I saw this package design on Lovely Package, and it is just that. It looks like a bag of cement that I want to hang on my wall. Just got inspired all around, even if I can’t tell you what it is. That’s not a good thing overall, but I have a feeling that it’s because of a language barrier as the weight is in kilos. Columbian drug cartels stepping up their design game? Maybe.

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Holy Shit! Richard Baird brings some awesomeness to the world wide inter-web. The Designers Survival Guide is filled with tweet sized posts about our industry by seasoned professionals. I wish I had this back in college, I would have thought twice about those tuition costs. Everything you need is in here, well to get your head in the right place in this rat race of graphic arts.

Lina and I have made an addition to our little home. Her name is Josie, she’s a 12 week old ragdoll kitten. Rambunctious little monster when she’s awake. Lot’s of sleeping and eating in her daily routine. And I’m not sure if it’s the food (we switched it up) but Josie Toes can pack a smelly un-cute cat fart. Similar to being hit by a brick, but you look down and see this tiny fur ball with big blue eyes staring up at you and you can’t help but feel a bit torn in how to accept the possibility that “yeah, that just happened”.

Anyways, she adds to our quality of life around here, plain and simple.

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THE PYRAMID CODE: Want to get blown away in a sands of Egypt type of way? This five part series brings up some big questions about humanity. How long have we been here on this big round blue earth? How did they build such structures? I’m halfway in to this series and I’m so glad peopl eout there take time to make these films, our world is so interesting, and being able to peek at it for an hour a night over the week is a real treat.

WU-TANG! Protect ya neck! A big project comes out of VISUAL ID (my employer / daily providers). WESC released a headphone collaboration with RZA and Visual ID was asked to help design the new line. This project was hush hush for a while and I’m proud to say I was a minor part of the process. Mostly over the shoulder opinions and positive support, but I got to see these head wraps develop up close and personal. From sketch pad to final touches. Most of the mouse clicks and decisions were made a few feet from my desk. And it’s amazing to see the time and detail that has to be put in to create an actual headphone. Never mind the budgets and production dimensions you have to work within. Truly a grueling process when you actually focus on usability and develop new functions.

Had a big chance and was asked to design some logos for the RZA headphone, and man I’m still a bit sore from the let down. Just one of those things that you pray to work on and solve, I mean it’s RZA. In the end the cards didn’t fall in my favor, which I can easily accept. I’m just glad to be a part of the process in someway. Had a good rip at the packaging, and I can’t wait to see how it all fits together when it hits stores. Diecuts!

I love the softness and simplicity of the new headphones shape. Yeah I’m bias, but I look at them and see some comfort after 2-3 hours of use. A long airplane ride without the ear burn, what is that by the way? Just aches on the edge of your ear if you have a big round head like myself. Anyways, just glad I can use a pair next time I’m crossing the Atlantic, but who knows, maybe I’ll blow my eardrums.

Awesome work Oscar Lindblom, Niclas Svensson, Matte Wiberg, and Rasmus Rantil. Tight deadlines and all.

MORE ON THE PROJECT:

RZA CHAMBERS HEADPHONE LINE

The RZA speaks on the how it all came together.

Back to work. I missed it, I did. My chair, my white desk and my mouse. Sad I know, but as an American, I’m not used to 5 weeks of mandatory vacation. Just boggles my mind to think of that amount of time, and the money I could spend within it. Good thing the wallet doesn’t have a wallet or I’d be toast.

On the way home to Stockholm, my mom joined Lina and I up in Amsterdam, which was a real highlight for me. Good to see family, healthy really. That Atlantic is fucking big, and sometimes I can feel it’s grand-ness when it comes to friends and family.

Anyways, a big thanks to Cari Vander Yacht for letting us crash for a few nights. Your Pico De Gallo was unheard of fucking awesomely good for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Bird and I had a blast.

Above is an image I illustrated of my mom a few years back. She’s not a smurf, just chose a tonal route in some blues and greens. She is tiny though, gets smaller every time I see her. Love you Mom, come back soon and we can head back to Gilda’s for coffee.

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DON’T LOSE YOUR SOUL – Adrian Shaughnessy answers some good questions on everything graphic design in his updated version of How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul. The book has a good stand on how to maintain the important beliefs you fight for in your design career, even if those things differ for separate folks. He’s got experience, and I always think thats worth a listen. I’m 75% through it now, and I recommend the book for any Professional through first year design student. Hell, even people around the business edges of design should take a read. I like his approach, I definitely learned (or re-learned) a few things.

More soon, lots of stuff to post, but I’m gonna spread it a bit.

TIME FLYS! Appreciate every moment, even the less favorable times. Since the beginning of June there has been little time for sharing on the blog, a bit of a back burner for me these days, but important nonetheless. Some changes coming to this site and my approach, gonna make a few shifts next month.

My Big Fat Greek Vacation Started back on July 2nd (10 days ago), and I am here until the 21st. Landed on the mainland and after a few days in Athens we wandered to Naxos and Amorgos. Ios and Santorini are next on the list. All seperate islands with there own small quirks and entertainment. Almost three weeks of stimulating the Greek economy. Doing my part abroad I guess (wasn’t planned). Great people the Greeks. Polite, proud, relaxed and pretty damn good at english (big help). I also dig their flag which actually color-wise translates to almost every home here on the islands. White and Blue everywhere.

Lost it on the last ferry ride to Amorgos, never been sea sick before, but I lost these sea legs right in the beginning of that trip. Got thrown around the stall while I lost my breakfast somewhere in the Mediterranean.

More to come as internet access gets easier over the next week or so.

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Vector FLAGS OF THE WORLD. This was a score that came from a Welsh flag search. All the worlds flags in vector.

A few months back Big Dave and myself set out a big plan to bike half of the worlds longest recreational bike race in the world, Halvvättern. A lofty goal for two couch potatoes. So we started training the best way we knew how, riding our single speed city bikes around Stockholm eating hamburgers and drinking beers on sunny days. But before you knew it, and before I could even realize what was happening, my clothes getting tighter and the “carbon fiber” guy I said I never would resemble, slowly began to take shape. Oh man, was it quick, that disease is a killer (if you can call it a disease).

All said and done, we began to form our half-joking team. Team Gooch! Now for you out there wondering what a Gooch is, it’s best answered HERE. And for those of you who have ridin a bike for more than a half hour you know exactly our reason for calling it that. Plus it’s quite fun to say in a mixture of more sensible words.

Team Gooch hit the first leg of the race pretty hot. We were cruising at a good pace of 30K or so depending on wind. Full of excitement and some power we began to take a good downhill 72km (45 mph) down a mountain pass type of road into a tight corner, and then the unthinkable happened. SLAM! My poor tea loving Welsh friend Big Dave went off the road at 41km (25mph) over the handle bars. I was right behind him just watching this event unfold in complete shock. I though Big Dave was dead, or a collar bone had been bent up at least. People still speeding by us as Dave lied in a ditch while I played frogger to get to him. A few minutes later the the tides turned and Big Dave, full of mud, blood and shock, got to his feet and said “I feel alive!”. Damn was that good to hear. Definitely one of those, “did that just happen” moments. Scary.

Tough bastard that Big Dave. He rode the 110km out to finish the race. Super proud of him and Team Gooch for sticking it out. It was a blast.

Wear your helmet folks. Shit, wear a bear suit.

As spring and summer have rolled in, I began stepping away from the computer a bit, soaking in some outdoor time. Maybe because of the harsh Swedish winter, who knows? What I do know is that I began focusing on some goals outside the office, and one of those big fuckers I always wanted to tackle was a full grown Marathon. I never ran long distance in my life, maybe for gym class in high school or middle school for a mile or two max. The thought of running 26.5 miles sounded possible, but I didn’t know how to reach that distance. I took all the wrong steps in preparation in the beginning (late January) and didn’t know what the hell I was doing or getting myself into. But as with anything you put your head into you begin to learn the ropes a bit and that just fueled the fire. Opened up a whole new sub-culture world of running.

Around 18,000 people from 80 countries ran the race. Saw some pretty shameless “number two” tactics on the side of the road which I haven’t seen since my days in San Francisco. Anything goes kinda rules in this game, just to cross that finish line. One of the toughest mental battles I have ever faced and I have respect for anyone who has conquered that battle.

A big thanks to all the spectators who gave high fives and positive reinforcement when times were tough. Also a huge thanks to Early Man for making their Closing In album, without I would be in a ditch. Nothing makes the legs move like some heavy metal.

The human body is a complex miracle of nature. Have you ever done a physical endurance activity, only the next day to find new muscles that you never even knew you had? Ever been up a set of stairs in sheer pain with a stiff frankenstein like walk for a couple days? If so, you must be a runner. Blisters, sore joints and an unrelated rotator cuff click are the ailments to date.

Been training a bunch for the Stockholm Marathon. Now I’m not a big runner, never have been or ever will be, and to be completely honest, running isn’t all that fun for me. But the goal, and the path to reaching that goal is something I live for. So much knowledge behind something as simple as moving your feet. Now the science may be limited to a few key areas, such as shoes, training and friction removal (leg shaving), but the path to be able to have your body endure that distance are vast. I’ve heard everything from “just run a lot” to “minimal running and pure strength training” so as a beginner it’s hard to find what your best approach is. I’m on a learning curve until I cross that finish line.

Maybe it’s my older age, or I was naive, but the downtime I have to take after a long run is pretty shocking. 1 week I feel put back together enough to go for a long haul again, but thats a while when you talk weeks to up your distance by a bit. I took a drastic approach, not that it’s incorrect, but I felt my legs could handle the large distance jumps, and last week I wrapped a half marathon in two hours and 10 minutes approximately. Can’t really focus on going further than that as the recovery time is too long, but I can try to get faster within that distance or a little less. It’s a science in itself, but it’s also really cool cause you find out about what your body reacts too, and all the little quirks it has when pushed to the limits.

It’s amazing getting into these sub-cultures of society. Lot’s of people take running very fucking seriously, and have been moving their legs for years. I see lot’s of couples and older people, as well as your younger athletes and computer nerds like myself. It’s quite a mix, which I like. It’s almost like another language that only they can understand and feel which brings them together. I’m learning it, the rewards and such, but I’m still an amateur at best. Workin on it!

Got my hair chopped today. Now you may be asking yourself why the hell I would write about such a subject, and well the reason is, it’s a humankind unifier, all of us got a bit somewhere. Some more than others and in different areas around the human body, mine just happens to grow real fast on the top of my big head. That shit grows fast, so fast in fact I don’t even really use a steady cutting facility to take care of it (I would end up spending hundreds annually), I just let it get long until I start getting “hey lady” enough that I question my life direction and shave it all off with my sheers. Like a Chia Pet in a constant growth cycle.

Anyways, a great girl  we know here in town gave me a steal of a deal birthday gift / free chop. I took her up months later and came through today and I’m glad I did. If you have ever had long hair and cut it, it feels like you neck just inhaled a large breath of fresh air and it can relax again. Thanks a ton Åsa, see you in a few weeks.

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On to more important stuff…

FAKE DESIGN STUDIO

Got a great laugh out of this one, not sure who brought this studio to life, but the cease and desist stuff on the blog is funny. Maybe a few students for a project, or a total against the industry grain type of job application? Who knows but there office space is looking tight, must be hooked up through Apple to get thin display monitors like that, looking like a few MM from here.

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Nice weather = Less computer time = Less blog posts