A Former Coworker's Blog Site

A guy that once worked at my job has moved to New Zealand with his family while his wife pursues higher studies in some scientific field. (Obviously this guy isn't a close friend or I'd have better details.) He has started a blog to let everyone who's interested know what's happening and I have been following his travels. Here's a sample page from his blog:

This really doesn't do justice to the site since the pictures are so clear and colorful.
Dustin, my friend, is traveling around New Zealand with his son and young daughter and his wife in a Winnebago. I like his blog because he includes a lot of pictures and his wit keeps the stories interesting.
I can only imagine what memories his kids will have when they get older and remember the time the family zigzagged over New Zealand.
The pictures are so pretty and it shows a land uncluttered and slower and seemingly peaceful. How different from this area.
The site makes me wish for the opportunity to do something like this. To be with my family as we explore new places and taste new food. Is the air significantly cleaner, what are the people like, are the skies filled with stars at night, do wild animals roam, is crime nonexistent?
Here's the site, if you're interested:
.http://ashorttimeinnewzealand.blogspot.com/

ReDone--the Volvo logo

I have a Volvo, a used 2002 S60 that now has 164K miles on it (yikes!). I've had it for five years now and really like it. I've washed it a few times, taking care to get into nooks and crannies to get them clean, going over the glass and the chrome...and the logo. The logo--apparently I never paid too much attention to it. I know what I thought it looked like but I just didn't pay too much to detail.
As I did some research I found an old logo and upon examining it saw that it still resembled the current one but then I noticed that it had the male gender symbol, you know, the circle with the connected arrow pointing to the right and I thought to myself, "Hmm self," I said, " I'm glad they took that off the logo." Well, it turns out that they have not taken that off the logo.
Going on a volvoclub.org site I found an explanation for the name, the original logo design, and just what that diagonal bar means.
Here is a picture of the original logo design:

In a synopsis, Volvo comes from the latin "volvere" to roll, and Volvo thus means "I roll." (I'm hoping the reference is to rolling down the street and not a tumbling effect if ever in a crash.) The diagonal bar was intended to keep the front grill from falling off and the male gender symbol is intended to pertain to the planet Mars in the Roman Empire and also the ancient chemical symbol for iron. Iron symbolized steel and strength.

And so now, the new logo:Still the circle with the arrow and now the product name is included. The diagonal bar is still a part of the front grill but it doesn't serve a purpose other than the association it makes with the logo. This new logo is definitely an improvement!

But can we talk about the product name on the back of the trunk? This is the new product name on the trunk:

A lot of chrome and the letters are really spaced widely. I don't like it. It was not, in my opinion, an improvement on what was. It looks cheap in appearance and I wish they'd reconsider the old way:

Sometimes what's new is not what's better.

The 5ifth Project

My accepted project 5 concept involves a portable practice soccer goal. A regulation size goal is 8'x24' and my goal would be at least half that size and would fold into a standard sized soft-sided case.
I thought the packaging would be a standard box that would have graphics and type on the front and would have a product breakdown on the back but it was suggested that the packaging be a wrap type band and I really like that idea.
I thought I was going to have to create a prototype that is ~24"x18"x8" but I am relieved to know that I only now have to create a product band around a laptop sized case similar to this:

Whew!

Another set of categories

Here's a site with really defined categories on the first page. I really like it: the type size is very readable and clean, the logo is interesting, the images sharp, the graphics clean, the categories well separated with sub-categories nicely placed.
Check it out for yourself:
http://needtoknow.nas.edu/energy/

New Idea for Something Old

I've come up with a few ideas and Jeanne's said that this one is the one she thinks I should expand on. The only problem is that my package prototype would be pretty big so now I'm stuck again. My idea was to have a completely collapsible soccer goal. The goal is not regulation size but is for practice and home use. It would fold down to a compact size and would be made of strong but lightweight aluminum. I imagine that it would be about 30"x18"x6" and I really don't want to make a package that large.
So, I'm at square one again. I had another idea, a portable canopy for traveling teams but that, too, is pretty large and I don't want to make something big.
Here are my other ideas:

• rubbing alcohol that doesn't burn when used for cleaning wounds
• all natural make-up in an all-natural compact (Jeanne pointed out that it's been done already)
• a very flexible "band-aid" for finger joints and for fingertips--better designed than the fingertip band-aids that already exist

I don't know what to do now. I may have to use Nicole's idea!

Structured Categories

A short time ago I got a new phone and I needed a car mount so that when I'm driving I can have my phone easily available. I checked out amazon.com and there so many categories on the site--categories for car mounts, categories for features and services, categories for cell phone bestsellers. Amazon has so many categories it's amazing. If you can't find it on Amazon, it probably doesn't exist. OK, it probably does exist somewhere other than Amazon, but you can find a lot of things on Amazon, just check out all the categories. : )

Postcard of Interest--SHOW AND TELL

Here is a postcard I found really interesting. It's from DSW Shoes. I L O V E shoes and the postcard intrigued me because it showed me what shoes are new in the store and let me know that they are now available. On the flip side I'm told that the more I buy the more I can save. How exciting! Problem is, money's tight so I probably won't buy anything but it's still a good postcard.
It's an oversized card so it gets my immediate attention. The size of it seems to say that it's important and shouldn't be overlooked. I'm not too crazy about the overall style of it. It's a little plain but it does show what different types of shoes are now available.