Ink & Paper

Despite the amazing weather in San Francisco this past weekend, I spent most of my time in the studio making posters for my Kickstarter backers. I’m not complaining, it was fun.
CQP_poster_butterflies_00.jpg
CQP_poster_butterflies_02.jpg
CQP_poster_butterflies_03.jpg
CQP_poster_goldfish_00.jpg
CQP_poster_goldfish_01.jpg
CQP_poster_goldfish_02.jpg
CQP_poster_goldfish_03.jpg
[A version of this post original appeared on The Combustion Chamber]

Categories:

Materials

Tags:

Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good iPhone at your side, kid.

Since my original iPhone, I’ve been against cases and protectors. Yes, screens can crack and make lovely spiderweb patterns you have to read through, but generally speaking, iPhones (and many other gadgets) can deal with everyday wear-and-tear.
I’ll go so far as to say I like the look of a worn, scratched up iPhone.
I comped mine up next to Han Solo’s blaster. You be the judge.
And yes, my phone still works perfectly, with no cracks on the screen.
(all iPhone photos shot with an iPhone 5 with the awesome olloclip attached, Blaster photo taken from Invaluable)
worn_blaster_and_iphone5_h.jpg
worn_blaster_and_iphone5_v.jpg
worn_iPhone5_01.jpg
worn_iPhone5_02.jpg
worn_iPhone5_03.jpg

Categories:

Materials

Tags:

Charms, Quivers & Parades

I don’t know what cascading chemical awesomeness is going down in my brain when it detects and rewards me for the act of building, but I’m certain that the hormonal cocktail is the end result of millions of years of evolution. Part of the reason we’re at the top of the food chain is that we are chemically rewarded when we are industrious – it is evolutionarily advantageous to be productive.
—taken from The Builder’s High by Michael Lopp
I suggest reading Lopp’s full post from the link above. If you dig it, read The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin too.
I’m not just rehashing Lopp’s post, spewing out bullshit lip service.
No, I’m eating my own dog food and getting high building my own things. Last week I launched a Kickstarter project, Charms, Quivers & Parades. It’s a children’s book and poster series featuring the weird & funny names of animal groups presented through colorful compositions of illustration and type.
It feels great designing something for me, not a client.
book_rendered_B1.jpg
iPad_landscape_a.jpg
iPad_landscape_b.jpg
Animal_poster_printed.jpg
poster_a_peacock.jpg
poster_a_zebra.jpg
poster_a_jellyfish.jpg

Categories:

Materials

Tags:

Bookness

David Streitfeld at the NYTimes on e-books keeping the conventions of their print ancestors:

Some functions of physical books that seem to have no digital place are nevertheless being retained. An author’s autograph on a cherished title looked as if it would become a relic. But Apple just applied for a patent to embed autographs in electronic titles. Publishers still commission covers for e-books even though their function — to catch the roving eye in a crowded store — no longer exists.

What makes all this activity particularly striking is what is not happening. Some features may be getting a second life online, but efforts to reimagine the core experience of the book have stumbled. Dozens of publishing start-ups tried harnessing social reading apps or multimedia, but few caught on.
Early television imitated radio when it first came out and the first automobiles imitated the conventions of horse carriages (the word ‘car’ is short for ‘carriage’).
Give it some time, e-books will find their voice too.

Categories:

Materials

Tags:

The Appearance of Reality Vs. Reality

I received this email last week from a Kickstarter project I backed earlier this year, KLINE. LAYERED SKETCHBOOKS & JOURNALS:

We want to acknowledge here that we are experiencing discrepancies from the manufacturer between the prototypes and final products that are currently being delivered to Kickstarter backers. We are aware of many of the issues and are actively seeking to correct them. We have a large inventory to sort and send relative to the small KLINE team, and we are doing our best to send out only good books to you, our excited backers. These hours reviewing books has led to some delays in shipping, and also has seen some defective books elude our oversight and get into the post. If this happens to you, please let us know and we will work to quickly get you a KLINE that is deserving of the aged sedimentary stone name.
This goes to show there’s more to a successful Kickstarter project than the money you raise and the quality of your pitch video. In the end you have to ship a real product to real people. It may sound like I’m trivializing money, but getting it is the easy part.
Putting that money where your mouth is and creating and then shipping your creation the way it was envisioned takes skill and hard work.
Projects you see on Kickstarter are often (but not always) the appearance of reality, not reality. The goal of the project creator is to get the real thing to come as close as possible to the ideal they presented.
When I funded my Kickstarter project last year, it was straightforward with few variables: screen printed posters and decals. Paper and ink.
Even working with just those two materials can be hard as shit.

Categories:

Materials

Tags:

WD-40 On My Home Button, Revisited

This past October I applied WD-40 to my iPhone 4’s home button because it was barely registering clicks (or double clicks) anymore.
I’m happy to report after over 3 months, my home button is working better than ever.
For anyone who was suspect of this technique, I think the coast is clear.

Categories:

Materials

Tags: