Vintage Pens

Over at Lifework contributor Amy Feezor’s blog M-Dashing there’s often an item or two…or five, that I covet. Today I wandered back through her archives and found these retro pens from Kikkerland. 5 for $8 seems like a bargain.

Design For You: The Music

By now a lot of you have checked out the Design for You contest page. Have you noticed the music that plays with the Behind the Scenes video? That’s Portland-based Mnemonic Sounds.”For the video featuring the five artists painting chairs, I think the song Lonely Heart works so well because it provides a sense of enthusiasm and excitement about the artists while providing a modern electronic sound to pair with a sleek clean artist/furniture visual video,” says Peter Suk, who along with Megan Ouchida, are the driving force behind Mnemonic Sounds. I talked to them about their new CD and the ins and outs of working from a home studio.

How long have you both worked from home? And where is home? We are two members of the band Mnemonic Sounds, a Portland based electronic-indie-pop band. Megan and I both work from our respective homes but did most of our writing, recording, and producing at my home studio located in the heart of the downtown Portland in a neighborhood known as Nob Hill.

Megan and I are both working musicians, fresh off of recording our debut album together, entitled Muscle Memories. We worked on this album in my upstairs home studio space for the last year and half.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? With the challenge of having to record live instruments and vocals within a room not really designed for sonic clarity, it took some imagination and cleverness on our part to turn a loft like room with lots of windows and a tin roof overhead into a space in which we could come away with quality, clear recordings. Since our music contains quite a bit of electronic instrumentation with synthesizer bass sounds, keyboards, and drum samples, the real challenges came when we had to record live vocals or guitars in such an open space.  Since the area is so open and hardly insulated, we ended up using the corridors that divide the open loft-like space into 3 different sections to funnel and in essence create an isolation booth in which we could record. What the loft space did offer was a vibrant, well-lit space that let in a great deal of natural sunlight which made recording much more of a pleasurable undertaking; a stark contrast to most recording spaces that require no windows and are usually sealed tight.

As musicians how do you keep your studio organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. Are there any particular programs you find really useful? It can easily become an indistinguishable tangle of cords and more cords when trying to keep a home studio organized and running.  In general, we would label and organize all the various types of chords and instruments on hooks in columns to keep them separate and identifiable.   Same with the instruments – all in their right place.  Often times, recording requires quick changes to the physical setup and a creative moment can get away from you quickly if you don’t have the instruments and cables and hardware set up in a clear fashion.

Program wise, we recorded Muscle Memories on software called Pro Tools, a fairly standardized software for the recording industry.  Additionally we also used Reason, Ableton Live and even Garage Band which are all different types of software for recording and editing music.

As a producer of other artist’s music, I worked primarily from this home recording space on my MacBook Pro with the above mentioned software to record and produce various local artist’s in Portland. Last year I simultaneously recorded two other CD recording projects in the home studio.

When you were setting up the studio what did you have to keep in mind? Designing a recording studio space in a space normally designed for a living room posed quite a few challenges.  Mainly we had to utilize our space in such a manner that allowed us to divide an open area into separate rooms so that the sound coming from the windows and from the engine hum of the computer and all the other recording hardware would not be audible in the space in which we set up microphones to record an electric guitar or a vocal.

For example we would use the sliding pantry door, a bathroom door and a cabinet, along with some blankets to create an makeshift isolation booth.

More often than not, the space would require patience on our part as frequently, birds would sit on our roof and chirp for a half hour at a time, or someone mowing their lawn a block away would be picked up by a vocal mic.

What would you change about your workspace? The home studio is a pretty open space, which gave a nice room amibiance to a lot of the instruments we were recording (ie guitar), but when it came time to record vocals, we had to get creative. Peter had me perched on a bar stool with a microphone enclosed in the kitchen’s food pantry. I became very comfortable with his pantry over time but I suppose if I were to change anything about our workspace, our workspace would include a vocal booth. Double pane windows that still maintained the view would have been nice as well.

What do you most love about your space? At the risk of being redundant, the windows and the great view were really motivating and inspiring especially when you spend ten hour days in the same room as each other and begin to lose sense of time. When it’s dark out, it’s time for a drink!

What inspires you? Megan: I am inspired by artists who can create something beautiful out of nothing. Peter: I am inspired by fellow artists who are able to have a clear vision of something they would like to create while having the drive and discipline to see it through to the finished product.  The creative turned into pragmatic turned into art.  The most inspiring part is when you are able to share your art with someone who can find something in your art that is relatable and invokes a genuine response.

Images: Portrait of Megan Ouchida and Peter Suk by Lindsey Byrnes.

Highlighters

I’ve had the misfortune of using some pretty bad highlighters in my life, and all they really highlight is how hard it can be to actually find something that is long lasting, with bright color, and doesn’t have a tip that gets mushy and streaky.  Here are cool highlighters that I’ve used that avoid some of those common problems.

If you are an avid note taker, these Post-it Flag Plus Highlighters are for you.  Not only do they give you great bright and bold highlighting ability, but they also come stuffed full of Post-it flags to further enhance your note taking.  The chunky body and comfortable rubber grip house a pretty generous ink supply as well.  $7 for  3 via Amazon

For a more professional and refined highlighting experience, take a look at the Zebra Stainless Steel Refillable Highlighter.  With a full stainless steel body, cap, and clip, this highlighter has a very stylish look to it, plus it can take a pretty good beating.  Inside the stainless steel body resides a replaceable ink cartridge similar to the ink cartridges in fountain pens. $3 via Buy.com

The Textsurfer Classic Highlighters from Staedtler offer the ability to highlight directly on inkjet print without smearing, which is a very impressive feat.  In addition to highlighting inkjet text well, they are also available in a bevy of colors for those of you who like to color code with your highlighters.  $8 for 12 via Amazon

Anyone who is a fan of fountain pens has no doubt tried to fashion a highlighter out of one of their fountain pens.  Pelikan has made it easier with their new translucent yellow M 205 Demonstrator (Demonstrator is just fancy-talk for see-through in the fountain pen world) that comes with a big wide nib.  The nib isn’t quite wide enough to highlight the entire height of a standard 10 or 12 size font, but it will still be wide enough to make your text stand out.  Not available in the US quite yet, but it should be here soon.  See it at the official Pelikan website and  expect to drop about $120 for it when it does become available.

Lastly if it’s durability, environmentally-friendly, long-lasting ink is your thing, check out the Platinum Preppy highlighter with Noodlers Year of the Golden Pig highlighting ink.  This one requires a little DIY (Do it Yourself) spirit, but if done correctly, the 4.5 oz bottle of ink and replaceable felt tips should get you through years of highlighting.  About $20 via Writers Bloc

Illustrations by Jordan Awan.

High Five

Where we’ve been this week…

1. Mocoloco For a good dose of architecture and design with a shot of attitude. Where to start: Go straight to the architecture section for some really amazing homes.

2. Design Spotter Looking for great prefab backyard offices this week and came back to Design Spotter. They’ve got a good breadth of content often lacking on other sites. Where to start: The ZipCabin.

3. Grassroots Modern Creede Fitch and Capree Kimball are the masterminds behind this stylish blog with a DIY bent. Where to start: Start at the top and wander through.

4. Haute Nature You got to love a blog that combines a plum jam recipe with high-end architecture. Where to start: Cool studio shed in Colorado.

5. Pillar Box Post A nicely curated blog from an American ex-pat in London with a keen eye for design. Where to start: The 2010 desk accessories round-up.

Backyard Office

Here’s a new take on the backyard home office. It’s called the Sustainsia Cocoon and is 8′ by 12′ modular prefab with a lovely curvey interior.

Unplggd: How Do You Stay Productive?

“We know. It’s hard to feel like you’re being productive these days with all of communication venues and potentially distracting YouTube clip at the tip of your fingers. While there’s no argument that two screens help you feel like you’re getting more stuff done, one too many windows open will eventually cause a decrease in productivity. Here’s how to stay productive, even with all of that going on…

One of our favorite software tools to up our daily productivity is Dizzy, a small program that runs in the background and allows us to allocate shortcuts to resize windows on command. You know, so we can do side-by-side comparisons of products, blog quicker, etc.

If we recall, Windows 7 now has that as a built-in feature, so cheers to Microsoft for implementing it!

Lifehacker editor Adam Dachis recommends splitting up monitor screens physically in order to encourage true separation of play and work. So if you’re ever tempted to chat, but need an hour of super dedicated crunch time, you can simply drag the window over to the other monitor and finish up your work without blinking boxes begging for your attention.

Got a productivity tip when having a number of windows open? Share it in the comments!

By Anthony.”

Design For You: Phil Lumbang

Los Angeles-based Phil Lumbang is one of the five artists chosen to paint an Eames rocker in our Design For You contest. Here he shares his workspace with us and a little bit about the process of painting.

How long have you worked in your current studio? And where is it? Well, I work out of my apartment, but I have a pretty big balcony where I can paint and get all my work done. My place is only a few block from MacArthur Park in Los Angeles and I’ve been here for about a year.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? Simple is best. Bold black lines and a sense of wonder. I have these characters that I always draw; bears, birds, and elephants mostly. I like to keep them very iconic and easily recognized.

As an artist how do you keep your space organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. Are there any particular programs you find really useful? Oh boy, I’m probably the most unorganized person I know. Paint, brushes, paper everywhere, but in that pile of mess I know where everything is! My computer is the same way, I just toss everything on my desktop. Luckily there is a fancy search feature for when I forget where things are. I have a degree in graphic design so Photoshop and Illustrator are some of my favorite programs to use.

What would you change about your workspace if you could? MORE SPACE!

What do you most love about your space? It’s outdoors and I can work in the sunshine.

What inspires you? Cartoons are my biggest inspiration. Anything thats makes me smile. And just having a crazy imagination.

Tell me about the experience of painting the Eames chair? How much prep did you have to do?  What inspired the final design? Painting the Eames chair was really fun. I am use to painting on flat surfaces and it was a welcomed changed. I’ll be honest I didn’t have anything planned out, I had a loose idea in my head but kept adding things as I went. First I put down white as a primer but as soon as the white hit the blue I thought it looked pretty awesome. Then I went on from there. The final design is a bear sitting down in a snow-capped valley with chocolate syrup being poured down the mountains… I really dont know how it turned out that way… I guess I was hungry!

The Playlist: Lisa Katayama of TokyoMango

She may blog about Japan from her home in San Francisco, but this week’s mix from print, radio, and online journalist Lisa Katayama would be perfect for lounging for an afternoon in Paris. Check out this easy-breezy Playlist from this Contributing Editor at Boing Boing and the founder of TokyoMango

What do you listen to while you work? Usually nothing… I find it hard to find words to write when words are being sung in the background.  If I’m just surfing the web for stories, I’ll listen to something happy and fun, like Spoon or the soundtrack from Glee.

How do you listen? I have a little Altec iPod speaker system that I dock my iPhone 4 on.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? The Pandora iPhone app is great!

Does music influence your work? Music inspires a variety of different blog posts on TokyoMango. For example, there is this funny commercial for jock itch cream, a demo of a tadpole-like instrument called the Otomatone, and the opening sequence to the hip-hop anime Samurai Champloo. I also produce occasional stories for PRI’s art and culture show, Studio360. In June, I did a story about Judith Hill, the woman who was slated to sing alongside Michael Jackson on his “This Is It” tour. I listened to “Man in the Mirror” every day while working on that story.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste? In life, generally. Last week, I discovered the amazing version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” by Alexandra Burke via a friend whom I volunteer with at an AIDS hospice here in San Francisco. I’m going to a concert this week for The Yoshida Brothers, a duo of shamisen-players from Japan who incorporate elements of rock-n-roll and samba into the traditional string instrument; I heard an old interview with them on NPR while driving downtown over the weekend.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be? The Japanese musician Cornelius. His music is experimental, fun, peaceful, organic, and digital all at the same time. Sometimes he takes you to a crazy electronic circus; sometimes he drops you off in the middle of a vast, surreal field of dreams.

LISA’S PLAYLIST

Traffic in the Sky, Jack Johnson

lll Vacation, The Mighty Underdogs

Champs Elysees, Joe Dessin

Feather, Nujabes

Compacto, Curumin

Don’t Shit Where You Eat, Ween

Ruby Tuesday, Rolling Stones

I’m Yours, Jason Mraz

Ghostwriter, RJD2

Sympathique, Pink Martini

Oh Paris!, Dent May

One Good Spliff, Bob Marley

Image: Lisa Katayama

5 Easy Ways to Save Energy in Your Home Office

Although there’s all sorts of products intended to monitor your energy uses around the home, there are simple things you can do without the help of additional electronics to curb your usage. Although they’re nothing new, they could very easily be things you’ve been forgetting to do!

1. Turn off The Lights: When leaving the room, turn off the light. We know, simple right? It’s even better if you can keep the overhead off and use a small low light task lamp by your desk instead. It will ease eye strain without heating up your space which might require fans to help regulate temperature.

2. Power Down: My laptop goes to sleep when I tell it to turn off. It isn’t really off unless I get into the start menu and then an additional sub menu to tell it to power down completely. Yes, it will take a few seconds longer to start back up, but really, what in life is so pressing that 20 extra seconds is so important? It will also help you remember to install regular updates and let scans run upon closing or starting.

3. Unplug: Don’t need it? Then don’t plug it in! Sure there’s devices that kill all power to things, but really, why bother with a whole new device when you can just unplug the ones you have. Props to those who have their power bars near the top of the table to make this act easy!

4. Do Long Downloads, Updates, Backups & Housekeeping Overnight: Often when our computers are on for a long while (say a marathon of WoW) things can get a little toasty. Try doing most of your long maintenance work overnight when no one has to be in the room (which means no extra fans or AC). The lights can be off to keep things cool and the screen can even go to sleep, far more earth friendly than finding random chat partners while you do a little disc cleanup!

5. Multi-Task: Doing more in less time is the ultimate way to accomplish the most amount of work in the smallest time possible. Try working on your paper for school while you’re burning the latest season of True Blood to DVD. Synch your iPod for the latest update while checking your email… you get the idea. If we could, we’d multi-task our entire day into a few small minutes. Our new found free time would be spent in a hammock with a drink involving an umbrella!

Do yo have another simple way to save some energy and a little green in the process? Share your tips in the comments below!

Image: Flickr member Faster Panda Kill Kill licensed for use by Creative Commons

By Sarah Rae Trover

Stop Work: Helvetica to the Moon and Back

This is the first in an occasional series where I will look at things that aren’t necessarily connected to the work we do or our home office spaces – they are just interesting. If you come across anything feel free to email it to me – cerentha_harris@hermanmiller.com

So how big would the word “helvetica” have to be if you stretched it between the moon and the earth? In helvetica font, of course. What point size would it be? According to Kottke.org (and @brainpicker) it’s 282.6 billion points. The “h” would be a whopping 44,600 miles tall.