Daddy O! Daddy O! Happy Father’s Day

June 21, 2009

Growing up I was very fortunate (still am) to have a great father. He has done so much for me over the course of my life and I could never say thank you enough. Today as I was thinking back on the many great things he’s done for me one of my favorites is when he became my little league baseball couch because no other team in Pleasant View wanted me (or the other dozen looser kids in the neighborhood). I’ll never forget how he coached our crap team that summer and with his positive coaching and constantly telling us, “it’s just a game” and “we’re just here to have fun” he turned our little team of misfits and untalented kids into the team to beat. We didn’t loose a single game that summer and I know 100% of that was because of my dad.

The photo above is from one of the many fishing trips he took us on, and even though I don’t necessarily like to fish now I certainly enjoyed the trips with him and my brothers (FYI: in the photo the blond kid on my left is not my Brother it’s my cousin TJ). Rodney you are the worlds greatest daddy-o.

On another note I love my kids and even though they are monkeys most of the time and I do love them. They both make me really proud and I hope I’m being as good a father as my Dad is. This video is of the 2 monkeys coming home from church. Every Sunday Gem insist on jumping on this big metal plate, and now she’s got Tuan in on it too. Somewhere in their monkey hearts I think they’re wishing me a happy father’s day.

Come On Google. Don’t be so Cheap.

June 15, 2009

I read this article over at the New York Times this morning about how Google’s asking illustrators to create custom skins for their new “Chrome” web browser, and after all the artist’s hard work Google’s going to give them a big pat on the back as compensation. For a company that profited $1.42 billion in the first quarter of this year I think they could afford paying the artist. I’ve heard that Google’s a company that doesn’t value design and this just confirms it. The article quotes one of the Artist who was invited to participate:

“I have done gift cards for Target that are in stores nationwide and animations for Nickelodeon that run 24 hours a day worldwide on cable TV,” Melinda Beck, an illustrator who is based in Brooklyn, wrote in an e-mail message to Google rejecting its offer. “Both of these jobs were high-profile and gave my work great exposure but both clients still paid me.”

Maybe it’s time to give bing a try.

Shinichi Maruyama: Writing in the Sky

June 12, 2009

Japanese photographer Shinichi Maruyama, now living in New York, has created some stunning images. It’s almost like he’s created traditional Japanese/ Chinese calligraphy only instead of on paper they’re in mid air. The photo of how he creates some of the images is just as amazing as the works themselves. I wouldn’t mind owning one of his prints. Really amazing.

PRINT: Did You Think to Pray

June 9, 2009

Susan and I recently teamed up once again to create a new “Church Print”. For the this print we saved up our pennies and purchased the font Carmen and Carmen Fiesta from Type Republic in Barcelona (as a designer getting a new font is pretty exciting, and it’s tough when you actually do buy one because they’re not a small purchase—I’ve book marked plenty of fonts in my days and many fonts I’m sure I’ll never own because they can add up pretty fast, but they’re worth it).

We both thought the Carmen typeface looked smart and would work perfect for the phrase “Did you think to pray”. The print comes in loads of colors and both Susan and I have discussed doing a limited edition larger print (think poster size), but first I guess we’ll see how is sells.

If you’re looking to bring a little “holy spirit” into your home head over to Susan’s store.

2010 Mustang—Sweet Ride (or at least the website is)

June 5, 2009

I think just about every guy has a thing for a mustang once in his life. Mine happened after that show with Nicolas Cage and Angie Pit (Gone in 60 Secs), but it lasted only for a fleeting moment. Well the team over at FirstBorn Multimedia have come up with a pretty amazing site to help sell the 2010 Ford Mustang.

One of the nice things about the site is the size. As people’s computer screens get bigger and wider it’s a tough call as a web designer—how do you create a website that looks good on a laptop and also on a 24 inch screen? Most websites today are built at 960 pixels wide, and even though the Mustang site is the same width it feels much bigger than that thanks to it’s large graphics and the great use of background images.

Did I also mention the site’s a 100% Flash? You can checkout the site yourself by clicking here.