Who are you and what do you do at Behance?
Konichiwa! I am Nami Berglund, Associate Curator at Behance.
I moved from Tokyo to New York in late 2010 with my husband. My daughter is in college studying Theater. I have been very fortunate to be part of this culturally-diverse team of talented people at Behance. Oscar Ramos Orozco and I look through all the projects that Behance members upload, spot new talents and curate for the Network and Served Sites. It is a challenging job because it is very organic. Before joining Behance, in Tokyo I worked as a Game Producer, Visual Effects Producer and a Strategic Planner.

What are the three desktop tools you can’t live without?
1. Behance Admin tools – We have a custom curation tools for featuring projects on Behance and all to of the Serve Sites.
2. Google Chrome – The only browser that can withstand the abuse of opening multiple tabs at the same time.
3. YouTube and Soundcloud- Endless choice of music – DJ set from Matthew Dear, Michael Mayer and Old School House Music – Contemporary Music from Steve Reich and Phillip Glass. When I need extra push and focus, I listen to various Speed and Heavy Metal my favorites are Powermad and Ronnie James Dio.

What have you worked on recently that you are extra proud of?
The team has recently been awarded with a Webby for Self-Promotion/Portfolio in both Official and People’s Choice category. I am very proud to be a part of the team!

Can you name a few of your favorite blogs and sites?
Racked – the perfect website for keeping track of what is going on in the city. I love fashion and good restaurants.
Streeteasy, Apartment Therapy and Curbed – Living space is challenging in New York. I want to stay informed and inspired to utilize space.

 Follow Nami on Behance. 

Over the past few months, we’ve reached out to our users for their success stories and we’ve gotten some great responses thus far.  Over the next few months, we’re going to be featuring these stories with the world!

“I opened my Behance account way back 2009 while still in college but was not fully active. I thought some of my works weren’t strong enough to be published, as I wanted to have a solid style before putting it out there.

But after my graduation last year, I posted my 1^st self-initiated project “Brands In Full Bloom” (http://bit.ly/LGYttU), which was just an experimentation of a new style I’m working on. To my surprise it was featured on the front page of the site few days after it was published. That project spread like crazy to various fashion blog sites. It led me to my 1^st design gig for Line Skis USA and a feature page on Computer Arts magazine.

What’s more astonishing, a few months after that I received an email from luxury advertising agency AR New York, told me that my work was spotted on a random blog site and they wanted to board me on a very big project. They commissioned me to create the illustrations for LVHM DFS Galleria’s Spring/Summer 2013 “Passage To Paradise” (http://bit.ly/10sobEp). The next thing I know, renowned fashion photographer Craig McDean photographed it for the final campaign and can now be seen in 14 countries around the world.

Putting your work out there really could jumpstart any career, because you’ll never know who gets to see them – could be an art director from your local design community or even creative directors from international ad agencies.

Hardwork, courage and the exposure I got from Béhance definitely made my dream design career happen.

 -Daryl Feril, Philippined-based designer/illustrator

www.darylferil.com ”

Thanks to Daryl for sharing his story.  Want to be featured here or on our Testimonials page?  Visit our testimonials page and share your story!

Earlier last week, we updated our iPhone app to version 2.2.  This app brings WIP (Work in Progress) for mobile users front and center – because as you know, where you work isn’t confided to your desk.  Most excitingly, we’re now pulling images from editing apps like Adobe Photoshop Touch to add to WIPs, that way mobile users can share their work with the rest of the world as easy as our desktop users!

We’re also working on our iPad app and we’re looking for suggestions for you, our users.  Contact us here.

Hosted by New York’s Ace Hotel, 99U Conference presenter and artist James Victore’s installation “Aphorisms on Art & Idea Execution” presents bold, simple messages to not only creatives, but anyone with an idea worth doing.  Victore’s work includes 1993′s “Racism,” and other works featured at the Louvre and The Library of Congress.

The lurid orange text screen printed on seemingly generic paintings slaps you with messages like “Kill the critic” or “Stop looking for permission,” advice that needs little-to-no explanation. And, if you forget your camera, there are rolls of inspirational stickers opposite the installation that viewers can help themselves to.  99U’s very own Jocelyn Glei interviewed James Victore about his process and workflow.

The exhibit runs through May 25th.  For more info, visit the Ace Hotel’s website.

We always love seeing a project get noticed in the news – like Scott McFadden’s, recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Last month, Scott posted a Project called ‘Guitar Resume’ that got some following.  As Alyson Shontell explains, “McFadden was moved to turn the acoustic guitar – which he received for Christmas – into a resume by his design professor. “Think of your resume as if it is a person. What kind of introduction is it making? How would you introduce yourself?” he was told. So he made something personal.”

Scott says, “I believe in the power of design…Design is an obsession with creative excellence. Design inspires, empowers, questions, challenges, and provokes. Design is more than aesthetics. It is the beauty to the brains. It is the melody behind the lyrics. It is the soul behind the song. Design puts the solution in your hands. It invites you to pick it up and play along.”

We’re proud of Scott creating this one-of-a-kind resumé and wish him the best of luck!

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Guitar Resume

Each month, our curators select one ProSite to feature as “ProSite of the Month”. Our February pick is Brian Haider, a Brazilian based fashion and advertising photographer with a beautiful and simplistic ProSite. 

More of Brian Haider’s work here

Before making the leap into another productive and creative year, we decided to celebrate with some Behance highlights from 2012. Check out our roundup of the top 10 Most Appreciated projects from this past year and congrats to all the talented creatives who made the list:

#1. New York based illustrator/designer Peter Stults re-imagines contemporary movies, and their posters, through the lens of a different era. Check out the full series here.

# 2. Tim Tadder quickly became a Behance favorite with his “Water Wigs” photo series, where he exploded water balloons on the heads of bald men.

#3. David Habben experimented by drawing a shape subconsciously then filling it with unique characters. “Shapes of Conscious” brings to light the notion that even contraints can foster creativity.

#4. Mexican design studio Anagrama shared 50 logos in a single project, ranging from hospitality brands to film festivals.

#5. Italian artist Alberto Seveso created a simple, yet elegant series of work that instantly took off. Pouring ink into water, Seveso captured the moving beauty with high speed photography.

#6.  Frontage is a charming, layered typeface based on a simple grid. In addition to sharing his work, typographer Juri Zaech even gave away free downloads of the font!

#7. Texan Calligrapher Sean McCabe believes ”nothing says something as beautifully as hand-drawn lettering” and we have to agree! See here for the full series of hand drawn quotes.

#8. Inspired by the idea of 3D food printers, French studio Zim and Zou created a memorable cover for Icon magazine out of paper. Detailed shots (and an animated .gif) here.

#9. Digital photography and retouching project “L’Enfant Extérieur” brings to life the inner child in each of us.

#10. The Arc Angel is a footwear solution that helps reduce the impact on dancers’ feet, while encouraging proper technique. Ballerinas everywhere are thankful for product designer Guercy Eugene.