PDX: Vegan pirates?! Arg

While in Portland two weekends ago we dropped in for a little visit with Dave and Ann. Our favorite married couple keenly offered us numerous Manhattans and after several hours of doing nothing Dave decided to mention that he knew of a secret, yet fascinating bar.

Yes, matees - A PIRATE BAR.

After a lot of joking about appropriately dressing-up as a pirate and a lot of cracks involving the exclamation "arg!" and rum we decided to go. It's basically in the middle of nowhere. You may not believe this. I'll admit I barely do, but I swear this is real.

We walk in and everyone is dressed as a pirate. A cheerful and perky pirate-ess(?) tells us we just missed the hoard of pirates and the live msuic(!) and asks if are vegan. "Vegan?" asks Ann incredulously.

Turns out this pirate bar, which comes compete with Jolly Roger and obligatory skeletons, serves %100 vegan food and is very committed to the vegan lifestyle. Yelena confides under her breath that she didn't think pirates were even vegetarian, let alone vegan.

Our doubts are soon soothed: The service is anything but barbaric. The bartender teaches us a pirate dice gambling game (everyone wins a round except Dave) and the kitchen makes Ann a plate of vegan mashed potatoes and gravy that looked mighty tasty.


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FREAKout: the blog

If you know anything about me, or my tastes, you know I love books. Yet, of all the books I have enjoyed "Freakonomics" holds a particularly vaunted spot in my collection.

If you haven't read it, the book is the joint collaboration of a New York Times writer and a "rogue economist." Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner take topics that are so quirky (The socioeconomic patterns of naming children or proving that Sumo wrestlers cheat) and breaks them down to surprisingly simple equations. We're not talking about frictional unemployment here, Stephen & Steven use logic to basically deconstruct real issues of everyday life and undermine some blatantly baseless conjecture with solid reasoning. Descartes would be proud.

This book is fantastic, but limited. That's why I was thrilled to find the Freakonomics Blog this morning. It's obviously not as focused as the book, but getting a peek into the everyday musings of this pair is fascinating. Check it out if you have the time.



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Do you speak airport?

This seems like one of those *duh* types of things, but considering all the symbols we use on a daily basis (Just think about how you know the difference between the men's and women's restrooms) you have to wonder: Has a martini glass always been the symbol for a bar?

Well, actually - no.

The 50 standard iconic symbols we all know and love come from the AIGA, that's the American Institute for Graphic Arts - although they don't go by that name anymore. Before they got involved things were a bit messy in the world of symbols.

Every international event required copious multi-language signs, airports each had their own icons for baggage claim, highway signs were different for every state or even city. What few effective symbols did exist were often culturally and regionally specific. Then in 1974 the U.S. Dept. of Transportation got into the market for a new set of modern interstate highway symbols and they turned to AIGA:

"To develop such a system, AIGA and D.O.T. compiled an inventory of symbol systems that had been used in various locations worldwide, from airports and train stations to the Olympic Games. AIGA appointed a committee of five leading designers of environmental graphics, who evaluated the symbols and made recommendations for adapting or redesigning them. Based on their conclusions, a team of AIGA member designers produced the symbols."

Because they were commissioned by the government, the icons are available copyright free. The next time your looking for an elevator, or an ATM or dining options off the interstate ... give thanks.


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Get your design groove on

TUAW, my daily source for Mac tips and just general trivia, posted about a great peek behind-the-scenes at the original Apple iPod spots.

Created by Rocket Studio for advertising goliath TBWA/Chiat/Day, you actually get to see the silhouettes before they were colorized and darkened. While it's not a revolutionary technique by any stretch (most people with a basicrudimentary knowledge of Photoshop can do it) it does emphasize how simple messages and images can be translated into powerful emotional connections. You can see it here.

The site also features some killer design work for other campaigns. I highly recommend checking it out.


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Dept. of Philosophy: The Art of Communication

Let's play a little game, shall we? It's a simple language game, but profound.

Here's what you do: Close your eyes or stare at the ceiling, think of what comes to mind when you read the word "chair" and count to ten. Then read on...

What do you see?

Is it a kitchen chair? An armchair? Is it leather, or wood, or metal? A stool? Three legs? Four legs? Right.

Personally, I see the Vienna Cafe chair No. 14, but that's exactly the point. We like to think of language as precise, a finely-honed tool of humanity that is impervious, but nothing could be further from the truth. Language, as we know it, is more like a carefully crafted an illusion.

If I want you "see" in your mind's eye what I see when I think "chair" I have to say that I see a "cafe chair." That alone might do it, but more likely i'd have to describe it too — I don't know it you know what a cafe chair looks like and, assuming you do, you don't know if it's new or old. Red, black or blue. This is all very fascinating, you say, but what does this mean to me?

It means that as independent-minded persons we must both study communication and strive to be precise in our language. I see this as the basis of communication studies: why we should be critical of the words and messages we consume, and why we must each take a second look at the language we hear. So, that being said, what king of chair did you see?



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The benefits of being easily swayed

I know that I just unveiled a new design, but it is a new year and, frankly, I wasn't feeling it. So here we are. New and sleek.

Recently, I've had a few people ask about what programs I use a lot for design work. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but for the most part it's all very standard Adobe Creative Suite and Flash techniques. I have very few "uni-tasking" programs that I use, but today I think I might have found an exception to the rule. Thumbscrew creates the lovely little Mac-ish icons displayed here and for a free application it works like a charm. Drop in a folder of pictures or single images and out pops a miniature version. I highly recommend it.



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