I heart yogurt!

Creating a Lovemark; IHY™ the original self-serve yogurt!

I heart yogurt!

An inspired photographer deserves an inspired identity.

Branding an artist is never easy, but an amazing experience.

An inspired photographer deserves an inspired identity.

Microsoft opens the doors to Worldwide Telescope

Creating one of the most inspirational design destinations on the web.

Microsoft opens the doors to Worldwide Telescope

Coolspotters. Next level of celebrity Fashion?


Celebrity fashion has always been watched by people and copied. That’s why we have celebrity endorsements. Coolspotters lets people see what products and brands favorite celebrities really use. Share everything you know about the coolest celebrities, products, brands, and entertainment and connect with other passionate fans. Rate stuff, leave comments, follow cool people and trends!I like the idea. I’m sure with gossip, celebrity news and photos always being in demand, this site will thrive. I can foresee a partnership with sites like popsugar .
As far as the branding, design and UX goes, there is much left to be desired. The name is simple, but the word cool is just not cool anymore. And the logo lacks sophistication and depth. The UX is a bit confusing and bland. I have a hard time focusing on anything else other than the overly sized logo on the top. I’m sure as the site grows, some of these issues will be dealt with. For now, I’m sure a steady growth in the number of users is in sight.picture-4.png

Do me a favor, check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

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Powerset is an interesting search engine for wikipedia


Today powerset launched it’s wikipedia search engine. It makes it super easy to search Wikipedia. Techcrunch says that “Powerset actually makes some sense of the content in the wikipedia pages”. So if you search “how old do sea turtles get” you will actually get a sensible set of search results.

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It has a very friendly and unique user interface for a search engine. It’s clean and easy to use. I signed up a few days ago, and I think I’ll be testing it out for the rest of the week.

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LessAccounting & Finance 2.0


Being an artist at heart I’ve always had a hard time with managing money. So when it came down to dealing with my accounting and tracking my spending habits, I decided to go 2.0 all the way. Last year to keep things in check, I signed up for Quickbooks online. What a disaster! I was only able to use it on a PC with ie. It was a terrible experience and it cost me $50/month. Rip Off. So I waited until my fiscal year was over, exported my information, took care of my taxes and moved on. That’s when I found LessAccounting.

Lessaccounting feels easy, looks easy and makes me feel comfortable with my invoicing. It’s basic, simple and clean. There is a free version and the unlimited version for $20 a month. I upgraded after my first month. I’m real happy and I’ll continue to use them for as long as I can. I got to upload my logo and make my invoice look professional. I really can’t ask for much more. Anymore functions and it would have turned me off. Lessaccounting’s homepage makes sure to say what they are and what they are not right on the homepage, so you don’t get the wrong idea!

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There are a few more online financial apps to help your with your spending, invoicing and other money managment issues. Here is a list by Ramit Sethi.

  • BoulevardR: Personalized guidance on your retirement goals
  • Buxfer: Track your spending online
  • CakeFinancial: Centralize your portfolios, compare your performance to others
  • Credit Karma: Free credit scores, offers based on your score
  • FindABetterBank: Compare banks
  • Mint: Track your spending online, find offers based on your spending (my personal fav.)
  • Prosper: Borrow or loan money online
  • SmartHippo: Use the “power of the herd” to find better mortgage rates
  • TrustedID: Get identity protection
  • Vestopia: See how Wall Street pros manage their portfolios
  • Wesabe: Track your spending, save money, join an online community
  • Zecco: Online trading/investing community

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EVERNOTE. This elephant never forgets


EVERNOTE is an amazing online/offline application with wonderful branding and decent user interface. I just got invited to the beta and have been using it for a day or two. It took me a bit to get used to the interface and usability, then I jumped right in. As a designer I used to keep a physical scrap book of all the images and information that I found inspiring, but when I started doing my research online bookmarking was the way to go. After a couple of months I realized that I wasn’t going back to check my bookmarks. So I look for inspiration everyday, and I forget about the past. Now I can have the best of both worlds.

Evernote helps you remember. It’s been called the backup for your brain by some, and that’s exactly what it is. You find an image online, you save it to a Evernote notebook with a click of a button. You can also use your iphone or other mobile phones to take pictures and send it to your Evernote. It’s all synched, so you can find all your images and info on your computers, on the web and your phone when you choose to recall. The recall feature is one of the best parts of the whole site since Evernote has the capability to search and mine for text in images. You may also add keywords to every note, which makes it easier to find images that don’t have any text in them. So the next time you meet someone, just ask them to pose for your iphone photo. Then email it to your Evernote and add a couple of tags. It’s hard to forget anyone that way.

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I really like the smart branding and identity of the site also. It’s clean, clever and memorable. The user interface can be a bit simpler, with better instructions on how to use the site and it’s features. Evernote is currently free to use while in beta. But when it’s officially launched, expect a 2 tier pricing. One that’s free, limiting the amount of notes you can add and another that’s only a few bucks a month, with no limitations.

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Skitch changed my life


Skitch is a mac application that makes it totally easy for your to snap images from the web and your computer, make notes, doodles and share them however you like. Skitch, the application works hand in hand with Skitch.com bringing the whole process together. It has made my life as a design consultant very easy. When I need my clients to look at what I’m working on, I take a snapshot of my work and upload it to my skitch.com account with one click. From there, I email the link to the client and that’s it! No more messy multiple format exports and attachments to email. yuk! I just Skitch it! It’s really amazing.

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Skitch also has an interesting Identity, color scheme and styling. The feminine geared logo and site treatment makes me wonder who their target market is. I’m sure there as many men that would enjoy this application as women. I don’t mind it personally, but I’m curious about their strategy. Either way, I’m in heart with this application and use it on a daily basis. Here is a quick video that explains it all in 3 minutes!

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