Friend of Spunk, Alex Griendling has been doing some dork-a-liscous Star Wars fan illustrations in the style of African masks, like this version of a Stormtrooper helmet. I love these masks. Head over and check out the rest here.  -Jj

Nathan Dungan’s new book Money Sanity Solutions launched last week at a party held at Casa Verde in south Minneapolis. Nathan (the nicest guy you’ll ever meet) gave a quick presentation on the book and exploring your family’s money narrative. Spunk designed the book, so we were invited (and won the worst dressed award). Please check out Share Save Spend and get a copy of Money Sanity Solutions (includes a dvd!) for yourself.

This is cool: Spunk’s own Craig Johnson is exploring sustainable shipping  options  in a project for the Sustainability/Measuring and Communication Life Cycle class at MCAD. Here’s part of a mock study of how online retailers could position their shipping to customers to allow them to make the most eco-sensitive choice. His project’s titled A look at reuse, energy savings through shipping options and end-of-life rethinking.

Tack an option onto online shopping carts that illustrates the eco-impact and CO2 levels of different shipping choices in a way that helps a consumer understand. It would allow the customer to make a “positive” choice by understanding the problem in environmental terms. Shipping something “next day” is often more expensive, hard on the business and hard on the environment. Retailers could even offer a small discount for eco-shipping (karma credit, if you will).

These are the ideas Spunk can deliver to clients – design that helps consumers to feel good about “their” choice in a product, service or company and on top of it all, the business would save some money and help the environment. Every little bit helps…

So I love my iPhone like no other – seriously, it’s really made my job a lot easier (and made bedtime stories easier, and bedtime youtube…) But I’m sort of weary of the tutti-frutti colored app page. It’s like a kindergarten classroom – not that I don’t like kindergarten classrooms, just not all the time. Seems like the iPhone should have a “Greyscale” option for the home page, or a “Minimized icon” choice where a single-color icon option for each app could be used. Call me a design elitist if you like, I’m just weary of the rainbow of fruit flavors. I had a similar feeling with the ’99 Macs that all featured Skittle colors in the hard plastic. Great a first, but then just tiring.

-jj

This is a reason to keep a well stocked tech drawer of seemingly useless computer supplies. This G5 iMac had a motherboard fry that left the screen long since dead. We figured out how to patch a 2001 Apple Studio display through some spooky off-brand coverter kit and Voilá! we have a functioning G5 iMac Frankenputer!

We have several of these chimaeras fueling the Spunk Design Machine.

Honored lunch guest at the shop today: Ms. Donna Johnson! If it wasn’t for her, Spunk wouldn’t exist, folks.

Great new article about the Paperless Poster concept created by Spunk’s own Craig Johnson.

“…As we move further down the path of making a more sustainable society, it’s not enough to just make the same old things a bit less nasty. We have to challenge ourselves to find completely new ways of getting things done.” by Wendy Jedlicka

Check it out on the Living Principles website.

Well here it is, folks – Steve getting a ride to the light rail station a la Jeff Johnson and the Nokomis Cruiser.

Relish in this beautiful moment.