QR code art
I’ve never been a huge fan of QR codes. I mean, it’s neat technology and all, and it’s really easy to implement…daresay I think in the right setting it’s probably reasonably effective too. But I couldn’t help feeling it’s too much of a trendy thing…the minute people start realizing they’re not getting that much value-added information out of these things I think its use will slow down? Anyway, I’ve been known to be wrong about trends before so I stayed pretty neutral about it...
read moreSesame Street hip hop
What’s this got to do with design? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. But being that it’s a Friday. AND I have a soft spot for both classic Sesame Street and the Beastie Boys. Well…it’s a recipe for fun. On that note, some of these clips brings a tear to my eye. Watching Sesame Street now with my boy, I rarely see some of these characters now. Grover doesn’t appear unless he’s in his “Super” uniform. Telly once in a great while. Ernie and Bert only show up in claymation. /sigh. (via Mashable)
read moreStuff to deal with…
It’s been hard to keep up with things lately…just too much stuff to do. Had to transition Kingston into school recently. The little guy seems to be doing well in terms of being able to handle by himself there without us. But I’m constantly aware that he’s a time bomb ready to come home one day carrying that germ that’ll make me sick for 2 weeks. My doctor once told me, “It’s only a matter of time…you’ll be getting sick routinely till he’s past 3rd grade” Fantastic. I had a...
read moreRunning on Empty
Beautiful time lapse photography showing how L.A. would look like without cars. Very inspirational work. Director Ross Ching’s got information about how it was all done too. Shot with a 60D and then masked in Photoshop and stitched together using Final Cut Pro. Makes me want to try this in Hawaii. Oh what would Hawaii look like without cars? HEAVEN! (via Gizmodo)
read moreCompetition Woes
I find one of the most difficult things to handle in this business is my competitive spirit. I’ve lost clients before. Who hasn’t? They might have moved on for whatever reason (e.g., we didn’t get along as well as we had liked, they found someone less expensive, they didn’t like my design style, etc.) That’s fine… Well, not fine in a sense that I enjoy having client attrition in my business. But fine in a sense that I know some of this type of activity is normal in any business and I’ve learnt to try...
read more5 networking tips
My brother overseas got a good promotion recently where he’s now in charge of business outreach for the company he’s been working for. Problem is this is the highest position he’s held yet and requires him to jump into the deep end of business networking. So naturally he calls me… Whodathunk I’d be any authority in the matter? I used to HATE networking. Standing in a crowd full of strangers trying to get anything accomplished was about as fun as tossing myself into a pond of tiger sharks in my opinion. But...
read moreDustin Curtis
Anyone who tells me they can’t find the time to blog should check out this blog by Dustin Curtis. He apparently spends about 2 days on each of his articles to make it look as good as it’s written. The typesetting on each article is amazingly different and interesting. And this comes just as I was about to make an excuse why I haven’t had the time to blog… (via TNW)
read moreFive Copywriting Errors
I’ve never professed to be a good writer. (hmm…can’t you tell from my blog?). Funny enough I actually did very well in English writing classes during my college days. Over the years, I just got lazy and carefree with my writing. In any event, when I look at some of the copy my clients provide to me for their proposed projects, it often doesn’t take me too long to recognize that it’s often too wordy or poorly organized. I then typically send the copywriting work to some of my colleagues who are better suited to...
read moreKill Adobe Flash
Just the other day a colleague of mine was looking for something to help him convert Flash SWF files into HTML5. I knew I ran across a converter before…but lo and behold it turns out Google is helping out too! Buh bye Flash. (via AppAdvice)
read moreLight-field photography
My pops found some pretty cool information about this new thing called “light-field photography” Apparently this company called “Lytro” is making a consumer level camera that can capture a full range of visible light, really freakin fast, into the camera. What it then ends up doing is creating a photo that can then be refocused AFTER you took it. (Try clicking on different parts of the photo above) No more blurry photos of your family members because your camera was focused on the asshole waving in the background....
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LoweStudio Inc was founded by me, Raphael Lowe, a Honolulu based illustrator and web designer. I presently design and manage a few dozen commercial websites, but my main focus these days is acting as the head developer for Kapiolani Community College and teaching