Dear Santa
Dear Santa, The following is a list of just some of the items I want for Christmas this year. I know in the past I’ve written these letters in the hopes of getting items that will make my life ever so complete, but I usually don’t get any of these things. What’s up with that? I know…perhaps you’re too busy reading silly children letters instead of coming here to my great blog to read my list. Perhaps since I’ve moved you can’t find my address (hint: Google maps)? Or maybe perhaps some of the items on...
read moreIt’s like twitter, except we charge people to use it.
A friend of mine sent me a funny link to this site posting an email exchange between a graphic designer and a client. It gave me a good laugh. I can certainly relate. While I have yet to give as cynical response like this to one of my own clients, I’ve been in situations like this where people have approached me to design them something for free in lieu of being “in on the next big thing” “It’s like Twitter but we charge people to use it” ROFL If you have some time to read some of his other posts as well...
read moreA little of this…a little of that.
I can’t believe it’s December already. It’s just going way too fast. Each day is a blur because with a toddler around everything is just focused on him and before you know it, it’s 9pm before you feel like you have any “downtime”. I give single-parents credit…parenting is an insanely trying task. I can’t imagine doing it on my own. There are times where I’m folding the 2nd load of laundry (in as many days) at 11pm at night thinking, “how the heck did this happen in my life?” ...
read moreUnder the Dome Bookcover
I don’t have as much time to read as I used to. Which MAY possibly be just another contributing factor to my design blocks in recent weeks. I’m thinking about this new book from Stephen King called “Under the Dome” which sounds like a good read. Interesting that Amazon had this little tidbit about the design of the bookcover: “The jacket concept for Under the Dome originated as an ambitious idea from the mind of Stephen King. The artwork is a combination of photographs, illustration and 3-D rendering. This is a...
read moreGet on the Good Foot
If I can sum up this year…I’d say it’s been a huge life change. 10 months after Kingston arrived in my life it’s been amazingly rewarding and yet amazingly frustrating at the same time. The amazing parts are obvious. If you don’t have a child in your life yet (wait don’t rush into it!), it’s hard to explain, but even the SMELL of your child is invigorating. No, we’re not talking about the stuff that comes out of the bottom end. But the smell of his hair, his face, even his baby breath is...
read moreCaught in the Act
Kingston’s 10 months old now. He’s gotten to the point where he’d be considered actively mobile? I guess that’s the fancy way of saying he can get to where he wants to go whenever he wants to go. Case in point…here I’ve caught him in the act of touching my audio equipment. I think he has a little bit of an idea that he isn’t supposed to go there. See how he looks at me while he does it? Oh yeah, those are the eyes of a guilty party I know it. I can’t quite figure out how to discipline him yet....
read moreNew Lightroom
I just finished my last evening of a series of non-credit photography classes yesterday. Overall I found it to be fun. In the 2nd class I don’t think I learned quite as much as I’d like to simply because it was a critique class and as these typically go…critique is often not quite as direct and harsh as is helpful. You know, sometimes you want people to look at your photo and say, “You know Raph, that photo really sucks because you didn’t put the flash in the right spot” Instead, what you typically hear is...
read moreEye-tracking
A couple of my colleagues sent this link around lately. It’s a WIRED article that’s a couple years old already about Eye-Tracking Billboards. Try as I might I can’t find any more recent articles about this technology so I don’t know if it was an idea that just phased out of if there have been any test trials of this yet. But I found it interesting. As a consumer, my initial gut reaction was to reel back from this a bit. It feels a little “ooogey”…a bit like they’re invading my privacy....
read moreDaniel Rybakken
I thought this was a very interesting concept where psychology meets art meets interior design. Artist Daniel Rybakken created this end-table that projects an illusion of sunlight coming through a window. You might think, “What’s the point of that?” But in practice, light can be shown to give a perception of expanded space. So if you’re stuck in a claustrophobic small window-less room, something like this might actually help. Check out his other work, he seems to have several projects involving perception and...
read moreWhen I grow up…
OK, I got a good laugh out of this one. (spotted on Monster-Munch) On that note, what’s with all the sex scandals coming off of pageant women anyway? NOT that there’s anything wrong with it… *wink*
read more
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