2007 MN State Fair Podcast
Poetry on a Stick
I Voted for Gummi Bears
2005 MN State Fair Blog
The Whole Note
I Wish I Had A River
France
2003 MN State Fair Blog
The World Revolves At 500 RPM
Community
Mayday, 2002
February 07, 2009
IKEA hack
I needed a laundry hamper. IKEA trip! But looking around, they only had crappy metal, bright plastic hampers, or ugly-ass rattan things. I did find a few things that were close, so I hacked 'em together. Here's how:
So I got two items, a small VACKER shelving unit and a NATURLIG laundry basket. The VACKER had the type of framing that I wanted and the NATURLIG had a nice canvas bag.
Step 1: Tear up the instructions.
So problem number 1: I was going to use the shelves as a front and back. The top and bottom of the VACKER are supposed to go as shown, but the top and bottom and shelves weren't square, which meant that for the shelves to fit ...
...they'd have to go like so. But, the rails of the front going perpendicular to the ground while the rails of the sides going parallel to the ground didn't look so hot to me.
Everything works if you turn the top and bottom 90 degrees, but you'll have to drill all new holes. Not a problem.
Here's a little tip on lining up new holes. Just drill through the first piece and insert the screw so it just pokes out. Put the two pieces together how you want them, and squeeze them together.
Now the second piece has a mark where you drill. (This seems obvious, but I'm amazed how often I'm working with folks who hadn't learned this.)
Sides together.
Front and back together. The original unit had a top, bottom, and two shelves, which meant I had one shelf left over, perfect for a lid.
The lid was just hinged with two screws, but we needed a stop for the front. The unit came with a few dowels for the shelves, so might as well use them. I placed the lid in the flat position, and drilled where the dowel needed to go.
Dowel hanging out.
And seems to hold just fine. But it's bigger than it needs to be.
Cut that mofo in half.
Fill the holes with glue and put each half in, cut side in, so it looks all professional like.
Open up the NATURLIG and pull out the canvas bag. (We assembled the NATURLIG sans bag and are using it for recycling.)
Tuck it in under the lid stops in the front...
...and take the tiny bit of slack in the back.
Badda bing, badda boom, you got yourself a hamper that doesn't look like ass.
Took about 30 minutes.
- #
- 2 comments
July 28, 2008
Gimme that Beat
I had a need for a probability drumbeat generator, but couldn't find one, so I created one.
What exactly is that? Well, if you know what a step sequencer is, it's like that, except instead of toggling a hit on and off, you give it a probability of triggering.
I don't know if anyone else will find it useful, but I do. Hit me up if you get any use out of it.
August 28, 2007
Yes Virginia, I am bad at self-promotion
The Minnesota State Fair hired me to produce a podcast for them. Listen online or subscribe via iTunes.
March 19, 2007
Who needs Nov. 4 when you have MySpace?
Here's a running total of the presidential candidates' MySpace friend-counts.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
ain't got no friends to see.
This is a dynamic list, so come back anytime to see the latest.
Oh, and these are all of the candidate MySpace pages I'm aware of. If I'm missing one, let me know. I'll add it.
March 16, 2007
Reach the hired ground
Finally (!!!) updated my portfolio. A special prize to anyone who gives feedback.
November 03, 2006
A double-cross for the rest of us
If you voted today using a touch-screen voting machine, feel free to download this image and print it on your favorite sticky paper.
It's probably a little more accurate than the normal one you got.
October 29, 2006
Happy Halloween
I followed this guy's tutorial to make this year's pumpkin. Took about two hours. Anyone know how to preserve something like this? (Although part of me wants to put this guy out of his misery as soon as possible. Any cool ideas for how to send him off?)
October 25, 2006
Résumés for designers
Quick! What’s a designer’s job?
A few of you just out of art school just said, “To make things look cool.” That’s cute.
The rest of you said something like, “To organize, synthesize, and present information in a clear and compelling way as appropriate to the client’s brand.” That’s the right answer. Gold star for you.
So, why does your résumé suck?
(Now, of course, I haven’t seen your résumé, but I’ve been involved and/or responsible for hiring designers in every job I’ve had over the last 13 years, and in doing so, I’ve seen résumés from thousands of designers. And they all sucked, so I’m guessing yours does too.)
Take a look at your résumé. (Go ahead, I’ll wait. You’ve got a big enough screen. Bring it up over there on the other side of the screen.)
This is going to be tough, because a designer’s worst client is him/herself. (That’s why most major design firms hire someone else to do their identity work.) You have to separate your critical-design mind from your client mind.
Take a look at it as you would a designer critiquing a colleague’s design comp. What does your résumé communicate? Most likely, it communicates nothing more than the fact that you have actually existed for longer than today. I’m not talking about the copy or headings. I’m talking about what the page graphically communicates.
What’s your brand? Are you a bleeding-edger who provides value by innovation? Are you a jack-of-all-trades who allows small firms to have a resident expert for everything they need all wrapped up in one hire? Who are you? What’s your brand?
Does your résumé communicate that? (Seriously, stop with the “but right there I use the word ‘innovator’” ‘cause words don’t mean shit when the design says “I’m just like everyone else.”)
Here’s a typical résumé with word blocks turned into value blocks.
So, what does this design communicate? Not much, huh? To be fair, even as résumés go, it’s a bit of a mess. (But pretty typical.) So let’s take a look at what LifeClever came up with as the ‘after’ in a résumé makeover.
Okay, so what does this layout tell us? Well, maybe that this person has some sense of hierarchy, and that they’re stable and solid. That could be good for an accountant, but that’s not usually so good for a designer.
(Another side note: We’ve just looked at layout so far. There’s more to design than just layout, but if the foundation is rotten, no amount of gingerbread is going to help.)
So what would a dynamic, energetic layout look like? Maybe something like:
If I, as an Art Director, got this résumé, it almost wouldn’t matter what the text actually says. (Of course I’d read it, and the design would have to support the content, but you get what I’m saying.) The design itself shows me that this person is creative, experimental, risk friendly, but above all, willing to make appropriate choices to serve communication even (and sometimes especially) when those choices are unconventional.
Remember, your résumé is seen long before your portfolio. Even if you have your portfolio online, a dozen people will forward your résumé to the next desk before anyone bothers with your portfolio. If I have a stack of 30 résumés from which I need to pick five, and 29 of them are inappropriately designed by people who should know better, and that 30th one makes me believe that person actually understands how design plays a role in every aspect of this world, including their résumé, guess which one I’m going to forward on to the next desk.
So, think of your résumé as your ‘portfolio scout.’ Make your résumé good enough to be included in your portfolio as a design piece.
To put in another way, only one out of 10 people are going to see your portfolio. Don’t you care if those other nine think you’re a good designer?
A few more notes:
I’ve heard concerns before that the first people who filter résumés (human resources) don’t have the design sensitivities of the art or design directors, and therefore won’t “get” a highly designed résumé.
That’s a load of crap for a bunch of reasons. Here are the top three:
First, you shouldn’t design for design directors. You should design for people, and that includes HR folks. The job of the designer is to make information EASIER to understand. If you do your design job correctly, they should wish all résumés were as easy to understand as yours. It is inappropriate to let graphic-vomit overwhelm the content. Design enables content. Form, function, yadda yadda yadda.
Second, I’ve found time and time again that design culture permeates every part of the design business world. If the HR department is scared of anything out of the norm, you can bet the design group feels the same way. Is that where you want to work? As the adage goes, when you interview for a job, you’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you. A résumé is a quick first pass of applicants for a company. It can be just as much a first pass for candidates.
And third, HR folks are smarter than you think. Remember that it’s their job to find good candidates. How many times have you wished people who don’t have design degrees would just let you do your work, since you’re an expert in design and they’re not? Well, just let them figure out if you make the first cut. They’re the experts.
Last note: Most of you are saying, “Okay Mr. I-Know-So-Much-About-Design, let’s see your résumé!”
Okay. Here ‘tis. (And my brand is something around distilling the data of narrative stories into clear visuals.)
So let’s see your résumé.
September 26, 2006
What?
Update: Well, the bandwidth for this post is becoming too expensive, so I've gotta pull the plug on my files. Jimmy has posted a little Flash app with similar tones.
So maybe you've heard about this story, maybe not.
Here's the 10-second version:
Most humans are born with the ability to hear frequencies from about 20 Hz (low) up to 20,000 Hz (high) but that range shrinks as we get older. A guy in England figured that meant kids can hear things adults can't - specifically, very high frequencies. He created a device that pulses an annoying tone at about 15,000 Hz with the idea that when the device is used, it will repel kids while being unnoticed by adult. Perfect for solving that youth-loitering problem you've been having in front of your shop.
Okay, so that was, like, 15 seconds. I owe you five.
Steve posted links to two samples of the device. He could only hear the sound in one of the samples. I too could only hear the sound in one of the files.
Being the skeptic that I am, I smelled a rat. Did the sound even exist in the other one? Time to open my spectral analyzer to find out.
Damn, there it is. That big peak just above 15,000 Hz.
I lowered the pitch just a tad, and started to hear it.
I then wondered where my frequency threshold was, so I made a few sample tones.
10,000 Hz
11,000 Hz
12,000 Hz
13,000 Hz
14,000 Hz
15,000 Hz
16,000 Hz
17,000 Hz
18,000 Hz
19,000 Hz
20,000 Hz
21,000 Hz
22,000 Hz
23,000 Hz
24,000 Hz
25,000 Hz
Mine's at about 15,000 Hz.