We Joined the WP train a couple years ago when we started blog Gamil, and have since learned how powerful it can be as a CMS system. Congratulations WP we agree, you’re awesome!

Below are a few sites we designed with WordPress CMS.

ABOVE: Our portfolio site is powered by WordPress

ABOVE: With WordPress SPARKcon  festival website was able to organize 50+ events & details leading up to and during the festival

ABOVE: WordPress was chosen for Triange Technology Executives Council website, because it is a great Open Source CMS

ABOVE: We chose WordPress for Blue Flame Tattoo’s website because of the ease to update the artists galleries

]]> http://www.gamil.com/2009/11/23/wordpress-open-source-cms-award/feed/ 3 http://www.gamil.com/2009/05/06/blog-book-publishing/ http://www.gamil.com/2009/05/06/blog-book-publishing/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 14:32:45 +0000 britt http://www.gamil.com/?p=1381

Blurb Website

Blog vs. Book. Tagable vs. Tangible, Dynamic vs. Analog.

It isn’t as hard or as impossible as it may seem…Blurb (an online publisher), allows you to slurp (upload/import) content from your blog and then translate it into a multi page book. The online publisher provides free software called BookSmart (crossplatform mac/pc) as well as several tutorial videos to help in the designing/publishing/printing of your book! AND if that weren’t enough Blurb provides a “Share, Promote, Sell” service where you can make your book available for other people to purchase.

BookSmart Application

SOMETHING TO TAKE NOTE OF:
One thing to take note of is that BookSmart only can slurp blog feeds/entries from Blogger, Live Journal, Typepad, and WordPress.com blogs. This means if you have a WordPress Platform Blog (like we do here at Gamil) that is not hosted at WordPress.com, you cannot slurp your blog content into BookSmart for the layout/publishing. BooHoo. SO BLURB… Is an update to BookSmart Coming for all us other Wordpress Users?

POSSIBLE WORK-AROUND FOR WP USERS?:
I haven’t tried this so I don’t know if it will work…but I assume If you have a WP platform blog, it may be possible to export your .xml file then import it into one of the supported Blog Platforms?

Blurb Bookstore

That all said, I am definitely impressed with Blurb. Not only do they have the Blog to Book publishing, BookSmart also has Various (70+) page layout templates for Portfolios, Photobooks, Wedding Books, Guestbooks, Cookbooks, Yearbooks, Journals, Text & photos, Text only, and Poetry Books. Making it easy for any novice to jump in and create a book.

If using a Template isn’t for you and you want a book designer to design your book? Well Blurb has a created a directory of designers (BlurbNation) to help you create your entire book from cover-to-cover, write and proofread copy, design pages and organize your content, scan, edit, and restore photos, artwork, and more,
provide creative services you haven’t even thought of yet. WOW.

all photos from Blurb.com

Ok if you’re addicted to this, then I commiserate. I love global stats and graphs and history… I could spend all day at Gapminder. It’s a beautifully simple way of looking for relationships between important (or weird) data. You can even make movies to show your graph changing over time.  You’ve can plot useful info like CO2 emissions vs income above, or with all this talk of energy independence it’s interesting to see this one:

But then you have things like the Bad Teeth Index. It looks like Americans have to stop making fun of the British! But what’s up with the Saudi’s?

Thanks to Wade Dansby for the heads up!

1. Keen was trying to make a human connection with their footwear via a message called “hybrid life.” Hybrid seemed to mean lots of things when you got down to it, so it came off more as a hybrid message. But still some distinct footwear is emerging from that “brand with the big toe.”

2. Ariat, originating from Equestrian wear, had some nice detailing that crossed-over well to urban style.

3. Taos clogs were just too compelling to go unnoticed.

4. But Best in Show has got to go to a beautiful collection from Columbia called Sergio Tomani. I’ve never seen this brand before but these shoes were stunning in person and these pics don’t do them justice. You can get multi views here.

At least there’s the ultra-responsible approach by Simple to make your own! Sure, there’s still the gigantic woes of the animal & tanning industries, but at least it can be assembled with fidgety hands while watching American Idol Gives Back.

Wandering this show requires comfy shoes or else wheels. So you must weave your way between booths, skateboards, and people bounding on the latest springy leg contraptions.

As a member of IDEAS, a design/trends collective subsidized by ISPO itself, we set up some simple displays, sell our color cards and let people rifle through our portfolios.

Though the more eager ones among us try to sell from their “book,” I prefer to wander the show during the day searching for new material and get insights to new trends in fabrications and design. Then at night, hang out with the IDEAS gang to discuss what we’re doing/thinking, and what we’ve seen from our various viewpoints. This can happen all over Munich, but tends to conclude at the famous Shiller (Boxing) Bar started by Andrea Lanweider and Hans Fretz.

I was folded into IDEAS by Nadine Cino who was recruiting more American designers at the lackluster Super Show to join a group of exceptionally talented designers from all over Europe, Japan, and even Iceland. Part of the benefits of being a member was to exhibit at ISPO and get involved in color trends with a diverse set of perspectives. The application process was pretty serious but the more I knew about the group the more eager I was to join this network and they welcomed me quite warmly.

In the early days we had color meetings during the ISPO show. My first meeting included the visionary Vittorio Giomo who successfully predicted the dominant trend of charcoal greys in apparel (years ago) by refocusing on the naked human body – and then building a pallet that complemented this perspective. It was an eye-opener to take a philosophical approach to color like this but I loved the process and could certainly appreciate the results. Each season has a group of IDEAS members selling their insight on coming trends. Unfortunately these trend meetings are done in between ISPO’s now, and I cannot swing the extra trip.

Eventually IDEAS helped inform us for the concept for Designbox. Like most associations of creative people, IDEAS has a “dynamic uncertainty” that plagues the group on who we are or what we will become next. For me I see that these times are usually accompanied by a drop in new applicants.

But when a new member shows up, the older ones have to help explain what the group is and the positive aspects of different members they might otherwise criticize. In the end it’s the new energy of a fresh member who makes a group gel. If in Africa, “it takes a village to raise a child,” I believe that in creative networks “it takes a newcomer to build the village.”

Starting with carbon to make Diamonds:

this bike from Moulton that folds yet maintains great frame rigidity

but also this cool guitar from Matrax that resonates longer than any electric out there

roof trusses that enclose huge volumes with the least wood

even the Brooklyn Bridge which has stood the test of time

For $7 or $10 PicWash will retouch your photo, and no one will know the difference! Upload your photo, choose your plan, and you will receive your touched-up photo in only 48 hrs!

Americans generate an average of 4.6 pounds of garbage per person each day.
Read on to learn how you can reduce your consumption and put your waste to good use!

Household Recycling (food, junk mail, cards, packaging, appliances, furniture, home-made cleaning products)

Personal Recycling (clothing, shoes, eyeglasses)

Local Recycling Services (Triangle, NC area)

Business/Home Office Recycling (electronics, batteries, cell phones, computers)

Transportation Recycling (cars, bikes)

Building Recycling (paint, materials)

Non-Toxic Cleaners

Additionally it has a drawing module and even a database application. I highly recommend it for designers who need to save their $$$ for art apps like Illustrator and Photoshop and all those derned plugins.