This is hilarious. 

I heard about it on Net@night last night, then Holy Cow and Neeraj posted to it as well…

By the way, don’t cliclk on the link to College Humor, it’s vulgar and well…Frat house humor…

Gather around all you Fu Man Chu loving designers…

The MKLotus from Michelle Kauffman.

This is a brilliant little prefab model starting at $125,000. The basic floorplan is fantastic with upfront living space open to the kitchen than back to the bed/bath.

I really love it; I love the built in veranda and the grassy knoll on the roof. I love the accordian wall of glass and the open floor plan with tons of glass.

Inhabitat featured it last fall.

I don’t know about you, but viewing blogs in a newsreader is ok, but I at least try to be a designer so I need a little more.

I use the built-in newsreader in Safari. I primarily use it to so if there is anything interesting to read…if so, I actually click in. Reading all content through the lens of the same basic RSS page isn’t enough. Design lends itself to the character, personality and style of the individual. So when I read your blog through the backdrop of an RSS page or the backdrop of your flower page or your clutter free page or your web 2.0 page…it makes a difference in how the content affects me.

Don’t be satisfied by bloglines, google reader, rss bandit or the rest. Taste your content with a little extra flavor. It makes a difference.

All that to say, in May, before I leave for France at the end of the month, I will be moving to a new domain, new design, and hopefully leave you with a new way to frame the content you see here.

I’ll let you know when the big launch will be…big to me at least. or fun I should say…

I so wish I could have my garage bulldozed, and have one of these delivered to my backyard…I’m not sure it would totally fit in to my north-side ghetto-ish alley.

I’ve always imagined having some sort of structure detached from the house where I could office and lounge…and maybe have a gameroom…

The Kithaus would be perfect, if not for the location and likelihood of having it broken into and everything valuable stripped…

Last week I shared 3 Easy Ways to Lose Your Identity. This week, I thought I’d flip it around.

Maintaining your identity essentially means you will be intentional about looking on the outside like you really are on the inside.

1. In the words of Buddha, “Be One With Everything.”

In everything you do, maintain one front, one ethos, one spirit that is supported by the overall purpose of your organization. Don’t stray from your purpose. What drives your organization? That should drive your identity too. Remember that identity design is simply about making your outside appearance match the inner heartbeat of the organization. Don’t let the two go in different directions.

2. In the words of Outkast, “So Fresh, So Clean.”

Maintaining your identity doesn’t mean that the same look you had back in ‘88 should still be lingering in ‘08. Your audience changes and so should you. Freshen up. Clean out. Your logo might stay the same, but you can modernize your logo without changing everything. Subtle shifts in color to keep the palette current or even font variations can help you keep your look familiar to your long-term audience while growing and reaching new markets. Don’t be afraid to freshen up a bit.

3. In the words of Madonna, “Express Yourself!”

What’s brilliant and innovative about you. What do you do that sets you apart from the next organization? Your Identity should express yourself. Take all that is unique about you and let your audience know about it and celebrate it. If hip hop is your sound and your culture, then don’t be trendy and scenester. If you use flashy media in your worship services, don’t dilute your print materials by keeping them mundane. Your potential audience needs a reason to choose you over everything else in their lives. Show them why you’re unique and you just might give them a good enough reason.

Still looking for someone to slice it up into a Wordpress Template for me.

I’ll trade design work if you’re interested…

Wouldn’t this make a great cabin retreat?

I love the emergence of modern prefab housing. My wife, well, she loves Shabby Chic…Maybe there will be a compromise there someday…

Anyway…check out the weehouse…

Sustainable, clutter-free, simple, beautiful, delivered to your lakeshore.

I’m such a nimrod with css, but I can’t stand these wordpress templates… I’m designing my blog tonight.

Anybody want to cut up the css for a Wordpress Template from an Illustrator file for me? I don’t want to pay for it. But maybe I figure out how to do it myself…much faster if you help me though…

1. Have too many of them.

Not everything in your organization needs a name, logo and stylesheet all to itself. When you overbrand, you dilute your core message. When everything has it’s own identity, you end up competing with yourself. It’s like Fight Club all over again.

2. Borrow it from Someone else.

It’s easy to get inspired by design. Somethings are just drop dead beautiful. But it’s hard to be yourself, if you’re trying to be somebody else. Be inspired, but design yourself, don’t design to be somebody else.

3. All Sparkle, No Substance.

Design is great, when it communicates truth. if you’re trying to sell yourself as more than you really are, eventually, people will figure you out. You can only fool people for so long. A candy coated brussels sprout isn’t going to hide the bitter taste when you bite into the core.

As a designer, I’ve been guilty of all of these, but I always strive to be a better communicator.

Neeraj wrote a little about Redwire and being an entrepreneur. 

He pointed to this piece we just did for a good friend and client with a great business model and skills to match. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8&rel=1]

this is just for you. you. the one person who reads this blog. stare at my forehead. do it. seriously.

that’s the way it’s gonna be. until I get the gumption to actually design this blog, you can stare at my forehead. sorry.

i hate wordpress themes…!

We went live with the brand spanking new Love Minneapolis site this week. I really like how this one turned out. It just felt right as I was designing it.I’m excited to see the impact that Love Minneapolis will continue to have on our community. 

so i thought I’d provide a few links to some sweet greens:

Inhabitat  I’m really into this blog lately. So much good stuff, it’s heading to the blogroll.

TreeHugger. Deep well of information. Start clicking and you may find yourself at the center of the onion.

The Green Guide. Genuinely Practical.

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day. Mmmm. Lemon Verbena Green Clean. 

Redwire is just now completing this site for David Billingsley.

I’m excited for David to start using this site as a promo piece and blog to keep his student’s families up to date.  

These came to the office today. 

They are way more beautiful in person than on the website. 

You can get your own here.

I just bought this in support of this.
I’m a sucker for beautiful design. 

Communications Revolution - Terry Storch
If you’re not there yet, it’s time to go to Web 2.0
Web 2.0 simply stated is The Participatory Web
(Enabling and Encouraging Participation, the relinquishment of communications control to viral methods and utilizing God’s people to deliver the message.)

Four C’s of Multicultural Marketing - Tracy Lewis
Cultural Awareness - eliminating fear, perception, criticism, preconceptions, doesn’t imply endorsement
Commitment - Long Term
Creativity - throw out the box
Christ-Centered - don’t sacrifice the message…but don’t limit the reach of it…

To accomplish this, you will need to have Multi-Cultural Awareness (Find Commonalities, Embrace Differences, Overcome the fear of honesty), Appropriate Application (Be Authentic, Know your Audience), and have a Strategy (Build conviction through scripture, Affirm diversity through identity and vision, Build a multi-cultural leadership and staff, Enjoy Progress and anticipate problems).

Writinng as an Act of Service - Jon Walker
Service Journalism answers two questions:
1. So What? (Why does this make any difference to me?)
2. What Now? (What should I do with this information?)

The goal is to leave the reader with a call to action.

Practical Outputs of Service Journalism:
- Timelines
- Headers and Subheaders
- Charts and Graphs
- Breakouts
- Q&A’s
- FAQ’s
- Captions

Branding 101 - Dawn Nichole Baldwin
Brand
the practice of delivering a promise that reflects the mission, uniqueness and personality of your organization…..

Positioning
Determining how you want to be defined by your audience.

A Matter of Message - Brad Abare
Matthew 5:13-16 - If you lose your saltiness what will you taste like>?
- Be Salty - Pursue God
- Be transparent - Pursue Your Own Story
- Think Local - Pursue Others
- Keep it Simple - Un-clutter the Message

I plan on getting my hands on an ipod touch really zune.

Say see ya later to THE SOCIAL.
REMARKABLE INNOVATION is what keeps them coming back…

guilty. I’m a designer, a spinster, a pretty package maker.

Acts 17:29

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.

It’s funny to me the business I’m in. I design impressions of God. Impressions of his church. Impressions of who I think Christ to be.

And yet he’s undesignable.

It’s impossible for me to get out my designer toolbox and design God in an image that would make Him say, “That’s me. You nailed it. My justice looks like that. My love looks like that. My pain looks like that. My hope looks like that.”

I’m struck right now knowing that Islam creates no images of Allah. They refrain from attempts to paint God in a human frame. They refrain from painting a picture of God that God wouldn’t make of himself.

And so the only true reflection of God’s design is to look at God’s creation and see it for his beauty. See it for the reflection of himself that it is. in it’s diversity, creativity, intelligence, inter-connectedness, passion.

God is a designer. Me too (though I’m far less talented).