Three things I’m loving right now:
And a great article tying all 3 together has been super helpful as well written and documented. Thanks Davy! Sweet last name too bro!
I love typography, so when I found Cufón, I left the five-font web world behind. I’m still an Arial regular, but the online dedication to this, like IE6 may see it’s days numbered. There will also be the standards, but I love seeing the growth of the web font movement.
From Typekit, to Font Spring, to even the love/hate, to serif or not to serif debates that kern out online, the World Wide Web of Type when never be the same. And I’m a fan.
Acutally, not only am I a fan of Cufón, I’m also a user.
The new 2010 Aprilia RSV4 is out.
It has made the rounds on the web and motorcycle magazines. It continues to garner great praise for it’s step into the liter bike discussions and rivals the beauty of Italian bikes like the Ducati 1198 and the MV Agusta F4.
But it all started from a sketch.
From the Robbiano Design firm, or more accurately, Sergio Robbiano himself. He helped work on the Ducati 916, perhaps the most accomplished bike in terms of design. He also has to his credit the Bimota DB5 which won an MDA award in 2004.
Sure 3d cad drawings and renderings were done through the process, as was the more traditional clay prototypes, but like Foose of Overhaulin’ fame, it starts with a designer, an empty sketch pad and a few pens.
The final product doesn’t look too bad either.
Over the last thirty days I embarked on a culinary cuisine cruise out into the pearly blue waters of veganism. Inspired by Dr. Colin Campbell’s incredible scientific and nutrition twenty-year undertaking called the ‘China Study‘ and the subsequent book on the specifics from collected data and statistically analysis of the rural Chinese diet and that of Americans, I took Dr Campbell up on his offer to “give it a try for thirty days and see what happens.”
My commitment was this. No meat. No dairy.
So, no cheese, no smoked Gouda or fresh Parmesan.
No meat, no pork, no bacon.
No eggs, no milk, no butter.
But would all this equal no fun?
I would not consider myself much of a cook, probably a 3 on a 10-point scale. I can measure, chop, over boil and burn. I can’t blanch, dice well, or even spell sauté without checking the dictionary. However, despite my big, bumbling hands over the open flame or a sharp chef’s knife, I decided to give it the old college try and push myself for these thirty days.
Amazing, unlike the rest of my previous existence, I discovered that despite eating enough calories everyday for the past 29 years of my life, I have very limited knowledge about the things I shove into my mouth, and further still, my stomach, digestive system, blood stream, cell walls, colon, kidneys, liver and heart. I have a father who grew up on an apple orchard and could easily identify different varieties as well as stages of any apple from its size, shape and color, and in one generation I have been removed from the land and relegated to knowing only the colorful logos and package designs of crackers, high-sugar cereals and fruit juices and basically nothing about where my food comes from, what is in it, what pairs well with what, and even so lost as to not even know but a handful of standard fruits and vegetables. Heck, I didn’t even know that cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin and bell peppers were fruits.
So I threw my library card around, grabbed a bunch of cookbooks and started to learn more about my food choices, options and recipes. I chatted with friends, scoured the super markets and health food stores for odd items like mirin, amare, kuzu, brown rice syrup and vegan mayo. I bought vegan chocolate chips, almond, rice, soy and hazelnut milks, vegan cheddar cheese and even drove 25 minutes south of town to get dried lobster mushrooms that I had to reconstitute myself (don’t ask me if I knew what that word meant before, I would have had zero idea).
I have now cooked a Thai stir-fry, soaked cashews overnight to make a vegan cream substitute, roasted pecans, walnuts and pine nuts, found a favorite desert cake that doesn’t use butter, eggs or milk but still rises and is topped with great tasting chocolate chips. I have eaten sea vegetables, had salad for breakfast, chopped more veggies, learned that a mandoline isn’t just a small, sweet-sounding, wooden instrument and even tried to fool a couple of friends into believing that a tasty meatless alternative was chicken. They weren’t too convinced, but they admitted several times how much they liked the pine-nut-and-basil seared Gardein chicken with lobster mushroom beurre blanc braised kale and roasted fingerling potatoes (Thanks Tal!).
Food is designed to be so many things.
It is taste, nutrition, energy, health, community, a social setting, a tradition, a feast, a famine, a late-night craving, a recovery smoothie, a habit and a diet, a problem and a solution, familiar and foreign.
Food is a design in our lives regardless of our attention to it or not. And the consequences of our focus or disregard have clear effects on our futures.
These last thirty days have taught me more about food than the last 10 years. I have understood that I could eat just plants and be completely healthy, energetic and even feel better than my previous omnivore diet. I have learned the environmental cost of eating meat. I have come to understand the crazy level-5 vegan radicals by sharing in their experience, and understand how food can easily become a vice and a health threat if left unchecked and unguarded. I now see health not just as being cancer free or cancerous, but as avoiding diseases of affluence by taking steps that lower and sometimes even almost completely eliminate my risk for certain life threatening conditions such as strokes, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
I have learned that as homo sapien sapiens we have been incredibly designed. However with this design comes an unrivaled dilemma with food.
I still have plenty to learn about design. I have learned, however, that perhaps one of the best ways to explore the uncharted (and even hidden) territories that stand before us are to give it thirty days of discovery, to see what new islands lay just around the corner and to see how your life may find a whole new land just under your feet.
Just hours before the greatest spectacle in modern television marketing, ad agencies and creative genius and marketing professionals have prepared their best, and most expensive works of art to put on show outside of the gridlines of tomorrow’s super bowl. Once heralded as the greatest event in sports, the Super Bowl’s widespread appeal, hype and hysteria have created a marketer’s dream landscape with over 100 million pair of eye balls focused almost more intently on what happens between timeouts than between the gridlines.
After the game, I will take a break from commercials for awhile, in fact, 30 days specifically. Once upon a time in my life I was without a TV much less network cable. Now, haven fallen for HDTV and amassed myself back with the 99.9% of fellow American’s, I have once again been the prey TV marketers so covet.
Marketers are smart and savvy. They know DVR and Tivo exist, so they created relationships with networks to have in-game marketing opportunities, from sponsored trivia questions, instant reply, in-game stats, etc. (I mostly watch sports.) The are aware of our subconscious even when we might not be. They pitch quick eats late at night, cool cars outside of our budgets with the hopes of planting the branding seeds, once, I sat through a commercial break that featured four fast food ads, two from the same chain. These marketers are relentless.
So why not try a new approach? I like trying things, as do my friends. One buddy after reading a compelling book has decided to give veganism a try. Another, inspired by a more zen-like approach to life has created a vision board to visualize the change she would like to see in her life. In college, I even attempted to use the Dvorak keyboard, the most efficient key layout, with the thought of how much time I might be able to save over a lifetime of using that keyboard setup. Recently, I started sleeping with two pillows with the hope that I would have increased air flow during the night which would lead to more restful sleep. (Unfortunately, I was unconscious during most of the trial hours and don’t have much research data to report.)
A phrase I have heard before says, “Do what you always do, get what you’ve always got.”
So why not try a different approach? So I plan to avoid commericals.
Here is how I plan to do it, what I hope to gain, and what I think my biggest obstacles will be.
How I plan to do it:
What I hope to gain:
What my biggest obstacles will be:
And now a few, er, no words from our sponsors.
I’m a web designer, not a print designer. So I’ve never been immersed in the world of all things print, from flyers to business card to even, yes, billboards. But that is all I want for Christmas. I want to design a billboard.
My days are filled building websites, designer interfaces and user interactions. I build mockups, wireframes, cool navigations and super cool buttons, but I have never built a billboard. Until now.
So here is my proposal. I will design a billboard for free. No charge for my design services and all the iterations it takes for us to get it right. The only request I have is that I get a photo of the real billboard with my design on it. That’s it. No hooks or gimmicks.
So, shoot me an , or give me a call at 720-235-8538. First come, first served.
Happy Holidays everyone. I hope you get what you want too.
The Top Manufacturers Logos can be found here.
It’s not everyday that you see an old Norton riding up Mt. Evans or catch a glance at the industrial design of an Aprilia bike, or even have the fortune to see a Vincent up close and in real life. However, their bikes and their logos continue to evoke nostalgia, evolve into another version or be purchased by their next owners attempting to revive their brands. Here is a list of some of those wonderful motorcycle logos and a few thoughts on their designs.
Aprilia (Italian)I like the red. I like the white. I like the cleanliness of the sans serif font selection and the attention to leading. The lowercase “p” does a nice job to balance the height in the two “i”s and the “l”. To me, this logo defines what the essence of motorcycles are about, everything that is necessary without anything that is extraneous and worthless.
Benelli (Italian)The emblem style design of the Benelli immediately ushers us back a few decades and urges us to remember craftsmanship, passion and even a bit of country. The stars offer different angles depending on perhaps where you call home, but the lion brings us all back to the roar of the motorcycle kingdom. The green color is not seen in many motorcycle logos and while refreshing, is also a much gentler tone than the more typical red and black and blue.
Bimota (Italian)I find this logo striking. The red encircling the black lines above the bimota font is clean, clear and connects the “b” to a wheel and fork design. The font is bold and sure. The leading might be just a bit tight for most, but I love the connection of the “b” to the “a”. Finally, as any rider will tell you, it’s the thrill of leaning the bike over that draws us back time and time again, and this logo grants us that request with its two large circular sweeeps that remind me of a highway entrance ramp or an expertly designed racetrack.
BSA (British)BSA, or Birmingham Small Arms Company, was a British motorcycle company that also produced guns. Who can argue with that combination? The BSA logo was tasked with more than just motorcyles, so its evident that the treatment is a bit more usable than most. It also appears much more dated with the italic uppercase typeface and straight lined wing attached to the “B”. This logo isn’t gonna win any design awards, but it accomplished the goal, taking a long company name and making it more distinguishable.
Buell (American)The American company recently shut it’s doors this year. Know for building powerful machines and pushing the limits, their new logo, perhaps partly due to a push from marketing to increase sales, aligns itself with its parent company, Harley Davidson in the badge approach. The horse and wings conjure images of strength, freedom, power and speed, all things Buell embodied. The chiseled steel color and the forward leaning type help push some momentum into the logo. A great redesign that sadly we won’t see much of out on the road.
Cagiva (Australian)The Australian company choose a unique image and it’s connotations for their logo. The elephant means a great many things to different nations and to different people. Still, there is the strength, wisdom and sheer power that connect it with motorcycles. The elephant is point backwards in traditional Western Gutenberg design, but perhaps works better down under where things are always a bit opposite (or upside down).
Husqvarna (Italian)This Italian company specializes in off-road and enduro style bikes. The inflated “H” looks like a head with a crown or a pumped up tire with spiky knubs sticking out on top. I can’t say I’m fond of this logo or company name even. The name, when pronouced phonetically in English (Husck-var-naah) sounds like its missing something, much like the logo.
Indian Motorcycles (American)The Indian Motorcycle Company stays loyal to their name with their logo. Chiefly, they are inspired by a rich American history of freedom, resourcefulness and the unique spirit embodied in the Native American’s culturally and individually. The circle treatment behind the chief’s head cements the logo a bit more, and the lovely type for “Indian” makes for a distinguished and refined feeling.
Moto Guzzi (Italian)Moto Guzzi is a collector’s dream company. Fans from around the world have visited the factory and touted the company’s success in the face of constant adversities. The logo has a history all the same. The golden eagle is a tribute to Giovanni Ravelli who died in a plane crash shortly after the war ended. The sans serif font is crisp and compliments the detailed work of the eagle. The wings of the eagle are outstretched offering both protection and the feeling of soaring. The 3-d emblem has certainly become more popular in the past decade and gives the logo a wholesome feel as well as offering the patriarchal Italian red to the design.
MV Agusta (Italian)Why I like the logo, I’m not completely sure. It’s a bit complicated and jagged for my usual taste. But it does something for me. The cog design is the most mechanical of all the motorcycle logos I’ve seen. I don’t really like the “MV” type face, but I do think it is nice how the lower portion of the “M” and the final piece of the “V” offset offering some balance. I don’t know what the blue heart beat blip that lays behind the “MV” is doing. The “Agusta” text is nicely curved, fitting tight to the cog but not overpowering the central piece. Again, not sure why I like this, maybe because it breaks too many rules.
MZ (German)MZ is a German acronym for “motorcycle factory” and a much shorter way to say “MZ Motorrad- und Zweiradwerk GmbH“. The MZ is a bit bland. The steel conical spike is a bit flat. And the green gradient badge is a bit awkwardly shaped. This logo is doing too little with way too much. Next.
Norton (British)Excellent logo. Everyone knows a Norton when they see one. They are “man magnets” as my friend calls them, pulling every rider off his bike to go talk up the Norton owner. The logo is clearly a Norton and no other. It has no competition in the scripted, free-spirited design. The final swoosh is clever and the perfect touch, pulling the font choice together. I also love the natural placement of the wheel-like “o”s that give this logo a bike feel. Can’t beat this one.
Victory (American)V is for victory and that’s good enough for me. But this bike isn’t about winning the MotoGP. The black emblem is nice, as is the shaped and perfectly sized “victory” and “motorcycles” type. The V and the wings and the awkward Robinson projection map in the background confuse this logo. And the Polaris “All Rights Reserved” stamp at the bottom make this logo a design collapse. Too many mechanics in the workshop. Ugh.
Vincent (British)Perhaps it is because I just want to own a Vincent, the Black Lighting to be exact, but I like this logo. The waving banner works much like the badge and emblem style logos, giving the type a nice background. The “HRD” stands for British pilot that first built these machines, one Howard Raymond Davies. I always like the appeal to the founders of the company and think this is a nice touch, but could be a bit smaller as I think it overshadows the company’s name. For the next version, I also think you drop the “the” to clean up the logo and add more weight again to the Vincent name.
While driving Speer Boulevard in downtown Denver this past week, I noticed a trending architectural design feature that has been growing steadily in the past decades, and not just in Denver but around the world. Glass.
More and more buildings are being constructed with glass as a primary exterior. In Denver, the Glass House, the Spire, the Colorado Convention Center to even the new Science Building on the Auraria Campus all rely heavily on glass. The dramatic increase in the number of high rises and large-scale city projects that are using glass a in their design begs the question, what does this transformation means to the world of design and to us as people living in this designed world?
Auraria Science Building from Speer Blvd. in Denver
Here is a list of potential benefits for choosing and exterior composed of glass:
Apple aqua button
In 2001, Apple publicly introduced their latest operation system, OS X and with it their unveiled one of the most captivating and copied interface elements, the glass button, known more properly as the Aqua effect. (See 10m results in Google Image Search and countless web tutorials on the effect.)
This might have been the first mass “visual” indication of the web’s movement towards transparency, but it has been a long time in coming.
Dating back perhaps to the early days of the internet, when the original design wasn’t ecommerce and pay-per-click campaigns but the sharing of knowledge and information. Why duplicate some intense and tireless research when a study just like yours was being completed on a fellow university’s campus? The transparency of information mushroom-clouded into one of the largest easter egg hunts in human history. To this day, we are still attempting to digitize, encode, log, process and analyze every piece of available data, past, present and future.
The internet offered us the opportunity to publicly display and connect what was happening internally to an external audience, necessary (email, medical records) or not (personal credit identity, most of twitter). This transparency has changed how we see and thus interact with the world.
The future may never be transparent from the present view, but this current trend is only going to grow. There is a rise in OnDemand services. There is a push for try-before-you-buy (see GM’s lastest 60 day return policy). There is a demand for faster data access and improved data architecture. There is a desire for one’s online life to stream easily and securely between devices, applications and databases.
Business and life going forward will more effectively consider and offer thoughtful relationships that transcend data and functionality but extend greater personal connectivity that enhances our internet world experience.
So, in tribute to legendary anchorman, Ron Burgandy, “You Stay Glassy, Denver.”
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