blog moved to primary domain

Hi all, just in case you were checking out my blog, I've moved it over to my primary portfolio site: dxdstudio.com

Here's a recent branding article to check out, otherwise browse that site for everything else!

AllOurStock featured on makeuseof

So I found a bunch of traffic (via Google Analytics) was coming from makeuseof.com and after a bit of searching I see someone how written an article about the site! Things have definitely been evolving over time and its great to see the site is catching on! So to those over @ makeuseof.com, thanks!

Visit the article here: http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/allourstock-free-stock-vector/

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AllOurStock

Better web experience, shifted web paradigm

I've always questioned the current direction of the web, with its seemingly infinite hyperbole and useless, redundant and outright diabolically plagiarized content streams (such as spam websites, fake aggregators, spambots, etc...) which always contribute a whole lotta' nothing to the web.

Sadly there is a catch-22 to the web: it's wild west territory, where heaps of trash content, sites and more get created, yet its already a hugely important factor for everyone, especially business. The internet is no longer (and hasn't been) an optional conduit for revenue and consumer focus. It is VITAL to most businesses, especially the smaller ones that have little exposure. Bearing this in mind, the web is the last bastion of true freedom, where anyone can do just about anything. This contributes a lot to society as it allows innovative thinking versus the "hivemind" that is prevalent in a dissent-controlled society. It is the very neutrality of web that has given us most of what we now take for granted in the digital world. We stifle dissension at our own peril -- hence the catch-22.

Right now, the web is almost like a landfill, with a few, hugely valuable gemstones hidden about. The only problem is how to locate these gemstones while wading through rubbish.

Hopefully web 3.0 will solve that.

Web 3.0? What about 2.0? What's it all mean?

Web 3.0 is what I (and probably others) consider to be the semantic web.

A web that is more functional because of more robust technology inherent in the webpages themselves, that allow the applications to do more efficient and targeted work.

Web 2.0 was the phase of social networking, trendy (but well-designed) websites, and of course, spammers and "SEO-behemoths." These things are still very much here, and will probably stay for quite some time.

Web 3.0 is an attempt to correct the path of the internet towards a more targeted and useful web. It uses new HTML5, more robust applications with technologies like python and C, and continues to bring dynamism to the forefront. It will help correct blackhat SEO practices, and only those in the know will be using best practices. Hopefully, the days of overzealous link-building to increase SEO versus creating original and useful content is over! But what about all those hard-working chums that worked so hard to get their web rankings #1 in Google through the use of frantic link-building, comment-spamming and other nefarious means!!!? Well I have a few words for you buffoons. These are the same people that pollute our world with no regard because they won't see the effects of it until they are gone. Except, they think it's okay because they pollute in the digital world.

OK. Ending rant now, back to reality.

Along with those technologies is the new trend of API building. I liken API's to legos: they are very modular and can be used to build further creations. From Flickr to Google maps to now, WolframAlpha (and a TON of others) the ability to add meaningful tools to websites is becoming popular. Looking at the web (and a lot of things really) in modular terms is very useful in developing new applications for the web. I think the future of web ideas and website success is going to hinge on things like modularity and usefulness. Pretty and unique designs will still be there, but they need to be inherently intuitive and easy-to-use. After all, technology was supposed to free up our lives, not make them more complex and convoluted. People checking facebook after sex? Come on people, it's time to get real.

Always busy but always good -- New stuff for All Our Stock

Well, there's plenty of great new updates and content on All Our Stock. It's made some great headway but I've been working towards new improvements and implementing a mass amount of new stock to infuse the site. There has been plenty of new additions, including new categories like Transportation, Flowers, Objects, Plants, *breath* Animals, Landscapes, Technology/Industrial, and Food/Drink. What's great is the quality AND quantity of photos I've had the opportunity to look at and add, I've made some new projects and will continue to make more, using the very same stock! For example, I've added a new design over at DeviantArt.

And I've just added 116 new public domain photos in the Flowers section!! Go check it out and of course, tell your designer friends!

10 Useful textures to give your projects that extra bit of detail

Textures are a great way to add well texture, making a drab design into something great, or that last final touch to an already amazing piece.

Here are some great textures from AllOurStock.com

Mossy Bark (detailed)

http://www.allourstock.com/product/product_id/983

Grunge Spray

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/301

Waves

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/186

Pink & Gray Collage Grunge

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/51

Splat Darkspace

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/287

Watercolor Angles

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/343

Space Dust Abstract

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/95

Halftone Grunge

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/45

Precious Alien Metal

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/117

Dark Grunge Rainbow

http://www.allourstock.com/product/path/36_37/product_id/174

Just wanted to say

Hooray! www.allourstock.com has jumped significantly in rank, and is now #2 (from nonexistant) under the broad search term "all our stock" (no quotes) in only a few short weeks. I'll likely detail my process at some point, but suffice it to say, hard work and a bit of adsense combined with buysellads is helping a ton.

While I'm here, check out some of the new stuff that's been added -- tons of photos, collages and drawings, along with a few website updates, optimizations and UI additions. In the future I'll be implementing a top-secret COLOR based search application that will allow you to search using a color picker (ala google et al) So things should be heating up!

Also, check out the twitter channel for quick updates to new product categories!

Bruce Mau: AN INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH

I was doing some research for a side project of mine, and I came across this useful list from Bruce Mau's "Incomplete Manifesto"

Looks like something useful to incorporate into daily life.

AN INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH

Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project.

1. Allow events to change you.You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
2. Forget about good.Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.
3. Process is more important than outcome.When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
5. Go deep.The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
6. Capture accidents.The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
7. Study.A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
8. Drift.Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
9. Begin anywhere.John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
10. Everyone is a leader.Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
11. Harvest ideas.Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.
12. Keep moving.The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
13. Slow down.Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
14. Don’t be cool.Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
15. Ask stupid questions.Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
16. Collaborate.The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
17. ____________________.Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.
18. Stay up late.Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.
19. Work the metaphor.Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
20. Be careful to take risks.Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
21. Repeat yourself.If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
22. Make your own tools.Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
24. Avoid software.The problem with software is that everyone has it.
25. Don’t clean your desk.You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
26. Don’t enter awards competitions.Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
27. Read only left-hand pages.Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."
28. Make new words.Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
29. Think with your mind.Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
30. Organization = Liberty.Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'
31. Don’t borrow money.Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
32. Listen carefully.Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
33. Take field trips.The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
34. Make mistakes faster.This isn’t my idea -- I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
35. Imitate.Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
36. Scat.When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
38. Explore the other edge.Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces -- what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference -- the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
40. Avoid fields.Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
41. Laugh.People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
42. Remember.Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
43. Power to the people.Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.