Blog Archive ››

October 2009

Design in Nature

Submitted by mjvesper on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 12:35am
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Sometimes it's easy to look around at design in everyday life and forget to notice one large facet. Man-made design - The products, advertisements, technology, STUFF - is constantly in our faces and we have become so attuned to marketing that we sometimes don't see past it.

Morning Glory Clouds

I live in a major city and I certainly understand. But even amidst the steel, stone and glass of Chicago skyscrapers lies an intricate and complex architecture built with cellulose and water vapor. We just have to force ourselves to look up or down from time to time to notice.

Homeschooling for Dummies

Submitted by mjvesper on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 10:09pm
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The "For Dummies" series of books is known far and wide for digestible information on the quick about pretty much anything. Like CliffsNotes for everyday life.

I was poking around on the Discovery Channel site and they had a quiz for "was it a For Dummies book or not." I figured it would be entertaining but I got more than I bargained for! Apparently there are more "For Dummies" topics than I gave credit for. Get this... There is a Homeschooling for Dummies book. Terrifying as that me be.

Homeschooling for Dummies

OK, so on its own it maybe has a place in the "a little off" category. Heck, it may be very useful. Ah, but the best part? Check out the first bullet on the site:

I Have a New Toy

Submitted by mjvesper on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 5:55pm
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Being me, I have a slight fetish for tech toys. My new one came yesterday and I'm smitten.

I have a Mac Mini that is attached to a large flat screen TV in my living room. It functions as a media center, server and one of my design/development machines. Sitting on the couch, drink in hand, while working or watching a movie in Plex is a pretty wonderful thing.

Having a full keyboard and mouse laying around all of the time was a
little cumbersome... Especially if it was for just navigating Plex or when using Illustrator/Photoshop key commands rather than typing. Enter the Logitech diNovo Mini:

diNovo Mini

Joys of Browser Compatibility

Submitted by mjvesper on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 12:19pm
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Why can't we all just get along and play nice?

IE... I'm looking at you.

Browser Compatibility Table

Intelligent Design: Simplify the Approach

Submitted by mjvesper on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 7:13am
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Key-Plus-RingOften the most revolutionary solution to a problem, design or otherwise, is the easiest to implement... And overlook. Rather than create new methods or invent new products, the most graceful and creative approach may be entirely conventional and simple. You just have to look at it from a slightly unconventional angle.

Take Scott Amron as an example. He makes his living taking everyday problems and making prototypes of products to solve them for companies like Oxo.