But I probably won’t get one just yet… But I AM extremely excited about what this means for the magazine and publishing industry. There’s so much potential with this device to extend and transform the way we consume media. I’m not even sure we know how people will be using the iPad in 6 months time from now. It’s all up to the app developers!

I almost feel like I’ve has first hand access to what this will look like all week…sorta.  I’ve been working on an iPad app site for Men’s Health  Magazine for the past few days at Brunello, Photoshoping screenshots into iPad photos, sprinkling jQuery here and there and getting the site ready for todays launch. So go check it out while you are at it: http://menshealth.com/ipad.

Now I’m curious what you think of the iPad - regardless of if you will buy it or not. What impact do you think it will have on the publishing industry? On computers in general? On your media consuming habbits (if you are buying one). Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

I recently found the book  ’Unuseless Japanese Inventions’ by Kenji Kawakami. You have to admire the absurdity and creativity of  some of these  inventions:  Cat dusters, grass toilet seats, high heel training wheels.  I’ve picked out some of my favorites from the book to share with you.

UMBRELLA TIE

Its a tie… and an umbrella… at the same time! As much as it rains here I should invest in this!

TRAINING WHEELS FOR HIGH HEELS

If I were to ever wear high heels… I would need these. They kind of make think of those ‘wheelie’ shoes… but for adults.

PANORAMIC HEAD CAMERA

This invention cracks me up…not only because its ridiculous… but I could actually see a tourist near MIT using this very device…

FINGER BRUSH

This one looks like a cross between a toothbrush and a thimble. Can you imagine whipping this thing out to do a post-meal brush up?

CAT DUSTER

Too lazy to do housework? Strap these dusting mits on your cat, give it some catnip and watch your house instantly be cleaned! I’m sure my cat would LOVE this! (Also see kittens in mittens)

CAMERA UMBRELLA

I have to admit that this invention is actually kind of clever.  I could use one of these for my iPhone.

BUTTER STICK

Short on time to make that toast for breakfast? Try the butter stick:  it’s kind of like a gluestick but edible… (well…some would argue that gluesticks are edible as well)

CLEAN AIR

Tired of that polluted and nasty city air? Try taking a whif of this plant and enjoy the clean air!

GRASS TOILET SEAT

Last but not least the best invention of all is the grass toilet seat… so you can can get that outdoorsy feel when you…well… have to go.

HAVE  YOU SPOTTED ANY WACKY INVENTIONS LATELY?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

I had a chance to stop by the Apple Store today to check out all the new sparkling goodies that were recently added to their lineup. I’ve been a bit disappointed that they didn’t have the magic mice out for sale, but they did have them hooked-up (literally) to some of the iMacs. I had a chance to play with one for a few minutes and managed to snag some pics and video.

INITIAL THOUGHTS

The magic mouse felt nice in my hand and was much lighter than I originally thought it would be (its basically just the weight of the batteries inside + plastic.)  The mouse felt like it fit well in my hand and I should mention that I have small hands. It also has an incredibly low profile, which looks cool and felt alright, but I was standing while using the computer. I’m wondering how this would affect ergonomics over time. The two black bars on the bottom of the mouse do a decent job of stabilizing during the two finger swipe, but it took some getting used to. I was swiping too hard at first and moving the mouse. I’m not sure if I will end up using the swipe.

The feature I was most looking forward to is the 360 scroll. While using safari I noticed when I flicked my finger on the mouse the scrolling accelerated much like the iPhone. It really is a please to scroll without that stupid little ball! Overall I was pretty pleased with my 5 minute session with the Mighty Mouse and I’m glad that I purchased one!

PHOTOS (GLAM OUR SHOTS)

HAVE YOU TRIED THE MAGIC MOUSE?

User experiences are different for everyone – so I’m curious as to what you think.

I have to admit that I have a thing for mice. I’m always on the go and usually have a mouse and a laptop in my bag just in case inspiration strikes up an impromptu design session.  I have owned all sorts of mice that have faithfully served on both Mac and PC, but I’m ready to throw them all away for the Apple’s new Magic Mouse…

APPLE AND THE ERA OF THE HOCKEY PUCK MOUSE

I became a Mac user in back in August 2003. Being new to the Mac I went with what I new – my crappy corded microsoft mouse leftover from my desktop PC. There was nothing else…. right? My previous experience with a ‘mac mouse’ was the infamous hockey puck. I remember attempting to use a lovely bluebery iMac with this strange circular thing attached to it and was immediately frustrated. What was all this one button crap?  This expierence would prepare me for another 6 year protest of Apple mice.

THE GHOST OF MOUSES (MICE?) PAST

As a designer I find it impossible to design solely using the trackpad so I always have a mouse on hand.  I’ve have owned several Logitech and Microsoft mice with various sized usb receivers and even a few bluetooth models here and there.  I’m the sort of person that likes to be able to use keyboard shortcuts and program mouse buttons for as much functionality as much as possible. Each mouse had its merits and its 15 minutes of fame.

I was using my Logitech VX Nano for a while and have been mostly happy with this mouse. I had it set up just the way I like it: Tilt scroll wheel left/right for volume control, scroll wheel click for for spotlight search,  extra up/down buttons for web navigation. Pretty sweet set up! One problem:  my scroll wheel started making noises (which I find extremly annoying) and has been loosing sensitivity… or I’m just going crazy.

GIVING THE  MIGHTY MOUSE A TRY

Apple Bluetoth Mighty Mouse

After my frustrations with my trustly logitech mouse I gave up and went back to a wired Apple Mighty Mouse. I had been using this mouse a while and grew quite accustomed to the 360 scroll wheel. (not to mention the control+scroll wheel zoom for super-pixel design examination). But then… I grew frustrated with being tied down by a cord. So I decided to give the bluetooth mighty mouse a try. All was happy and full of glee for the first few months until I encountered the ‘dead scroll ball’ problem. While the idea of 360 degree scrolling is so helpful in programs like Illustrator and Photostop the unreliable scrollball made this a nightmare. I would be happily scrolling along and then BAM… its dead.  I tried the rubbing on a piece of paper trick and it didn’t work so like the impatient person that I am – I gave up and went back to my trusty but noisy Logitech mouse until I saw the light today.

HELLO MAGIC MOUSE!

So I saw all the hullabaloo about Apples new ‘Magic Mouse’ earlier today. (Sidenote: Who was high when they named this thing???) I have to say that I was hooked right away because of one thing – NO SCROLLBALL!!!!! It’s like Apple read my mind and removed the one thing I hated about the Mighty Mouse! I’m also looking forward to being able to use the swipe functionality to navigate in Safari and through photos.

Oh… and then there’s the lovely design and all the cool multi-touch technology thats packed inside…

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Did Apple create a breakthrough product that will change the industry? Or is this just a piece of overpriced plastic? Did you hop on the fanboi bandwagon and purchase a Magic Mouse? Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I value all your feedback (negative or positive)!

I’m starting a new regular weekly post so you guys don’t miss out on the best of the random cool stuff I find on the interwebs! I’m picking 5 of my favorite finds from the past week that inspired me, made me smile or are just worthy of your attention! If you like what you see head on over to Daily Design Bits and grab the feed!

Meatscapes!

Landscapes are boring… check out this meatscape by Carl Warner.

Clever Paper Logo

Clever logo – Recycled paper printing. Just in case you don’t see it – its a piece of paper curled at the corner to form an R

Beardhead!!!!

Beardhead! http://beardhead.com/ – i’m totally getting one of these this winter…

Plant Lamp

Plant Lamp by Ana Chillida. Made me smile

Line Lamp

Another interesting lamp concept by Dima Loginoff. Love the emphasis on the line!

If you’ve been following me on twitter you are well aware of what I’ve been up to the past few weeks. Today I’m launching another (mini) blog called Daily Design Bits. This blog will feature frequent short posts of all the ’shiny things I find on and off the interwebs’. Hop on over there and explore (and grab the feed so you don’t miss anything)! You can also submit cool things that you find if you want them to be featured!

Daily Design Bits is powered by Tumblr – which so far has been an AWESOME platform to work with! I’ve got some great content queued up for your viewing pleasure! I’m still tweaking things and setting things up – so if you find something that’s broken shoot me an email and let me know!

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

I asked my twitter friends a simple question a few weeks ago: Who inspires you? At the time I was working on a project and wasnt feeling that creative. Thanks to everyone who submitted answers for this post! I hope you enjoy the work of these 17.5 inspiring designers!

Also follow me on twitter (@nikibrown) to stay tuned and participate in future posts like this!

Daan is inspired by Collis Ta’eed

To me, Collis is a godlike creature. He makes these awesome designs, and he also knows a good lot about the business side of freelancing, and I love reading hist posts at the Netsetter, which are very good use for a starter like me.

Another thing why I love him is that he has created the whole of the Envato network. It is a collection of sites I happen to use on a daily basis.

And although he is such a successful man, he remains normal to the crowd

Bre is inspired by William Dodson

I haven’t met William in person but I have been in correspondence with him over the last few months, meeting through Twitter. He inspires me because he is running his own web design/development business. Not only that, he has so much passion about his work that he takes time to encourage others like myself. He answers my questions about anything web! Not only is he passionate – but his work is BEAUTIFUL and clean! Between his passion and skill, his advice is very valuable to me!

Michel is inspired by Stefan Sagmeister

Saw him talk at a Design Conference in Rio de Janeiro and just felt like the stuff he does is out of this world. He has great ideas, writes really well and he is a brave person. He once made an Ad for Adobe where he photoshopped everything and them told he would need time to reproduce that as a real photo, they said he didn’t needed, it was perfect the way it was. He said no way, photoshop is crap. Gotta love the guy.

P.s. – the file is the best version I found of the Adobe ad made entirely of coffee cups.

Mariusz is inspired by Frank Miller

Film Noir style, that Frank Miller’s comics are held in, is based on old detective/gangster movies where good and bad was more than obvious. It is using few colors and strong light and shadow to show everything. It’s dark, spooky and shady, just like the ‘30 gangster movies. Great inspiration when it comes to illustration and design.

Brad is inspired by Scott McCloud

I think every industry needs one person who questions everything. Scott McCloud is a comic book illustrator and writer. In the early 90s he turned the comic/graphic novel field on its head with his book “Understanding Comics” where he analyzed the medium in a way it had never been done before. Web geeks are probably familiar with his recent work with Google, he created the comic that introduced the world to Chrome.

His TED talk is fantastic. Even though he’s not a web designer his ideas and enthusiasm for exploring the ways people communicate in different mediums can be applied in any creative field.

Elisa is inspired by Mika Nakashima

She’s a japanese pop singer. I like her unique sense of fashion, and the way she presents herself. She’s always changing and leading the trend. A lot of her photographs in the magazines really inspire me in many different ways. After all, we all love pretty girls, right?

Ben is inspired by Meta Lab Design

Theres really too many companies and designers out there to mention! Metalab stand out to me because of the way they run their business, with the courage to be different and unique! I love all the subtle details they put into their work, with simply, lightweight typography. Just stunning!

Nikki is inspired by Nick La and Dave Shea

I had been doing web design work for awhile before I came across N.Design Studio and its creator Nick La. At the time, I had only just begun attempting to code validated designs that were eye-catching (before that, I was still new to the whole collaboration of beauty and CSS). His designs, so full of colors and his beautiful vector illustrations, became a large inspiration for me. Shortly after, I came across CSS Zen Garden and I was hooked. Dave Shea had made CSS and web design an art form and I knew that that was the type of work I wanted to do. While I doubt I’ll ever come close to the masters, my own style has become a combination of art and validation and I (and my clients) are very thankful to the inspiration from these web design giants.

Sam is inspired by Dustin Curtis

I tend to be inspired most by people around the same age as me; Dustin is an 87 kid too and not only is he a recent entry to the design circus (starting in 07) he’s really doing some interesting and forward-thinking things in regards to art-direction on the web. It’s half inspiration half jealousy, really.

Travis is inspired by Akira Kurosawa

Ok ok…Akira Kurosawa is probably not the first person you would think of when it comes to design inspiration, in fact he’s not even a designer (he’s a movie director)..but you said “you name it”, and I name Kurosawa as my inspiration.

It was said that whenever you see a stormy scene in a Kurosawa film, you can bet that Kurosawa brought his own wind and rain. As a director Kurosawa wasn’t afraid to experiment with his art and his actors, and for that reason his films stand out as cinematic masterpieces.

Kurosawa also took painstaking efforts to refine and improve his visual art. I like to think that I display a similar spirit when it comes to improving my art as well…and when that fails, I fake it.

Preston is inspired by Chris Spooner

Well, I’m sure you’ll be getting this a lot. Chris is just so well known and respected throughout the design community. The real reason he inspires me is because of his status among other designers. There are few real designers out there who have never read Chris’s blog or dont follow Chris on twitter. The true success of a person, in my mind, is measured by how his peers feel about him. Chris is admired and respected for his great skill both in web and graphic design the world over.

Antonea is inspired by Chuck Anderson

Of course many designer’s like Massimo Vignelli and Sagmeister inspire me, but I also like to find inspiration in the modern day designer. Chuck Anderson of No Pattern (http://www.nopattern.com) has amazing work. His work is very abstract and surreal. I love the fact that he uses popular trends and colors in all of his pieces. I find a simple and organic beauty in all of his abstract work.

Megan is inspired by Ashley Wood

I’ve always loved the beautifully formed and energy packed impressionistic style of Ashley Wood. He’s able to construct an entire story from a few raw brush strokes and sketchy lines, pushing the edge of mixed media illustration. The vividness of his imagery has always inspired me to break down my own work to convey a bold message with the simplest of means. His bridge between traditional and digital techniques reminds me to never let go of my old skills when I learn a new one, but to create from the culmination of all of my experience.

Jared is inspired by Ross Lovegrove

His organic forms and great new approach in design for all of his products is just aesthetically brilliant. I love his work in furniture as it provides a very fluid and nature inspired design which also provides great functionality. His supernatural chair design is my favourite piece of his design work, and very comfy aswell when i had the chance to sit on one of them!

John is inspired by Shaun Inman

Because he builds entire web apps by himself, and gets all the details perfect. His user interface design is always clean and cutting edge, allowing you to take in all the information from the backend with ease.

Austin is inspired by Shane Mielke

It all comes down to future vision and detail. His work is awe-inspiring and incredible. Any designer coming into the industry needs to start by admiring the best – and someone with over a decade of excellence. Good Job Shane – You set a positive example for designers everywhere.

Bella is inspired by Heebok Lee

Heebok, with whom I had the privilege of being in Graduate School at CMU, is a master of Kinetic Typography. He is making his mark in Hollywood: he has the title sequences from Spiderman 3, Superman Returns, Iron Man, Speed Racer, The Incredible Hulk, Marvel Knights, to name just a few, under his belt. His perspective of the world is, of all things, other-worldly, and his sense of timing and the use of surprise as a design element is masterful. Whenever I need inspiration, or just need to be reminded that there is still beauty in the world, I just visit his website, sit back, and enjoy. To my endless dismay, he is also one of the world’s most beautiful souls. A piece that I love, takes William Butler Yeats’ love poem, “Tread Softly” and sets it to music, calligraphy, and kinetic typograpy. The image is a screenshot; beautiful as it is, it does the short film no justice.

John is inspired by Jason Chan

Since I was a toddler I was brought up with a pencil, crayon or something to express myself through a visual medium. Now that I have turned my passion into a career I find myself like many other designers, asking “where do I find inspiration?” in truth I disagree with the full, look at other designers and carbon copy their work and tweak it slightly – I mean what self respecting designer does that… I think the best places are the ones that are close to our hearts, climb a mountain, have a laugh with friends, go to the city and marvel at the buildings and scope of the design all around us. One of my favourites is to visit art galleries both online and off, and look at the vibrant colours used to catch your eye and dazzle you. The design industry still has a lot of scope to grow but we need to look back at the older styles of expression to find it. This is just my opinion – I’m sure I will enjoy reading the other designers views on inspiration.

Ryan is inspired by….ME?

Because she has a work ethic that is fucking unrelentless. She is always doing like 8 projects at once and they all end up rocking. *editors note…i only count as half a designer

Who are YOU inspired by?

Leave a comment and let me know who you are inspired by! Inspiration can come from anyone and anywhere.

This is the second edition its all in the (designer’s) bag! Check out the original post over here –> Graphic Designer’s Bags Part 1.

Now, we all know that designers are cool. They generally dress well, and have a good sense of style. I’ve also noticed that they tend to have cool bags – but what is inside of those bags? I know you are dying to know!! I asked several designers to snag a pic of what they carry around with them on a daily basis.

David Leggett

http://tutorial9.net

http://twitter.com/theleggett

1 Wallet
2 Leggett Biz Cards (16pt Card Stock for maximum damage when throwing)
3 MacBook (I’m a PC)
4 Moleskine & Uni-ball Pen for jotting down notes on the run
5 BlackBerry Pearl
6 Keys to the Honda Civi… er… Ashton Martin
7 Action Method Dot Grid Book, Action Book, and Runner

Josh Semans

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshsemans

http://www.twitter.com/JoshSemans

1. Black MacBook on 10.5.6 Leopard
2. iPod Earphones
3. 2nd Gen iPod Touch 32Gb
4. Wallet
5. Mobile Phone
6. Little Book of Calm (don’t ask)
7. Front Row Remote
8. Lynx Bullet
9. Wired Mighty Mouse
10. Electrical Insulation Tape
11. House Key
12. iPod Syncing/Charging Cable
13. MacBook Charging Cable
14. Blank DvD’s and CD’s
15. May 2009 MacWorld Magazine
16. A4 Refill Pad (for drawing, sketching etc)
17. Pens + Pencils

Niamh Redmond

http://niamhredmond.org

http://www.twitter.com/nredmond

1. Books & Magazines I’m currently reading and a notepad with a pen for writing down/ sketching ideas and taking notes. Right now I’m reading the Toronto pocket guide for my upcoming trip to Toroto (for the FITC design & technology event), “How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul” and the latest issue of Computer Arts.
2. Chewing gum.
3. I-pod in a protective yet stylish Guess case that also stores my money.
4. Mac eyeliner and rimmel lip gloss, my two magic wands
5. Keys with Wonderwoman and MTV “Music. Life. Liberty.” keyrings.
6. Sennheiser headphones. They help with the I-pod.
7. Sunglasses. I may live in Ireland but now and again the sun does shine! Also, it helps to wear them driving the bike.
8. Hat. See point 8 (about living in Ireland… it’s cold). And I love hats. If I’m not wearing one, there’s likely to be one in my bag.
9. Gloves. See previous point about it being cold!
10. Phone. My Sony Ericsson still does me fine. Have been considering buying an iPhone for about 2 years now, lol.
11. Sony DSC-T700 cybershot. Great little compact camera for shooting on the move.

Chris Spooner

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk

http://twitter.com/chrisspooner

1. Mobile Phone
2. iPod Nano
3. 8GB Memory Stick
4. Macbook Charger
5. Diet Coke
6. Various Cables
7. Laptop Bag
8. Macbook Pro

Paul Davis

http://www.iamoneman.com

http://twitter.com/pauldavisuk

1. Nikon D40 / 18-70mm
2. Vivitar 80-200mm (30 years old!)
3. Rear lens and body caps
4. Two spare batteries
5. Lyxn Deodorant
6. Phone (Sony Ericsson P1i)
7. Sony Walkman (NWX-A818)
8. Sony Headphones (MDR-EX85LP)
9. Paracetamol
10. Keys (With deviantART lanyard)
11. Wallet

All this goes in a brown Crumpler Muffin Top 7500

Jon Phillips

http://spyrestudios.com

http://twitter.com/jophillips

1- Apple MacBook Pro and power adapter
2- 8GB iPod Touch and headphones
3- Dock connector for the iPod Touch
4- Sharpie marker and pen
5- Pocket-all-in-one-tool-kit-thingy – includes a flashlight, pocket knife, bottle opener, pliers and a screw-driver
6- Motrin (Ibuprofen) – for a lot of reasons
7- Apple remote – for absolutely no reason
8- A couple guitar picks and $3.52 CAD
9- Nail clipper – not sure why I carry it with me though
10- Nokia cell phone
11- Zippo lighter
12- Moleskine large plain notebook for drawing sketches, wireframing and stuff
13- Moleskine pocket ruled cahier for taking quick notes
14- Sunglasses
15- Sunglasses case

Not in the picture:
- Black ‘Init’ back-pack
- Business cards
- OS X 10.5 install DVD (in case of emergency)
- 1GB USB drive
- Logitech mouse (I cannot work using the trackpad on my laptop)
- A firewire cable
- A Canon PowerShot A2000 IS digital camera

Able Parris

http://ableparris.com/

http://twitter.com/ableparris

1. Moleskine sketchbook
2. Reading glasses
3. Bic 4-color pen
4. Zebra mechanical pencil
5. Wallet from www.nestedhome.com
6. Burts Bees lip balm
7. Reading material- currently Cabinet Magazine
8. Cobalt chewing gum
9. iPhone

Andrew Kelsall

http://www.andrewkelsall.com/

http://twitter.com/andrewkelsall

1. Bottle of water. Designers need a well-hydrated brain.
2. Reversible Animal Hat. Yeah, it’s Spring in England―but still freezing in the mornings!
3. Diesel Shades. For those sunny days.
4. RCS Print Catalogue―An excellent print pricing and sample guide from the UK.
5. Moleskine Graph-paper notebook
6. Green Post-it Notes.
7. Bic Ball-point black pens.
8. Apple Mighty Mouse. Well, I’m not going to use a trackpad with Photoshop am I?
9. iKlear screen wipe.
10. Sony in-ear Mega-Bass headphones
11. iPod Shuffle. All the music I need.
12. Animal Rucksack
13. Sony Cybershot Digital Camera leather case (Used this camera to take pic)
14. Phono-to-Sony-Ericsson phone adapter
15. “Tribute phone” (Sony Ericsson G502) I use for Skype―I will use until the iPhone 3 is released
16. A penny found in bottom of rucksack
17. Macbook. What would I do without it?

Nick Satkovich

http://www.peerpressurecreative.com/

http://twitter.com/nicksatkovich

Andrew Taylor

http://www.additivedesigns.com

http://twitter.com/additive

Franz Jeitz

http://www.fudgegraphics.com

http://twitter.com/fudgegraphics

1. Business Cards
2. Headphones
3. iPhone
4. MacBook Pro
5. Digital SLR (sometimes compact)
6. Keys
7. Wallet
8. Pen and Pencil
9. Helvetica Moleskine

Nicole Alexander

http://iamni.com

http://www.twitter.com/cherub_rock123

1. iphone car charger w/ usb
2. Creative Vado HD cam corder
3. thinkWEBSTORE.com business cards (my employer)
4. cam corder stand
5. perfume
6. checkbook
7. keys
8. thumb drive
9. AMS business cards (our sister company)
10. iphone wall/usb charger
11. green mini-marker
12. pilot pen

Liz Andrade

http://cmdshiftdesign.com/blog

http://twitter.com/cmdshiftdesign

1. Sexy GStar Purse I got for $7
2. Sketchbook
3. Phone
4. iPod
5. USB Drives
6. Business Cards
7. Dell Inspiron Mini9 (autographed by Wil Wheaton)

Ralph Saunders

http://cvoid.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/ralphsaunders

As you can probably tell this is the bag of a student which contains little money and cheap equipment.

From left to right:

1. 2GB Memory stick: always useful.
2. Phone: Used for calling people, duh.
3. iPod: MP3 playing device.
4. Really crappy bag… seriously I need to get a better one.
5. A watch…although I have no clue why I have it in there… I never use it.
6. Money: A useful resource.
7. Moleskin Sketchbook: Poket sized and useful, this thing goes with me everywhere.
8. Gum wrapper: I need to clean up more
9. A Pencil: C’mon I think you know what thats used for
10. Inhaler: I hate asthma.
11. Rubicks Cube: I get bored easily
12: Pencil Case: Carrys stuff… don’t know whats in there, haven’t looked in ages.
13: Keys: Used to unlock things.
14: MORE MONEY!
15: Wallet.

Brian Klepper

http://www.briannotbryan.com

http://www.twitter.com/brianklepper

1. Free Cell Phone – Only developer without an actual iPhone
2. Carbon Fiber Pen – This is better than ‘Seinfelds’ space pen.
3 Aluminum 2gb USB thumb drive.
4. VW Key Fob – Makes me look cooler than I am.
5. A stack of nice satin business cards.
6. Ipod Shuffle – This is when Apple Charged $100 for 1gb of storage?!
7. Franklin Covey leather organizer with contacts, contracts and designs.
8. Ring sketch pad – This is where I keep all notes, sketches and ideas.
9. Aluminum Portfolio – I keep all of my nicest print designs and catalogs.

Jennifer harris

http://www.keylimecreative.ca

http://twitter.com/keylimecreative

My Kitten – his favorite place to sleep.
under my kitten:

1: wallet full of receipts
2: inhaler (cause i’m allergic to cats)
3: red suckers (used as pacifiers for children)
4: business cards (mine and others I’ve picked up on my travels)
5: cell phone
6: legos
7: crayons
8: notepad
9: goldfish crackers and granola bars
10: juice box
11: lipgloss
12: keys with swiss army knife keychain

Alex ElChehimi

http://www.spicydesign.ca

http://www.twitter.com/spicydesign

1. 15″ MacBook pro
2. Moleskine Sketch Notebook
3. Notebook
4. Wacom Bamboo Fun
5. Business Cards
6. iPhone
7. Eyeglasses
8. Pens

Stuart Thursby

http://www.sthursby.com

http://www.twitter.com/sthursby

1. Mac Powerbook G4 (recent addition, adopted one week ago!)
2. Business Cards
3. Sketchbook
4. Set of 12 Staedtler markers
5. Graphic Design Book of the Moment – Currently How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
6. Blue pen
7. Stunk & White’s the Elements of Style
8. (Missing) Elements of Typographic Style – Currently on loan elsewhere
9. Excel. Gotta have it.

Phillip Lovelace

http://www.pixelflips.com

http://twitter.com/pixelflips

1. Crumpler “The Buck Taker” 17in laptop bag.
2. Moleskine notebook & pencil for sketches and jotting down ideas.
3. Latest reading material. Usually either a web design book or magazine.
4. Toshiba 17in. laptop.
5. Firewire cable just in case I may need one. You never know, right?
6. 40GB SimpleTech Portable Hard Drive containing backup files that I just might need.
7. iPod touch for tunes, podcasts, and quick browsing if wi-fi is available.
8. Logitech MX Revolution. This is one awesome mouse!
9. USB connector for mouse.
10. A couple memory sticks for quickly sharing files if needed.(6GB total)
11. iPod USB connector for charging or adding music.
12. Headphones.

Aaron Irizarry

http://www.thisisaaronslife.com

http://www.twitter.com/aaroni268

1. 15′ MacBook Pro.
2. I know it’s whats in my bag… but my bag and lucky “Darth Vader Lego” are too important to pass up.
3. I hate chords, so my wireless mouse is so crucial.
4. Battery Charger for MacBook.
5. Large notepad for doodling.. I mean taking notes in meetings.
6. Cool old ruler that only has inches and picas, and lots of paint I spilled on it.
7. My 160gig iPod and cables.
8. 2 pens a pencil, and a screwdriver
9. Moleskine
10. Business Cards

Bryan Lloyd

http://www.bryanlloyd.us

http://www.twitter.com/lloydb

1. My bag
2. MacBook Pro
3. Mini Display to VGA adapter
4. Headphones
5. Thumb drives
6. Apple Remote
7. Wireless mouse
8. Firewire 800 to 800 cable
9. Firewire 400 to mini 1394 cable
10. MBP Power Brick & cable
11. Sketchbook
12. Web/CSS O’Reilly book
13. Comic books
14. iPhone

Robert DeVore

http://www.hellogreenstar.com

http://www.twitter.com/hellogreenstar

1. laptop bag from Wal-Mart
2. The 4-Hour Workweek
3. Moleskines
4. Hugo Cologne
5. GreenStar business cards
6. blackberry charger
7. zen mosaic mp3 player from wal-mart
8. G2 Pens
9. Blackberry Curve
10. Flip Video Camera

Michael Wilson

http://www.cityofangels.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/atikusdesign

1. Computer Arts
2. Pencil
3. Pen
4. Moleskine
4. Lynx deodorant

kat neville

http://www.safetygoat.co.uk

http://twitter.com/kassy

1. This is my bag, made by the lovely Katrina Kaye, that I bought in Amsterdam. It’s made from an old school gas mask bag from the war, and some 70s fabric. On it, I have my Jam Factory button.

2. I’m a thirsty girl, so I try and always have some water!

3. I usually do my make-up at work (if I do it at all) so I bring it all around with me!

4. Always have a few pens, pencils and markers floating around in there

5. A hip hop classics cd Olliekav made for me. There’s also a Blueline Medic cd my friend made for me tucked in with it. Keep meaning to transfer them to my computer!

6. There’s usually some sort of craft supplies in my bag. Today, there’s some fimo as I’ve been making little characters (some sleeping cows)

7. USB stick, just in case!

8. My nano, with a case on it

9. Some trucks. Random, I know, but it’s because I was trying to find the perfect truck for thepickuptruck website, so I’ve been buying trucks like mad!

10. Two notebooks… the bottom one I use for everything: sketching, planning etc. and the top one I’m using as a diary

11. Amazing book by Danny Wallace that makes me laugh like an idiot on the tube to work every morning!

Christopher Scott

http://christopher-scott.com

http://www.twitter.com/christopherscot

1. The Bringhurst bible
2. Targus bluetooth mouse (with crappy scroll-wheel)
3. $20 bluetooth ear-piece
4. Graph-paper Moleskin
5. Mac video converter
6. AAA (emergency) batteries for the mouse
7. Wallet
8. Clipboard
9. Keys to the Prius
10. Hard-money sack

Grace Smith

http://www.gracesmith.co.uk

http://twitter.com/gracesmith

1. Macbook inside CK Bag
2. Car & House Keys
3. Apple Earphones
4. Moleskine
5. iPod Touch
6. Nokia E71 Mobile
7. Moo Cards (My cute business cards)
8. Shades (From my infamous avatar!)
9. Purse
10. Behance Action Runner & Pen

Jan-Hinrich Fehlis

http://janfehlis.de

http://twitter.com/janji

1. Swiss Knife
2. iPod
3. Passport
4. Bach Rescue Remedy
5. Prashad
6. Flash Memory
7. Leads
8. Moleskine Notebook
9. Brush for Camera
10. Multifunction Pen
11. Sunglasses (guess the brand!)
12. Wallet
13. Highlighter
14. Pen

Benjamin Reid

http://www.nouveller.com/

http://twitter.com/BenjaminReid

1. Spare earphones, if 3 fails.
2. Camera case for my Lumix DMC-FS3 ( Which normally holds the camera )
3. Sennheiser HD 205 Headphones
4. iPhone
5. 2GB SanDisk USB
6. Ernie Ball, House Of Blues guitar picks
7. Keys, lots of keys. Jack Daniels key ring FTW.
8. Diesel wallet

Color is everywhere and inspiration can be found in anything. I was recently shopping for new running shoes and was amazed by the color pallets that I saw! So may bright and shiny colors! Hope you enjoy this inspiring color round up. (and yay! Its marathon Monday!!!)

Newton

I was blinded by the pinkness of these ultralight newton shoes. The pink and bright yellow give me a very feminine, Easter color vibe.

Nike

The color scheme of these Nike shoes are calm, cool and collected. I’d love to use this color scheme in a business setting.

Brooks

Brooks makes rugged running shoes. I love the bold combination of complementary colors red and green paired with a muted gray/green.

Asics

This is the most colorful pair of shoes I saw when I was out shopping! Not really sure where I would use this color scheme, but it definitely gets your attention.

Brooks

This color scheme screams ‘pay attention to me’. The black/yellow combination i used in construction for this reason.

Nike

I love the blue, green. bright  yellow combination on these shoes. This color combo screams spring.

Adidas

These Adidas shoes have a stark – black colorful pallet that shows power and masculinity.

Newton

Another bright pair of newton shoes – this is the mens verzion of the of the pink shoe. The color pallet of this shoe screams ‘fast’ to me.

New Balance

I love the retro purple, black, orange color scheme of these shoes. Reminds me of my favorite backetball team as a kid – The Phoenix Suns.

Asics

Last but not least – these shiny orange running shoes scream ’speed’ and ‘masculinity’.

What’s your favorite colorful shoe?

Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite shoe color scheme is! Thanks for reading!

I recently received an email from someone asking me for a quote on a logo/illustration. Now In this persons defense – they are not a designer and probably didn’t know any better. Said person mentioned that they were also looking at the service of LogoWorks. And this made me curious so I did a Google search…

Now I must warn you…i’m going to go off for a bit…

Logoworks seems to be a bargain basement design shop aimed at geting small businesses up and running FAST. All their logo packages are less than $700. They promise a 3 day turn around and unlimited revisions on most logo packages.

They also offer 10 reasons why you should hire them. I’ll just interject some of my recently gained knowledge between the bullet points

Original, custom logos you can afford, with no hidden fees. See our packages.

…Well original logos you say? Wow…just google logoworks rip off and you will find dozens of direct and obvious rip offs of other logos. Here are just a few examples (originals on the top…rips on the bottom).

Check out the rest of the Logoworks rip offs here

A fast, convenient, and proven design process.

Logo works promises a 3 day turnaround. I’m sorry, but if a logo can be designed in 3 days then the designer is not utilizing the design process. I usually follow a 3 step process: 1 Research ,2 Designing ,3 Refining. Each phase usually takes about 10-15 hours. No way these designers go through all that in 3 days. One evident solution to this 3 day turnaround must be that they STEAL other designers designs!!! hmmm…

Professional logo designers in-house and freelance.

Another point i’d like to refute. If they offer logo packages for $300, how can they afford to pay professional designers? hm….

Over 45,000 satisfied customers – 98% would recommend Logoworks to a friend.

…what about those customers who found out their logo is a rip off of a trademarked logo? hmm…

Unlimited revisions for all but one of our packages.

Again this is against the way most logo designers work. You usually get limited number of revisions. Anything other than that you usually pay extra for. How can they afford to pay ‘professional’ designers and offer unlimited revisions.

So lets get back to the title of this blog post…Why Logos Should Cost More Than $300

Well…to put this very frankly: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Great design takes time, research, hard work, discipline, experience, talent, and great communication with the client. When you take shortcuts (especially in price) you sacrifice these things and in turn sacrifice the quality of the logo. I understand that clients are usually looking for a good deal, but really cheap design is not it! (cheap design often ends up like this)

For further and probably more eloquent reading check out Jacob Cass’s article “Why logo design does not cost 5 dollars”. The logos below cost way more than $5

What do you guys think?

Is there a market for el-cheapo design? (obviously) Where does this stand in relation to your skills and services? Do you feel like you have to compete with companies like logoworks? How do we educate clients about these things?