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News and updates

January 19th, 2010

It’s been awhile, but I’m still here working on projects and surviving as a freelancer. So since the last post I have started and finished the following projects:

**The Detail Difference website has been designed but we are currently in the middle of the coding process. Hopefully it will be completed by the end of this month.

I also spent two months up in Southeast Alaska last summer working on a small fishing boat. Not anything like The Deadliest Catch, but still very hard work. After getting back from Alaska I officially changed my business name to Orange Tie Designs and have been working on finding time to get that website going. For the time being it is simply a “coming soon” site here: www.orangetiedesigns.com.

Right now I’m trying to finish the coding process for The Detail Difference, create the Orange Tie Designs website, setup a photography blog, setup a blog for a friend, and this website will eventually become an outlet for my meandering thoughts, ideas, questions (along with answers), book reviews, and possibly even philosophical dissertations if I truly end up with to much time on my hands. You will probably notice some of those things appearing on this blog even before the transition as I get my bearings and work on ‘finding my voice.’

I will try to make announcements here as I finish those projects and move forward, but you can also follow Orange Tie Designs on Twitter to hear more often what I’m up to in regards to my business. If you want to hear more absurd updates, that are probably quite meaningless, then you could follow my personal Twitter account.

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Google SketchUp

March 11th, 2009

I mentioned using Google SketchUp in a previous post about a wine rack design I could finally render in 3D. While using it for that project I thought of a previous client request to design a plastic chip stand that could hold five bags of chips upright on a larger shelf. At the time of the request I had to decline helping them because I simply didn’t have the capability to work in 3D.

I went back to their design specs with Google SketchUp and I was able to fulfill their request and even include measurements, sizing, color, and some graphics in the final design for them.

Not actually the house I'm designing.
Just some practice.

I discovered Google SketchUp in an effort to do some 3D modeling for a house I am attempting to design. I was looking for a simple, free, 3D rending mechanism. Google SketchUp is that and more. It is also very intuitive to use and can be used for both simple designs and more complex designs. It works by pushing and pulling 2D objects into 3D. A square can be easily drawn using that square tool. Then with a simple click and drag that square becomes a cube or crossbeam.

There are also many more complicated features available that are best explained in the various blogs, tutorials and guides related to SketchUp.

Download Google SketchUp Here

Posted in Graphic Design, Web | No Comments »

IE vs. Firefox

March 2nd, 2009

Yesterday I was doing some research on browsers and search engines for a client and stumbled upon some very happy news regarding browser usage. As of January 2009 Internet Explorer is no longer the majority browser on the internet. It’s percentage has been steadily dropping since Firefox was introduced, and now sits at 44.8%. Firefox has been steadily increasing since it was introduced and now controls 45.5% of the market.

Part of this is most likely be due to the introduction of Google Chrome, which has surpassed Opera and Safari, taking 3.9% of the market since its introduction in September. However, over the last year Opera and Safari have made some progress with increases of 0.9% and 1.1% respectively.

As a graphic designer who regularly codes HTML, CSS, PHP and some javascript, I am very happy that a browser available in all major computer platforms is in the forefront of the pack, although IE web page rendering, as quirky and annoying as it is, will still be a consideration in coding for a long time.

Download Firefox
Give Opera a try
All statistics came from w3schools.com

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Wine Rack Design

February 10th, 2009

Once upon a time I was sitting in a contemporary philosophy class, and while the class was usually quite interesting, my mind would wander. While most students might think about what it for lunch, what homework they had yet to finish or which guy/girl they liked the most, I designed a wine rack.

OK, I might have finished the design after class, but I figured out the gist of it while in class. The only problem with my design is that I don’t currently have the means to build test models, much less a finished product so the design has stayed in my notebook until quite recently.

Enter Google SketphUp. A program made by Google for 3D design and modeling. The basic version is free to download and use (both Mac and PC), and includes all but a few of the features available in the ‘Pro’ version.

This program allowed me to model my wine rack design and bring it one step closer to a final product to use and sell. The wine rack will be made from two sheets of thick sheet metal. They will be bent to form a stand and then bolted together with a 2 inch gap between them. Holes drilled in both sheets will support the up to 26 bottles by their necks at a slightly downward angle.

If your interested in producing the design or purchasing once it is in production, please contact me.

See more images of the design in my portfolio here.

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Encyclopedia Of Life

February 3rd, 2009

A Nova documentary about Ed Wilson’s work in the areas of ants and sociobiology mentioned a website called the Encyclopedia of Life. This website is the brainchild of Ed Wilson and intrigued me. I have always loved the being in the outdoors as well as knowing about it and what lives in it. This website was built to be a complete encyclopedia of every living species on earth, forever growing until the very last species has been discovered and documented.

While that in itself is incredibly impressive, it is not what initially intrigued me about the site. The site also provides incredible pictures or drawings of the animals and information about them. With these pictures, what the website really provides is a master list of the designs produced in nature. Often a detail in nature inspires my work, and this website provides a close look at nature that is not available in Spokane, WA.

For example, if I were in need of a design for an alien in a logo, why not base it off of the Harpegnathos saltator, more commonly referred to as the Jumping Ant. The particular ant would be an impressively scary alien, yet it also provides a pattern on it’s head that could be interesting for other uses.

Or how about the design seen on the back of Macrochelys temminckii for part of a MySpace header image? (That one is the Alligator Snapping Turtle).

Whether your interested in the information about the animals, insects on the site, or simply looking to copy a wonderful design that nature already created, the Encyclopedia of life is a great resource brought to your courtesy of Ed Wilson and hundreds of hardworking scientists around the world.

The documentary that inspired this, named Lord of the Ants, is available to watch online here.

Posted in Graphic Design, Green Design | No Comments »

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