I was cruising around good old Tineye.com, a ingenious little website that allows for reverse image searches — something I do from time to time, to monitor my work on the web.

When I searched one of my most popular designs on DeviantART, a grenade design done back in 2003, I found this peculiar image, blatantly using my graphic on merchandise.

Then I searched the “Puffioso” and “Puff Nation” names found on the shirt, and low and behold, I found the culprit; A company in BC Canada, and Taiwan, called Puff Nation at 3501 - 1111 West Pender Street, Vancouver B.C., Canada V6E 2P4.

Here’s what they said in their news about it here (mirrored):

Introducing Puffioso 2007.10.15 - We are proud to introduce our latest line “Puffioso“. Derived from “Puff” and the original Italian “Maffioso” meaning “Maffia”. The Puffioso Collection is inspired by gangsters and thus the art is mainly reflects on the darker side of life as well as some dark humors. Stayed tuned for more information on this exciting new line.

They also made mention of it on the Puff Nation (PuffNation.com) FAQ page (mirrored):

“How many logos are in the brand?

First, we had the puffer fish logo, and that’s why the brand is called Puff Nation! After that we came up with the Penguin logo, and then the Puffioso grenade logo.“

We all know that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and when people have stolen my designs in the past, it’s usually for a gaming clan page, or some disc jockey, so I just let it slide. However, Puff Nation is multi-national, with offices and stores in Canada, and Taiwan.

I will be pursuing this, and I’ll keep you updated on my progess.

Let this be a lesson to all you lazy designers who steal people’s work. We may not find you right away, and you may be able to bask in the efforts of others for a short while, but you’ll get caught, eventually. And your name shall be raked through the mud.

Here’s a selection of images I found around the web, sporting my design.

Website for Adele Barrett Interiors, a local interior designer serving Hamilton, and surrounding areas. Interior Designer in Hamilton,  Interior Design Services in Hamilton.

As many of you already know, my mom bought an established vintage clothing shop in Elora, Ontario called Sweet Trash Vintage Clothing.

First thing was first, rebrand! new business cards, new vintage clothing tags, new signage, and now, finally, after hundreds of days, squeezing in time between projects, procrastination, and a last ditch solid week of coding — I present the new, and improved Sweet-Trash.com!

Site was built in wordpress, is easy-to-update, taps in to Twitter, Facebook connect, Etsy. I could keep yapping about it or you could just go click around yourself…

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Also, ladies! Be sure to check out and bookmark Sweet Trash VIntage Clothing on Etsy, for authentic vintage purses, vintage hats, and other vintage accessories. Whoa… I just said ‘VIntage’ like… 10 times.

Jordan came to me to build his website after being referred by his good friend and writing partner, Dan Ahdoot.

“Though me and Dan have never met face to face, I would lay a big open-mouth kiss on this guy (like a gentleman!) for the job he’s done on my site. He’s totally dedicated to giving you the best possible space for a good price. I wonder when dude sleeps… and when he sleeps I’m betting he dreams in binary.” Jordan Carlos -Comedian, Actor and Writer

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Rachel asked me to create her a new page for her ever growing makeup portfolio. She is a freelance makeup artist specializing in fashion, glamour, editorial, runway and bridal makeup applications, serving Hamilton, Toronto, Niagara and surrounding areas..

I used a slick gallery system that runs on the Yahoo (YUI) javascript library.

I absolutely love when I get the chance to completely revamp someones identity from scratch!

This project involved logo design, business cards / letterhead design, website design and photography (not to mention a few months of my life). For the shoot I had Rachel Duff come out and work her makeup application magic and copyrighting help from my good friend Julie Marquis.

It is always a pleasure to work with someone who knows what he is doing. Dan is one of those people. My website captures the balance between the informality of my personality and the formality of my profession perfectly. It lets my clients know that lawyers aren’t necessarily intimidating, yet maintains a professional look and feel, so that my clients know I’m serious about their rights and compensation.

Dan is highly skilled and professional. He delivers a quality product on-time and on-budget, no mean feat in today’s fast-paced world.

Janis P. Criger, LL.B. - Hamilton Personal Injury Lawyer & Accident Attorney

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I had the honour of working with comedian Dan Ahdoot on his new website. You may remember Dan from being a contestant in NBC’s reality TV show Last Comic Standing and for performing on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend.  For this project I simply acted as a conduit of Dan’s ideas.

TheHoop-la.com is a basketball portal that covers Canadian b-ball at all levels and plays an avid role in the Hamilton community sponsoring and organizing events.

Dan Johnston is on top of his game. When choosing a company to redesign our website, SyntechDesign was our unanimous decision. From coming up with ideas to improve our website all the way down to teaching us how to use the CMS, everything was seamless, time efficient and just plain easy for us. It was an absolute pleasure working with Dan. We highly recommend him.

Kirk Alfaro - TheHoop-la.com

Burgeoning Communications Inc. offers a wide range of training seminars that teach business communicators how to write and speak with power and efficiency. 

It was great working with John Burry on this project. I’ve learned some great business communication tips from reading his first few blog posts.

Keep an eye on their blog for tips backed by a combined 50 years of public relations experience. I know I will be.

Red Maiden Entertainment presents Waiting in Beijing - The Movie, a love story set during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the SARs outbreak in China. Written, Directed and Produced by Alan Zhang, starring Kelly Nyks, Song Li Ching/Steph Song, Talayeh Ashrafi/Tala Ashe, Ting-Ting Hu and Robert Lin.

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