I'm posting at madebyjordan.com from now on

http://madebyjordan.com

Back from Leiden

I have spent the last 3 days in The Netherlands, or to be more precise, the lovely Leiden. Here I attended the EECI2009 (Expression Engine Code Igniter conference) where I met like-minded fools who roam this web development industry.

Expression Engine 2.0 will be released on 1st December 2009, a new wave of beta invites are on the way and hopefully my inbox will be tickled by one soon. EE 2.0 looks and feels great, I'll be presenting the new features to the Design by FRONT team and will probably put my slides up here too.

Taking a rest

I'll be taking a rest from blogging in the near future. I'm enjoying Picasa too much and playing with my kitty.

Yummy lo-fi photography

 

Via Flickr 1 2 3

Octavianbudai's Typographic Experiments

Adventurous and ballsy typography.

Via Flickr

Boom Boom Music Vol 7

My mixtape series continues with Boom Boom Music Vol 7 (for those that aren't in the loop, this mixtape is something I make for my car and "Boom Boom" is in relation to the noise that comes out of my car speakers when these beats hit yall).

This time round Boom Boom returns to it's routes with lots of heavy hip hop beats that are designed to shake the speakers as well as a few straight up rock tunes. It kicks off on a dark note with Kanye West's Love Lockdown which has narrowly avoided the Boom Boom series for quite some time, then into the highs of Missy Elliot's We Run This. Already I'm regretting including Calvin Harris and Ready for the Weekend, it's completely out of place, and not for the usual Boom Boom reasons (I usually include a random track, normally the closing track).

Volume 7 closes with possibly the best closer I have included on a mixtape, The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere. In fact, it's unintentionally Beatles-heavy too with a couple of inclusions with two inclusions from Dangermouse's masterful Grey Album.

Enjoy and burn.

Side A

• Kanye West - Love Lockdown
• Swizz Beatz - Top Down
  
• Missy Elliot - We Run This
• Jay-Z & DJ Dangermouse - Dirt Off Your Shoulder
• Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U
• Korn - Here to Stay

Side B

• Queens of the Stone Age - Medication
• Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend
• Thom Yorke - Black Swan
• Dizzee Rascal - Da Feelin'
• Jay-Z & DJ Dangermouse -Allure
• The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere
  

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you

I love Google suggest. It knows me better than I know myself. I was watching my cat, Denzel, go crazy on my ankles when I thought about something my workmate Adrian was talking about a few weeks ago, that he could be a decendant from wildcats.

I decided to Google "How to tell if your cat is a wildcat" as soon as I got to "How to tell if you-" I was presented with "How to tell if your pregnant" with my pet hate of the misuse of "you're". Second result "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you".

1. Google knew I wanted to know something about my cat
2. Google knew my cat was being troublesome (I think he's of the wild variety)
3. Google got to the route cause - my cat might be trying to kill me

I ran the search and found this helpful resource for anybody that may be in a similar situation: http://www.catswhothrowupgrass.com/kill.php containing a helpful quiz. Apparently there is a 78% chance that my cat is plotting to kill me... until he gives me that wuvley wittle wook on his face, then I believe in the other 22%. I love you Denzel, even if you are "kneading" my guts to check for weakness.

Ahoy tharrrrrr!

Avast! Thar be plenty of pirate themed designs to behold on talk like a pirate day, gyaaaar! I sourced this booty(ful) example of packaging design from Image Sparrrrrrk. Arrrr, I'm sorry.

Via ImageSpark

Pavement Reunite!

I have had the words "Pavement" and "Stephen Malkmus" as a custom RSS feed for Google News in my RSS reader for months waiting for this news, then it lit up yesterday with 5 items, that's 5 more than normal. I nearly had a stroke.

Turns out my favourite guys from Stockton, CA are playing a show in New York next September, I must be a part of this, I need to see this happening LIVE! In the meantime, I'll have them on repeat in iTunes and my DVD player will contsantly be playing Slow Century (with a region hack).

Enjoy Shady Lane, (everybody needs one!)

ANCO Graffiti

I spot this every day on my way to work and it always brings a smile to my face. Have a look at some more snaps of ANCO's work on Flickr

I wuv Squared Eye

 

I was having a lovely read of the Squared Eye - Deep Thoughts section of their site and discovered an awesome template for making Levi, their whale mascot. He now lives in my home office staring at the Hudson River. These guys have a way of making their brand so loveable and accessible.

Stella Artios - Recyclage De Luxe

 

 

Lovely advertising campaign for Stella Artios' Recyclage De Luxe, spotted this in Wired magazine (UK).

Via StellaArtois.com

Vintage Time Travel posters

 

 

 

Found these via Dan Cederholm at SimpleBits.com - go here to admire them all - http://826la.org/store-sundries/#F.A.T.

Pokedstudio Cards

 

 

Wonderfully simple but awesome cards created by Jonathan Ball of Pokedstudio, Wales. Two of my favourites Treak and Barebear.

Via Pokedstudio

jordanmooreblog web design awards #1

Screw the "n websites to shake a stick at" style lists, I'm holding an awards ceremony for websites that I like a lot better than others. Then some reasons why.

Squared Eye

 

• Great choice of font, especially the italic Lucida Sans - pushing boundaries because it's a rarely used font on the web and who knew it would look that good in italics
• The product (their work in this case) takes center stage - as it should for someone offering a product
• It's just different, okay? None of the "Hello! We are a company from Bleh, we make pretty/good/neat websites" they also don't feel the need to tell you what their last tweet was.

Black Estate

• One of the most readable sites I have ever seen, these guys show everybody how to use BIG type well.
• The product takes center stage
• The site "feels" like part of the brand

Leihu

• A LOT of thought has went into the layout and the quirkiness of James Mathias' homepage, rollover on his photo in the right, he smiles - awesome
• His work IS the design - the octopus on the left, good illustration, he's an illustrator, ah his product is presented on the homepage, pattern?
• Attention to typography is good, look at the ampersands in the right column (which have been harshly shaven off my screenshot due to width restrictions here) 

That does it for now, I'll maybe do a #2 soon (tee-hee) but I'll wait until I find a few more gems, preferably ones you haven't seen a million times before. It seems like I'm ranting a bit today, I'm sorry, I'll be in a better mood tomorrow. I'm safer when I keep my posts to one or two sentences.