Category Archives: random

I begin by listening…

“When I do a design project, I begin by listening carefully to you as you talk about your problem and read whatever background material I can find that relates to the issues you face. If you’re lucky, I have also accidentally acquired some firsthand experience with your situation. Somewhere along the way an idea for [...]

THE SCREENS ISSUE

“A brand could tell people what was cool because there was less freedom of choice in media.” – ROBERT RASMUSSEN, the executive creative director of the Nike account at R/GA
via THE SCREENS ISSUE Multiscreen Mad Men over on The New York Times.

Effective iPhone Screen Dimensions

“When running Safari; in portrait orientation the screen dimensions are 320 by 356 pixels. In landscape the dimensions change to 400 by 208 pixels.
The URL field can drop down at any time, so the extra 60 pixels at the top should not be counted on when trying to keep important items above the fold.”
poached from [...]

Umeric

Following up on the topic of lovely flash sites, you can add Australia’s Umeric to the list. Check the right click menu and use of SWF Address. I’m stoked to see these things becoming more and more prevalent in the work that is out there, especially on sites of studios who can lead the way [...]

Robin Cameron – Artist

I have a huge crush on Robin Cameron’s work.

Wacom Cintiq

I’ve had a purple Wacom Table forever, but never jumped on it like I think I would the new Wacom Cintiq.

Chris Strong Photography

Chris Strong is a photographer from Chicago, IL, USA.

Hugo & Marie

Hugo & Marie have a nicely executed flash site with swfaddress hooked up and keyboard navigation to boot – what a wonderful execution!

Pause NYC

A teaser of the titles for the Pause NYC event is up – lovely work by BTRY. I’m booking my trip to NYC for this soon, in an attempt to make good on visiting there more often. I’ve lived in Boston for 8 years now and haven’t been to NYC more then about 5 times [...]

MSNBC Obama/McCain Debate Video Tool

My buddy Phil over at MSNBC just tipped me off to this 2008 Election Debate Video Tool he and his team cooked up. If you missed the debate, this is just the ticket you need to get up to speed and see where each side was coming from. I love seeing technology used in useful [...]

Tetris Tiles!

Finally, someone is making tiles like Tetris blocks! These would MAKE my apartment. The original Tetris on the monochromatic GameBoy was so awesome!

Mo’ Beautiful

Good Magazine/ Videos – Good.is
lucas motta
pssss.de
savas ozay

Pretty Link Drop

Just some random links I’ve had open today. Lot’s of lovely stuff out there…

APARTAMENTO MAGAZINE
ROBERT REBOTTI {JACKLAMOTTA} GARA DI NERVI STUDIO

Vasava
Dowling Design & Art Direction
AllofUs
JULIEN VALLÉE – Sick Motion Design
I Love Britt – Great Illustration Style

Emmanuel Polanco

Emmanuel Polanco has some incredible digital collage work going on over there…

Weebo.

Lovely work from RISD MFA student, Weebo.

Illustrator Rope Brushes

Great little find on Adobe.com – Free Rope Brushes Download. This could be handy!

Mudchicken

Damn. Mudchiken has some incredible personal work up on his site.
Tipped via Surfstation – if you don’t check them daily, you should change that.

OSX Icon Design Resource

Smashing Magazine has a great article up discussing all sorts of things to think about when designing app icons for OSX. Check that out yo!
Also, check Apple’s icon design resource, which is brilliantly detailed.

Perry, Come On!

Perry, Come On! from Sweden (obviously?) have a nice preview of their fall/winter Line on Hypebeast. I love the hoodie type shirts here – just might have to pick one up.

Oh yeah, Typography.

Smashing Magazine has a list of the “80 Beautiful Typefaces For Professional Design.” I’m not sure what constitutes “Professional” Design, but I’m not exactly seeing a poor use of Avenir in my hood.

LOL at JB!

If this doesn’t make you laugh, sheesh!!! My god, High Fidelity is so good.

State Bird

The Massachusetts State bird is none other than the “BLACK-CAP TITMOUSE“. Who knew?

Wordpress Category RSS Feeds

This was just suuuuuper helpful. If it is of use to you, godspeed!
This is directly related to the new site I’ll have up later this week..yay!

News Map

Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. Tremendous information design, view Newsmap here.

Macaframa Fixed Gear Clips

Macaframa have some amazing Cali (SF Area) fixed gear videos and info up.

Yo! Canon Poweshot Pro 1 – For Sale!

I’ve got one of my camera buddies for sale. My Canon PowerShot Pro 1 is of no use to me with my 30D by my side. I’m asking ~$500 but all offers/trades welcome. More on this camera here.

Apenest

Apenest, an experimental publishing/printmaking project run by Cody Hoyt and Brian Willmont looks to have a newish site up. I met Cody and Brian when he lived in Boston and went to MassArt. They are amazingly talented.
According to the site: “We are artists first and foremost, and the goal of this project is [...]

MJ Creative Concepts

Slick branding & print work over at – MJ Creative Concepts.

Nada Surf – Blizzard of ‘77

“I know I’ve got a negative edge, that’s why I sharpen the others a lot…I miss you more than I knew.” – Nada Surf – Blizzard of ‘77

UR so my type.

Just in case you need a litle typographic heaven to remind you why design is awesome when your client cries wolf or that the logo should be bigger – Hoefler & Frere-Jones will make you fall in love with type like it was your first night at art school.

RAD! on youTube

RAD! Intro!
I’ve seriously watched this movie hundreds of times. I even knew every line of dialogue at one point. not to mention that the intro (see above) got me into riding flatland in the first place.

Calabria-enur by Natasha

This video made my day. If this doesn’t make you want to clap and dance you should go back to purgatory. Happy Tuesday!

MIT Students being Represented by EFF

MIT students hack MBTA Boston bus system – looks like they are being represented by Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco organization that advocates for civil rights in the high-tech world.

Poolga – Amazing iPhone Backgrounds

Poolga – iPhone and iPod Touch wallpapers from a selection of designers and illustrators from around the world.

Rumors

SO much great work & studios coming out of NYC – (i.e. Rumors)

Use your hands

Alas, the absolutley stunning work of SF based sign painter Jeff Canham – I especially like the time-lapse of him painting the NYC Mollusk sign – so great!

YAY it’s Monday!

Do yourself a favor and check out the work of justin thomas kay, NY based freelance art director and hand-styles awesome maker.

NIKE SB Fall 2008 Mini-Site

Nike SB just released a slick new flash mini-site to show off their 2008 Fall Line featuring P-Rod and Clark. The design is really slick and the videos have a relaxed, honest vibe.

Tim Jarvis – Fashion Style, like woah!

Tim Jarvis , works as A Base Reference. His work yields a balance of high tech and high fashion – all brilliantly done. Bravo Brother!

Design Links 2Day

Casey Sheehan – Amazing art direction & Design. He’s also 1/2 of Expo Cooperative.

Roger Skateboards

Sieben has a new skate project called Roger Skateboards. Looks pretty sick!

Evening Tweed Collective

“Evening Tweed is a graphic design collective formed in late 2006 by four 2008 graduates of the University of Brighton.”

Best Flatland Video Ever. No Contest.

This is the most advanced flatland video I have ever seen. I’m speechless.

Stumbled on this amazing find at…FFFFound

Beautiful Losers Trailer.

Beautiful Losers film trailer . If you are unfamiliar with The Beautiful Losers Art Collective/Movement Check out the book at YouWorkForThem – it is easily one of my favorite art books of all time.

New Vans Vault Series Half-Cabs

Sick! Visit Hypebeast to read up on these sexy little numbers! Vult Collection is tops on my list – each release only gets better.

Comic Sans Saves the Day!

Font Conference is pure gold over at College Humor.
“This video wasn’t long enough, so we made it double-spaced.” HA!

Stop Sign Design Process – Corporate LOL

“What if there were no stop signs… and a major corporation was charged with inventing one?“
This is painfully true. Sitting through meetings like this steals pieces of your life you will never get back.
Tipped off via The Big Noob.

Shilo – WeMakeItGood Mix Vol.3

I can’t stop listening to this mix put out by the dudes at Shilo.tv Grab this amazing mix by Graeme Sinden over at wemakeitgood.com. I guarantee you it will not disappoint!

Karmaloop TV – Subliminal Projects Interview

I just found out that KarmaLoop has an online video project going called KarmaLoopTV. Their most recent feature is an interview with Subliminal Projects Gallery co-founder Amanda Fairey. Check the clip above or view it in context at the KarmaLoopTV site.
Thanks to Chelsea at Karmaloop for the link!

Quality Gold.

I came across some great sites this week & these ones really stood out.
A fantastic studio – Bunch Design, A slick photo site – Proces15, and easily the raddest “viral” campaign I’ve seen in ages – for Converse.

How to downgrade your iPhone from 2.0 to 1.1.4

This was a helpful find – seeing as though many people may have accidentally upgraded their iPhone to the new firmware whilst relying on the apps available on their current jailbroken phone, etc… Full tutorial here.

The Cobra Snake + Media Temple (mt)

The Cobra Snake has an interview up by his lovely and Wicked Awesome Host, Media Temple (mt). If you haven’t seen the dude’s photos, you clearly aren’t concerned with gorgeous hipster girls in glasses.

Be Here Now.

Recent bottle cap message. How Serendipitous.

Always Love

“To make a mountain of your life is just a choice. But I never learned enough to listen to the voice that told me always love. Hate will get you every time.”
-Nada Surf, Always Love off their album This Weight is a Gift.

Subliminal Projects

Following suit with the last post about Shepard – check his Gallery Subliminal in L.A.
I really love the past exhibition images from Dee Dee Cheriel. What an outstanding name too, right?!

Shepard

Arkitip have a sick poster by Shepard Fairey (see OBEY) that I hadn’t yet seen, titled “Fiend Rocker”. Definitely want to grab this if the budget allows. Also, check the story behind Arkitip – I’d love to see more companies/publications take this route and responsibility on their shoulders.

Summa Kicks

Nothing like new lace-ups. period.

DWR Notebook Grill – HOLLER!

If this little guy doesn’t say “Word to your mother”, I don’t know what does. Hit up the DWR site for more metro-design-lover-related hotness.
On the DWR topic – I picked up some translucent Cubitec Shelving Units a while back and they are unbelievable. Snaps of them in my studio after the jump.

Mutiny Team HD – Web Vid

In the BMX industry, “Web Edits” are all the rage. While it seems like a new video is posted somewhere of some crew doing some tricks almost daily, almost no one can touch the quality that Mutiny is pushing with each of their contributions.
Their latest Team Edit (which was actually released moths ago) is [...]

Girl Talk – Feed the Animals – LIKE WOAH!

You NEED to GET THE NEW GIRL TALK ALBUM if you haven’t already. It instantly made my day when I grabbed it over the weekend. Enjoy!

Obama Spoke Cards

Obamaspoke.com is a cool little project that creates spoke cards which feature the work of stencil artist Margaret Coble. All proceeds of the cards will be reinvested in the project to produce more cards. Obama is down for the Public Transit/bicycling cause, so show your support and grab some cards to help promote this [...]

Ellen Godena Performance – ZERO PLAN

Max at Wire Sounds posted a little edit of one of the performances from the most recent ZERO PLAN show. This is best viewed in HD on the actual Vimeo Site.

Hillman Curtis Redesigns – remains awesome

Hillman Curtis has been a major inspiration for me. His short films and books communicate clearly, with an honesty that borders on vulnerability. ‘Human’ is the word that comes to mind if I had to pinpoint the overarching qualities of why the work always captures me. The Hillman Curtis site recently re-designed. The new design [...]

Colby Nichols

Colby Nichols has an amazing style. His humor and line style are similar to that in Sieben’s work, who also kills it on all levels. I really dig the range and lightheartedness their work exhibits.

Formconspiracy is dope

Formconspiracy is the work of Jakob Nylund. He’s got some amazing work and a slick site to display it all. nice AND simple.

Boston Massacre Celtics OWN Lakers in NBA Final

In case you didn’t know, Boston absolutely slaughtered the Lakers last night in game 6 of the NBA Finals. At times, they carried as much has a 41 point LEAD. In the end, they won by 38 points in their highest scoring game of the season – winning 131-92.

The KDU

The Keystone Design Union is a privately held, global creative collective with over 500 members working in all design disciplines and beyond. Elegance is the only word to describe their visual language.

Summer is official.

It’s official, summer is here – 100 degrees with 100% humidity – that’s Boston for you.

XTRABOLD

XTRABOLD is the design work of Brazil-based Nelson Balaban. This dudes work is dialed – and he’s only 19!

Web Designer Wall – JQUERY Demos

Web Designer Wall has some great JQUERY with tutorials/demos. I’ve used JQUERY for a little more than a year and can’t recommend it enough. As a hybrid/designer/developer, I found that this type of stuff reads well and can easily be worked in into the most basic of UI’s. The enhancements you can get by using [...]

Business guys on business trips

Business guys on business trips is amazing and sad all at once. Anyone who has worked in an office/agency setting knows that this type of “communication” is all too common.

Delicious Muxtapes

DoubleHalo Muxtape – has a great variety, how can you go wrong starting the list with Nada Surf?
Hound of the Muxtape – Great mix of strictly covers.
I’ll get around to making one, but until then peep the ones above or hit up Muxtape to make your own.

Elias Tahan

Elias Tahan has some lovely fashion shots in his book. Clear photos, white space – I think it’s just right.

FFF

FormFiftyFive is pretty much design link gold. I, for one, love seeing other peoples work.

Hi-Res on Apple Pro

There’s a great little feature about Hi-Res! on the Apple Pro Site.

MuxTape

Came across this muxtape this morning – http://velociandrew.muxtape.com/
Some hella-fresh remixes on this one.

Fix it? Just blow into the cartridge.

We All Remember doing this, don’t we? Man, I miss Excite Bike and the old Skate or Die Games. I long for an original Nintendo Console. If you’ve got one, and want to get rid of it, leave a comment.

Terry Richardson for Belvedere Luxury Vodka

There’s a great interview with Terry Richardson up in The Belvedere Vodka site under ‘Discover Luxury Reborn.’ His images are pretty much his staple style – the site is pretty slick to boot.

Desktop OCD

Camouflage is easily the most useful Mac Utility App I have ever used. It allows you to show/hide EVERYTHING on your desktop with a single click, or hot key. Gone are the days of messy desktops trying to get background props on your hot .psd files!

Robert Rauchenberg Dead.

Robert Rauschenberg Died today. His work was incredible and spanned some of the most important years of Post-Modern Art. His style and attitude have a clear and lasting effect on much of what we call the ‘Art’ World today.

Learn How To Have Fun

Looks like Andy (?) has a new blog going. Peep Learn How to Have Fun. True words. Summer is here!

IAAH – I AM ALWAYS HUNGRY / OURVICE

IAAH I AM ALWAYS HUNGRY is the multi-disciplinary design studio of Nessim Higson. He has some amazing work focusing on events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and how it affected the New Orleans area. The work is great on it’s own, but is truly amplified by the beautiful flash interface developed by Ourvice.

IDAD – Live Strong Benefit Posters

Eric Smith of IDRAWALLDAY has created a series of posters based on quotes that have served as a support for him during his recent fight against cancer. I just picked up all three and wish him the best.
In his own words: I was recently diagnosed with cancer and have begun down the treatment road. I [...]

Detritus – Cambridge, MA

My riding spot in Cambridge, MA is right in the middle of Central Square, between Harvard and the Charles River. One side is lined entirely with a chain-link fence, while the other is cut by a street that runs all the way to Kendall Square. Behind the fence runs a series of train tracks that [...]

Natzke is so Nasty!

Eric Natzke is a visual wizard. Seeing his work at FITC was awe inspiring – it is seriously on another level. Check out his flickr set for proof or follow his wizardry on his blog, Jot. Keep in mind, his work is all dynamically done using Flash.

Early Inspiration – YWFT

It was 1999 when I first got really excited about design for the web and designs place on the web. It was a strange time technically, since web-standards were just emerging and many designers were just getting comfortable with merging their offline work with the new media available on the web. I spent what seemed [...]

GhostlySwim

Ghostly International Just teamed up with Adult Swim to present GhostlySwim. It’s a fantastic album collecting the various artists on the Ghostly label. Its a free download, with a great live version of Cascade, by Tycho.
In the words of Ghostly themselves, Ghostly Swim is : “A genre-busting 19-song collection, stretching the entire Ghostly International galaxy, [...]

It’s Thomas Ulrik Everybody!

Thomas Ulrik has an amazing portfolio of work up. I really dig the balance and range his work exhibits.

Can I Keep You?

Amazing Motion Direction and Photography by Casper Balsev. He is represented by Hello Love, who happen to have a delicious blocked out logo.

Learnings

I’ve been spending many many nights with a little friend called Actionscript 3. I should have a few new things up over the next week in the form of some-sort of download.

20 Days old.

Today my mustache is 20 days old. Time flys – soon it will be 21 and will be out partying like the rest of em. Pour one out for the youth…Also, tonight, Jeff Allen shot some photos of Anna and I for a his senior project at AIB. He’s documenting couples, shooting them in their [...]

19 Days old.

I’ve been growing my mustache since the beginning of March. Today marks its 20th day thriving on the lush habitat known as my upper lip. If I say so myself, it really brings a new meaning to the term “upper crust.”
Just sayin’.

YES

Yes Studio, from the UK, have a really great book of work up. Their style embodies everything I have come to know UK Design for. The site is super minimal and simply lets the work speak for itself.

ActionScript 3.0 References via Adobe.com

I’ve been spending a increasing amount time developing in Flash and as a consequence, staring at loads of ActionScript 3.0. The language received a complete overhaul early last year leaving many developers/designers who had decent skills with ActionScript 2.0 trembling in the corner. The first time I opened an AS3 driven site I wanted to [...]

Sagmeister. Strikes. Again.

The first time I saw Stefan Sagmeisters book, Made You Look, I was so impressed with how clever the packaging concept was. It was simple – strong – bold – AND carried a solid visual message. His latest book, Things I have Learned in my Life So Far is a great follow up – a [...]

Like, a little magazine.

I’m in the process of working on a small ‘zine with about 10 of my close artist type friends. I just started piecing it together and spent about 2 hours back and forth between my scanner, laser printer, keyboard, paper, pen, pencil, and back again. The finished product will be a hand bound treat full [...]

The Hands Stay in the Picture.

Craig Oldham has a great write-up on his site about the way many modern designers/design publications have been presenting their work. The majority of the site has a great amount of content – he takes the time to craft words and sentences that actually communicate. One of my favorites lines is, “*Now, when I say [...]

Duh

Water is the awesomest color.

Gridplane Updates

JD Hooge at GRIDPLANE just added a ton of new projects to his site. All of the work is absolutely beautiful and the range of projects is very refreshing. Seeing talent like this always makes my day.

frequalize!

FREAK + EQUALIZER = FREAQUALIZER!

Cooper!

“I’m about to use Cooper Black” – Russ
“hahah” - Me 
“thought you’d like to know” – Russ
“you do that!” - Me
“give it my love.” - Me 

Mother PHP

“I forgot my PHP book again today.” - Me
“In mother Russia PHP book forgets you!” - Paul