Gift Ideas for Designers

adobe pillows

Rest your head on your favorite application in between projects.

External Drive

Design rule #1 Back up your Back up!

SLR

Create your mood board with shots from your own camera.

Template book

Add some 3 dimensional work to your portfolio.

Complete Adobe Suite

The complete adobe design suite, you better have been a good boy or girl this year to get this one.

Pantone mugs

Can’t think of a more appropriate mug for a designer than these Pantone Mugs. We love our coffee!

DVD

Hate it or love it, its a great documentary.

Magnets

Photoshop magnet workspace, good stocking stuffer.

Album Cover Design, behind the scenes

I was looking at a blog a while ago and came across an artist who paints shapes on inanimate objects then photographs it. Then I saw the cover of the latest Jay-Z album,

To my Designer friends

I came across this, its pretty hilarious, Im sure we can all relate.

Beats by Dre

beats by dre

Headset Box

If you’ve watched music videos lately hen you have seen these headphones popping up in all the new videos. Even Dr. Pepper wanted to get in on

SideHack

SideHAck

Its not a secret that I’m a big fan of the show Rob & Big and Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory. The last episode introduced a cool new product supposedly sold at Walmart called the Impakt Sidehack. Its a new take on an old product.

A computer for people like us (Designers)

tablet built in

I was recently talking to a fellow designer about buying a new tablet because my tablet doesnt even fit in my laptop case. This morning I found an article about a new concept laptop which has the tablet built in under the keyboard. Hopefully Apple will design a more sophisticated version that will incorporate the keyboard.

Be a Hero

DJ Hero Console

Im sure alot of people have heard rumors about DJ Hero, well the rumors are true. If your not a gamer – thats ok- im not one either but these Hero games are pretty fun. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big fan of video games anymore, however, the Wii is a great system. In the 80′s I was untouchable in Mario bros. in the 90′s I was all about Sonic and Mortal Kombat, eventually I got playstation but I think I out grew it by that time thats (except GTA 4). It wasnt until 2006 when I met my roomate the real Guitar Hero who introduced me to the game. I thought it was gonna be hard to play until I picked up the guitar and actually played when no one was around. 25 years old and I found myself asking Santa Clause for Guitar Hero for x-mas. Now im 27 and DJ Hero will be on my list pretty soon. I always wanted a DJ set since the late 80′s, watching video music box on public access.  Guitar hero is cool but hip hop has been a big part of my life since I was a little kid. Too bad hip hop is dead. If you pay close attention to new Kid Cudi video- Poke her face, there is a short cameo from DJ Hero. Cudi is one of the featured artist in the game along with the beastie boys, black eyes peas, David Bowie, LL cool J, and many more.

dj hero screen

above is a shot of what the game looks like. It doesnt have as many buttons as Guitar Hero but it that doesnt mean it will be easier.

Oh Boy

And if guitars and turntables arent your thing, maybe you’ll like Accordion Hero, lol. This cant be real!

http://www.djhero.com/

New Touch Phone 3g from Tmobile

New touch phone from tmobile

As many of my friends know, my phone has been cracked and broke for many monthes. JM if you have the insurance why dont you get a new one? Because I would have to pay $100 just for them to replace it, which to me makes no sense when my contract ends in a few monthes and I can get a whole new phone and maybe switch servers. In addition, these damn companies keep making cool phones every 6 monthes, so right when you feel like the head honcho with your fresh new blackberry another blackberry has just been released. I went to T-mobile yesterday to pay my bill and saw this cool poster for their new phone the MY TOUCH 3g. As a tech geek, I did smile when I saw the poster but im trying to stay strong in my persuite to simplicity. My plan was to get rid of the blackberry and take a few steps back. This morning I decided to check out the phone on Cnet.com. The over all look of the phone is attractive but personally I think the perfect phone would be a mix of blackberry and touch phone. Why cant they design a sexy touch phone with a tangible qwerty keyboard. I do not think a touch keyboard is logical in the fast paced world we live in. I can type 10 times faster with my blackberry than anyone with a touch phone. Im undefeated! I think touch phones are cool for browsing the web and playing games but we live in a world of multitasking and I dont see it very possible to type on this phone as efficiently as a blackberry. I think they are doing a great job of marketing this product, it is very young and fresh.

The future of iPod

Future of iPod

Nothing stops creative people from making their dreams a reality. We went from Records to A-tracks to Cassettes to Cd’s and now we have MP3′s. After reading “The Laws of Simplicity” today I decided to invent my own iPod. The book was talking about technology thinking for us, for example when you log on to amazon.com there is a small list of thumbnail items that amazon suggests for you based on your previous purchases. In short, amazon is saving you time from surfing and putting items that they think you like right in front of you. What if an iPod played music based on your mood? The same way a mood ring changes color based on your mood, the ipod responds to your mood and plays music from a mood play-list. So if your running on a treadmill and your body heat increases the iPod may or may not change color but the iPod will shuffle your workout music. If you are hanging out, drawing in your sketch book the iPod will shuffle your creative play-list. This product does not exist, it is just a visual figment of my imagination.