The Donut Project

The Donut Project is one year old today! Woohoo! I think it’s only appropriate to (finally!!) show a picture of what the heck ‘the donut project’ actually is. Hey, it only took us a year to take a picture of it :)

Yep, that’s it. As graduates of Kent State’s VCD program, this was the first project we had to complete in our first class. This is graphic design? we asked. The project was the first of many to exercise our handskills, precision and attention to detail, which now serve us well as big-kid designers. The project consisted of inking on white board an exact square and circle, with rules throughout. Missing your mark by 1/32 of an inch was considered wrong and was marked clearly and often on your trace paper cover. {Click on either photo to see bigger}

This project is something that unites all Kent designers, because we all suffered through it. It’s a badge of honor. When a few friends got together to brainstorm for a design inspiration site, we could think of no better name, and The Donut Project was born. We’ve enjoyed sharing our inspiration with you so far, and while we’re still a baby in the grand scheme of Al Gore’s Internetz, we’re shocked & very thankful for the audience we’ve amassed over the past year. Thank each one of you for reading, commenting, tweeting/retweeting, just leaving a hello in our inbox, and submitting things for us to post.

The Donut Project is steadily growing and we’re soon going to outgrow this current site design. We want to bring you more inspiration, from more contributors and make it all easier to find. We have entirely new ideas to bring to you too. A new site redesign is currently underway and will be up in the coming weeks. So stay tuned, keep reading, commenting, and doing everything that you do — and please, let us know — what would you like to see out of us in the future?

Even though I’m slowly rationalizing how I can personally justify/afford an Apple iPad, I had to share this interesting counterpoint graphic above by TheFlashBlog.

It’s highly unlikely that the production version of the iPad will support Flash. There are a number of rumored reasons for this including security concerns, Apple-crash paranoia, App-store greed, flash being a processing hog, lack of functionality in touch-screen devices, etc… but whatever the reason/s, it’s going to leave some holes in what you can experience on the web.

The most compelling reason I’ve heard thus far is the fact that many Flash sites utilize functions that use inherent mouse+click functions which aren’t possible to replicate through a touch-screen. Many flash things use ‘hover’ to do certain things, and you can’t hover on a touchpad. It’s either click or no click. This would provide a poor-user experience, and I don’t know how the Flash experience would degrade. Is a “worse user experience, sometimes” better than having zero flash at all? That’s up for debate.

With millions of iPhone users, who are documented as frequent internet browsers, millions of other mobile users, and soon to be millions of iPad users, is it time for some Web developers to rethink how and when we use flash? Sites like vimeo and youtube are moving away from flash slowly with recent HTML5 player announcements. Is the line drawn in the sand for the demise of Flash? Time will tell on whether Steve Jobs just a stubborn CEO, or if he’s seeing into the future.

We had a mighty interesting discussion on Day 1 of iPad-gate… Does the absense of Flash make you think twice before considering an iPad purchase?

Swank-ify (yes, I said it) your home with these gorgeous graphic pillows from Bonjour Mon Coussin. Their site also has a See more of their collections here.

via One Thursday Night

I love these really great line drawings from Dave of Monsieur Cabinet. They make me miss the line drawings I did in college, especially the ones where we couldn’t have our pen leave the paper. The drawings were one single looooooong line. Makes you really appreciate every movement you make. See more of Dave’s work on his site here.

As you can tell, I’ve been needing a lot of color in my life as the days here grow greyer and greyer. Doe-Eyed, the studio of Eric Nyffeler, gave me just that! I love the posters and logo work and even though the site is a little wonky to navigate, it’s totally worth the visit. See more of his work here and perk up your dreary Friday, too!

Check out this typeface called Adhesive Nr. Seven. The idea was to take a blackletter typeface out of its tainted historical context by recreating its texture with contemporary tools. With its fixed stroke thickness adhesive paper tape offers similar characteristics as a broad pen.

This is a really cool way to produce a typeface, and pretty well executed. You can purchase Adhesive Nr. Seven at myfonts.com.

So sad, so true.

via ffffound

FINALLY.

As expected, Apple just released their newest product to the masses. It’s called the iPad (really, Apple?). Rumors of an Apple tablet have been swirling since 2003, so it’s exciting to see a product with this much hype behind it finally launch.

While a tablet computer is nothing groundbreaking, Apple again is looking to redefine the way we view and interact with content on their new device. Just like how the iPod changed the way we listen to music, and the iPhone changed the way we quiet screaming children, Apple is betting their new iPad will change the way we use media — especially movies, games, ebooks, magazines and newspapers. Will it work? Time will tell, but my money is on “most likely.” It’s going to hit a real niche of buyers to who want the ultra-mobile lifestyle at an affordable price point.

Some specifications for the new iPad device include:

•  9.7″ IPS Display, 0.5″ Thin, 1.5 Pounds

•  16-64GB storage capacity, 10+ hours of battery life

•  It can run just about all iPhone/iPod Touch apps (and iWork) out of the box, basically functioning like a big ‘ol iPhone

•  WiFi & 3G connection

The iPad will be available for purchase in about two months and starts at $499. 3G data plans will be supplied through AT&T and will range in price from $14.99-29.99 a month without a contract.

Head over to Apple.com/iPad for the full release! Be sure to watch the video to see it in action.

Really digging Andrés Yeah’s illustrated typography. This Ohio weather is just too grey for my liking and these colors definitely perked me up. I’m also loving the splatter and texture marks on a lot of his work. Really cool stuff! See more of his illustration, drawings, design and photography here.

via okgreat

My hottie model friend, Lauren (above), did a recent photoshoot for Haiti relief effort for Free Clothing Co. The generosity of everyone in the States has already been overwhelming and Free Clothing Co. is offering 100% of the proceeds to go to the relief effort. You can still help and purchase a tee to donate to Haiti (not to mention, if you haven’t already owned an amazingly soft American Apparel tee, you should!) Buy them for only $15 here.