40th Anniversary of Nike Swoosh
This story about how Carolyn Davidson ended up getting paid $35 for designing the Nike logo never fails to keep coming up every couple of years. I remember this not just as a case-study towards the consequences of properly pricing one’s own work…but it’s also a hopeful story about how chance moments in one’s life can make a HUGE impact. (Oregonian via Quipsologies)
read moreComprehensive Website Planning Guide
I’m thinking this “Comprehensive Website Planning Guide” will be required reading in the first day of my coming semester’s Interactive Design class. There’s very little I disagree with there…I had to learn some of these issues the hard way. I particularly liked some advice about photography: Twelve professional images is better than fifty amateur snapshots. About writing for the Web: Write your first draft, Cut it in half, Cut it in half again, Add bulleted and numbered lists where possible, Send it to the...
read morePower Switch art
5,000 power switches + patient artist = awesome art (Valentine Ruhry via Quipsologies)
read moreLed Zep Covers
The other week I caught a movie preview for the US release of “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo”. There was a great soundtrack with a Led Zep cover I’ve never heard before. Turns out it was Trent Reznor with Karen O. Too bad not for sale yet…that’s a great combination. In the effort to find the sound I found this great list of “16 Awesome Led Zepplin Covers”. Some of these, like the Heart one above, just sent shivers down my spine. Great stuff. Someone ought to tell these guys we (my 1st band ever) opened up...
read moreKickstarter
I sit in this little awkward space between being a full-on geek to being completely behind the times. It’s like, I stumble across stuff that the average Joe I interact with doesn’t know about, but by the time I’ve discovered it, it’s probably something that many people online have known about for a long time. Take Kickstarter for instance, a “crowdfunding” site where you can submit your original ideas online to have people pledge money towards your original idea. It’s a great alternative method to...
read moreCMS research
So I’m spending a lot of my days lately evaluating Content Management systems (CMS). Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, Expression Engine, etc. It’s got my head spinning really. If you’re not familiar with web development, basically what these things do is provide a back-end system where you, the website owner, would be able to log in and maintain your site with little or no HTML experience. You don’t have to contact your web designer and wait till he or she has the time to update that old telephone number you posted up last...
read moreMagazine Stack Stool
It may not be the most comfortable or practical piece of furniture in the world, but I see a little bit of charm in this do-it-yourself footstool made out of old magazine stacks. My wife has me occasionally dumping out magazines I’ve collected over the months and I always feel terrible throwing them away. I end up putting it in our condo lobby “library” but I don’t think people take to reading old magazines. So this kind of project has some appeal. Maybe I’ll give it a shot… I can imagine the damn thing...
read moreBrain dumping
Allow me the chance to brain dump a little bit on ya folks out there will ya? I’m sure a good deal of you guys out there who might stumble across this stuff I write and say “who the fuck cares”, but this is as much self-therapy for me as it is for your casual consumption. What started out as a new way for me to communicate with friends when I first started working alone 6 years ago has now turned into a situation where I have like thousands of hits a month. Seriously?! I guess that’s how the Net works these...
read moreLorem Ipsum alternatives…fo shizzle
Pastrami fatback drumstick sirloin meatloaf beef ribs. Jowl pork chop beef ribs chuck, ham meatball sausage beef shank tail venison ball tip short loin sirloin biltong. Venison hamburger spare ribs, pig pork belly flank tail. Bacon shankle short loin tri-tip pancetta. Pastrami short ribs tail, flank fatback beef chuck sirloin drumstick tenderloin spare ribs. Swine strip steak pork chop fatback, spare ribs drumstick bacon t-bone meatball biltong cow tenderloin meatloaf. (via Bacon Ipsum) Lorizzle ipsum dolizzle shut the shizzle up amizzle,...
read moreIntro to font selection
I’m going to be teaching an upper level New Media class on interface design this next semester. It’s supposed to be “easy” to teach, but as is the case with any class that I’m teaching for the first time, there’s a lot of prep time involved. I figured it’s a good idea to spend the summer collecting any resources I can. Yesterday I stumbled across a good discussion about the basics of choosing good web typography. It’s no secret that I’ve always felt challenged with typefaces (I know...
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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