faster. And let’s not forget, from a marketing point of view – search engines are currently in love with blogs – so we get extra brownie points towards our optimization efforts.

As far as who writes it and maintains it – shoptalk will feature a number of contributors, all offering their own perspective, based on their experience, on a variety of relevant topics promoting success for your small to medium sized business. We welcome your questions, comments and criticisms and look forward to the opportunity to hear your views.

But hang on a minute, I’ve just sped past the difficult bit – do we have anything to say worth reading? Time will tell. You be the judge. Check back frequently – better yet sign up for our RSS feed, so you’ll be notified when we’ve posted new material. And please, let us know your thoughts – your wisdom will be a welcome addition to this endeavor.

Paul Bies
President,
Mystique Creative