Be Nice

I think my almost 7 year old laptop is on it's last leg making me an unpleasant person to be around today.

If I was mean to you today I'm truly sorry. I missed lunch too...

You can find this sweet poster at: Concrete Hermit.

That's Right,

HMK

Happy Labor Day!

As Joe King Carrasco once sang:

Do what you gotta do to do what you wanna do. We all gotta work.

The above video features reasons 1-25 as to why I could never and will never work in a corporate environment. With all it's challenges and against all odds of ever being rich, whatever the hell that means, I truly love the freedom of working from home. And it's a good thing that I've always liked PBJ's and grilled cheese!

Sure, we all have our Monday mornings regardless of where or what you do to keep your lights on and days that never seem to end due to something technical, mechanical, unforeseen or having to do with dealing with clueless idiots that just can't quite grasp this thing we call communication and never miss an opportunity to drop the ball at the worst possible moment.

The above is my version of Hell. Not because of the fact that all this poor guy wanted to do was print out a copy of the page on his screen. As we all know too well - technology can be totally frustrating at times. The Hell to me is the opening shot. From the sterile, energy sucking bland white wall Orwelian environment, complete with fluorescent lighting and 24-7 cameras monitoring your every move to the cubicles, recycled air, unhappy coworkers, battling lame radio stations, gossip, nebulous deadlines, egos, upper management hacks, time sucker meetings, politics, bad coffee, long pants, ties... Ahhhhhhhh! That's right, Hell!

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;
Blessed art thou among women, and
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen

I am feeling so lucky and blessed to be doing what I'm doing and where I am doing it right now. For anyone still stuck, remember, there are options.

Sure, the cubicle you spend 40-50 hours a week in means financial security, but really, how secure is anyone's job/career/life right now? Once you do the math - adding in your commute time, you begin to realize that out of the 5 days or 120 hours that makeup our ridiculously wasteful 5 day work week that you are in fact spending at least 65 of those hours (2.7 days!) every week doing something, being somewhere or spending time with people you pretty much dread!

If you like what you're getting, keep doing what you're doing, if you don't like what you're doing....

There's never been a better time to reevaluate everything, that's right, everything right now and follow one of your long forgotten dreams. Make a plan, including some hard cold sacrifices and take the first step to taking some serious control over your life - you can do it and trite as it may sound - Life really is too short to be anywhere that makes you unhappy.

Anyway... Don't forget to fill out your time sheet!

Peace and Happy Labor Day!

That's Right,

HMK

Oldbook Vintage Masking Tape

Very cool idea from Esty shop Nothing Elegant. I'm really digging this way cool ephemeral looking masking tape made from traditional Japanese "washi" paper.

This unique multi-use masking tape looks flat-out gorgeous. Ideal for color coding, labeling, school and art projects.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Design Vagabond.

Stencil It In

I love stencil fonts, always have. And according to Steven Heller, one of my favorite design gurus, stencil lettering never really went out of fashion, yet it’s coming back in style.


In the same way that booming martial rhythms have been incorporated into classical and popular music, stencil-lettering style has long influenced sophisticated typography and graphic design.

The top logo is something I did back in 2001 for the Sabas Trio featuring my friends Joe Reyes, Greg Norris and Mark Rubinstein. The District 9 poster is by Ignition Print and below is the poster and GUI for the iPhone app I did for the Rackspace Cloud Lounge Party. This was in collaboration with the wicked smart and cool folks at 2 Pixels + GetApp for SWSW this past March, 2009.



Learn more about stencil fonts from Mr. Heller's latest design article for the New York Times: Stencil It In.

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HMK

Steven Heller, a former art director at The New York Times, is a co-chair of the M.F.A. Design Department at the School of Visual Arts and a blogger and author.

Guinness Pool Cue

Me likey. Makes me want to drink pints and play darts.

Guinness Pool Cue ad from Tank Communications, Chicago.

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HMK

I'm Apt!

Finally! Searching through the 50,000 + apps in the iTunes app store is much easier when you’re not using the iTunes app store.

Freshly launched today, uquery.com aims to be what iLounge is to the iPod and serve as the Go-To site when it comes to safely and effectively guiding you through the deep, dense dark jungle of the app discovery process.

The site uses its own system of algorithms called “AppRank” to make it easy and fast to find the right app for certain tasks. Search results appear in a easy to navigate center column along with options to refine your search.

With a couple of apps in development I'm apt to visit uquery.com quite often.

Learn more: uquery.com.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to Leander and the wicked smart folks over at Cult Of Mac.

Kubikids

I love Dutch design! Kubikids is an inflatable, square bath tub for children. It works by placing it in the shower stall, and then filling it with air, water and children, in that order.

It’s not uncommon for tiny Dutch apartments to lack a bathtub, in which case this device could add a luxury to an otherwise cramped place for at least part of the family.

The site is in Dutch: Kubikids.

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HMK

Thanks to 24 Oranges.

Wine Steles

The Wine Stele, available exclusively from Design Spray of Germany, is a minimalistic wine rack with a capacity to hold up to 18 bottles; that’s equivalent to three cases, which the slender column can pack into a really tight space.

Nice,

That's Right,

HMK

Heat Wave Transistor HMK Mystery Stream Episode #106

Irregular Frequency Netwerk Presents HMK Mystery Stream: Heat Wave Transistor Episode #106 is now live on iTunes!

Subscribe Gratis to the HMK Mystery Stream in iTunes: HMK Mystery Streams

Goes great with coffee and a commute if you're not sipping on a cocktail instead.

Enjoy!

That's Right,

HMK

IKEA - WTF?

What The Font?

I just signed the IKEA, Ikea, Please Get Rid Of Verdana! Petition with this comment - you should too!

"C'mon IKEA, you guys are better than that! Verdana's a web font and dull as a fake Swiss Army Knife. Please stay classic and bring back Futura!"

More outrageous details: IKEA Sans replaced by Verdana.

Go sign it: Ikea, Please Get Rid Of Verdana! Petition.

That's Right,

HMK

Ubuntu Restaurant

Not that I'll be heading to Napa any time soon, but I've been following the incredible work of San Francisco architects Michael Baushke and Stuart Hills, founding partners of Apparatus, since 2005 after discovering them via an article in Custom Home magazine.

Their work, inside and out, is absolutely stunning.

Their latest gem is a new restaurant in downtown Napa, occupying a two-story volume in a 19th century stone structure. The space was transformed using sustainable and recycled materials to accentuate the inherent beauty of the existing building. There is no “theme”, only the natural textures and colors of essential materials, the activity of the open kitchen, and of course, wine.

Do yourself a favor and escape for a few moments: Apparatus Architecture.

The awesome photos are by Jen Siska.

That's Right,

HMK

Association for Alzheimers in Guatemala: Lost

“If they could help themselves, we wouldn’t ask you.”

Wow. Powerful stuff from agency Wurmser Ogilvy & Mather, Guatemala.

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HMK

Thanks to I Believe In Advertising.

Elektro & Sparko

Two of my favorite things - Robots and Dogs!

Lots more over at these flickr pools: ROBOT and Vintage Robots.

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HMK

Design Management App

These go out to my friends, colleagues and anyone else lucky to have a job but sadly stuck in the throws of the advertising agency world...

Chicago art director Tobias Lunchbreath has been creating some super wicked insightful and dead-on funny weekly infotoons for the smart folks over at Core 77.


Don't forget to fill out your time sheet!

Enjoy! More Lunchbreath.

That's Right,

HMK

Ruben V CD Release Party! This Saturday August 29!

Hot off the presses! I just finished the new logo and cd packaging for my buddy and blues guitar rocker Ruben V and his latest release: Come To Me.

Check him out LIVE at the CD Release Party: Josephine Theatre this Saturday night, August 29th!

More info: Ruben V at the Josephine Theatre.

Rock On Ruben!

Migwell

Typedia

I just registered and activated my Typedia account, a brand-new community website with a nice Wikipedia-meets-IMDb approach that both classifies and tells you just about all you need to know about typefaces.

I'm really looking forward to diving into this site!

Typedia

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HMK

Thanks to Swiss Miss

VW 4Motion

Great concept and super nice Escheresque illustrations by Brian Harrison on these ads for VW via DDB, New Zealand.

There's a few more in the campaign over at Sir Fredericks. And speaking of Escheresque...

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HMK

Ponder This

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Charles Darwin

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HMK

Illustrations by Emma Kelly

I'm really digging the fresh and energetic style of London illustrator Emma Kelly, I think you will too: I Like To Draw Things.

Really nice work.

That's Right,

HMK

Paris 3D

This looks really sweet. Soon to be released pending Apple approval.

That's Right,

HMK

Redbone Guitar Boutique: Fly On The Wall

Redbone Guitar Boutique.

Original photo of Mick, John and Paul during a Revolver mixing session at Abby Road, Studio 3, from May 26th, 1966 by Robert Freeman.

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HMK

Design Pricing Formula

Considering the wide range of variables, pricing is a task a lot of designers struggle with. I prefer to work on a project basis vs. an hourly rate after the scope and timeline of the project is clearly defined.

The truth is that nobody can really tell you what you should be charging as a designer and this design pricing formula from David Airey helps explain why.

David Airey shares his thoughts and some pricing articles that are definitely worth a look: Design Pricing Formula.

That's Right,

HMK

Good Comedy

These are awesome. Check out the rest of Marc Johns' ever growing Post-it Note Drawings.

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HMK

All Hail The Cheese & Burger Society!

Ladies and Gentlemen - this is how you sell cheese!

Humorous voiceovers, mouthwatering photography and engaging navigation add to the overall interactive experience on this unique and memorable site as it pays tribute to the 30 greatest cheeseburgers of all time—made with Wisconsin cheese.

Dig the awesome Cheese & Burger Society site built by the amazingly talented folks at Shine.

Hungry yet?

Do yourself a favor, cut to the chase and bookmark the San Antonio Burger Blog. While they don't have my favorite local burger listed yet, the Black Angus burger from Boudros on the our fabulous Riverwalk, it's a great resource for anyone in quest of the perfect burger and I'm sure they'll get to my favorite eventually!

And just so you know, Boudro's only serves this burger at lunch and it's not on the menu - just ask and they'll hook you up.

That's Right,

HMK

Thanks to: Communication Arts.

A Digital Archive of Vintage Television Commercials

Sweet! Just in time for the premier of Mad Men season 3 next Sunday!

Check out AdViews, a digital archive of thousands of vintage television commercials dating from the 1950s to the 1980s.

These commercials were created or collected by the quintessential "Mad Men" ad agency, Benton & Bowles or its successor, D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B). Founded in 1929, Benton & Bowles was a New York advertising agency that merged with D'Arcy Masius McManus in 1985 to form DMB&B. Major clients included are Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Schick, Vicks, and Post, among others. Commercials will be added in phased batches over several months in 2009.

The commercials are a part of the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Archives found at the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History in Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.

And I really digs the fact that you can either view these via the Duke University AdViews website or stream, download and subscribe in iTunes!

That's Right,

HMK

Gracias to Design Observer.