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Category: Inspiration

As previously hyped, we had the pleasure of attending the (hopefully annual) Designer/Developer Workflow Conference this past weekend right here in Kansas City. What was it about? Well, here’s the description from the website:

What’s the big deal about workflow? Workflow is something we all do, day in and day out – although you may not even think about it. Do you work with multiple applications during the day? Do you work with team members, departments, clients, etc.? Improving those workflows is what D2W is all about.

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Based on a true story

Posted in Inspiration on by James Penman

From: DudeGuyPerson A <[redacted]@yahoo.com>

Subject: cooperation

Date: March 8, 2010 1:22:20 PM CST

To: johnnylightning@strikesagain.net

Dear sir or madam,

I would like to analyze visual style of select companies. Thus, if it is possible I would like to ask you to share your company’s brandbook with me.

Yours, DudeGuyPerson
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Music We Loved

Posted in Inspiration on by David Cecil

For those of you who know us personally, you likely know that we consume new music like my fiance consumes Oreo cookies after work and then, a few hours later, claims to not be hungry enough to cook anything for dinner.  So being the helpless male I am, I eat cereal and question the life choices I’ve made that led to our engagement.

Sorry.  Not the point.

Now that 2009 is in our rear view mirror, we thought it appropriate to provide you with a little insight into our favorite albums of what was one of the most exciting and rewarding years of our lives.  And as a special treat, I went ahead and listed my favorite albums of the past decade as well. READ MORE →

We all know the internet is “catching on.” It’s becoming harder to remember when it wasn’t around in every home, even though it wasn’t that long ago. It’s how we make a living, something already vital to us and those we work with. It’s crazy to think it could become almost on par with utilities. Finland is headed that way. Wow.

http://mashable.com/2009/10/15/broadband-internet-legal-right-finland/

Weekly WWW Wrap-Up

Posted in Inspiration on by James Penman

We’re unabashed junkies of culture, addicted to today’s 24/7 datafeeds, spotting of trends like bird-watchers spot, well, birds. This is the first of a (hopefully) weekly list of nifty stuff that might have slipped by you unnoticed.

Gives Me Hope
We’ve all seen and enjoyed the schadenfreude of FML. Seb Lee-Delisle tweeted about an inspirational version of the same thing called Gives Me Hope. As they call themselves “Like FML for optimists”. Unless you’re a charcoal-hearted jerk, you’ll find something on there to bring a hopeful smile to your soul.

Natske Inspired
“canvas” is a new HTML element which allows for the display of scripted visuals. It was first introduced by Apple for the Mac OS X Dashboard but it has made it into modern versions of Safari and Firefox (sorry Internet Explorer users, the following link won’t do much for you). Eric Natzke creates generated artwork. Here’s a link that has been passed around Twitter quite a bit this week that uses the “canvas” element to produce “Natzke inspired” interaction. READ MORE →

Cliff Drive

Posted in Inspiration on by James Penman

Cliff drive shot

After a year of badgering, David finally caved and bought a road bicycle. Up until that time, he had been riding an old mountain bike he purchased at Wal-Mart back in college. The thing was a heavy armored vehicle that crushed the asphalt beneath its thick treads as David rode. Oh, and although it had gears, they were broken and didn’t shift! More details and images after the jump.

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Dynamic Drawing

Posted in Inspiration on by James Penman

I was fooling about with the behavioral seeking code that drives the fishpond in our former Play section. I’ve just started dipping my toe into the drawing API of Actionscript 3.0 and was interested in having a line draw the path one of my fish would be swimming. The test worked out fine, so I followed through on the idea a little more and added fish, changed behaviors, and so on. I ultimately came up with a nifty random doodle drawing animation where one line wanders at random, another line seeks the wanderer, and then a third line seeks the second line (as pictured below). The topmost line I made the same color as the background so there’d be the illusion of negative space.

Dynamic Drawing Output Screenshot - Johnny Lightning Strikes Again

Screenshot of the dynamic drawing output

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Best coffee shop in KC

Posted in Inspiration on by Joshua Davis

James at The Filling Station

James at The Filling Station

— Update —
Due to popular demand (and an oversight on our part to begin with), the coffee shop in question is Filling Station. The link should give you everything you need to know to make the informed decision to spend the morning there. They serve a mean quiche as well.