Please Vote For My Poster Design!

http://www.phxdw.com/2011/09/15/positiveworldperception/

That is the link to click when you wanna vote on the coolest poster in Phoenix, haha!! This is the poster I designed for the third annual Phoenix Design Week exhibition.

How to vote on my poster design? Just click on the little heart that says vote on the top right of the page. Once you click it the heart will light up red and say voted. <3

Voting ends September 25th, 2011 

What does perception mean to you? 

That is what has been going through my mind for the past couple of weeks.  You ask why? Well, this was the theme for the Phoenix Design Week poster contest.  The 1 thing that kept going through my head was 'having a good perception on life'. Now how to design that, I thought? Haha!

I ended up coming up with my design concept the NIGHT BEFORE the contest due date. Talk about waiting till the last minute, right? I knew if I didn't sit down and finish right then and there I would have let myself down. So, I stayed up until the AM hours finishing the super awesome design. Seriously, who knew all of that type would have taken me so long? Haha!

I finally finished the design that morning, hit submit,  and jumped straight into bed. In the end I was so happy with my design and I was more than happy to be part of such a fun contest! I don't know if I'll be one of the chosen designs to be printed and displayed at the event but I feel like I won already. Just knowing I actually took part in the contest this year makes me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to.

I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything, but I think it's a really cool typography design. The meaning behind the whole thing means a lot too, so I hope you cast your vote or at least have a colorful and upbeat day when you see it. :)

STAY POSITIVE!!!!! ENJOY LIFE!!!!!

Sedona, Arizona and all of it's beauty!

Check out this Sedona, Arizona photography video I made showcasing some of my favorite photos from a recent vacation I took.

This summer I had the opportunity to head up to Sedona, Arizona with some good friends. If you have never been, you should stop your ninnywagon ways and head up there already. The coolest part, for us Phoenix folks, is that it's only an hour or so to get up there all you need is some gas money and you can even bring your own treats.

Our first stop on our mini vacation to Sedona, Arizona was Montezuma Castle National Monument. It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America and a sight to see. I enjoyed the rocks and the mini forrest like features on the north side of the dwellings. We got some amazing photos, and a mini workout from our mini hike. Haha, so far everything was mini, but very enjoyable for a weekend get away on a budget. Even better, Montezuma Castle National Monument is only 30 mins away from Phoenix. It could be a spur of the moment super mini vacation.

Here are some photos from Montezuma Castle National Monument


We didn't stop there. We headed on north up to a little river where the rocks work like a natural slide, Slide Rock.  Other than the hour long wait to park, it was pretty amazing once we got in. People slide down the slick natural water chute or wade and sun along the creek. It was pretty amazing, so simple but yet a lot of fun.

Our first run down the slide was pretty intense. Even in the Arizona sun, the water was FREEZING... It made me think of Jack, from the movie Titanic when he said "The water is so cold that it will feel like 1,000 knives piercing your skin" he wasn't kidding. My attempt on staying halfway dry was ruined on the first trip down the slide. Sunglasses included, I was engulfed by the current and taken for a little trip. The loss of my awesome sunglasses was heartbreaking news on such a sunny day, but we ended up finding them later sitting by the side of the river with a few scratches but still good enough to wear [Praise the lord!].  I STRONGLY recommend going to Slide Rock, you will never forget it. I want to go back again sometime soon.

The day was an adventure with great friends and I feel pretty lucky that we got to go and have such a fun time. To be honest, we didn't even spend that much money either [Shibby!].  You don't really need to be a high roller to have fun in Arizona! Ok, don't make this weird... go up to Sedona already we won't judge you [Hahaha, I don't even know who "we" is but it sounded good].

[unrelated note: I really wanna watch Titanic right now but I don't own it on DVD, tear. Dang movie reference! Next time I should reference something I own like Point Break.]

Golf Ball Sized Hail in Scottsdale, Arizona

Here is the video I took this Tuesday [October 5th, 2010] of the crazy hail storm we had here in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

It was crazy! At first I thought someone hit our building or the people on the 2nd floor were getting crazy moving furniture. Then I looked out the window and saw the trees being torn apart with baseball/golfball sized hail. Wow! You gotta check it out!

New Tempe Aquarium - Opens to Public at the Arizona Mills Mall

Get your camera and imagination ready for some fun. Arizona has done it again! There is something awesome to go and check out!

A friend sent me the link to the information and I thought I would share it with you as well. It looks like tons of tickets have been sold and everyone is really excited about it!

I cannot wait to go and check it out! I'm going to wait until the hype dies down a little bit though. It will be more enjoyable with less people around for me.  Plus, I'll be able to get better photos. If you go and take some photos I'd love to see them!

I am really looking forward to having a slice of sea life here in Arizona. If you don't already know me, you should know that I love the ocean and sea life.  I could go to San Diego's Sea World every day if I could.  One of my goals is to pet a dolphin [and swim with one] and to hold a penguin. I think they are the cutest animals ever! If I could, I would move to California or Hawaii in a heartbeat, it has always been a lifelong dream of mine. I'm in Arizona, I'm getting close! Haha

Have a wonderful weekend!


Link to full article: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/05/14/20100514tempe-aquarium-opens.html

Heather Kant attends Flash Camp Phoenix

On January 29th I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to attend a full-day event focusing on the Adobe Flash Platform [Flash Camp Phoenix]. I was so excited to go to Flash Camp Phoenix to learn cool things about Adobe Flash and other design software. 

My friend/coworker Scott and I carpooled over to Tempe early to make sure we had everything ready to go. Who knew if the traffic was going to be terrible or not!? We sure did luck out, we even had time to stop at McDonald's for some de-lish breakfast.  What a great time! I was also ever so grateful to be a passenger instead of a driver on that packed freeway, thanks again Scott!

The event was hosted at a Design College [University of Advancing Technology] in Tempe, AZ. It was so fun going into a design college. It made me remember the good ol' days of working all day on artwork without a care in the world. Also, getting to use other design mediums like markers, paint, and clay.  I suppose when we all get older we get busy in our daily lives and forget doing cool stuff like actual painting and drawing. I suppose when you sit at a desk all day photo-shopping away you forget about your beginnings. The artwork on display at this school was phenomenal! It looks like this school has a major focus on game design, something I'm not too familiar with but it sure looked cool. My hats off to them! I SHOULD have taken some photos with my phone of this adventure, I apologize.

I'm not going to lie, this event was a little hard core and was focused more for developers vs. designers. But I was able to follow along as good as I could, it was neat seeing another side of websites and programs. I like learning new things and I really think the speakers did a great job of being descriptive enough for me to catch on. The amount of people to network there was overwhelming... There were people there from Adobe [Who gave away 2 copies of the CS4 Suite - druel] and a lot of other great people too.

On a side-note: They didn't really talk about Adobe Flash at all, it was all about Flex and air... They should have called it Flex and Air Camp Phoenix. Haha.

There were a lot of developers there who had personal websites they invented that are doing great. The guy who invented www.runpee.com was there and he was kind enough to offer to his fellow designers/developers if we had an idea he would put it on his homepage to help. I thought that was about the nicest thing I had heard in a while.  I'm so used to everyone being so cut-throat. I'm not sure I will ever need to use his website, but I will sure let people know how nice he was to all of us. If I ever make it big, I will do what I can to publish him on my homepage as well.

All in all I really enjoyed my day at Flash Camp Phoenix. Yeah, I wish there could have been more design professionals giving cool presentations on photoshop or illustrator tricks... But it was still really fun and eye opening. Very Refreshing!

NOTE: In-case you didn't know. Designers are the folks who make the graphics, designs, and layouts of websites/programs. Developers are the folks who take those designs and make them a real working website/program.

The beautiful store called...they want their Arizona views back

I recently went browsing through my photos to take a trip down memory lane and I picked out a few photos I thought you might enjoy. 


Over the past year I have fallen in love, with hiking. I'm not hard core or willing to climb crazy rocks [yet] but I do enjoy a leisure hike to the top of a moderately sized mountain. I really enjoy the trail by my house because it's a nice steady incline. Not too hard... Not too easy... Just right!


My friend Melissa got me into hiking, I'm surprised she got me to go. At first I was NOT excited to be stomping around in nature [bugs, birds, rocks, snakes, and who knows what else - scary!]. After the first time we went - I was HOOKED! 

If you haven't ever been on a hike or anything like that before I think you should try it! I don't know if it's because I'm artistic but my personal feelings of the world and Phoenix have changed a lot, because of hiking. It's like an entire different world up there, plus you're getting a work out too! Personally, before my hike adventures I didn't even notice all of the mountains around town. I just saw Phoenix as this flat desert with a few palm trees with rock landscape instead of grass, boy was I wrong.  Looking around there is a mountain almost ever couple of miles and always in looking distance.  It's really quite beautiful.

I think the one of the best things about hiking in Phoenix would be the photo ops. I have taken so many photos on my hiking adventures that it is just crazy. I have even woken up at 6am [and I'm not a morning person at ALL!] just to be sure to get a hike in my day. A hike a day keeps the laziness away?? Is that the saying? haha!

Heather Kant's Photo of the day! Downtown Phoenix Arizona

Believe it or not...This photo was taken with my cell phone [Motorola Rokr].  I think it turned out pretty sharp.  I took it about a year ago from one of the buildings downtown Phoenix while I was waiting for the elevator.

What a spectacular view!  Can you imagine working in an office that overlooks that every day? Actually I can! I worked in a building down town Phoenix once [Cableone]...and truthfully it was VERY distracting. Everyone would catch their-self looking out during meetings and training classes. Ha ha! It was sure a nice location right by the freeway too.

Heather Kant's Photo of the Day - Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale AZ

A week ago my cousin Kelly was lucky enough to come to Phoenix for work and she got to see me! It was great to see her and hang out.  Funny Story, we both have the photo <3 gene we got from Granddad (he does it too, lol).

During our conversations by the beautiful pool at Hotel Valley Ho we decided to take some pictures.  I think this one turned out great! You gotta love the beautiful Arizona nights...perfect!

Photo of the Day

Beautiful Arizona Sunset - Photo Taken by Heather Kant

I took this photo on a hike this past Sunday with my cell phone (sadly my camera batteries were dead). Very Very Beautiful sunset! I thought you would enjoy the view as well! Stay active and live every day as enjoyable as you can. :)

New Custom Business Cards Designed by Heather Kant

Pretty Exciting!! Look at those bright vibrant shades of hot pink and beautiful orange (my 2 favorite colors). I finally printed off my sweet business cards last week.  I am really pleased on how they turned out. In my opinion these cards are so me! I'm really digging the rounded corners as well! Lookout world, I'm soooo ready to pass these out! I feel very proud!!

The Blind Side Movie Review by Heather Kant

Hmmm… This isn’t about artwork but I’d like to share it anyway!

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to run across some free movie premier tickets for Sandra Bullock's new movie [The Blind Side]. What was funny is that her co-star was Tim McGraw and I didn’t even realize it was him until ½ through the film. He did a good job for a country singer.  But he looks like a different guy without his cowboy hat! Haha!

Since I got to see this movie for free and before everyone else (actual release date is Nov 20th) I wish I could tell you to run out and see it.  But Nah! It was just an o.k. film, no rush to see it.  On the other hand I think it would be a GREAT movie show children. It teaches them there is more to life and being kind is something that is free and at the same time priceless.  I think it would be a great family Friday night movie. It had that Rudy/Forrest Gump feel to it.