Dutch designer Nathan Wierink created this table titled “Joints” in 2008 for the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show as part of Dutch Design Week.

Modern Dutch furniture design isn’t the topic of this blog, but it does demonstrate one of the most important design principles – attention to detail.

Dutch designer Nathan Wierink created this table titled “Joints” in 2008 for the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show as part of Dutch Design Week. Wierink uses gracious design theory to take what is traditionally considered a mere detail – the joints of a table – and turn it into the focus of the piece. The design intertwines the decorative with the functional and

shows a very important aspect of design: even in the slightest detail, there is an opportunity for innovation

Most tournament logos print in two colors (ones from any golf course on the water (especially in the Carolinas and Florida) tend to use yellow and blue). I’ve rarely seen type using neon or bright warm colors, mostly dark blues or neutrals, which contrast against the lime tinted cropped grass on the green or the dull white of a sand trap. Most companies have their exact logo printed, but with consideration to arrangement if an icon is also included.  It does seem that some companies, such as Digital Reports, add a clip-art styled image that, unfortunately, gives them a dated look.

Mostly, it’s quite random and immensely amusing (at least for a design nerd such as myself) to come across such variations in branding design. Every so often I’ll find one from someones wedding (or bar mitzvah! What a fantastic kid to opt for a golf outing as part of his coming of age celebration). At the Golfsmith mecca in Austin, they have open containers for the recycled balls and, if you’re really finicky about the designs, you can hand pick them (that’s where I got the Senate one, at least).

Book 003

Rand, the founder of Test Everything Press, has been putting himself under crazy tight deadlines, hoping to have books 004 and 005 out by Christmas. Book 003 is gorgeous. Rand is fantastic at screen printing and each book is hand screen printed and bound. They’re beautiful. You can get it at Domy Books in Austin or check his brand new site Test Everything Press.com

Scouring the Farmers Market and Whole Foods left me with plenty of wholesome produce to work with, but after the initial planning of the menu came another concern. The no-sugar, gluten-free vegetarian had said in past American Thanksgivings, no one ever considered her dietary restrictions while planning the meal, thus she just push around bits of salad on her plate while others gorged themselves. With so many people attending the meal, I would be exhausted by the time I thoroughly explained how each dish was prepared, pointing out the vegan, non-glutinous, non-caffeinated, sugar-free items. Tedious to recall as well.

My solution was to create little cards to be placed by the dish explaining what it is and the considerations I took while preparing it (such as using veggie-stock rather than chicken-stock). I have some family members with no dietary considerations who would still need to be briefed on what exactly kale is, and reassured that yes, it is edible. Concept seemed simple, but it was the design of the cards that became quite a distraction.

Ideally, I would like to handwrite them, in my draftsman uppercase hand, using a Pilot 05 Razor or a 03 Micron pen on heavy cardstock. Unfortunately, since I was also responsible for cooking the numerous dishes that would make up the meal, as well as making the cards to explain them, that didn’t seem practical. Not only would that take more time than I had to ensure each letter had perfected x-heights and consistent ascenders/decenders, but after cooking for so many hours I was exhausted; attempting my first hand-written card proved to be far too frustrating, the muscles in my hand were trembling from such overuse, heavy lifting of full pans and chopping of absurdly dense squash. I just couldn’t negotiate my writing into consistency.

I settled by relying on Avenir (my all time go-to typeface) – 10pt for proper dish name and 8pt for the little description underneath. The typed cards turned out well enough (and meant I wouldn’t be repeating myself throughout the meal when asked what exactly was in that dish), but they felt impersonal. Avenir is beautiful and shockingly clean, sometimes making it feel a bit cold. In this case, especially when used to describe warm, hand-made, home-cooked, family style food, Avenir  just seemed mechanical – handwriting would have extended that warm-personalized mood of the day. I doubt using a serifed font would have improved matters and I most certainly was not going anywhere near script. Even if my hand lettering is still pretty technical, at least it’s personal and the ink from the 03 Micron pen would fantastically indent the paper as it stained through to make the lovely dark lettering. Next year I’ll make the cards before I enter into the labor intensive cooking marathon and we’ll see if it really makes as big of difference as I’m theorizing.

The remedy is this transition post.

To nicely end my antidotes about farmers and droughts, and so that I can refocus this blog on a topic I truly, deeply, obsessively care about, I’ll now be typing about design.

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Lately I’ve been doing more and more web design; it was quite a transition from my background in strictly print design. One of my early sites was for the Sunset Valley Farmers Market. I’d grown comfortable with the environment and the organic design I could create with images of the produce was appealing. The site lends itself to traditional print design rules (dominate image on top being the most prominent). Before I had a concrete design I started photographing produce. Organic green leaf lettuce for the home page, red kale sprouts for the photos page, coffee, free-range brown eggs, strawberries and asparagus to follow.  Photographing and editing the photos took longer than building the actual site design. This was all done on Saturday, right after picking up the produce from the market; by Thursday I had the idea for the roll over buttons – luckily the produce hadn’t wilted and it was all photographed again.

The site was also an excuse for me to venture into video interviewing. So intimidating! While the vendors/farmers at the market always seemed cheery, that was when they were selling, but would they be as receptive to someone interrupting their tiny window to sell their produce? I circled the market several times looking for a less busy stall; the more bored the vendor looked I figured the more likely they would talk to me. I did the first interview, a woman selling grass-fed meats and cage free chicken, then moved on to the next stall, a tortilla vendor who had been intently watching me interview the chicken vendor. They were all so friendly and encouraging – “good for you to be doing this as a student!” I left the market an hour and a half later with 12 interviews (when I had only intended to do maybe 3, then flee).

The video is very rough, shaky in the last few interviews because my hands were so cold I couldn’t hold my Flip Cam straight (and didn’t yet have a tripod). The Flip Cam is great though; I had a few of the vendors admit they thought I was trying to record them with my cell phone, surprised at how portable video recorders had become. I didn’t edit the videos either, since at the time they were more of a garnish to the design project than critique-able content themselves.  I should go back and edit. As a courtesy I emailed a link to my site and the videos to the vendors involved. I received some rather flattering compliments.  The manager of the market came across the site also and was even a bit too complimentary (using multiple exclamation marks at every opportunity). She linked to my little design project site on the front page of the actual Sunset Valley Farmers Market site and placed the link (and paragraph about what I’d designed) in the top paragraph of their November newsletter – the site has gotten nearly 200 views since then.

I’m glad the project proceeded as it did. I don’t function well without an audience. The biggest motivator for me to perfect a project, throwing all of my energy into it (usually very sleep deprived energy at that), is to have people I know and respect as the awaiting viewers. I’m my biggest critic and my biggest fan, but to know that a design, regardless of the medium it takes, is going to sit dormant after I’ve put so much into its creation, is just unbearable.

Look, there's one now

There’s a typical snail off to the right, approaching the lizard skeleton that has been outside by the walkway for several weeks now.

That’s just the thing to happen early enough in the morning when last nights anomalous dreams are still swimming around the mind and one craves any form of normality. Like tea. Like honey in tea.