February 2012
26 posts
a (hipster) moment of truth
I discovered this the other day. Hmm…I believe only one of us is dressing our age. Your guess is as good as mine.
prayer of saint francis of assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is...
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iLove typography
There were more than a few great finds in my latest Communication Arts read (see earlier post), but this has got to be one of my favorites: the FontBook app for iPad. I only learned about it now, but apparently it was released early last year. I suppose it’s not so thrilling for most people, but if you are familiar with design or a fan of typography at any level, this app is stellar....
RIP Whitney Houston
DIY FTW!
One of Trina’s big mantras is Waste Not! so when trying to think of the perfect birthday present for her I knew she would be most pleased if I managed to save more than spend - both money and materials.
It just so happened that a certain Gap store was going out of business around the same time and I managed to snag a display shadow box during their “Everything Must Go!” sale....
hey, are you paying attention?
Don’t be fooled by its cuteness. This notebook is a manifesto for revolution.
Sunni Brown is spreading the word that doodling is nothing to be ashamed of. Tell those teachers to back off, your random margin twirls and swirls are done with great purpose! Brown believes that rather than being evidence of your wandering mind, doodles can actually help to harness your attention. The Doodle...
you've just gotta fight your way through
Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.
But there is this gap.
For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work...
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Watch Out #2
Initially you don’t even know what you’re looking at really. It’s a crazy panel of notches, numbers, circles and squares. But look closer and it’s brilliant. Let’s be serious here - watches are no longer our primary source for time-telling (#iphonelove), so let’s ditch tradition and just make something crazy. At least, I think that’s how Nooka’s...
4 tags
January 2012
17 posts
3 tags
(browser) window shopping
For those who love the thrill of the hunt, here are my favorite sites for sales on the coolest clothes, tech gear, design shnazz, and, well, watches. You’ll have to sign up and join their mailing list to access some of the sales, but I promise it will be well worth your while. These sites curate the raddest goods at 30-80% off original prices. They also come in iPhone app form, so you can be...
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hyperakt gets an A+
Recently WNYC’s Studio 360 challenged Hyperakt with a rebranding project - not just for a product or person or company, but an entire profession: teaching.
Tired and uninspired by the current state of teacher-related visuals, Studio 360 was looking for a new graphic system to represent educators in the 21st century.
Hyperakt’s solution deserves a gold star. It’s clear,...
all the cool kids are reading it
Jaymi is very kindly allowing me to borrow her precious box set of The Hunger Games. I’ve been warned by several people about the addictiveness of the story. Mmm. At least all the books are already out and the movie premieres in a few months, which means it won’t be as bad as Harry Potter - from the first book to the eighth film that relationship dragged on for ten years! Apparently...
the misplacement project
Supermarket shopping is nothing but a series of snap decisions: yes, no, too expensive, this for dinner, this for dessert, well if I buy five I save $1.47…and sometimes we make the wrong decision (argh, should have gotten Double Stuff! Why did I pick up Reduced Fat?!). To our inconvenience, we usually don’t realize our error until we are five aisles away from where we started. Why walk...
heeeeere's johnny!
I should be completely honest and say that I didn’t know much about the Johnny Cupcakes craze before attending last night’s talk at Loft in Space - BUT. After Johnny Earle’s (yes, THE Johnny of Johnny Cupcakes) three hour presentation (phew!) I have become quite a fan. The guy is completely self-made: going from peddling his shirts in a suitcase to opening a brand-new, totally...
lorem ipsum is SO last year
Check out these shnazzy alternatives to the old design stand-by:
At Last / Etta James
Goodbye to an amazing woman...
watch out #1
You will learn very quickly that I have a weakness for watches. I could probably keep an entire blog just about watches. However, I will limit myself to a few entries here and there. Maybe. Haha.
This particular set comes from the MoMA online store. They lean towards the minimal (yay!) but not for lack of detail. Being on the pricier side of life, none of these will find their way into my...
a thing of beauty (inside & out)
For all the iPads and Kindles in the world there is nothing that can replace the sensory experience of a tangible book. Please don’t tell me print is dead. It breaks my heart and I refuse to believe it is true. That is why I am so excited about the illustrated Malcolm Gladwell Collection. Three of Gladwell’s most famous non-fiction pieces - The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers - have...
R&D, i'll be be back
Finally made my way to R&D today in Kakaako. This very creative space is a stellar alternative to the Starbucks routine - they’ve got Morning Glass coffee, design/art/photo/cooking books you can’t get anywhere else, AND the table tops are whiteboards (brilliant!) so you can sketch away at any time.
The space is constantly being used for lectures and special workshops so follow...
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WatchYesterday I met with an amazing woman, Cathy, who is part of the design thinking movement in Hawaii. She works with students, teachers, and business professionals to create innovative approaches to learning and problem solving that are effective and have real-world application. Cathy introduced me to the Stanford d.school (otherwise known as the Institute of Design at Stanford) and their ...
“The details are not the details. They make the design.”
– Charles Eames
not your grandfather's clock
I’ve never met Daniel Weil (yet), but something tells me I’d like him right away. His work consistently meets at the intersection of scientific precision and off-the-wall creativity and this is no more evident than in his Matter of Time series clocks - each more impressive than the last. Who knew that such a simple, utilitarian object could be stretched to meet the edges of abstract...
"That's not how you spell it."
Wait. No. Hold on. I know, I know. But it’s an alternative spelling I’ve fashioned using the first couple letters of my first and last name. Clever, no? I’m also hoping that it will guide people to pronounce my real name correctly. *Sigh* Those who know me, know this has been a lifelong battle for me. Haha.
Anyway.
So begins my new blogging adventure. As a graphic designer I...