Doggone Creative

Here’s a competition to win a copy of this pattern generation tool at Appstorm.com:

As well as sponsoring the site this week, Patterno have kindly agreed to offer ten free licenses to a handful of Mac.AppStorm readers.

This unique app is a tiled pattern and background image generator for Mac OS X, and can be a huge time-saver for graphic designers everywhere. Patterno allows to create various images that you may use to design your site, Twitter, MySpace or just to create a new wallpaper for your desktop!

Wish me luck.

Great article by Cameron Moll about the evolution of a web site and how there are redesigners and realigners.

Thus, the differences between Redesigners and Realigners might be summarized as follows: The desire to redesign is aesthetic-driven, while the desire to realign is purpose-driven. One approach seeks merely to refresh, the other aims to fully reposition and may or may not include a full refresh. (Note that by “reposition,” I mean strategy and not physical location or dimensions.)

Read the article

The Y’s new visual system reflects our true identity: a caring, people-oriented organization that is devoted to the cause of strengthening communities. Our refreshed logo, for instance, is bold, active and welcoming, suggesting our determined commitment to social progress. Plus, the many colors reflect the vibrancy and diversity of our communities and activities.
— Logo History PDF

No matter how you feel about the new logo design for the YMCA, I think its a terrific organization. In fact, just this week I started swimming at my local Y at 5am three days/week.

Read the article.

As most software and creative professionals know, coffee is an important technology for boosting mental acuity and maintaining peak on-the-job performance.

This article is right on target.
Most specialty coffee places have been Starbucks-ized, serving over-sweetened, over-sized, poor excuses for coffee drinks. There are exceptions of course, Peets comes to mind. I believe the best places to find quality coffee (outside of Italy) are your local coffee roasters. Here in Birmingham we are fortunate to have Primavera Coffee Roasters “the best coffee east of Portland, OR”.

Read the article.

What is HTML5 and why should we all care? via swissmiss

I see this more frequently than I’d like to.

Maybe someone ought to monetize this and begin selling it as advertising space.

“Infographics help communicate information in a digestible manner as they creatively present data in an understandable and engaging format. With social media growing at an ever increasing pace, there is now a wealth of data about how people interacting with one another on the web. Naturally, infographics have proven an excellent aid in expressing high volumes of social web information in a clear, visually appealing manner.

Here are 10 infographics that prove as beautiful as they are interesting.”

http://mashable.com/2010/07/01/social-media-infographics/