Inspiration

Over the past two weeks I have been handed multiple projects both at school and with Grok. They encompass brochure design, motion design for a logo, and multiple website designs. When faced with such a multitude of creative challenges it is necessary for me to find the magical thing known as inspiration. Where does one find inspiration? A few places.

While I do thumb through some relevant books and magazines at times like these the majority of my time is spent on the world wide web. The infinite expanse of information. On my computer I have bookmarked a few websites that I consistently refer to for inspiration. Today, I am going to share them with you. For logo design inspiration I refer to www.identityarchives.com, www.brandsoftheworld.com, and my personal favorite www.logopond.com. Specifically for print I sometimes refer to www.stationarystyle.net. And for web I browse www.cssremix.com, www.webdesign-inspiration.com, and the cream of the crop www.webcreme.com. But what about Flash sites? Good question, for inspiration on Flash sites I go to www.thefwa.com or www.bestwebgallery.com. For an organized list of specific types of websites you can visit http://www.vandelaydesign.com/blog/design-inspiration/ which will provide many different categories — however, from my experience, they don’t seem to update it much, if at all. And then, for general inspiration, which is potentialy the most important of all, I visit www.illustrationmundo.com, www.faceoutbooks.com, and the all-powerful www.typographyserved.com. You also might want to check out http://www.howdesign.com/top10sitesfordesigners/ which is updated every month with new websites that are generally portfolio sites. Where did I find all of these websites? Mostly through browsing the web, which is always fun. But one day I came across a splendid website that I plucked a good amount of these sites from and that has many, many more: http://www.aialex.com/2007/07/09/top-50-inspirational-websites-for-designers/ Here is listed 50 of the “top” websites for inspiration. So check it out.

Now, if you got bored reading the above paragraph or it looked too big for you and you inevitably skipped down here than congrats. Right now I am going to reveal my absolute favorite website for inspiration that I visit on a daily basis and refer back to continuously:

www.behance.net

This website is basically deviantart for professionals. With daily updated featured work and categorizing abilities such as “Most Recent”, “Most Viewed”, “Most Discussed”, and “Most Appreciated” you will definitely appreciate this website. The Behance Network encompasses work from the fields of Academia, Acrobatics, Advertising, Animation, Architecture, Art Direction, Automotive, Blogging, Branding, Caricature, Carpentry……………….Textile Design, Theatre, Toy Design, Typography, Urbanism, Video Arts, Video Blogging, Video Game Design, Video Jockey, Virtual World Design, Visual Arts, Visual Effects, Web Design, Web Development, Wood Working, and Writing. And I don’t know if you noticed, but I skipped a lot of our alphabet so you wouldn’t have to read that much. But go and check out the rest of the categories and never go anywhere else again.

Well, with all of that said. I’m not encouraging the theft of other designers work or unoriginal designing. These are just places to check out visually pleasing and user-friendly pieces so you can see what works and make something creative on your own.

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Robinson’s Eco-Economics and Practical Applications

As you may know I consider myself a bit of an expert on science fiction literature. This may be a conceit, but there it is. Recently I have been working my way through Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. While I have really enjoyed these books, in some ways it has been a very difficult read for me, because my own personal economic and political philosophies clash drastically with those of Robinson. I’m more of a “Heinlein Libertarian”, while Robinson is a “Green Socialist”, and he refers to libertarians in Green Mars as anarchists who want protection from their slaves. I took a bit of offense, but I have to be honest this book has greatly influenced my thinking; especially when it comes to Robinson’s eco-economics.

I have never really believed in the validity of the labor theory of value. I agree in principle that ownership of labor should be every person’s intrinsic right. However, the idea that the value of a commodity is directly related to the labor used to create them only holds so much water. Sure, everyone should receive fair compensation for their work. But, if it takes me 5 hours to design a website layout, and it takes a brain surgeon 5 hours to remove a tumor from your noggin, which act has more value? I thought so.

But, eco-economics can be applied to a system where labor has different values. As I understand it the precept behind eco-economics is that one should put in an equal amount (or greater amount) into an economic system than one takes out of it so that the system remains anti-entropic. Robinson suggests a “need & gift” economy to institute this system, which has some flaws (such as taxes on personal savings to avoid wealth hording), but at a basic level is very practical. You’ll have to read the Mars Trilogy to learn more about this “need & gift” economy since I definitely do not have the space to write a dissertation here (nor the time). In economic times such as we are currently experiencing in the United States this eco-economics has a lot of appeal. Take the bailouts of 2009; they were a clear example that our Keynesian economic system is so slanted toward benefiting a small portion of our population that is damaging to our social ecology. When we bailed out these financial institutions be basically privatized wealth while socializing risk and loss. The idea that this benefits us all is completely beyond the pale. While there is some truth that allowing these companies to fail would be damaging to many the reality is that what these large corporations pay in is not what they take out by a long shot. When loss is socialized like this it does not benefit the general populous. In fact the nature of loans made to large corporations (whether banks or military contractors or whatever) is inherently counter to the previously mentioned eco-economical precept. When these companies borrow money from the Federal Reserve (Fed) the Fed prints that money for them, they get first use of that money and the interest they pay on it (in the quick turnaround time of such a lone) is below the devaluation of money caused by adding that liquidity to the market in the form of free floating capital. In effect these companies are sucking value right out of the system with out even directly producing a good or service. That sounds counter productive to me.

So what’s the alternative? Well off the top of my head I can think of a couple. One might be a loan fund where people had a minimum buy in of say $100. The fund promises a guaranteed return on that investment of say 12% so long as the needed funds are raised (otherwise money is returned or a lower rate goes into effect). Companies back the loan with reductions in personal debt or bonds depending on the company’s relationship to the individual. People can choose to pay into the fund rather than the government mandating the use of their money, and companies people feel will be more successful will receive larger capital contributions. These companies turn around and use that money just like they would use the bailout money, only now they are adding greater liquidity to the market, and they are paying back in more than or equal to what they take out (depending on inflation). Everyone gets what they need and no one has to give up ownership or equity. Obviously this is not fleshed out but I think it is a good start.

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Introducing Moya - One of many War Room characters to come

We have a new comic out at The War Room. This one introduces Moya our favorite bird. Moya is an African Grey parrot, a breed of bird that is very intelligent. At the tender age of 3 Moya has a vocabulary in excess of 65 distinct words and phrases. He also sings a number of musical scores including Tequila and the Star Trek The Next Generation Theme Song , he imitates all sorts of cool sounds from bombs dropping out of the sky to burps, and is the ultimate key board key theif. I hope you enjoy this installment of The War Room.

Oh, before I forget, Moya has a special dancing video he wants you to see here.

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Why Sci-Fi?

Many of you are probably asking yourself why I would be writing blogs about science fiction. Is this not a design blog? Well this blog is about understanding things from a new perspective, grokking. We hope that you will come to grok us on some level through this blog, and perhaps you will see how many different elements have an effect on hour work.

For me science fiction is almost a religion. I do not pray to some Sci-Fi god of chrome and steel, but I have been raised on it in many ways. Science fiction has had a profound effect on shaping my moral code and the other many ways in which I perceive the universe. I am not unique in this, when you think of the cell phone, a machine essential to the United States today; you should consider it was inspired by Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek. Sci-Fi has had a profound effect on our culture.

As a young body I watched taped episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation every Saturday with my father. As a doctor he worked a great deal, and I looked forward to the times we spent together watching Star Trek and talking about the future, or just what might happen in the series. I was not allowed to watch much TV; none during the week, an hour or two of Saturday morning cartoons, and Star Trek with my dad. My parents, through the mistake of putting a TV in my room, learned early on that I was an entertainment junky, and took steps to correct that. Even now, though I rarely indulge this behavior, I see how I could easily be addicted to entertainment. I have spent whole days playing a video game, reading a book, or watching a TV series.

When I learned to read, there was no stopping me. One can not hide a television set (at least not in the 80s), but one can hide a book. My mother would tell me to go to sleep for the third time in an hour, turn out the light, and watch to make sure I went to bed. I would wait in silence for ten minutes or so (what seemed like hours to a 8 year old), and then I would grab this huge flashlight (12 volt battery powered) nestle it between my head and shoulder, throw the blanket over us (being sure to prop the sides a little for air flow) and read until my neck and back hurt enough to force me to bed. I was highly prone to neck cramps that made me hold my head in awkward positions for long days. These were attributed to growing pains.

I am something of an expert in science fiction. I have read everything on the Peter Sykes’ Top 100 Statistical Survey List, all the series that branch off from those books, and a score of other novels, novellas, and short stories. I have read much fantasy, but mostly science fiction. This is not all that I have spent my time reading by any stretch of the imagination. Science fiction has leaded me to an appreciation of history, science, art, literature, philosophy, etcetera. Noted science fiction writer Isaac Asimov said:

“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.”

“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.”

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$100m to figure out what you’re doing…

It’s no small secret that Twitter is the Internet’s largest growing social networking app/thingy. Micro-bloging was all the craze a few months ago when we got reports off every major news network of what soandso said on their Twitter account. Recently I was talking to an old friend of mine and bemoaning the idea that Twitter was actually a useful tool. He stated that you get out of it what you follow, he follows some very particular famous folks that lead what most would deem interesting lives. However when taking a survey of the Twitter landscape one can’t help but to see the spam/scams and generally banality of day to day living. At least traditional blogging can be construed as some form of news or at minimum an Op-Ed piece. But with only 140 characters its hard to really say anything of substance outside of a string of emoticons and LOLs, and thus my mind bending frustration with Twitter begins…

This morning I was linked to an article from Network World with the headline ‘Twitter is Dead’. Music to my ears, but really after reading I didn’t find the damning report that Twitter has ran out of money and is now belly up floating adrift in the gigantic pool of dead internet apps, but quite the opposite. While the author of said article thinks that Twitter is marked for death the reality is that people are funneling money into it (during an economic downturn mind you) to the tune of $100m to figure out a business plan. While I think its nice that the creators of the tweetverse hatched the idea without worrying about how to pump it’s users for money, its also laughable that it has grown to the point where sustaining the app/creating a business model costs around $100m. So the next time that a person signs up for Twitter and boarashly proclaims that s/he is going out to the grocery store to buy lemons remember that some investment capitalist thought that somehow, someway banal news and celeb induced stalking could generate profit 140 characters at a time…

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Stumbling, it’s awesome.

Stumbling, it’s awesome. In a society of media junkies, new and informative ways to gorge ourselves on delectable content are always welcome. And when that new fount of fun co-insides with work it’s even more diverting. Stumbleupon.com is my latest foray into media addiction, having accumulated almost four hundred “favorites” in as little as a month. Ranging from web design tools, to photoblogs, to funny videos, to top ten lists, to photoshop tutorials, to recipe sites, I can definitively say I’m hooked.

It is encouraging to see that such a community exists, as through stumbling I have found some resources that I use on a regular basis. Such as; www.bittbox.com ,   a great place to start on a search for free textures, and www.psdeluxe.com, with some awesome blog posts and lists on creative tools for todays’ savvy designers.

Oh, and a few favorites:

awesome fridge magnet:
www.onemoregadget.com/photoshop-magnet-kit-for-a-design-nuts-fridge/

awesome packaging:
www.krftd.com/special_report/transparent-mystery

awesome product design:
www.recyclart.org/2009/07/lighting-made-of-galvanized-iron

awesome public art:
www.yawoot.com/post/3206

awesome illustration tutorials:
www.tutorial9.net/resources/15-of-the-best-character-illustration-tutorials-online

awesome photoshop tutorial:
www.psdtop.com/blog/basic/understanding-blending-modes/

another awesome photoshop tutorial:
www.digitalartform.com/archives/2009/06/custom_halftone.html

awesome posters:
www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/09/30-typography-posters-that-youve-probably-never-seen-before/

awesome museum:
www.moma.org

awesome tech:
www.dvice.com/archives/2009/08/color-picker-pe.php

-john

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3rd Ward: Fall Solo Show Submissions Opening Soon

So, I’m not a big one for picking news items out of other people’s blogs. Hell, if I wanted a blog like that I could just write a robot to go around finding blogs by tags and dropping them into our blog without regard for stlye, ingenuity, display, or the fact that some people get pissed off when you rip off their content; especially when you remove their links (I’m talking to you planet-x.com.au). Still, I think I’ll go and rip some content anyway.

To give credit where credit is due; you should checkout Design Glut, I know I’ve already recommended them in the Sexy Links section, but they wrote the story on 3rd Ward so they should get the credit. Their original story is here.

3rd Ward is a member based design center for professionals in my old stomping grounds of Williamsburg Brooklyn.  Their beginnings sound much like ours. Durring their early days they engaged in menial labor to make ends meet, and worked out how to live with each other (in leu of being overnight super stars). Our parties have been less successful at paying rent than theirs were, in fact we rarely exceed breaking even, but que ser a ser a (perhaps we should serve cheaper beverages). Today 3rd Ward is a thriving company. They provide freelancers with a place to work: with photo studios (bah we have one of those, oh 4 you say, well then), a shop (we have access to one), and a degital media lab (ha ha we definitely have a state of the art one of those), and they do a bunch of classes (okay I think I have 3rd Ward envy). Apparently they were approached by someone to open a location in Detroit, humm not the worst idea ever.

Anyway, one cool thing about 3rd Ward is that they put on solo and group shows for artists. They have open calls for artists nationwide. This is my primary reason for writing this post. If you don’t read Design Glut, and you aren’t aware of 3rd Ward, you might miss a stellar opportunity. Check out their Fall Solo Show: Open Call for Artists this October, and perhaps you will become a 3rd Ward discovery. Or, on second thought, don’t; I mean I’ll be submitting and who needs the competition.

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Working on grokllc.com V2 - Menu(s)

There’s a certain dilemma that I face whenever something is finally finished, created, uploaded, etc. I’m never fully happy with it. I find myself going back to it and saying, “Well, what I should have done was this…” or “Maybe we could have added this element in lue of X.” Point being is you are always your biggest critic.  During the last parts of work on the 1st grok site I started to think about what the next one would be, “what’s wrong with the 1st one?” I think John asked, my reply, “Nothing, everything, there’s a mountain of things I would like to explore that we just can’t, less me start from scratch.” At that time we were pretty much a week behind getting the 1st site finished so I had to shelf my ideas till a latter date and time.

Welcome to a latter date and time.

This is the roots from which the tree has sprung. While this looks like the scribbles and rants of someone that should be committed to an institution, it makes perfectly good sense to John and myself. What this says about us…well I’m not entirely sure, we’ll save that post for a another time.

The original idea, if its in there, was to create a site that had both ease of use as well as having some artistic interactivity. By creating vector based art that not only changes through the user’s choices but also anchors all the information that the site has to display we thought we could create something that would be not only pleasant to look at but would also reflect something about us from a stylistic standpoint. From that launching point, one of anchoring vectors, John had the idea to strip the design down even more so that when a user navigated around they would be creating their own unique background, this was latter platformed to the idea that we could present nothing but white space and user navigation would be akin to ‘cutting’ through the background to reach other layers, much like when you tear a parts of a page out of a magazine you still see the page you’re on but also the one below it.

At this point in time the only work that’s been put into bring that idea to fruition is some simple menu creation, here’s a few examples cropped down, think of them as part of a much larger white page.

V2 Mk1

V2 Mk2

V2 Mk2b

Don’t ask how these things were reached from the madness that was scrawled on that piece of paper, its a mystery to everyone. The menus right now are very rough around the edges, however I think the color schemes are growing on me. Anyway, as things begin to evolve and take more of a concrete shape I’ll be back with an update and perhaps even more illegible sharpie drawings.

-Adam

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Adding a Little Green to the Industry

We were checking out Gray & Partners, a new start up advertising and design agency out of Boston. They have made it clear they prefer to work with companies that are committed to ‘going green’. To introduce themselves they delivered irises to green companies they are interested in at the 2009 Going Green Conference. One of the companies they highlight on their site is Planet Tran, a transportation service that employees exclusively hybrid vehicles.

Of course there are issues to consider when it comes to hybrids. While great for the environment because of low carbon emissions, their is the drawback that the production of hybrids has a greater environmental footprint than that of normal vehicles. The main concern comes for the destructive impact of the mining of certain minerals used in the production of hybrid batteries. However, responsible companies like Toyota are doing their part to try and lessen the impact of battery production by doing things like offering a $200 bounty for to make sure all ‘used up’ batteries come back to the company, and being responsible about the cleanup of waste.

To spite these concerns it is nice to see people in the industry trying to do something for the environment. As designers we often do not realize the impact that our own production has. If you are interested in ‘going green’ you can do just a few little things to lessen your carbon footprint like; turning off computers when not in use, getting media printed on recycled paper, and making sure your company has recycling bins. A little bit goes a long way.

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Emigre No. 70: The Look Back Issue

Emigre Rocks it Hard Checkout Their Look Back Issue!

Check it out it is a wonderful collection of Emigre, and we here at GROK love Emigre. The normal full collection is somewhere areound $100 but this is $49.95  (or $36.38 when preordered from amazon) and you get the poster, and some music & videos on a CD.  Preorder it with amazon or get it through gingkopress

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