While visiting friends in Portland I ran across a copy of the latest edition of McSweeny's Quarterly Concern, The San Francisco Panorama (Issue 33, available at mcsweeneys.net). This hefty display of visual and literary virtuosity will go down in history as a celebration of the newspaper format, exploring the outer limits of the newspaper experience. Despite the fact that producing such beautiful, considerate newspaper would be completely impossible to execute regularly given the limitations of a real daily, The Panorama makes a grave and important point: If the physical pleasures and everyday realities of our current literary outlets are to survive, they must push themselves far, far away from the norms and conventions of emerging digital media. Do what digital media cannot. Give readers in-depth, localized writing and engaging points-of-view, presented in an unusual and tactile manner.

Now this is a watch. The Diesel Compass Watch sports dual time zones and an integrated compass. I love the huge main dial and rectangular secondary dial. The compass is a no-brainer, especially for watches. I want the gunmetal version as it looks extremely menacing, like the semi used to bash up KITT in the old Knight Rider episodes. Awesome.

Friday I attended a screening of Eileen Yagoobian's Died Young, Stayed Pretty — a documentary about rock poster culture.

Nothing like being shoehorned into a tiny theatre with a leaky ceiling on a Friday night to take in a few rambling screeds by the best practitioners of a dying art.

Our 2009 holiday promo reminded people that it was once again time to wipe the slate clean and shape the new year in whatever likeness they desire. A hand engraved wine bottle equipped with a mini chalk board  gave the promo's recipients a tactile reminder that the future is what they make of it... Be sure to click into the post for more photos!

I JUST GOT MCSWEENY'S #33 IN THE MAIL.

And I happen to be very excited about it. Please refer to earlier blog post, Daydream Believer, concerning contents of said newspaper. I imagine that it will take me all month, if not longer, to digest.

Lovin' this concept sports car from Audi, a sports car concept that is purely electric. This two-seater accelerates from 0 – 60 mph in 4.8 seconds, producing 230 kW (or 313 hp, but I love how it's measured in watts on their site). The lithium battery provides a content of 42.4 kilowatt hours that lasts approximately 248 kilometers or 154 miles. In other words, no long road trips, but to and from work would be fine.

Check out this simple, but oh-so-well designed utilitarian jacket from Nike's ultimate NSW collection. I love the colorway and minimalism being use here, as well as the intricate detailing on the inside of the jacket. Nike's StormFit fabric is guaranteed to keep you dry in rain, sleet or snow; plus it collapses to fit into a pocket when the weather clears up. The jacket is so simple you wouldn't guess it was Nike until you take a peak at the inside label.

Take a look at this stunning amplifier from Jolida. So much beauty comes in simplicity. This would look so good next to my custom vinyl player. Where do I sign?

Last summer when I heard that the incredibly kind and absolutely inspiring folks at Under Consideration were publishing a book about building and designing portfolios, I sent off a couple of snapshots of my student portfolio on a whim. Amazingly and astoundingly they asked me to ship off my book—soft case, briefcase and all— to be photographed for publication! I am so insanely proud to have been included in this incredible and unprecedented survey of design portfolios I think my heart might burst with gratitude.

I recently joined Urban Influence as an Interactive Developer after spending years writing software for pure technology companies.  Since it's my first foray into the design industry, many differences strike me, from the number of PhotoShop and Javascript tricks I learn per day to the average number of programming languages open in my text editor simultaneously.  But one of the most striking differences for me, coming most recently from a scrappy startup with a nondescript office sans decor, is the context in which I work.  I am in a converted warehouse with old-Seattle charm sitting in an

Thanks to Julia, here is an interesting article on a brief history of the typeface Avant Garde. I'm now blogging about blogs!

Last night I got the chance to attend my second Ignite Seattle evening at the King Cat Theater.  Ignite is a quarterly event where participants sign up to give five minute speeches on the geek topics of their choosing.  The "five minute" in "five minute speeches" is literal; speakers present a maximum of twenty slides which rotate automatically every fifteen seconds.  It's amazing how dense and insightful such short speeches can be, and how fascinating an

If you have to ask, you'll never know – This is Williams Street's approach to marketing their niche late night line-up infamously known as Adult Swim. What started as a collection of strange and often provocative cartoons for a "mature" audience has turned into a feverish cult phenomenon of obscurity.

The other day I stumbled on this old post describing how web development as a trade has an inherently exponential level of complexity adding up to "672 things" the developer needs to keep in mind every day.  I'd actually say it goes a bit beyond that.  It's true that as technology evolves we have more powerful tools to bring ease to cumbersome tasks; the pre-baked SQL in Rails or the pre-baked JavaScript in jQuery definitely help us do more stuff, faster.  But it takes vigilance just keeping up on emerging technologies that can save us time and work.  And by vigilance of course I mean lots of time and work.  For my own (morbid?) curiosity I decided to compile a list of concepts, languages, and tools I've learned over my years working online.

• Markup/Templating: CSS, ERB, HAML, HTML, XHTML, Web Standards, XML
• Dynamic/Client-side Scripting: ActionScript, AJAX, DOM, Flash, JavaScript, jQuery, JSON, Prototype
• Content Management Systems: Drupal, WordPress
• Databases: Berkeley DB, MySQL, SQL, Oracle
• Programming Patterns: MVC, RESTful development
• Programming Languages: C, C++, Java, Perl, PHP, Ruby
• Programming Methodologies: Agile, Event-based, Extreme, Procedural, Object-Oriented, Stateless
• Protocols: DNS with BIND, HTTP, XHR
• Off-site Management: Facebook API, REST, SEO, SOAP, Twitter API, Web Services
• Operating Systems: FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OSX, Windows, Unix
• Testing: TDD, BDD, Rspec, rUnit
• Text Editors/IDEs: Emacs, HomeSite, DreamWeaver, TextMate, xEmacs
• Usability Concerns: Accessibility, Character Sets, Cookies, Internationalization, Session Management
• Versioning Sytems: CVS, Perforce, Subversion, Git
• Web App Tools: CGI, Mason, mod_perl, Ruby on Rails
• Web Servers: Apache, Mongrel, Webrick

I've been really fascinated by this site (The Black Harbor) since discovering it, and have found myself constantly returning back for more. I love the playful nature, wonderful details, plus you can't beat a ship-sailing theme. It also helps that the content is well thought out and contains links to some of my favorite interests. It seems like they have a lot of fun working and updating this site.

EGYPTIAN LOVER BABY. The Rebrand.

The entire country of Egypt (well, maybe just the tourism department) just released a new logo and ad campaign. Despite the fact that Egypt's newest effort is more intriguing and energetic than before, I can't help but think the new mark looks a little like a Cher logo from the 90s. Am I crazy? Despite that feeling, I do completely appreciate the attention and effort that it takes to make a hand crafted, calligraphic logo work. I don't mean to sound condescending by any means whatsoever. I just think that rebranding a country filled with some of the most intriguing artifacts and ruins on the planet would be really, really fun.

Wow, just finished watching this interesting video on how Wired magazine is going to look on the iPad. I think this video alone is making rethink my status on getting one of these things. Is this the end of magazines as we know it? You decide.

I'm not here to pander my political beliefs, however FOX News is one of my favorite sites ever. Not for the content. Not for the design. Not even for their fair and balanced reporting. I visit FOX News for one amazing reason–The breaking news photo composite.

[lwegallery]

I have am a big fan of minimalism. The ability to take a complex thought, boil it down to its purest, most simple form and still communicate the complexity of issue with clarity has always fascinated me. I also really enjoy the visual wit and power of positive and negative shapes in illustration and design. I just came across a piece by Noma Bar that stopped me in my tracks, because it does both. I find his work to be powerful and a great example of how bold messages can be communicated clearly with simplicity.

Think for a moment about the word 'abstract' and its definition. When you think of an object, like a table for sake of example, what image comes to your mind? Most certainly, your image is different from mine. My mental image of a table looks a lot like the dinner table I sat at while growing up, while your table may look like the one sitting in your dining room.

In less than a month, the annual Coachella Music Festival will kick off at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California. The festival has been running strong since 2001 and is the ultimate "in the know" destination for hipsters and music junkies (like myself!)

And it looks as though we can have it… We're very excited to announce that we'll be designing a new truck for Molly Moon's Ice Cream. It's going to be such a thrill to extend the Molly Moon's brand language onto a moving vehicle. And as the temperature rises, please remember to visit both ice cream shops, located in Wallingford and Capitol Hill.

Make sure to check back here for more developments and keep a look out for the truck coming to a neighborhood near you soon…

I just love the typography on this nicely preserved set of Thomas tool catalogs. The balance of green and black with a slight hit of yellow is perfect. A hierarchy dream project! Enjoy this and quite a few other vintage modern beauties over here.

For the most part, I don't have many negative things to say about Apple's Snow Leopard. However, if you work with a large number of fonts on a regular basis, you may soon run into some strange issues you've never seen before. I've catalogued some of the issues I've found with Snow Leopard below.

Adding a font to Font Book fails to activate the typeface

So proud that New Sheridan Hotel is being featured on this design blog (designworklife), as it's one of my favorites for daily inspiration. A lot of effort and late nights went into designing out this brand system and it seems to be paying off. Thanks for the post Courtney.

I am amazed by this post over at Graphic ExchanGE on the album artwork for Police's album Synchronicity. I didn't know there were so many iterations of this album cover. What seems like a simple solution quickly evolved into something complex and quite beautiful. I love the super-high graphic feel of the photos and splashes of color. Alas the album type could use some love, but could you imagine any other font being used?

It was bound to happen. My endless love for G-Star Raw has finally crept onto the UI blog. Please have a look at this killer Land Rover Defender with aesthetics provided by G-Star. I've always loved discovering all the little details they put into their clothing, so I can only imagine the embellishments found on the Defender. I'm already amazed by the coloring, or lack there of, the circle grilling, and seat graphics.

I spent some time looking through Erik Anthony Hamline's work this morning... Very impressed. I love all the texture and use of color throughout his pieces, each one is very unique, but at the same time feels very familiar.

This sharp looking pin comes from the late 1800s and was used to show support for the Chicago-based Switchmen's Mutual Aid Association, one of America's first railworker's unions. They were makers of fine overalls and work clothes. Only around for about 17 years, they helped form the Swtichmen's Union of North America, which is still around today in some form of names and mergers. Found at Hickoree's Hard Goods.

The pigeon has always held special meaning to Urban Influence (besides that hillarious day when one pooped on Pete right before a big presentation). I’ve always viewed the pigeon as a natural survivor, able to adapt to its environment be it Seattle or Beirut. By embodying the pigeons ability to contour to its surroundings, we’re able to build brands that adapt to the environments they exist in.

Many of our clients at Urban Influence are hosted on servers which run WHM or CPanel. I recently had an opportunity to utilize a feature of Cpanel which I had not previously used - the ability to process an incoming email message with a script.

When the sun aligns and the poles shift, I get out from behind my desk and into networking mode for a few hours every month. When out talking trade, I often get asked what I do or how much it would cost to brand company XYZ. As someone who lives and breaths branding every day, these are still some of the most difficult questions to answer on the fly.

The average person's perception of brand development doesn't go far beyond the creation of logos, letterhead, packaging or web design (and sometimes even lucky when it extends that far). Brand run much deeper than these surface components and only achieve lasting success when supported by a strong, underlying foundation. This is where many of my hours are spent at Urban Influence and ultimately why the brands we've built have an unprecedented record for success.

Many factors can swing the scope of a branding exercise, but nothing more-so than how healthy the living state of the brand is. I'm not talking about the brochure or the advertisement, but the real emotional experience that exists at the core between consumer and company. How sound is the brand experience when you disregard the surface layer of marketing communications and get to the center? I've found this particular question is the single most important thing you can ask and is best answered with more questions...

We're proud to announce that our rebranding of New Sheridan Hotel in Telluride, Colorado, was featured in this month's Communication Arts magazine. Pick up the issue now and see the graphics collateral, or check our portfolio section for an in-depth look at all we've created for New Sheridan Hotel.

Whoa. These images of The North Face Standard store in Japan are amazing. I want everything in this store, twice. All the items have such brand consistency and all of it seems very functional and clean.

This is possibly the single most important, relevant, thoughtful, and influential products of modern day invention...

Our logo for New Sheridan Hotel was chosen as a winner in the 2010 HOW Logo Design Awards. It's very exciting as over 800 logos were submitted in this first year of the contest.

Wow. Just ran a search for Olivetti typewriters and I've got to say these are some of the most amazing machines I've seen. I wish this amount of detail went into some of today's designs. These are truly works of art.

In the world of film, it is rare that a sequel surpasses its original. It's much more common that the original is degraded by a series of sad successors. Examples like Ocean's 12+, Revenge of the Nerds II+, Star Wars Episodes 1-3, and anything starring Keaneu Reaves, are proof that film studios don't need a good plot to make a sequel.

I've been bit by the low-tech bug and can't stop taking pictures with my 1st gen iPhone. The image quality sucks and the pixel ratio is low, but can yield some awesome vintagesque photos doctored up with the CameraBag App and the FREE Vint Shift App

A few more can be found on My Flickr Page.

Chaun's recent music post got me thinking. Like many of us, I became swept up in the age of digital music. It began with just a few songs, but turned into some full fledged albums and I eventually accumulated a nice library of albums. Then a conversation got me thinking, and led me to a realization that I had lost sight of what makes music so important: the experience.

I stumbled across the Dollar Dreadful Family Library this morning and was amazed by the striking layout and fantastic use of typography! The page serves as a portal to a collection of short stories focusing on mystery and the bizzare. Sample reads have been generously provided, and follow the link to the Bazaarium, a store where you can purchase the short stories among several other interesting victorian goodies. The covers to the volumes look great as well.

The recent Times Square bomb scare has raised a lot of questions about national security. One of the most alarming aspects of this attempted attack was how the alleged bomber, Faisal Shahzad, came to very close escaping. While I'm very glad that Shahzad was eventually seized, the fact that he was not apprehended until sitting comfortably on a runway is more than a little disconcerting.

Out of sight! Brothers is my favorite album of the year so far.

Two news stories cropped up this week that left me thinking: is this important, or is this not important? 

We're getting some love on Behance's front page this morning for our 2009 UI Wine Promo. See the full set and more Urban collateral here. Drink, Dream, Draw.

Over at National Geographic's website, they are featuring these impressive vintage U.S. Park posters. See the whole set after the jump.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, people used really large URLs to represent locations on the net. Now days, there are a large number of URL shortening websites (like Bit.ly, SnipUrl, etc..) which translate large urls into shorter ones. This article, explains the basics of how these systems work.

Our last Urban Influence site was featured on Make Better Websites several months ago. We're proud to see the site we made for our client, Frontier Room make the list at the end of last month. There are some beautifully designed and inspirational sites featured there, with new ones added daily. Make sure to take a good look around!

If there is a Holy Grail of smartphones, this must be it. Apple even photographs it to look that way.

Great promotion stuff here for King Kong's new 3D attraction coming this summer to Universal Studios. I love the crushed Ford Explorer, hope that David Hasselhoff is alright.

It was another week at the office, and like most weeks, another student dropped off a portfolio to be considered for an internship. After our young applicant left, we dropped the black leather bound case on the pool table and unzipped it to see what lay inside. The situation was all too familiar, however the work that lay in front of us was not.

This was the first portfolio we've seen that didn't actually have any graphic design in it – No typography, layout, composition, or anything that a designer would be judged on when applying for a design job. What sat in place was a selection of well composed photographs and fine art abstract illustrations. Our applicant wasn't a designer at all, but a traditional artist looking to make the jump into the world of commercial design. Without any preconception or fear of the industry, she came in and put her work at our mercy hoping for the best...

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Coda, the newest addition to the Urban Influence family. Coda is Nate's 12 week old Miniature Australian Shepherd and one of the darn cutest dogs you'll ever meet. It's hard to have a bad day with this little guy running around (and he produces less crap within our studio than most of our old interns).

Suzuki has been making the highest quality harmonicas for the last fifty years. Take a look at some of the best designs I found, as they are literally breathtaking.

This past weekend on a trip out to Port Townsend to visit Cassandra's parents, we were curious if perhaps they had any old typewriters that had been passed down through the family. Luckily, they were in possession of an old, what I'm assuming is a 30's vintage Underwood typewriter, in incredibly good condition. It was beautiful, and in what seemed like excellent shape. Always having a fond interest in the history of typography and printing, I was surprised to realize how little I actually knew about typewriters and their history.

We're proud to announce that our design of the Beginner's Guide to SEO website has launched. It looks great and the color palette is very fitting. More great illustrations and screenshots after the jump.

I am in love with all things space and this poster does not disappoint. It's a lunar calendar brought to us by the good folks over at GraphicHug. More images after the jump.

They're sleek, they're sexy, and they've made our team's day that much better! Now if only they would activate...

No one enjoys purchasing an expensive phone only to find out that its reception is poor when you do something outrageous - like hold it. Fortunately, the minds at Urban Influence have found a cheap and ingenious solution that will not only improve your cell phone reception, but allow you to talk with life in other planets (there isn't an app for that yet). Introducing the HiFidora: the first cell phone antenna you can wear.

Frequently when developing web applications, we developers are lulled into false expectations of application performance while developing an app on a local machine. Network connection speed is an important and inconstant variable of application performance and depending on what you are developing, ignoring it until later stages of development can have regrettable consequences.

Happy fourth ya'll!!

Can't stop playing this new album by the 22-20s, Shake, Shiver, Moan.

Oh Lawd! We've been busier than a gaggle of one armed paper hangers (whatever that means). In the last two weeks we've begun several exciting new projects including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Voco, AdoptUsKids and the Crossroads Shopping Village in Carmel, CA.

Keep an eye out for developments on these new branding initiatives as well as a much needed portfolio update. We'll be back to our normal flow of super social banter shortly, so stay tuned.

I'm really liking this work from Doublenaut, a design and illustration shop run by Andrew & Matt McCracken.

It's been an especially busy month for me with my wedding just days away. Being in strategic creative makes an event like this all the more fun with opportunities to think outside the box and create a truly unique event that encapsulates our personalities and relationship. Anyone who's planned a wedding before knows there's a lot of pressure to architect the "perfect" day, however if our wedding invitations are any indication of the big day's success, then we're off to a great start.

Check out the full system in the post!

Thought this was interesting. I'm diggin' the infographic as well, it reminds of the Jordan V's in the purple and teal colorway. I didn't know Kobe has nutella as a sponsor, and Michael has AOL?!

So, Kobe or Michael? Michael, no contest. At least, not yet, ha.

If you like stuff, and if you like the internet, I highly recommend you mosey on over to Svpply.com.

I recently was introduced to the art of Dalton Ghetti, who has been doing some astounding work at near-microscopic size. To be honest, I have never seen anything like these tiny sculptures. The detail is immaculate, and it's hard to fathom how achieving it is even possible.

To be honest, I'm a huge nerd. I've blogged about one of these sites before, but that was right before we transitioned into our new format, and sadly it has been lost in cyberspace. But its worth sharing again, mostly because I've recently rediscovered it.