jonathan mak's tribute

Much has been made about Jonathan Mak's tribute to Steve Jobs, but regardless of the comparisons and arguments about originality, I think that this one is the best looking that I've seen. It has been around the Internet a lot since Jobs' death, but I think it's a stunning tribute worth sharing.

http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056

Copyright 2010

Unless someone else has thought of this, I hereby copyright this idea... :-)

There are many sites on the web that allow you to create "Ransom Note" style text where each letter you use is presented in a different font, or substituted with a different picture representing that alphabetic character. My idea expands on that a little (but significant) bit.

My idea is to replace whole words (where possible) instead of the individual characters, but by using images of signs from each specific locality. For instance, if someone was to type "Come see our Saturday Performance at 12345 Mainstreet, 10 o'clock am" and tag the location as Detroit-area, each of the words would be replaced with the image of that word from a picture taken somewhere around Detroit. The images would be crowd-sourced like the Human Clock site after being seeded with some Creative Commons images.

• Obviously not all words would be available, especially at the start of the project, so when that happens, the word would be replaced by random letters for each character, though still from local pictures where possible.
• Logos, recognizable signs, etc would all be fodder for the collection.
• The images should be able to be submitted by anyone, but would need to be moderated.
• Submitter should specify which word/letter they are submitting.
• Submitter should be able to cropthe image upon upload so that it isolates the intended area.
• Submitted images should be commonly sized.
• File formats should be restricted.
• Multiples for each would would be allowed and encouraged to provide more randomness.
• A needs list could be presented based on the most common words.
• A needs list could include the ones that are being used that we need to replace with characters instead.
• Users of the site would be allowed to specify a metro area or allow images from the global catalog of images.
• Once presented with a refined image, the user would be able to refresh for a new set of images if desired.
• The final image should be presented to the user as a single image for download.

Any code hackers out there that want to take a shot at this?

A picture is worth a thousand, well...

Your corporate identity, as expressed by your logo, can say a lot about you. Are you high-tech, or low-tech? What services do you offer? What are your strengths? What should someone remember about your organization? Are you a multinational conglomerate, or a small, home-town mom and pop shop? Do you sell books, or smoothies? That's an awful lot to accomplish with just a few pixels.

Graphic Design Blog has found several companies that have managed to create something that speaks volumes about their companies. There are creative logos that you'll recognize, but see in a new way from now on, and a few much less popular ones that that will make you think.

Real 3-D

There's a lot of buzz about 3-D nowadays. Seems like every movie coming to theaters is in 3-D. 3-D TVs are getting a lot of press. To really see 3-D with that technology you've gotta wear special glasses, or buy more advanced TVs, etc though. Not so with this collection of 3-D. This is pure creative expression at it's best.

Which one are you?

Little Red Paper clip

I am lucky enough to have a really good monitor (actually two) at work -- large, vibrant, crisp display. I use them extensively throughout the day as I shuffle between applications I use to perform my job duties. I also use them for something else though. I use them to remind myself of different things. Sometimes those things are represented by pictures of my family as a wallpaper, but more often than not I use images that I find on Flickr to express my mood (a tranquil sea-shot perhaps or a beautiful shot of lightning), alter my mood (a funny animal picture, or nice nature shot), or shout encouragement (see below) whenever I have a little desktop showing. I change them several times a week usually, and I let them scroll randomly through on their own as a screen saver when I'm away from the desk.

The image I have on my desktop this week is of a little red paper clip. It's a little philosophical to most, but when I see it, I remind myself that little things can turn into big things -- for better or worse.

"What the heck is he talking about?!" I know you're thinking it :-)

Several years ago, a brilliant, but eccentric Canadian decided that he was in need of a house, 'cept he couldn't afford one. So he took what he had, a little red paper clip, and decided that he was gonna trade up -- all the way to a house. Kyle MacDonald was that man.

According to the Wikipedia article:

• On July 14, 2005, he went to Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.
• He then traded the pen the same day for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington, which he nicknamed "Knob-T".
• On July 25, 2005, he traveled to Amherst, Massachusetts, with a friend to trade the Knob-T for a Coleman camp stove (with fuel).
• On September 24, 2005, he went to San Clemente, California, and traded the camp stove for a Honda generator.
• On November 16, 2005, he made a second (and successful) attempt (after having the generator confiscated by the New York City Fire Department) in Maspeth, Queens, to trade the generator for an "instant party": an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the beer of the holder's choice, and a neon Budweiser sign.
• On December 8, 2005, he traded the "instant party" to Quebec comedian and radio personality Michel Barrette for a Ski-doo snowmobile.
• Within a week of that, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, in February 2006.
• On or about January 7, 2006, the second person on the trip to Yahk traded Kyle a cube van for the privilege.
• On or about February 22, 2006, he traded the cube van for a recording contract with Metal Works in Toronto.
• On or about April 11, 2006, he traded the recording contract to Jody Gnant for a year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona.
• On or about April 26, 2006, he traded the one year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona, for one afternoon with Alice Cooper.
• On or about May 26, 2006, he traded the one afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe.
• On or about June 2, 2006, he traded the KISS motorized snow globe to Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.^[2]
• On or about July 5, 2006, he traded the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan.

In less than a year, a piece of metal less than 6 inches long (or, I guess, 15.25 centimeters since this guy is from up north), it turned into something so much bigger! And the journey was worth just as much as the final trade I suspect -- the people he met, the press coverage, the travel...

But back to my little world. My point is that often I let the little things get in the way of my accomplishing the big things. I let some little jerk ruin my day because of what s/he did or didn't do, or did or didn't say. I let those little things add up to a much bigger thing, but in a much different way than Kyle did. I need to remind myself that it's up to me what that little paper clip turns into. It can turn into a piece of metal all twisted and contorted or even broken into pieces, or it can lead to something much nicer and more fulfilling, even if it's not a new house.

My "in-your-face reminders" don't always work, but I've gained some notoriety for my desktops and now people stopping by ask me what they mean. Even the discussion with my coworkers aims to reinforce my goal. It gets them thinking a bit too... It's worth a try anyway.

Make 'em move!

Someone had too much time on his hands. Let the site load; it'll take bit. :-)

Have a Picnik!

I've written before about free on-line photo-editing site Picnik, but looks like it's worth yet another look. I was reminded of this site the other day by one of my web search bots that caught a reference to a bookmarklet that Picnik has. By using this bookmarklet, you surf to any page you want, and when you see an image you want to edit in Picnik, simply click the bookmarklet on your toolbar. Picnik loads and presents you with a gallery of the images on the site you came from for editing. Select the one you want, and edit away. Pretty cool use.

The actual bookmarklet is:

javascript:void(window.location.href='http://www.picnik.com/?import='+escape(window.location.href));

but you can grab it more easily from Picnik's site directly.

The site and the bookmarklet have both been around for a while, so I'm not quite sure why my alert bot triggered it, but it gave me a good reason to check out the site again. You should too!

Out of Bounds!

According to Hongkiat...
out of bounds (OOB) photos are post processed photos where the contents are taken outside the boundaries, presented in creative 3-dimensional perspective.

Take at look at many more of these incredible OOB shots.

Use at your own risk

One of the most ubiquitous posters of the last presidential election was that of a red, white and blue artistic representation of then Senator Barack Obama with the word HOPE underneath. The debate pits artistic license and fair use claims by artist Shepard Fairey against an AP photographer who took the source image of President Obama. You can catch up on the current status of the issue via Google News, but there is a web site now that you can use to make your own images in the similar style, with your own pictures. The site, provided by Paste Magazine is called ObamIconMe.

Create your own posters (liek this one I made of my daughter), but you might want to keep an eyes on the results of the lawsuits, just in case...

It's all in your mind...

Is this a new version of the Rorschach inkblot test? Does what you see first reveal something about you?

Is it Memorex? Or is it live?

OK, so that title relates to audio, not visual art, but that's the best thing I could think of to represent this site. The artist creates drawings so detailed, you literally can't tell that it's not a photograph! Here2See has a great post about Linda Huber and her incredible artistry, including videos. Or, you can visit Linda Huber's own site.

Linda says, "...most all of my work takes anywhere from 20-80 hours." That shows the level of skill, dedication and detail she puts into each piece. Truly AMAZING! -- and she does commissions! :-)

I challenge you to find a better photo-realistic pencil artist!

More "Get Noticed" business cards

When I was younger I used to collect business cards (and matchbooks). I had some that I remember as being pretty creative, but nothing compared to this business card gallery at Useloos.

Have you seen this one?

How many digital pictures do you have stored on your hard drive? I have over 25,000! And those are just in the directory that they're supposed to be in --not the ones that have managed to stay hidden elsewhere on the drive. They're not all award winners, but there are some really good shots in there.

No multiply that 25,000 by the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Flickr users and there's no way you can catch all the good ones. Even if you tried... Flickr helps a little by indicating a number of images are "interesting" each day. Their algorithm is their own secret sauce, but sometimes the secret recipes are the best ones...

A Daily Dose of Interesting Photographic Inspiration from Flickr provides an entire, artistically delivered screen of these "interesting" Flickr images. It's interesting [pun intended] to just site back and watch as the images flicker before your eyes. Like other photo gallery sites, a simple click on the image will enlarge to show more detail and citations. The images change daily (or by a randomize button) so enjoy a changing glimpse into the world through other's lenses.

Ah, the good 'ol days

I remember in high school, I thought I had big ears for some reason and so I used my hair (I had a lot more back then) to hide them. I didn't have long hair, I graduated in the late eighties, but it was longer than it maybe could have been. I gained a little self confidence after that and cut it shorter and I've been losing it more and more quickly ever since.

I haven't' looked at my own yearbook in quite a while, but if you have a recent digital picture of yourself you can relive those glory days regardless of when you graduated by visiting the Yearbook Yourself site. Upload a face shot and it adds the background (big hair and all) for the last several decades worth of graduation pics. Wow and I glad I didn't graduate in an earlier decade... :-)

Fontasy

I'm no doctor, but sometimes my handwriting is just as bad. I'm strong enough to admit my weaknesses, that's why I type everything I can instead (auto correct and spell check is a handy side benefit). My creativity comes in the mental arena, solving problems, out of the box thinking, etc, not the physical side of things like building, drawing, designing, etc. If I was more adept at that side of the arts, I might fancy a site like the FontStruct site at FontShop. That site allows you to build an entire font from scratch, online, for free! Let your right brain go while and get a little crazy, or simply express your own personal style. The site is full of powerful tools, some of which are demonstrated int eh video below. Make your own characters, pictures, etc and assign them to standard keyboard letters. Once done, save your font as a normal True Type font and use it to show the world how creative you are.

Camera Protection

Digital cameras can be expensive and costly to replace, but if you lose yours, the first thing that you're likely tyo think about is the lost pictures, not the lost camera.

I saw a very useful tip while surfin' around tonight. On the Daytipper site, it was suggested that you create an image that has your name and phone number on it and put it on your camera as img_001.jpg or whatever is appropriate for your camera. The idea is that if an honest person happens across your camera when lost, they'll be able to track you down and return it (with the irreplaceable pictures still intact it's hoped).

I did this one little step better by making this the image that shows on my camera's LCD when you turn the camera on or off as well. I included my name, address and phone number as well as a note about a reward for extra incentive.

Save trees. Trees save.

My wife and I encourage our kids to reduce, re-use and recycle. We teach them to care for the environment. We teach them to value life - no matter how small.

My kids have organized recycling campaigns. They've made posters to "Save the Earth." They've helped with returning cans and bottles.

I think that they'd like this un-sourced advertisement. It's very understated and yet very powerful. It simply says, "Save trees. Trees save."

Holding the sun

Again, if you've got email, you've probably seen at least some of these already, but I think that they're pretty cool. You can see a lot of pictures of people holding the sun here from Google's index.

This UK newspaper article (the source of the left image) has several images as well.

There are several things about these images I like. First is just the imagination of the photography. It's thinking outside the box. Taking something ordinary, someone in a picture with the sun, and making it something completely unexpected -- not boring.

The second is the irony. In this picture...someone so small, fragile and innocent, taking control of something so massive, explosive and that so many other people in the world depend on for life. Literally holding the world's well being in her hands. You can almost see her toying with the idea of smashing her hands together, extinguishing the light.

When my wife and I got our first digital camera several years ago, it really freed us. We didn't need to be concerned with how many pictures we took and had to pay to get developed hoping that at least a couple would turn out good. Now we work the odds. We take a ton of pictures, at no expense (using rechargeable batteries) and get a lot of great pictures. I try to be a little creative with some of the ones I take, trying different perspectives, shooting up from down low, or shooting something really close that you wouldn't usually notice. I'm no professional by any means, but I have fun with it. I think that the people that took these shots do too.

The NEW iPhone is here!

OK, well maybe it's the old iPhone, but it's a lot cheaper! Follow the link, print it out on a color printer on cardstock, fold, and voila!