I saw that beautiful sleek design of the tablet accessorized by the glorious smart case, coupled with so many delightful features and capabilities and quickly realized – it had to be mine. (Might have been channeling a little Gollum and let slip a “my precious” but don’t quote me on that.)

If I were to describe a typical week day with the iPad, it would go like this. There’s access to Google Docs for the morning production meeting. I’m using it to log onto the different 37 signals applications throughout the day in order to follow up on projects and clients. And, I’m able to walk to and from meetings with all my notes organized and easy access to my email.

At certain points of the day, I’m wired into all my various social media outlets and catching up on the latest news trends and happenings of friends and family. At home, I’ll sit down and pick up right where I left off on a favorite book, TV show or movie – chill out listening to music or unwind playing some games. Between updating my financials to working on spreadsheets and/or doing a little research, there’s many productive features as well.

The list keeps growing and it’s many uses is one of the reasons why I had  to question my response in the registration process. They asked me what my primary use for it would be. I had no idea how to encompass the millions of uses I had for it into one drop down answer.

What’s the difference between version 1 and 2? I like to think of like the difference between a child and adult. At the core they’re the same person but outwardly they’ve grown and refined. I imagine the next version is going to be even better and it should be.

How has you’re smart phone or tablet enhanced your everyday life? Do you feel more connected and organized?  Are all these electronic ties a bad addiction? Look what happened to Gollum but then again Frodo survived…

I’m sure that by this time most Americans have had their fill of turkey, what with it being five days after Thanksgiving, but not us at Rule29. We love us some turkey…especially in hand drawn form. We’ve talied up the results of this year’s hand turkey illustration contest.

Find out who was victorious in R29′s Show of Hands competition after the jump.

First, we should probably address how we came upon a winner. The turkeys with the most comments and/or Facebook Likes, along with our personal judgement came out on top. The winners will receive iTunes gift cards.

So, without further ado, check out the champion gobblers.

Adults Category

First Place ($50 iTunes gift card): Todd McQueen – Four Seasons of a Hand Turkey

Second Place ($25 iTunes gift card): Jana Kinsman – Team-Up Turkey

Kids Category

First Place ($25 iTunes gift card): Savannah Glitschka - Giblets

Second Place ($15 iTunes gift card): Abigail Pelloquin - The First Thanksgiving

Honorable Mentions

etherbrian - Cosmic Puritan Mind Food

Joycer – Robot Turkey

Lucia Faust - Gobbles

Brent Pelloquin – Hang Six

Tom Favorite – Simpsons Turkey

Nick Valente – Eat Mor Chickin

Congratulations to all the winners! We will be in touch shortly to award your prizes. Also, if you’re sentimental like us and like to take a walk down memory lane, you can view past entries here and here.

Until next year’s competition… Gobble, gobble!

This year we’re doing things a bit differently and instead of submitting your posts to us through email, we’ve created a little Tumblr site for your turkey enjoyment. Check out handturkeys.tumblr.com/ on how to download the template and submit your best gobbler.

For a little extra motivation, there are prizes for 1st through 3rd place, and be sure to check out previous years’ entries for some inspiration. 2008 Turkeys | 2009 Turkeys

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s submissions!

Recently I took a road trip across the great United States to the one and only capital, Washington DC. I went with the AIGA group through my school Northern Illinois University. Why DC you ask? First, because I am oh-so patriotic and love this great nation, but mostly because we were invited down by an NIU alumni who currently works in the design department for the White House. So it gave us a good excuse to visit the White House as well as some other design firms in the area.

Once we arrived, we visited a few well-known design firms in the DC area. One of which produced some of the artwork for one of my favorite post-apocalyptic Washington DC set video games. It was definitely enjoyable to get a taste of the local design from the area, and see how the city influences their design strategy and aesthetic. But most of the focus and excitement was on the fact that we got personally invited to come down to the White House.

Upon arrival to meet the NIU alumni, we first went through an extensive security check to go into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. This is actually the building that pretty much runs the White House, and holds the design department. After getting a small tour of a few of the preserved rooms from when the building was first constructed, we got to talk to the alumni. He provided a lot of interesting insight to working for the White House. Besides talking about how incredible the experience is, and how difficult it was to get used to, he talked about how different it was to work for the head of the government as a designer. He also discussed the changes from when Obama took office, and the Democratic party came in. He said as far as budgets and the ease of approving a design, it got a little less challenging than when the Republicans were in office. But he mentioned how tough it really was to do anything because of the approval process. Everything had to go to get approved by so many different levels and different people that by the time he finished a project, there was rarely any satisfaction for the final design. Of course this is very similar to what designers face on a day-to-day basis with different clients, but it seemed like this was taken to a whole new level of difficulty. Some projects that he worked on with his department was design of the main White House website and all of the materials that went along or inside of the White House itself.

One of the most awesome points of the trip, was when the alumni took us into the private basement of the Eisenhower building. Besides having extremely low ceilings and hitting my head on strange pipes, we were brought into the Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley. It was kind of a surreal experience, to think that we were bowling in the same place as all of the succeeding presidents to Truman. I also should mention that I dislike bowling more than any person out there, but I participated, and did not come in last. But the next day we actually got to go into the White House, and got a tour of the main floors. This turned out to be awesome since none of the 15 people that were with us had taken the tour before.

Besides being an incredible trip, and seeing one the most famous icons of our historic country, the most interesting point of the trip was what the NIU alumni had to say about working as a designer for the government. How there were a lot of benefits to working for the government, but also how it was very difficult to have any sort of creativity and full control. So to anyone out there who has a government job, or clients similar to this situation who can relate, I encourage you to share your experience.

My iChat buddy icon is Wonder Woman. She is the ideal for strength and femininity in the comic book world (not that I read comics, but Comic Con would be fun to visit). Her lasso of truth is something I would kill to have—wouldn’t client meetings be a lot more fun with that in the mix? Alas, I’m not Wonder Woman… but I do have a superpower of sorts.

Like many other creatives I get run down. Deadlines, meetings, packed schedules—they all keep me on my toes, and often cause a little stress (<< understatement). We all feel this way, yet it’s part of life. I think as designers we secretly love it. The thing is handling it all—work, family, and everything else inbetween—is our superpower. And it can be for anyone. Some of us just need to learn how to reveal our inner hero.

Balance—not incredible strength, radioactive spider bites, or mutant genes—is the key to it all. As a self-proclaimed work-a-holic this is hard confession, but work is not everything. Of course we all want to nail our upcoming project, but staying up all night with Mac as your only companion gets pretty lonely after awhile. Time management is difficult for some, but once mastered is a life-changing skill. Keep your eye out for these sweet Moleskines for your iPhone or iPad so you can keep your notes and sketches right next to your calendar and clock.

The other type of balance crucial to your success? Quality vs. quantity. As a superhero, you could knock out 20 henchmen, but it’s nowhere near as great as finally taking down the super villain. Sometimes deadlines are tight, and a late night every now and again is inevitable. Occasionally, driving my daughter to and from Grandma’s house has been our only interaction for the day, but during that time we have a blast. You have to make the most of your time. Whether its singing in the car with your kids, or a quick brainstorm at work, realize that 5 minutes can be just as valuable than an entire hour. Use your time wisely.

Lastly, learn to take some time for yourself. When people talk about work/life balance many tend to focus on just work and life—life often meaning family, friends and the community. Of course, you as an individual is implied, but never really addressed. To be a better overall person and truly have a equal work/life balance one needs to do whatever brings happiness. Everybody needs time alone—whether it’s to do a crossword, watch a sitcom, or even draw a pair of your kicks—this time needs to be added to the mix. All day long, many of us are constantly doing for others and forget about what we really want. Taking a bit of time to engage in something that we love will ultimately make for a happier and more satisfying life.

We can have it all. It’s difficult, but by no means impossible. For more tips on balancing work and everything else, check out Designer Sobriety. Also, Halloween is coming up. Instead of Batman or Wonder Woman, who’s up for going as Time Management Man? Anyone?

Although this eco index will not be ready for the public just yet, it kicks off a new beginning towards an eco-fashion future. This is really exciting when you think about the fact that the average American population sends 23.8 billion pounds of clothing and textile waste to landfills each year, and according to the Textile Recycling Organization 95% of that is recyclable. I also was reading that ILO estimates that there are 128 million child labourers between the ages of 5 and 17 worldwide, 126 million of whom are engaged in hazardous work, and 73 million of whom are younger than 10. That statistic is ridiculous, I sit and think of my young nieces and nephews and it makes my stomach sick.

Yet, like anything, there are always drawbacks.

Some steps I can handle and I can afford. From today until the day I die I have given up Polyester—never really liked it anyway! Polyester is not biodegradable, so everything we’ve dumped in landfills around the globe will be with us for about another 200 years. And because most polyester is blended with other fabrics, it has become difficult for the garments to be recycled into something else.

Measuring the environmental impact on apparel and footwear is very interesting and helpful. When shopping for simple t-shirts and pajamas I am “in” and will be interested in checking and comparing ratings on my purchases from Target. But when it comes down to the whole of my wardrobe I am not sure how well it will work for me personally. There is a point for myself when I can only go so far in becoming “green”. I turn lights off, I recycle like there is no tomorrow, only buy natural cleaning products, give clothing to Goodwill, and even recently invested in a rain barrel for watering my garden… but this is where I have to take a break and say,”Earth, I am sorry but in the name of fashion I must disobey the green laws and buy what truly makes me happy and what I can afford.”

If I do all that I can on every other aspect of saving the Earth can I cheat a bit with non-green fashions? I appreciate those that can and want to wear only cotton, hemp and sustainable clothing. I have searched online for shoes and clothing websites that design accordingly, but it is just not my style for the most part. Although I have found some super cute sites the problem is having the money to invest in the clothing. If they were not so pricey I would be able to conform to this, but the price tags are not for my budget. It makes you wonder if it is so important to live “green” why they make it so hard for the average american to afford to do so. Ecouterre is a very informative and super cool website to check out fashion trends and what is going on in the world. There is a long list of eco-conscious designers on the website and those out there that can afford to shop from them I can only hope to be there one day also!

Is there any pocket-friendly, fashion-forward, non-hemp clothing websites out there that I have yet to find? Share your favorite eco-fashion finds in the comments.

It’s that time of year again—the end of summer is officially in view. The breezes are stronger, and the cookouts are fewer. Fall is fast approaching, and most of us are happy to welcome the change in seasons. Here in the midwest we only get what seems like a couple weeks of this season, sandwiched between the excruciatingly hot, I-want-to-camp-in-front-of-my-freezer Summers and frigid, dig-your-car-out-of-the-snow Winters. Yet, that short time is enough for us to appreciate it’s highlights.

As designers, we tend to be drawn to the visual elements—with Fall that tends to mean the cornucopia of transforming colors. The ones that make you want to have pie and cider or jump in a pile of leaves. The beauty of the autumnal palette is in its diversity. From candy apple red to rich golds—the spectacular tones of Fall are worth taking a second look at.

Who else gets excited for Fall colors? Pantone of course. A while back, they released their Fashion Color Report for 2010 and the signature hues were all inspired by the upcoming season. Based on the hottest looks from well-known fashion designers, the list of hues determines the latest trends for the season—primarily muted tones, with a couple of brights thrown in. Favorites include Woodbine (PMS 18-0538), Oyster Gray (PMS 14-1107), and Chocolate Truffle (PMS 1901528).

The Pantone report is a great source of inspiration, no matter what sector of the design field you’re in. Even though they ARE considered trends, experimenting with this palette can add richness and depth to everyday projects. The warm neutrals make ideal backdrops for imagery, while the vivid brights would help any beautifully typeset headline stand out.

Of course, Pantone doesn’t include every color in the spectrum. That’s when a field trip outside can provide all the inspiration you need. Take a photo of a pile of leaves to create your own warm-toned palette. The best part is that nature does all the work for you in creating subtle tonal variations. Just let your Photoshop’s eye dropper do the rest.

This Fall, where will you find inspiration for your color palettes? Share in the comments.

“Bad Typography is Everywhere, Good Typography is invisible.” —Craig Ward

As designers, we live this quote daily. Whether it’s a horribly kerned sign on the train, or a flyer in the local paper completely set in Impact. It makes us cringe, wince, and gasp. All of us “type snobs” have been there:

“Why on earth would you think typesetting your resumé in Brush Script would make it seem more personal?”

“Really, real estate agent? You thought Chalkboard would make your boring paperwork more fun for me to read?!”

We all have our own personal tragedies, but sometimes there comes one so horrible that the masses turn their heads. It’s not that these typefaces are terrible; it’s more that their applications were so out of place that it made us take notice. So take a walk down memory lane with us and read about our favorite typographic controversies of the last few years after the jump.

#5 – Apple forces iPhone owners to write with digital Sharpies, a la Marker Felt.

When I got my iPhone back in late 2008 I couldn’t have been more excited. Apple is the epitome of sleek, sophisticated technology and design, but as I soon learned, even the masters make mistakes. I went to type a grocery list and opened up the Notes app. Yes, it looked like a classic ledger (cute). Then I began typing and saw that Marker Felt was taking over the screen. Not only are the font proportions incredibly tall, its characters’ odd shapes make it difficult to read. Users complained so much that people eventually hacked the program to utilize Helvetica… we don’t necessarily condone it, but sometimes desperate times call for crafty measures.

#4 – The New York Times cuts back on diversity.

In the early 2000’s one of the world’s most notable newspapers cut back its typographic palette and switched over to Cheltenham. The change was made to enhance overall legibility and create a greater sense of hierarchy, but readers complained about the cut back. One letter to the editor was published days later claiming the change was “the typeface equivalent to New Coke.” Harsh? Yeah, probably a little — we’re guessing the author was a Bookman fan — but it just proves how even the slightest modification can cause an uproar. In hindsight, the decision to cut back from six headline fonts to one was probably best. After all, using more than three typefaces in a single piece is usually a design faux-paus.

#3 – Dan Gilbert’s “comical” letter to Cleveland Cavaliers fans.

More shocking than LeBron’s move to Miami was this laughable address to the people of Cleveland using Comic Sans (pun could not have been more intended). It’s unknown why in early July 2010 the saddened, and noticeably bitter, Gilbert made this particular typographic decision — maybe he was trying to have a sense of humor about the situation? Alas, as the manager of a professional basketball team Gilbert is far from a designer, but that didn’t stop us from criticizing his choice to use one of, if not the most publicly hated font in history.

#2 – IKEA ditches Futura for Verdana (aka Verdanagate).

This modern and affordable Swedish furniture giant has been targeted for years — most often put down for its DIY approach to assembly — but more recently (June 2009) for taking a common Internet typeface and putting it on EVERYTHING.

Verdana, designed for Microsoft by Matthew Carter, was created originally to be have a high onscreen legibility. In order to maximize their brand consistency, IKEA decided to replace their Futura-based typeface, IKEA Sans, for the web font. Usually, unification across a single brand is crucial, but not to this extreme. Across the globe people were outraged that the beautiful Futura characters were replaced with generic ones in signage, advertising, and the always anticipated and cherished catalogs. For a company that is so design-focused, this decision caused a massive uproar in the creative community.

#1 – Papyrus causes a subtitle uproar.

The designer who tried to find cultural similarities between giant blue creatures and the Ancient Egyptians could potentially be blamed for Avatar’s Best Picture loss. Just kidding, but despite its lack of cultural ties, the fact that Papyrus has legibility issues makes it a horrible choice for subtitles. I actually know people that have refused to see this movie based on this design choice, so to say this was a typographic controversy seems more than appropriate. It’s also quite impressive that a font was almost able to overshadow an entire technological feat of a film (no comment on story, here — that’s another blog post).

…

We only included five, but there are countless other typographical blunders throughout history. What typeface crime gives you bad dreams at night, or makes you so angry that you had to remove the font from your library? Share in the comments.

The newest promotion from Neenah Paper is hot off the presses, and it’s designed to inspire creativity. Put down that Wacom pen and pick up an X-Acto: the “Striking Every Time” piece for Oxford and Esse premium papers is more than just an engaging visual and tactile experience for recipients. It asks you to interact, and includes several clock faces that you can assemble and actually use – the kit includes a working clock motor.

Conceptualized by Neenah and articulated by Design Guys in Minneapolis, the kit features eight unique designs that are sure to appeal to a wide collection of designers. Says Steve Sikora of Design Guys, “Credit goes to three designers here: Beth Ketter, principal designer, Jai Theige and Joe Anderson. They created the eight paper clock faces included here. We had a riot dreaming them up.  As an aside, we collect a lot of clocks; have for years. We’ve amassed a nice collection of mid-century modern clocks, some by notable companies like Howard Miller, others pure kitsch. We have one room that holds most of our workstations that is ringed with giant clocks. For 14 years they have served as a reminder of the value of a client’s time — and thus a designer’s time.”

For those that are a little more adventurous we encourage you join in the fun and create your own clock face designs. Just click back to the main blog page and scroll to the bottom to see the “It’s Contest Time” ad.  Click on “Get Started” visit to request some free (can’t go wrong with that) samples of Oxford and Esse papers to build the clock of your dreams! Have a go at playing the role of clockmaker and submit it into the contest.

We had the privilege of working with Neenah to create the online portion of this exciting promotion. The goal was to interact with the design community that is already involved in Against the Grain, on the blog and through Twitter. By creating an extension of the blog, the interaction and overall feel are unified and familiar to those exploring the entries.

By visiting neenahpaper.com/clockcontest, users can take a photo of the time-telling work of art they created and enter it into a contest to potentially be used in Neenah’s next iPhone and iPad app. On the site, visitors will find all of the current entries and be able to vote on their favorites. Find a gem? Want to promote your own? Facebook and Twitter “share” links allow you to post the creations in the wide world of social media and gain those important votes.

Check out neenahpaper.com/clockcontest to see what all the hub-ub is about. We’re excited to see what ingenious clock designs the great community here comes up with. So get going – time’s tickin’.

(I successfully wrote an entire post about clocks without one reference to Ke$sha’s Tik-Tok. Oh, wait…)

There are a vast variety of different music festivals in the Chicago area that you can attend, no matter what genre you’re partial to. One of my favorite aspects of these festivals and concerts are the amazing posters that designers produce for them. It seems like the majority of people who aren’t designers simply look past these posters. I stumbled upon a website that compiled a good amount of recent posters. A lot of these posters are simply beautiful, and have expressive formal elements in many different ways. It seems as though designers really have the opportunity to express themselves freely when designing something for a band or event.

Not only do I find the designs inspirational, but the bands and events that are the subject matter are usually something to get excited about. It seems that most of the bands that have these nicely designed posters are not the typical radio popular music, which leaves a lot of room for experimenting expressively. So if you’re looking for something to inspire your everyday life, break out and take a listen to some of these bands.

If you think you would enjoy going to some festivals this summer, I will list out some of the most popular ones. There is usually something for everyone.

There is the ever-popular Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Pitchfork in Union Park, The Taste of Chicago down Michigan Avenue, Division Street Festival (which actually just passed), Warped Tour in Tinley Park, Wicker Park Fest on N Milwaukee Avenue, Summerfest in Milwaukee, and of course Jazz Fest and Blues Fest.

Most of these events have a pretty impressive lineup of bands, definitely good enough to force you to get away from your desk and enjoy a beautiful summer in Chicago. Whether your a designer or not, everyone can appreciate a well designed poster of your favorite band. Even if you don’t enjoy going to some of these festivals, at least check out some of the beautiful things created for the bands. I have listed only a few events in the Chicago area, are there some that you have discovered recently that I didn’t mention? Possibly something in the suburbs, or even further?