Tag: Design

When you put a bunch of division symbols next to each other, they look like a stitched line. The horziontal lines are the seam. The dots are the holes where the thread goes through. I was playing with my email…

There are so many different baseball card sets, it’s interesting to see the different designs from all the years. The cards from the 80s are soooo 80s design (check out the 87 fleer design pictured above). So are the 90s…

Are you on a PC and have problems when Mac people send you fonts? One of my co-workers on Windows was having problems with Macintosh fonts that would get sent to her for ad layouts. Here’s part of an email…

I’m just about to purchase a water filter. I was thinking of getting the big momma 1.13-gallon tank (Brita Ultra-Max Dispenser). The easy-to-use dispenser would be nice for filling up water bottles or cups. And it’s so monster huge, I…

Chicagoland design agency Rule 29 asks, What’s your favorite Crayola color? So far the designers have answered: Red, Hot Magenta, Salmon, Red-Orange, GoldenRod, Raw Umber, Spring Green, Cerulean Blue (three votes), Midnight Blue. All designers and nobody has said BLACK?…

Monkey bars belong everywhere. In hallways. Along the aisles of CTA cars. In meeting rooms. Architects of the world, pay attention. Monkey bars belong everywhere! Start incorporating monkey bars into all your designs. Who doesn’t appreciate a good monkey bar?

A workspace where designers, writers, freelancers and entrepreneurs can consistently meet and get work done together. Working alone can get a bit lonely. I know. Tribune Company gave me a sabbatical for four months in 2006 where I worked by…

Dear offices that play music, What does your office play? My office plays no music, but it is interesting what other offices force their employees to listen to. Sometimes it’s just one station. Other times, it’s a group decision. Rule29,…

Ok ok. So my favorite 2008 presidential candidate dropped out the race. The man I promoted to my friends and family. The man who was gonna save our country. Now the “candidates.amung.us” application on my facebook profile put a big…

Has anyone tried using steaming orange juice to battle a sore throat? J.J. left a comment on a previous spudart.org post suggesting this remedy. I am highly suspicious that boiling orange juice will result in some sort of Godzilla monster…

If you can afford the high price of collecting real coins, maybe you’ll be able to afford the high price of collecting Upper Deck’s rare coin trading cards. It’s a great idea to make trading cards featuring high-priced coins that…

(photo courtesy Chicago Tribune) Oh Pigeon Man of Lincoln Square, With fire hydrant as your chair, You fed the pigeons with such care. You even let them sit in your hair! In 2007 a Chevrolet Geo van Struck Mr. Joseph…

Would you rather meet your great great grandparents or your great great grandchildren? This is an excellent question from Table Topics. Meeting your great great grandparents is a solid choice, because it’s nice to know where you came from and…

Many of the Reps in the Illinois House have Metra stations in their district. However, many of these Reps did not vote to pass funding for Metra. $400 billion is needed a year for Metra, CTA and Pace. Here’s a…

This octopus scarf is just so funky cool. I think I can pull it off… or can I? Honestly now, would this scarf be too girly? I think it’s got so much funk oozing out of it, that it overcomes…

Kleenex makes two types of tissue box designs: 1) The predominant designs found on tissue boxes are of the feminine aesthetic. Flowery, flowy pieces of CRAP. Narrrr! I am man! I want manly tissue box covers. 2) The other type:…

Today Chicago reveals their new logo today for their bid of the 2016 Olympic games. The previous logo featured a torch. (Critique of that logo available at Previous torch Chicago Olympic logo). The International Olympic Committee allows the torch to…

“A senior Chinese official said that 85 percent of the more than 20 million toys recalled by Mattel were caused by problematic designs from the US.” (source: China Daily) China’s all like, “take that, be-yatch!” Next thing you know, America…

Whenever you computer starts acting strange, check to see if any of your keys on your keyboard are stuck. Just now I thought that my computer was wiggin out. In Quark i could only get the hand tool. In all…

Graphic designers use a standard body of text for placeholder text: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris…

The only piece of artwork on the moon is a three-inch tall aluminum figure representing an astronaut. This work was created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck as a dedication to the astronauts and cosmonauts who died from the space…

Why does one build a supercomputer with over 600 processors? Funnyhub looked at the world’s top seven supercomputers, and I’ll summarize the findings here: Four of the seven do weapons testing. Simulations of nuclear attacks. Which is bizarre, cuz if…

Mac OS X users, put your frequently-used folders in your dock where they are very handy. The only problem is that you get a dock full of identical folder icons. How to tell the difference? Transformers to the rescue! Customize…

There’s an artist in Germany Jerszy Seymor who adds milk to potatoes, heats up the liquid, and it turns into plastic! Amazing! Then he makes little chairs and stuff out of the plastic. Nora Schmidt of kidsmodern.com wrote about Jerszy’s…

Have people at your work wear the following colors in one week: Monday: Orange (if one doesn’t have orange, then red is ok) Tuesday: Yellow Wednesday: Green Thursday: Purple (if no purple, then blue) Friday: Wild Card! (Note how the…

Does anybody have any good quotes? Every week in the newspaper spreads I design, there are two blocks for quotations. One of a humorous tone, the other is a “Words of Wisdom.” I search high and low for some interesting…

Creativepro.com reports “Adobe has officially announced that it won’t release new versions of FreeHand — not even maintenance updates.” Heh. Good ol’ Freehand. Does anyone out there have any memories of this program they would like to share? Here are…

1. Bible It’s written by God. It tells the truth. It doesn’t hold back. Everything important that we need to know is in this book. 2. Mere Christianity “Lewis employs logical arguments that are eloquently expressed.” A great book on…

Trader Joes Coloring Contest! Color the Chicago bean and get your drawing on display in the downtown Chicago’s Trader Joes grocery store. At the front door of the store they have sheets of paper with an illustration of the Chicago…

Hey. I’ve only got a few designers on my buddy list. I’m looking to add some more. Are you a designer and would like to get a random IM every week or so? Instant message me today on the AOL…

It’s fun to look back at all the different Macintosh models you have used. Here’s my list: Mac Classic (1993-1997) This was the first Mac that I learned Photoshop on at an Art Institute class. Also used at college to…