Cool Site: The Patent Room

Take a look at this very cool site! It has a bunch of items that have been designed (primarily Industrial Design) that have been submitted over the years. While I am not pushing anyone to reinvent the flying car, or the porta-diner, this site is immensely entertaining and can serve as creative inspiration across design disciplines.

Saving some Cash!

A while ago someone passed on to me this blogsite. It has some coupon sites that can help to save you some $$$. Having once been a student, and the father of a college student (soon to be more) I know it can really make a difference.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LOGO?

This is a timely question for any design student, as identity mark project season has likely descended upon us all. I have always answered this question with the observable commonalities:

• it is processed as a single unit (typically with altered kerning and leading, or other 'binding' elements to achieve this), 
• it communicates a necessary message/idea about the client/product/service, 
• it is simple--ala the chinese artist seals or chops
• it gets extra points for being clever

That short list is by no means all-inclusive or authoritative. 

That's probably why I so much enjoy hearing others' views on the topic. The link below is from a blog where the author has presented his own simple view of what constitutes a great logo.

Jacob Cass's view on logos

YAKISOBA...

I recently revisited the "50 Ways to Serve Ramen" post, as the original link I posted had been taken down. Rasmussen college had the original article posted on their  blog, so I relinked that original post. It got me thinking to a product thats been around for a couple years now that is tasty and cheap (69 cents at Woodmans). Add water, microwave zap and...voila... noodle dish ala Japanese Soba or Chinese Mein.
My personal fave is the Teriyaki (a great blend of sweet and salty). I wasn't crazy about the cheese or tomato basil (although I LOVE those both as traditionally prepared pastas).
The pic on the left adds some sliced pork, pickled veggies, and chopped chive and cabbage (it does still taste great by itself though!)
Give it a whirl.

RIP Steve

Steve Jobs was an innovator.

I can't polish that sentence up much more without appearing somewhat self-indulgent in simplistic praises for a really complex guy. Instead, my brain winds up expelling a series of facts about him that, on screen, look like ravings ala non-sequitur 'dick-and-jane' prose.
He was half Egyptian. He was raised by the Armenian family who adopted him. He demanded perfection. He could be a tyrant. He sometimes came off as condescending. He helped found the company that brought the first commercially viable personal computer to the market. The iPod. The iPad. The iPhone.

Dust off a DVD of 'Triumph of the Nerds" (that's the Robert Cringely PBS documentary about the rise of the Personal Computer--not the ridiculous 1980's comedy franchise Revenge of the Nerds, which was about formulaic moviemaking) and remember the real Steve.

REALLY GOOD CHIPS

Potato chips are definitely not on the "healthy eating" list, but in moderation they can be OK. Problem is, with a really good potato chip (as the ol' jingle goes) you can't eat just one ...so moderation is the challenge. It gets much harder when you find a really awesome tasting chip.

So one of the things I do here is share with family friends, associates, and students awesome 'college grub.' [see the pizza, hotdog, and ramen entries]     On a recent hardware junket (yes hardware) to Menard's, I cam across Herr's Ketchup Chips. Dipping potato chips in ketchup has long been a favorite of Mrs. Pham, and I have tried other brands of ketchup chip, so I was in.

I find these chips more flavorful than competitors version, and definitely have trouble with the one serving rule. They are also available at other retail and grocery stores.  One of my kids is a huge fan of the Baby Back Rib chips by Herr's; beyond just BBQ, they taste like BBQ RIBS in all their ribby goodness. Flavorful stuff!

UPDATE: 3/12...Herr's has added a bunch of new flavors...two of the family favorites: Sweet Onion and the Fire-Roasted Sweet Corn! My kids' review: "Holy cow! How do they get the chips to taste exactly like roasted sweet corn?!?

NOT WINDOWS, NOT MAC

There's a few friends out there that love GUI operating systems, but don't care for either Windows or Mac (third-partiers who like various stripes of Linux, Unix, or even more esoteric offshoots of both). For you, I present PINGUY...a development OS for the casual user. Check out the SITE for more info.

iPAD apps for TYPE STUDENTS

If you are a student in a class studying TYPOGRAPHY (in my district there is the all-in-one Design Concepts class) and you own an iPAD, you gotta get your hands on this app. VEry cool, and only 1.99 through the APP store.

MUST HAVE iPAD APP for TYPE STUDENTS

Regional Hotdogs!

If you've read the blog before, you know that I wear many hats: designer,  graphic design instructor, dad and husband, music lover, movie fanatic, D.I.Y.'er, and avid foodie. I try and share food items that students (who are often on a budget) can relate to.

I've oft posted about Pizza. Pizza is the food I most associate with my college years (in addition to Ramen), and have a post that deals with all the regional variations of Pizza (of which btw, Detroit style has come into popularity in my house).

This post is about another great college staple--Hot Dogs. Sonic restaurants have recently added a couple of regional Hot Dogs to their menu. Even local grocers have become aware of the  cache of the 'tube-steak,' now offerring Nitrate/Nitrite free, low fat Angus versions (like costly brand The Frohman and the more ubiquitous Oscar Meyer Premium Selects Angus).

The regional varietals can have an altogether different composition to the sausage (like the east-coast dog that has a snappy-casing), but what often makes the regional variety is the  topping and bun. Around these parts, we tend to be partial to the Coney (bean-less chili topped--wit' onions and cheese please) or the Chicago (poppy roll, chopped onion, irridecent relish, mustard, celery salt, tomato and pickle wedges, and a port pepper on top).

Behold the magnificence of: The Sonoran (from AZ), the Southern-style Slaw dog, or the Hawaiin Puka Dog. Mmmm...pass the mustard (but no catsup please).

REGIONAL HOTDOGS

iPAD apps for designers

A fellow blogger who posts professional design issues posted this great list of  iPad apps for Graphic Artists. In no particular order (I think some of the productivity, mockup, and productivity ones are most essential), here is the compiled list:

30 iPad Apps for DESIGNERS