Blog content has a very distinct look. Words, images, and widgets on the side that make it look like you’ve got a lot going on (but actually don’t). You may even have awful content and it just makes those plug-ins shine even brighter. I think just about everybody has become addicted to feeds and added some twitter functionality to the front page of their WP site, and it’s very obvious. It’s a CMS aiming for extensibility when the only innovation a typical user can do is add a plug-in. Blog site is bloggy.

If you’ve got a Wordpress blog, 10 times out of 10, you’re going to get spam comments. While you’re busy deleting those, your version of WP will become outdated and you’ll be updating your plug-ins. Awesome!

I would like to see more places using web apps instead of relying on a CMS to carry their entire brand. It happens far too often and ‘creatively’ linking modules doesn’t constitute an innovative solution, it just gives you more of whats out there already.

I’m mostly jumping ship on Wordpress as a legit platform… still keeping the blog though.

What I can identify with most in the brand is the boyscout influence. The red x: taken directly from the first aid merit badge and they don’t try to hide that. It’s bold, and even smarter, simple like the tool. They could definitely go a lot further, but they’ve got a good foundation with type and iconography. Some of the line art used reminds me of the knott tying diagrams in the older scout manuals. That’s just me though.

It’s a very practical tool and even more surprising brand; definitely the luxury brand of the axe world. Best Made Co. Axes. Love the gestalt.

What’s an extra fee in this whole process? Well, it’s everything if you run a small business or just hate giving your money to a middle man. It’s another hand in your pocket that doesn’t need to be there.

With independent design, just getting people to cough up a down payment or first 30% of a job is hard, so ease of payment will really help… or maybe find out sooner that you’re getting jerked around. I personally find that as soon as there is any bit of money involved, projects are taken more seriously. What iPhone-loving creative wouldn’t want this accounting superpower? Enough rant, go check it out and follow ‘em on twitter.

Schaerer’s interpretation of a floor, architectural body and skins are very convincing. Real people, real vegetation, existing textures are combined into this scenery that is just an interpretation; like an architectural photo. A ceiling is not necessarily a thing, it can be taken as a concept. A ceiling itself makes a boring photo. The idea of a ceiling makes a more interesting photo and does not have to be real. I think this is a liberty any creative can take with their work.

Real is a very serious element and I look forward to exploring its effects in graphic design and renderings. It can be the difference between memorable or accepted –> mundane –> forgotten.

An instant champion for this sort of generative process is a font called LAIKA. Its beauty isn’t seen in an end result, but a result that is forever free to be altered (though not always published). What is most surprising is that the results are not jarring, they are aesthetically comfortable to the viewer or creator. On the other end of the spectrum there are processes with frightful results, simply a different gestalt.

Check out generatorx.no, a good resource for indexing a lot of these kind of projects. Many of them looking very process oriented (not always pretty).

I can see generative design playing well with identities. The parameters of an identity are very simple and often consistent, so it is easy to swap out one consistency for a variable. For something as rigid as logo design, changing a color can damage the image a brand has worked so hard to build up, that is, unless it is defined dynamic elements. There are plenty of other opportunities to create consistency, even consistency in variables. A lot of brands already do this by specifying a variety of colors to be used in an identity, but again, static.

I look forward to seeing more of these works spring up, but stay small and practical within their own bounds.

I heard about the lomographic movement and started out with a basic Holga, then eventually decided to buy an LC-A for the ease of using 35mm film. It’s a little easier to work with than 120mm. I ended up finding an original model of the LC-A from a seller in Latvia. It took an entire month for the thing to work its way through the mail and had me wondering at times about the reliability of ebay sellers. As soon as I got it, I started shooting all the film I had, getting a few rolls developed, and then leaving some in the finished rolls to age since I was a college student and too poor to get them developed. Okay, maybe I was just lazy. These days I’m this strong desire to bust open those undeveloped time capsules and see what I was looking at, and how I was looking at it.

It’s a very personal tool, kind of how I’d imagine a rifle is to a marine, or a fast internet connection to a fast-handed 13 year old. The camera’s back latch broke a couple of times, and I eventually secured it with industrial epoxy. Every time I want to shoot a new roll of film, the back needs to be taped to prevent excessive light leaks. The reason all these inconveniences are so important is because the extra work gets me connected with the results; an inherent process to shooting and enjoying.

I’m not advocating a revivalist move back to analog formats. It’s quite inconvenient, but for that very reason, digital photos will never give you the same personal connection. It’s not a matter of lacking a physical print, but lacking that personal investment in the process of getting a shot. Making things easy and available has a price.

I did a lot of camping when I was younger; not so much lately, but I definitely got in before the “wilderness chic” thing where people started using hiking and climbing equipment on a day to day basis. We’ve all seen some goofy kid going to class with a 40 liter pack on (with only 1 liter of books in it). I don’t think it was ever cool to do that, but it’s certainly around. I’m personally waiting for people to start using trekking poles everywhere they go. Perhaps they will replace the traditional walker / cane for the elderly or even become the hip new way to get to work. It’s fun to get new gear, but it’s even more fun to use it camping or hiking.