This is a site idea my wife and I came up with. Just a way for our families to keep up to date with everything going on in each other’s lives.

This site is a work in progress for my employer. I was asked to think about a redesign of the current site. Only the home and about pages are available.

This is a possible redesign of the salon my wife works at, Salon Desireé. She wants a sort of “tropical elegant” theme. Not sure how much I like it. Only the home and about pages are available.

It’s sort of an e-newsletter type thing. We’ll have family members register and write posts on the blog to keep everyone else updated with what’s going on. And a new website means more web design. I just love it so much, especially when things are quirky in different browsers and I’ve got to figure out what’s wrong. There’s something very satisfying about it.

So if you want to, check out the Hauk/Moretti Family website and let me know what you think. Corinne wanted more of a “cute, fun design,” so that’s what I’m going for. I’m pretty pleased with the way it’s turning out so far.

The designing is definitely getting easier, as I just started working with the code and everything this morning (it’s a slow day at work). There’s still a few quirks with IE, but that’s no surprise. For some reason IE adds margin sizes to total size of the div. Also, I think I’m going to get a book on Javascript sometime soon, because that’s something I need to learn more about.

So to show my appreciation for the art of typography, here are seven shirts that make me giddy.

Digging a little deeper, I found this guy’s blog with a picture from a convenience store in Colorado called Loaf ‘n’ Jug, and it’s got the same logo as Turkey Hill. Though this makes sense because they’re owned by a national chain called The Kroger Co.

But still, someone over at Fancast was obviously influenced by this logo from The Kroger Co. Even if it’s just a little bit. And that got me thinking about the whole design industry and taking inspiration from other work. It seems very common to pick small pieces of other designs that fit well with your work. Right now I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I know I’ve seen some before.

At what point is it changed enough that it’s not considered plagiarism? I’ve heard something like 80% is different, but how can you really judge that. I definitely find myself being influenced and subconsciously taking bits from someone else’s work. Sometimes a whole new design is based around one little piece I liked from something else I saw.

What it will be is a weekly video podcast about music. Music news, reviews, discoveries, and anything else. There’s so much good music out there that doesn’t get a lot of play time, and I’ll try to bring it to light.

This won’t really start until after a few weeks once the wedding/honeymoon storm has passed. Then I’ll have some actual time to work on it. Check out the new site and let me know what you think. Comments, suggestions, critiques, any feedback is encouraged.

Here are ten logos that show the power of company branding. No text is needed, yet you know the company name and what they’re about. Coincidentally, many of them are circular. Maybe there’s something to it.

Now, using the environment in ads isn’t really anything new. Plenty of companies and ad agencies have used pieces of the environment to help their ad campaign. But these just strike me the right way, especially the ones using only part of the surface. Not to mention, it’s to get people thinking about a good cause and their personal water usage.

I think my favorite of this set is the bench ad. It’s good to see designers pushing the industry out from behind the “stay within the surface limits” mentality. I have a feeling this trend will continue to grow and it’s a great direction for graphic design to be heading. One of these days I will make a larger post with a bunch of clever, creative, and fun advertisements.

I don’t understand. White space is good. It gives text room to breathe. Not only that, but it adds contrast and grabs your attention. Ever see those full page ads in the New York Times with nothing but a logo and maybe a sentence? It’s almost impossible to skip that ad. When there’s white space to contrast the typical text-filled space, it pulls you in.

This ad will be placed in a yellow page directory. Lots and lots of text, so why not add a refreshing break for the eyes, while at the same time calling attention to your logo and product? They prefer little white space, so the design can feel crowded.

In other news, the Black and White Photography section is up and running. Check it out and let me know what you think, either through the comments or the newly added (huge) “email me” button to the right. All the information to reach me can also be found in the about me section.

Also, I’ve got a couple ideas for a new website or video podcast. One of them I think is more doable than the other as it only takes time and a little bit of money for the domain. The other would require more people to help me out with development. More information on that as it becomes available (i.e. if I can afford it/find a staff). So stay tuned as I’d like to get started on that soon if I can.

Looking at this picture made me look up more about Machu Picchu, of course. Check out the picture on the front page there. It’s pretty awesome. Then I started thinking about how amazing it would be to travel for photography and get paid. Almost makes me want to take a third shift job so I can do more photography during the day to get going with that.

Gary Vaynerchuck of Wine Library TV had a very inspirational keynote at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. Certainly made me think about what I really love to do and how it shouldn’t matter whether I can get money from it. But there’s almost always a way to monetize what you love in this day and age. I would love traveling the world taking photos, journalistic or artistic. The real kicker would be to get paid and have the funds to travel.

Summary: I need more photography in my life, but I need more time first.