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Get this CrazyShirts pullover while they’re still available. Designed by yours truly, it’s a great way to show your patriotic side. It’s a high quality garment you’ll be proud to wear. Check it out here.

So I may not stand a chance at winning, but I decided to enter the Core77 Design Awards Contest. I submitted a brochure that I’ve designed for PCSC. I entered the Visual Communications category. Unfortunately the submission process is all electronic, for instance, you upload images and a video testimony. I think for this particular brochure you need to hold the actual document to properly judge it. The combination of spot gloss UV coatings, custom metallic PMS blue, and dull aqueous coating make it intriguing. Sure, it’s not the best example of typography or over the top creativeness, but then again, it is a corporate brochure for business-to-business electronic products. And there is something to be said about keeping it simple, it’s not always the easiest thing to do.
Anyway, you can check out all the details here.

My latest experimenting… I was recently introduced to Augmented Reality. I had heard of it, but did not pay too much attention, that is until I saw it in action. Making paper virtually come alive and interactive is exciting, and it’s only going to get better with time. It complements printed material, bringing depth to the flat printed piece. I can think of endless design possibilities with this technology. I was intrigued and figured I would give it a try. Already familiar with 3D modeling and using Unity Software I made a couple test sample apps for iOS. The future is here!

I wore my first Crazy Shirts tee back in the 80’s when my age was a single digit. I remember it was a plain white t-shirt, it was quality cotton and very smooth, yet thick. The shirt had a small Crazy Shirts logo’d label sewn into the bottom left front. It was a handed down shirt from an older friend, and it was one of my favorites. Fast forward many years, I had forgotten about the Crazy Shirts brand entirely. On my honeymoon in Maui I noticed a Crazy Shirts store and the nostalgia hit me. My wife and I bought many shirts that week. Upon my return to the mainland, I inquired about designing shirts for Crazy Shirts and found out that they do indeed take submissions. Long story short, I recently received my first check from Crazy Shirts and my designs will be among their catalogs soon. Check out their clothing line at crazyshirts.com

Well it’s not really here yet, but inside my mind and computer it is. This is just a concept video rendering I put together in a matter of hours. If only developing a product was really that easy! Anyway, I can’t wait to see the real thing and the rumor today is that it may arrive later this year.

My latest hobby project has been building the iWebClips.com site. It’s based on my previous experimental site SwatchPix.com. The site helps you to create custom web clips for your iOS device. It’s obviously not a new concept, but I’ve added some new features. For instance, you can now create QR codes that allow user’s to quickly add your web clip to their iOS device just by scanning. My premium custom services are great for businesses who want quick-to-market web apps. Distributing the unique “GO code” allows others to install your targeted web clip on their device. Premium services allow you to update the URL, name and image at anytime. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPad, please stop by iWebClips.com and give it a try. If you’re looking for a new marketing tool, I’d suggest trying my custom services.

I took this photo 1-year ago, 3 days before Steve Jobs passed. Today, October 5th marks his death. I’ve named the photo foreshadowing. I was walking down State Street in Santa Barbara, it was early morning and my family and I had just stepped off a coastal cruise aboard Princess. I saw the sign on the Apple Store casting the shadow on the brick walkway, grabbed my iPhone and took a snap. Two days later while we were sailing south along the Pacific coast, inline with Cupertino I might add, the news came over our cabin television. For those that care, I’m sure we all remember the spot we learned the news. I just hope Apple lives up to the legacy and continues to innovate ahead of the rest! http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

Just downloaded SketchBook Express from AutoDesk, a free App on the Mac App Store. I don’t have a stylus or a drawing tablet at my desk so I gave it a try with the ‘ol mouse and sketched up a quick concept car. Not bad for a free App, although it’s buggy on my Mac Pro, some of the options, such as selecting brush opacity and angle from the selector puck are not working as they should be. It also appears that you’re limited to the number of Layers. I could really get into using this for some fine art fun, just need to get myself a stylus and drawing tablet. Give it a try, I think you’ll like it!

I stumbled across Cheetah 3D for the Mac OSX on the App Store several weeks ago and wanted to try it out. To my surprise it is a very intuitive 3D application. I’m fairly proficient with basic modeling techniques in Maya, and I have to say, Cheetah 3D is a much easier tool to produce decent and quick results. Check out the video of a cartoonish style women’s head. I modeled this with polygons and subdivision and textured this within several hours without any prior training or use of Cheetah 3D. I’d highly recommend this App. I am considering writing an iBook with some general tutorials for modeling basic human heads as seen here.

Is it a rumor or for real? Ready for the new Apple iDeskPhone? Simply a concept Photoshop’d design idea I had for Apple to take-over the home / office phone market. We all still use a desk type of phone in the office most of the time. Some of us still have phones in our home. So why not a wireless / WiFi / Cloud enabled phone that takes advantage of FaceTime. Similar to an iPad’s touch screen the “iDeskPhone” could sync with all your other mobile devices for contacts and perhaps iTunes playlist’s for “on-hold” music or customized corporate messages. Built-in camera could switch between the iDeskPhone’s camera and other webcams at your desk for multi-views during conferencing. How about displaying multiple people’s faces while on a conference group call? Voicemail management and Calendars could all be integrated and sync. Ask Siri for the Plumber’s number and call from here. Use home or office security based iPad apps and for IP based camera views (ah, yes some one is knocking at my front door or waiting in the lobby, let me see who it is while I’m on this call). Facial recognition could also play a roll in an advanced desktop phone (switch address books and users, if other people sit at your desk or workstation area!). What do you think? Come on Apple, hire me, I can help dream up ideas too! Pst… my contact form is on this site.