NEWS & BLOG
Countdown to Launch: Granbury EDC
Beginning final content review for the new Granbury EDC website. Should be ready to launch tomorrow or Wednesday!
$500 3D Printer
3D printers have been a pretty hot topic in the past year, and it's been really interesting to see this race unfold. The two most well-known are Makerbot and Cubify, but both are fairly pricey. Enter the Solidoodle, a $500 6x6x6" 3D printer.
Museum of Osteology Memberships Now Available!
If you haven't been, go now. If you're not a member, now's your chance! Museum of Osteology memberships are now available. Don't miss the hottest ticket in town! Of course, we also happen to think the cards look especially spiffy (I still grin every time I see it in my wallet.)
Introducing Joe Cinocca
Today we proudly welcome Joe Cinocca to the Colored Bean family as our new Social Media Manager. We've actually been working with Joe for years, and we're glad we're finally able to make the association more formal. He's a great guy, and we're lucky to have him navigating all the hidden nooks and crannies of the social media web for us!
How It's Designed: The Coupon Junkie
Ever wonder what goes into one of our logo designs? Here's a peek at the Coupon Junkie logo design from concept (yep, that's the back of a receipt ... the best sketchbook is the one you can find!) to completion. I've always been fascinated by the process behind things ... hopefully you enjoy seeing what's behind the curtain as well!
Adobe Photoshop CS6 - Julieanne Kost Preview
Here's another Top 6 list for the new Photoshop CS6, this time from Adobe's Julieanne Kost.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 - Russell Brown Preview
The public beta of Adobe Photoshop CS6 is set to be released tonight. In the meantime, check out Adobe's Russell Brown showing off his 6 favorite features in CS6!
Superstar DJ George Leong
Just finished a really exciting job rebranding the "Superstar" parties for DJ George Leong and Pink Noise Pte Lte in Singapore. Not only one of the hottest DJs in Malaysia, George Leong is also a renowned producer ... having produced several platinum records, composed for the International Olympic Committee, and produced tracks for Singapore Idol winners. He is currently the resident DJ at Zirca Mega Club. Check out the finished logo design!
An Ad for the Roaring 20's
Just finished up a fun ad for Skulls Unlimited. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is hosting a party at the Mutter Museum, and I THINK the ad is going in the program for the event. Either way, it was really fun getting to play around with the 20's ad style! Check out the finished ad here.
All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go ...
The bad news is that this little guy didn't make the cut for the Museum of Osteology postcard we're currently working on. The good news is that the Museum of Osteology is open for spring break and a GREAT place to visit!
Battle of the Century
It's finally happened ... USA vs. Canada in the ultimate showdown! Actually Adrian just surprised me this morning with a new set of flights for our dartboard in the break room. He's Canadian, I'm American ... it seemed fitting. Let the battle begin!
Big Red Van Roars to Life!
Bigger isn't always better in life, but in design it's always FUN! Adrian did this killer Big Red van wrap design for Clint Murdaugh over at Majestic Sign, and we have been anxiously waiting to see the finished product. Looks like they did a stellar job as usual! This is the best part of a designer's job ... seeing your work come to life in the real world.
Edmond Visitors Guide Final Proofs
Just sent off final proofs on the new Edmond Visitor's Guide, so hopefully that will get sent off to press and be printed in next week or two!
Impact of File Format on File Size
The purpose of any file format (and by that I mean JPG, PSD, GIF, TIF, etc) is to store your data and reduce the amount of space the file takes up on your hard drive. Some formats do this at the cost of quality (JPG in particular reduces file size by lowering quality, although not always by a perceptible amount). These are called LOSSY file formats. Other formats, such as PSD or TIFF, don't alter quality at all but don't offer as much savings in terms of file size. All that being said, let's see exactly how much a choice of file format (and a few other things) can affect your file size.
City of the Week: East Sparta, Ohio
Maybe I've been watching a bit too much Spartacus lately, but when I saw that one of our top visitors this past week was Sparta (I know, Thracian, not Spartan) ... anyway, I got a little excited. Turns out it was actually East Sparta, Ohio, but at least I got to learn about another new place this week. It's a pretty small village in northeast Ohio (population 806 according to wikipedia). Neither wikipedia nor their own website has much else to say about them, but we're happy to have them as visitors!
City of the Week: Ljubljana, Slovenia
So we thought it might be fun to, based on website analytics, feature the top cities visiting our website each week. The whole idea came about when we were all of a sudden hugely popular in Ljubljana, Slovenia (at least according to our analytics numbers). Mind you, it didn't take much research to realize it was nothing more than a SPAM bot hitting the site (1 page view per visit, 0:00 time on page, 100% bounce rate), but at least we got a fun idea from it ... and found out that Slovenia is actually a REALLY pretty place!
Omnizine Radio: Ep. 2
I think it's time for a sequel! Omnizine had a pretty good run back in its day, so we'll continue to release new episodes occasionally. Omnizine Radio features Chris Brooker and Jay Dee P., and was made possible in large part by Joe Cinocca at TULSAMUSIC.net. Crank up your speakers REALLY loud ...
DOWNLOAD Omnizine Radio: Episode 2 and enjoy!
Wait a minute ... you mean you didn't download episode 1?!? Well hurry up and download it before it's gone! DOWNLOAD Omnizine Radio: Episode 1
Picture Day at the Bean!
Today was the first annual PICTURE DAY at Colored Bean! Things have been pretty busy lately, so it might be awhile before we get the photos online, but I just had to share Adrian's luchadore pose ... priceless!
Picture day will never produce any museum-quality portraits (we're just not that pretty), but it's a great way for us to let loose and be silly for a few minutes. Plus it's a great opportunity to teach a little and familiarize everyone at the office (those that are interested anyway) with the studio equipment!
Gorilla Golf Unmasked!
Finally able to pull back the curtain on this one ... just finished up the new branding for the Oklahoma Zoological Society's Gorilla Golf fundraiser.
Photoshop Alternatives
With all of the industry bluster, it's easy to feel like there are no (software) alternatives for designers who are just getting started in the business and might not have the budget to jump right into Photoshop (or Illustrator, etc). What follows are a few notes on some of the better alternatives, as well as a bit on who ACTUALLY needs Photoshop to begin with ...
Guess Which One is Real!
With some projects, it's almost impossible to envision what things are going to look like until it's too late. That's why we like to go the extra mile and do full mock-ups on our larger projects. Think you can tell the real one from the mock-up? Click the link below and see for yourself!
Omnizine Radio: Ep. 1
Set your dials to 2005 and your GPS to Tulsa, because we're pulling Omnizine Radio out of the vaults and shaking off the dust! We provided the audio "branding" (intro, outro, stingers, etc), Chris Brooker and Jay Dee P. brought the magic on the mic, and the whole thing was made possible by Joe Cinocca at TULSAMUSIC.net. So what are you waiting for?
DOWNLOAD Omnizine Radio: Episode 1 and enjoy!
Cookshack Turns 50!
To celebrate Cookshack's 50th Anniversary, we cooked up this little icon for them to wear with pride. We're not sure what you're supposed to get for a 50th anniversary, but we're hoping it's brisket! Congratulations on hitting an exceptional milestone, and here's to the next 50!
Screen Printing!
The printing press is officially up and running! Adrian just pulled the first test shirts off the press a few minutes ago, and they look amazing! This is about to get even more fun ...
Little Blue Truck
I've always loved children's books. They're a wonderful source of inspiration, and now that I'm a father they're even more of a treasure trove. My sister Jennifer just gave our youngest son Jack "Little Blue Truck" for Christmas, and it's my new favorite book for the boys. Whimsical hand-painted artwork a beautifully-written story make for a must-have book!
What Would a Child's Drawing Look Like If
What would a child's drawing look like if some mad genius painted them more realistically (while being exceptionally faithful to the original)? Hop on over to www.themonsterengine.com and find out!
Just, WOW.
I'm a bit of a photography nut. Not that I actually have the money to be a photography nut, but even if I did, I'm pretty sure that this thing would be well out of my budget. At a mere $43,990 ($47,990 with lens), the new Phase One IQ180 is an 80 megapixel "medium format" digital camera that is sure to make any photo enthusiast drool (at least a little).
Rex's Trek to the Oklahoma City Zoo
It's definitely been the year of the elephant at the Oklahoma City zoo with the birth of Malee earlier this year. So when the Oklahoma Zoological Society's ZooFriends lit the Bean signal for help in bringing Rex (a male Asian elephant) here from Canada, we jumped at the opportunity. There was just this small matter of the deadline ...
