How fun was this! Me and my husband sat down last night to take on this challenge asked by Jon Bon Jovi, lead singer of the 80’s band Bonjovi.

Jon Bon Jovi has asked his 1 million fans to help him write a verse to his song ’Do What You Can’. Being a huge fan, this was something that was too cool to pass up.

This is our second verse: By Joey & Moni
“We are alone now, but remember, we are all sisters and brothers.
We have hearts, dreams, fathers and mothers.
Carry your heart on this journey, and help your fellow man.
It’s a long road to walk home and we all need a hand.”

This is something that has gone viral and its cool to see what people are writing in real time - in this time in isolation, due to covid19! I’m hoping that Jon will like what we have come up with. Look forward to seeing the band soon down under!!

This interview on sky news (link below) sparked a discussion at home. Will this be the future of the modern workplace?

Associate Professor Dr Yvette Blount from the Macquarie Business School, told Sky News "clear communication" is paramount. I agree with her. I understand in these unforeseen circumstance where here in Australia and around the globe we are facing a very frightening pandemic. It’s effecting all small business, cafes, trade, schools and industries in which we all work or study in.

It’s a very scary time we are living in, but from my point of view this will be a minor transition and disturbance for many work places and departments. It will take a long time for many of us to recover, especially low income earners, elderly, people with mental health challenges and the disabled.

We are all social creatures, we are humans who need human interaction. We can’t exist in a world where FaceTime, and phones are our only form of contact. Just because we have the technology at our feet, we don’t need to abuse it and isolate ones self working in the workplace.

Working in the allied health and agedcare sector, this way of living would not work for those who need companionship and communication. Where the interaction of others is vital for their mental health and wellbeing.

Society needs and breaths human contact, you can’t read a persons body language through skype, emails or the phone. I’ve studied that 93% of communication is non-verbal.

There has been research shown where large corporates including Bank of America, IBM and Yahoo have all banned working from home. Saying that “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices.”

People who work in close teams need to know what everyone is doing, from scheduling meetings, monitoring projects and delivering work on time. Showing team contribution needs to validated and seen by everyone. Like the old saying goes... Out of sight, out of mind.

This situation we are in may take three to six months... one year. But I think in reality doing this on a day to day basis, will drive many of us stir crazy in our homes. In life you need to have that right life/work/play balance. We just have to take one day at a time, have faith and be kind to one another. We are all fortunate to be on this earth at the present, so a little social isolation will not be the end of our civilisation.

Things will eventually go back to normal, and we will be laughing in years to come looking at the footage of ‘panic buying’ of toilet paper on our YouTube channels.

I'm a local Canberrian, and what I had experienced today, was something that was unprecedented. It was a feeling of distress in the air, anxiousness and above all seeing madness in peoples eyes and behavior this morning, while I was waiting for the doors to open at Civic's Aldi store.  People started running ahead of me and the elderly, only thinking of themselves and to where they needed to get to.  Like many of us around Australia, there is a shortage of toilet paper, due to the Coronavirus. 'It's un-Australian, and it must stop': Scott Morrison tells Australians to cease panic buying. I totally agree with his statement.

The photo below is me waiting in front, before the doors opened at Aldi this morning. At 9am I was there, not many people were around perhaps 6-12, by 9.30am the entire corridor outside was full of young, seniors, tradesmen and workmen all waiting to get in. It was like a scene from Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’! - video below.

Another photo of panic buying and what is looking like the normal world of Australian's at shopping centers now in March 2020. Read the article below on the latest panic buying and what the Prime Minister had to say about it.

A new podcast from the ABC has come to light, which shows an insight of the events of what really happened on the 11th of November 1975.

The famous press conference on the steps of Canberra’s Old Parliament House where the famous words echoed "Well may we say" speech made by Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on the day he was sacked by the Queen’s representative.

If you are a fan of Australian history or politics, don't miss this podcast. I'm looking forward to checking it out myself!

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Monica’s signed copy of the Dismisal, by author Paul Kelly, 2015.

Here are some branding projects we have produced.

Top: Vlad Mosmondor Fellow DIA FAS ADD, designed and produced the NPC (National Press Club of Australia) logo back in the 1980’s (middle). The Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawlk’s photograph shows the logo in full view. Later it was changed to what we have today.

Middle: Monica Shanahan MDIA, produced the award winning logo Ecovilla. Published in the Logo Lounge crests & logos.

Bottom: Vlad Mosmondor’s winning design and branding that was chosen from a competition for the NCDC (National Capital Development Commission) in the 1970’s.

I've been a fan of Bon Jovi since I was 12 years old. I'm a huge rock chick - glam rock you can say. It's a genre that isn't main stream these day, except for when the band ’The Darkness’ entred the scene. Aside from that, like everything in 2020 it seems my youth that was filled with SHE-RA Princess of Power and the latest wonder women film that's set in 1984 are all fashionable now.

Even after 30 plus years Bon Jovi is still rocking. Jon may have gone grey but he's still singing of issues that are current these days. Their sound may have changed since Richie left the group, but that's how life is. Nothing stays the same.

The Bon Jovi 2020 album is the first since the bands 1983 debut album ’Bon Jovi’ and ’7800 degrees Fahrenheit’ where Jon is only on the cover, without the other band members. I liked what John had done for this album cover for 2020, he had thought hard about it. Here is what he had to say:

In the wake of the George Calombaris story where the successful Master Chief judge was heard to have underpaid his staff that were working in each of his 16 restaurant's around Australia. This news had taken back many people. The final outcome arrived where recently a decision had been made where George was fined $7.8m due to his actions.

It's never nice to be taken advantage of in any industry, being that the hospitality or in my case the design industry. Saying that, it brings to light a very unpleasant job application experience.

As a seasoned graphic designer of over 15 years, I was sent a very enthusiastic email notifying me that I have successfully made it to the ‘next stage’ for a graphic design position. For the next round they would like to allow my talent and creativity to speak for them before progressing to any interviews.

Only to be told that I had a small design task to complete with a design brief of some creative work including design materials to assist. This was two pages long... you might as well hire me now to do the job!

On top of that, they only required a ’rough version.’ This task I would estimate would taken me anywhere from 2 to 4 good hours to produce. And if you did complete the request, there is no guarantee that you will receive an interview.

I was thinking to myself, I just sent you my CV, cover letter and digital portfolio for consideration. I do not need to prove my skills or talents any further.

I had alarm bells ringing, this is extremely unethical to ask me and other applicants to provide you with a design concept. This is called ’free pitching’. The DIA (Design Institute of Australia) which I am a member of, does not support such a practice.

The DIA holds the view that any form of competitive pitching – paid or unpaid – is inherently flawed, and therefore by implication, unprofessional.

Young designers trying to carve a niche in a market with well established players face strong temptations to free pitch. The best advice is to think clearly about the extent to which you are undermining your ability to sell your services in future dealings with the customer and the degree to which you are destroying your professional credibility. Spending the same time and resources on an existing client relationship or the broad search for clients prepared to engage you on the strength of your folio is likely to yield more certain returns.

It just re-enforced the ”my time has value" movement that I was following back in 2015. Surprisingly in this day and age, this company had never heard of ’free pitching’ before. They confessed they hadn't read my cover letter or CV as they don't understand what a designer does or what the technical aspects require.

You wonder who is assessing your portfolio when you are applying for these positions. There is no creative director anymore who is in the hiring process, which is vital. You are now dealing with an everyday Joe blow, who has no idea what the role advertised entails ie: aspects such as typography, composition, text and graphic layout, knowledge of pre-press and many other graphic and technical requirements that are needed as a designer, including and above all CREATIVITY.  Which this can only be judged with one who understands design and the fundamentals that goes with it.

I hope any designer who reads this, that they are educated in what ’free pitching ’ is, and hopefully they do not waste their valuable time. I know that I haven't wasted mine!

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