Snatch Thieves

KIN is looking for a Store Manager

snatchthieves — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:12:34 +0000

Just did up this flyer for KIN. We are looking for a store manager! Interested parties should mail info@knowitnothing.com with a CV and a short write up with why they would like to join us.

Bus Stop Ads, Sifr for Clear Channel II

snatchthieves — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:02:36 +0000

Here is ad #2 :

This time its for sifr’s main line. More tailored and defined. This time, we had more budget constraints and decided to stay safe and stick with a 2d print. We wanted to show that behind every garment, there is a whole story. Designing, fabrics, down to the details such as buttons and production. Its not all glitz and glamour, but hard work. The artwork is based on the juxtaposition between the mess behind the scenes (left side) and the clean, refined finished garment (right side). Wanted to keep it even more clean and minimal but i guess it still has to serve its purpose of showing information. Subtle copy is added to achieve that. The ad is now live in the heart of the city. Do look out for it.

I’ve submitted another artwork for Clear Channel. This time its for the KIN boutique. Waiting on the colour proofs as we speak, will post up images when they go live.

Bus Stop Ads, Sifr for Clear Channel

snatchthieves — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:51:24 +0000

Recently did 2 Clear Channel Campaigns for sifr. Advantages with working for a small company, I was able to control the whole project from start to finish. Also we went more out there with the first ad, trying to do something different. Something you won’t come across when you are tied down by clients or a certain brand’s image.

Ad #1 for sifr essentials:

The aim here was pretty straight forward. Sifr being new in the market, we wanted to do something to catch people’s attention (snatch thieves motto right there). Our selling point with the tees are that they are made with 100% pure pima cotton. With this 2 points in mind, everything just fell into place. Vinyl sticker cut outs of the tees and filling them out with actual cotton stalks. Simple, straight to the point.

Even before the ad was up (while we were arranging the stalks behind the board), we had commuters asking us about the plants, the brand and the products we carry. Its pretty crazy. Guess not many locals here have seen actual cotton plants before and that alone was enough to grab attention. Having actual plants posed some problems though,

As we needed to attach the stalks somehow, we had to forgo the lights at the bottom. It causes some nasty shadows when lit. But it still worked somehow, hearing from the feedback from friends and comments on our facebook/blog, people were drawn to the brightly lit cut outs, not even noticing the shadows.

Vestax VCI-300

snatchthieves — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:03:28 +0000

This post is probably half a year late. I did a personal review on the Cortex dmix-600 some time ago and have ditched it for the Vestax Vci-300. I was expecting the dmix-600 to be a more plug and play unit, but the pre processes were just too annoying. The software that came with it wasn’t very mac friendly, crashed constantly while trying to prepare my music. Portability, which was one of the main reasons I bought it, also became an issue as the unit weighed quite a bit.

So I did a little more research, sold of the Cortex and bought this little unit from Vestax. My main needs was still to be able to get something small enough to be carried around without hassle. Also to be friendly enough to be able to plug in any flash drives and be able to mix right on the spot. The vci-300 manages to do all that and even more.

Firstly, I’m able to pack both the unit and my laptop into a single backpack, cables and such included. Just a single USB cable from my laptop to the unit, RCA cables to the speakers and I’m good to go. Setting up only sets me back about 3 minutes max. The built of the controller is solid, I’ve been using it for about half a year now and any wear is barely visible.Knobs and sliders all feel solid with very little to no lag in response. The plastic ‘Cue’ and ‘Play’ buttons feel similar to cdjs, making it easy to get tracks playing on time compared to the rubber buttons on the Cortex. It also features large platters, perfect for scratch djs. I’m not big on scratching so I wouldn’t know. Fellow scratch djs have used my unit after playing with vinyls back home, and have commented that its responsive enough for them to feel comfortable scratching on it.

The controller comes with the Serato Itch software, which is also available from the website. Serato Itch is basically a stripped down version of Serato Scratch Live, only information which is needed is displayed. Itch is user friendly, anyone who are using iTunes will be able to pick it up right of the bat. Also as everything is mapped on the vci-300, the software itself has very little buttons. Its used more as an track information screen and as your music crate.

The vci-300 has served me well. Used it at a couple of small parties and no technical issues as of yet. As you can see from the above picture, it takes up a really small footprint compare to the cdj setup next to mine. Only a corner of the table needed. Overall I’m really pleased with the unit, my only gripe being the lack of effects present. None actually. Other midi controllers such as M-Audio’s Torq Xponent comes with efx built into the controller itself. Stuck with the vci-300 over the Xponent though due to its built quality and for Itch. Vestax’s answer to the lack of efx is the VFX-1 unit.

Pretty neat, but no way am I going to fork out half what I paid for the vci-300 for effect which could have been inbuilt in the first place… Maybe not yet. I could have got a proper dj set up instead.

Flash Catalyst

snatchthieves — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:15:13 +0000

I’ve always been intrigued by Flash and its endless possibilities. My many attempts at it have been futile due to time constraints and other commitments. Recently, I was being tasked to create something for sifr webstore’s splash page. With the timely release of CS5, I gave Flash Catalyst a go. ‘Create interactive content without writing code’, the tag line was enough to push me on. The result is as follows:

Created a simple web banner splash page without an hour of trying out the program. Half of the time was used to familiarise myself with its ability, and the other banging out the banner. Being the web idiot I am, the only web help i needed was embedding it to the actual website (I would have embedded the flash here if I knew how to). Visit the store to see it in action.

This small task left me wanting to explore more. Flash Catalyst is definitely not as powerful as Flash, but it sure made it really easy. With an understanding of how these things work, I just might stab at Flash one more time

Some Work at Work

snatchthieves — Wed, 12 May 2010 07:35:40 +0000

Been so busy with the label (sifr) and the store (kin), haven’t been able to update the blog. Here is some recent work done for work at work.

Worked with Clear Channel for a Bus Stop Campaign. Will upload images of that soon. Clear Channel have been a big help. Another campaign and a fashion show with them are in the works.

Photoshop CS5 : Content Aware Scale. Too good to be true?

snatchthieves — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:17:04 +0000

Just in time for April Fool’s? I really hope this is real, I can’t imagine what can be done with this.

A Video Well Worth Your 1 minute

snatchthieves — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:10:23 +0000

Watching this has started my creative juices flowing. I want to do so much right now

Flyer for K.I.N Chinese New Year Sale

snatchthieves — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:00:04 +0000

Quick flyer I did for KIN for their CNY/End Season sale. Kept subtle hints from Chinese Paintings to make it feel relevant and yet still suited for the boutique. Do drop by for the sale, I’ve already put aside some items for myself!

Follow me on Twitter!

snatchthieves — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:07:43 +0000

I’m on twitter at https://twitter.com/thesnatchthief

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