The Imaginary Zebra™ // Official Blog

Valentine's Day 2012 - Pre-orders now Available!

2012-01-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

TIZ's putting out a limited set of photography related valentine's tee for 2012! Collaborating with Plushtography, we want to make this vday a picture perfect one.

Time flies, hard to believe this is our 5th edition of Valentine's day tees.

An occasion-neutral design makes any day a good day to wear these! (especially for you photography enthusiasts.)

IMPORTANT: The design does NOT get cut off around the edge - the entire graphic wraps around the waist.You can form a heart from the front AND the back.

↑Alvin and Adrienne sure made Cupid proud.

↑Pre-order now available via our [online shop]!
It's $25 during the pre-order period and $30 after.

-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

The Imaginary Zebra Design Internship

2012-01-10T20:38:00.000-08:00

If you have any questions as well, please contact us via "benson@imaginaryzebra.com"

Looking forward to working with you in the near future,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Wacom Intuos4 Pen Tablet - unbox and review

2012-01-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

Maybe more like an unbox and first look than a review. I've had this guy for about 2 weeks now and I don't think I've had enough chances to thoroughly dissect all of its elements and bring out its full potential as a design tool. Partly because this is my very first pen tablet device. Mouse has been my dominant tool of choice.

Ever since I started design back in the days, never had I considered myself as an illustrator. Doodle's fun and all, but my main focus has always been graphic design - working around typography, composition, geometric shapes, and image editing. Until recently. The more shirt designs I produce, the more I'm stepping towards character development and illustration. Although I try to keep a range of various styles for my t-shirts, I can't help but to focus around hand drawn sketches nowadays.

Then one day, I decided to pull the trigger:

↑ almost a month ago, I asked you guys about recommendations on pen tablets. Wacom seems to be the way to go.

BAM - the Wacom Intuos4 Wireless Medium (the only size they offer with wireless) Tablet.

↑ Got this via Amazon. No tax and with the prime account (oooh yes), it was free 2 day shipping.

It was about $60 difference between the wired and wireless. I could've bought myself a really good shirt, decent jacket, or about 50 cheese burgers with the difference.

Yet, I chose the bluetooth version because..

Look at this shit.

I've had enough wire as it is. ALSO, I've tasted the sweetness of wireless products. 1.) the wireless keyboard Michelle got me over about 2 years ago has served me well. 2.) wireless mouse is awesome (too bad that one I have still needed an USB)

-I heard, with average use, the battery power can last up to about a week without charging.
-It also goes to sleep if left unused for 30 seconds to preserve battery life.

First look:

clean packaging. With the $300+ price tag, I expected nothing less.

McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" campaign, anyone?

a basic wrapper around the most essential piece of this package. Too bad it doesn't come with a padded sleeve/or pouch for the product. (like ones they provide for beats headphones)

Main content:

Personalize your pen with 4 different color rings (red, gray, white, and black)

tada!

Pen base:

Nibs. As oppose to an uniformed plastic tip like a stylus, wacom provides different tips(nibs) that allow users to draw with different texture. The stroke nib (white) provides a soft, brush-life feeling for the pen. The flex nib (white and black) has a soft, pencil like feel. The hard felt (gray) have a higher friction than the standard nib.

↑Reason they come in several is due to the fact that they do wear over time. Depending on usage.

The pens' got 2048 pressure points fro best drawing simulation.

Two back slot things.

and lots of info:

Quick size reference:

↑ Contradicting with the measurement I have above, the working area is actually 8 x 5 inches versus the 8.8 x 5.5 inches of the cable-bound model.

Power switch, USB cable, and bluetooth on the side:

The tablet's made out of 3 main textures: Glossy on the control panel.

↑..that's prone to attract lots of dusts and fingerprints..

Then, there's the matte for the rest and a special paper like texture for the main working area.

One of the best features for the intuos line:

↑The fully customizable quick keys, or "expresskeys" as they call it. They can be switched between different applications as well. So far, I have mine set up with "undo," "save," "option," and "command" for photoshop.

The scroll wheel (touch sensitive like ones on iPods) also come in very handy as it helps zoom in/out, rotate canvas, change layers, and brush sizing.

The set up:

Gotta charge for first time use.

Orange as charging and green as fully charged.

Mind blower: You can use the back of the pen as an eraser for editing!

Now with every set up and ready to roll, I gave it a try and here's the result: (everything was illustrated directly with the tabler.)

'til next gadget,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Friends from the other side

2012-01-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

All the way from the Buffalo, NY and NYC, a couple of friends decided to pay California a visit this past week. California's home for a couple of them, but for the rest, it's a place with great food, spectacular scenery, and no snow for the winter. Why would anyone want to spend their time elsewhere? (shameless pride; I'm not even a Cali native.)

Anyway, got a call about their trip to the Bay and I was asked to be a tour guide. With me just chilling at home and working six, if not seven, days a week, it's difficult to imagine myself being a tour guide...outside of my house. Now that I was crowned the title, I really gotta do my homework on some "urban cool spots" to show them around. Plus, it's been quite awhile since I last seem these folks, so the pressure's on:

↑ If you followed my blog avidly (yea, you), then you might remember Mic. We've endured a night long camp out for Fry's black friday sale three years ago (2009.) This time he's brought his crew. No camp outs, just day long stroll across the city.

Kailin and Kevin's back, too. They showed me a good time in NYC, now to return the favor.

First stop: the Lomography Gallery Store.

↑For those who aren't familiar with Lomography, here's the wikipedia page. In a nutshell, they're using simple and modern analogue cameras to produce organic and spontaneous photos.

Similar layout with their other existing store.

↑I've been to the one in Taipei, Taiwan, and it was pretty awesome. It's only been a few months since their SF store opening.

Their iconic two-story tall wall paper:

Gold chains is what Kailin's into.

Very cool.

Lomography's all about fun and excitement, you can tell by the way they designed the cameras.

↑ Does neon green shout subtlety? I don't think so.

There's also a conference room on the second floor. Place for presentation, guest speakers, and projects? I'd like something similar for my future store. If I ever opened a store.

Moving on.

Cody swung by to join the crowd:

The second destination: Cartoon Art Museum.

↑$7 for adults and $5 for students. Located diagonally across from the downtown Academy of Art University.

Pardon the quality of the photos below.

Although, I've never heard of some of the comic artists in the gallery, I was still fascinated by the detail crafted art work and the process all the them have gone through before being printed in the papers or published in books.

Wish I have one of these in my room:

↑Steven Spielberg caricature (during his Jurassic Park phase) by Zach Trenholm

The color coordination stage:

↑It's no child play.

Tom and Jerry - I watch this growing up. (even back in Taiwan)

↑Mel Blanc, the voice of Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Barney Rubble, Daffy Duck and countless other animated vertebrates.

Dinner at Ike's: Kev and Kailin's been craving for it. There's just nothing similar on the East Coast.

↑Ike's a delectable sandwich joint. It was first introduced to me by Michelle a year back.

Bi-Rite ice cream just happen to be a few blocks away from Ike's new location.

They're known for creating unique and delicious flavors with local, handmade and organic ingredients in a responsible and sustainable way. Great dessert, except most of us were too full for any of it (yup, even our second stomach stuffed with the sandwich.)

↑R35 on the street. no bigs.

After we've satisfied our hunger, it's time to pleasure our sights. Our next stop: Twin Peaks.

Over exposed.. in a cool way.

The Golden Gate Bridge.

With little light source to distract from the exposure, we tried using the flash on the back of our phones for a few quick light graffiti:

..then, we took it a step further:

Like watermarks, we light ourselves to be imprinted onto the photos - all under a single exposure.

And yet, an even better idea. With the second camera blasting off its flash onto us while keeping the first camera's shutter open:

Two flashes from the camera:

Andrew nailed it - 5 separate flashes created this:

To make the most out of the night, we drove down to the the pier to capture the glory of the Bay Bridge. But an unprecedented incident occurred on the way there:

↑ It says "Devil in car."

The driver backed up into my front bumper. Seriously?!

On the bright side, good thing the air bags didn't pop open.

Made it to Pier 14 eventually - no accident's going the ruin the mood for something as spectacular as this:

Our attempts to recreate the multi-exposure effect didn't work out too well here. Guessing it was a bit too bright:

Though, we still had some pretty delighting shots:

That's all. Thanks again, San Francisco, for the eventful trip.

'till the next hangout,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Berkeley Marina + Skates on the Bay

2011-12-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

Lunch that was way past due. The plushtography team and I planned to celebrate the "selling-out-our very-first-batch-of-pillows" by having lunch together. 3 months ago. With our workload finally cooling off, we took a trip down to Berkeley Marina to enjoy one of the greatest seafood restaurants out there.

It was also a hang out that was way past due. We've been building Plushtography from ground up for quite a few months now, but we rarely all show up at the same place at the same time. Due the limitation of our schedules, we'd communicate through facebook and finish our tasks at our own time. It was nice to finally able to catch up with my own partners. Funny how that works, eh.

Perry, who's been a tremendous help since we took the pillows to the market, recommended Skates on the Bay. I've passed by this place quite a few times, but never tried. Was pretty excited.

It's called "Skates on the bay" for a reason:

Quite literally.

One thing about start-ups is never able to escape topics regarding the business. There'll always be too many things to plan and too many tasks to accomplish. I suppose that's also the fun of running a start-up - you'll continue to feel accelerated. Even around a dining table.

The menu.

↑The print's clearly too small to read at this resolution, but at least you'd get an idea on what they offer. sorda.

Christine and perry shared:

..and:

While I stuffed my face in with these bad boys:

↑The bread way rather buttery. AMAZING for a first couple of bites, but it gets too heavy. Still a great dish.

Kevin had the Lobster bisque and salad.

Food was terrific. Although we I really just wanted to pass out after intaking any sort of food, we decided to take a stroll down the dock right next to the restaurant.

It was pretty foggy.

The dock seemed endless:

Half way through the dock (I'm guessing), Kevin noticed a few dust particles in his view-finder. He was frustrated.

..continued to be frustrated:

Sidenote// I began to see dust on my VF as well after a few shots as well. Had no freakin' clue how they got in there.

On the other hand, fog was clearing out

..and we've finally reached the end:

That also wraps up this post. Plenty of ideas we plan to execute for 2012. Stay tune.

'til next outing,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Proudest Accomplishments Giveaway Winners!

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Must I say that I was continued to be inspired as I read through the entries you guys submitted.
2011's almost finished, very glad to see so many of you lived it up and made it count.

There were many amazing accomplishments, here's a few at a glance:

Each accomplishment holds a different value between individuals, so it's only fair for me to choose winners randomly. Here are the winners:

I'll be emailing the winners individually soon.

-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Merry Xmas

2011-12-25T23:26:00.000-08:00

Dear friends, I'm sure some of you are still resting from the holiday drinking last night, but nonetheless, hope you're all having a wonderful X'mas. As you can tell, I'm having a blast on X'mas sitting in front of my laptop scripting up this entry.. while recovering from shamelessly shoving down massive amount of meat last night.

The cover image was the house across, following was where the dinner took place:

↑My sister's place. Certainly not as glamours. Although seemingly dull, the place actually hides plenty of holiday decor within.

Margaret likes to pay attention to the details.

Both my parents are back in Taiwan, so we kept the party small and intimate:

Each of us had to contribute a dish for the festivity.

Allen kept us healthy:

↑ ..which also happened to be the only vegetable we had for the night.

Lu offered us:

..and with the help of the Foreman Grill

We got this:

Here's my part of the party:

Finally, the time we've all been waiting for.

What's more exciting than receiving the gifts is opening them.

In display:

Wrapping the day up with a classic - The Sound of Music

As good as a classic can possibly be, it's no way to fend the coma.

May you have the merriest X'mas yet.

Cheers,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

'TIZ the season - for a giveaway

2011-12-22T02:51:00.000-08:00

Happy commenting,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Goodies - Pretty Awesome Stuff

2011-12-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Cooler and more innovative products surface daily and it's getting harder to resist from pulling my credit card out of my wallet. Although I brag about having self-control over impulsive shopping sprees, I hate to say that I still give in occasionally (especially when sites like werd and uncrate continuously broadcasting each product's awesomeness.) What's done, is done. I'm here to share with ya some of the stuff that put a hole in my wallet.

Kickstarter's a place I've been visiting frequently. Not only do you get exposed to amazing projects (range from films to gadgets,) you can partake in them too (by backing the project financially.) In return, you'd be the first ones to receive never-before-seen stuff with discounted prices. One catch, though, you prolly won't receive the stuff from the project you backed for a really long time.

In fact, I didn't receive these bad boys SEVEN months after I backed the project.

The baller looking, stainless steal shelled coffee beans are the invention of Dave and Dave from Coffee Joulies. Was $40 when I backed the project, currently at $50 via their site.

↑The material within the shell's edible.

Here's how it works:

Before, it's difficult for the beverage to stay at its optimal temperature. Either too hot or too cold, you only get like a 5 minute window to consume the beverage at its best temperature.

With Coffee Joulies, they absorb heat when it is too hot and release it back into your coffee to keep it at the perfect temperature.

Ingenious stuff.

Next up, the Fellup Bracelets.

These were gifted by Phillip Gepty, the man behind the Fellup brand.

The beaded bracelets seem to be all the fuzz at the moment.

Everything's handmade. So for all the generic bracelets out there, please get back to your corners. Can't steal the show away from these guys.

"Zebra" for 25% off. Show Phil some love at Fellup.

Here we have another project I backed from Kickstarter.

↑ By Matt Stevens, this is a book with a collection of 100 different illustrative interpretation of the Air Max ( or as he called it in the book - the greatest sneaker of all time.)

Unfortunately, I don't own a pair of Air Max. Yet I still pulled the trigger for its creativity. Each illustration's an inspiration. Proud to be one of the 1000 across the globe that own one of these.

Some of my favorites:

I think that friend of yours that's really into Air Max's might've already gotten a copy. As for the rest, here it is for $50.

Last but not least, a gift from Eric Kim - the Buddha Board.

Paint with water. As simple as that.

Had a ton of fun with these, too bad all the pieces are short-lived. Great for practices (simple sketches)

'til the next cool things,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

New Media Rockstars - Logo Design Process

2011-12-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

A recent project with New Media Rockstars - An online publication which aims to showcase current and rising creative minds in new media as well as to connect New Media to Mainstream Entertainment. They've worked with Mystery Guitar Man (YouTube Personality), KassemG (Comedian), David Choi (Musician, YouTube), Tay Zonday (YouTube Personality), David So (Comedian), Sean Rad (Founder of Ad.ly) and a shat load of incredible individuals.

I was approached by Melly and Benny, the founders of NMR, to come up with a logo from scratch. (I could never figure which one's more difficult - invent or rebrand. ) Anyway, here's the first step for all of my identity designs:

A.) Understand the company then C.) encompass the philosophy into a mark. I'm here to elaborate part B.

For New Media Rockstars, my approach was straightforward. The "rockstart" part of the the company's title allows users/readers to create a visual reference. "New Media" may be slightly more abstract, which became the main challenge.

I researched a series of images that reflects the company for inspiration. Some of key words includes "future," "digital," "platform," "tech," "media," "news," "rockstars," "music"..etc.

The most interesting step:

Time to put whatever I had in mind on paper. Often time, what appears good on paper ain't that cool looking when digitized. So I made sure I had enough options to play with before digitization.

Grids and pixels was chosen to express the digital media aspect of the company. Implementing with the font type without disturbing the balance can be tricky.

Ridding the bar from "A's" creates a more futuristic look for the logo.

Inspired by the equalizers we see display on stereo dashboards, I merge it with the rock star hand gesture as the graphic icon for the company.

Final Design:

Providing the possibilities for the logo can be pretty entertaining.

They've recently launched the site. Click here to check out Mystery Guitar Man's insight on new media.

'til the next logo,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Plushtography Photoshoot

2011-12-08T18:44:00.000-08:00

Pardon the major MIA. Plenty of blog posts are in the works, will get to them soon enough.

Just had yet another photoshoot a few days back (I've been doing more than participating in shoots. I promise) with my partners from Plushtography. Had a good time DIYing the rack for backdrop and trying Speedlite 430EX for the first time. Both pretty awesome.

↑ Been looking around for an affordable backdrop. Finally pulled the trigger for the muslin one off Amazon. It was enormous and it took a very long time to iron it down.

To prep the set, I grabbed a few bulbs (100 watt daylight) from Home Depot and reused the rack I designed for tabling events.

↑ Stuff includes pin or tape that can stretch the backdrop to eliminate extra wrinkles.

What we ended up with:

But even with the items mentioned above, it's hard to capture a professional looking white background photo without the following gadgets:

↑ By gadgets, I meant SPEEDLITE. The additional external flash that bounces light off of walls creates a more naturally bright photo. It was my first time operating one, so I was completely blown away by its amazingness. When compare to the built in flash, it's like a bare nuckle fight between kimbo slice and some 8 year old down the block.

↑Shooting with my 17-55 for blog post photos.

People that came out:

↑The one posing's Christine.

The stars of the shoot:

Perry's a natural stylist.

Christine's a natural model.

BAM - the magic of white backdrop, speedlite, L lens, and perry's photogenic hands.

Last but not least.

Edit 12/09/11: How could I forget about these.

Pillows are now available at Plushtography.

til the next shoot,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Summer with Melly - Underwater Photoshoot

2011-11-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

Just this past summer while I was down in LA, I was lucky enough to steal Melly away from her ever-so-busy schedule for an underwater party. Melly might sound familiar to you because not only is she the art director of theOtherAsians and cofounder of the ready-to-launch NewMediaRockstars, she's also the photographer behind David Choi's latest album and the profile pictures of some of the YouTube hot shots. That's right.

This is how it went down:

↑Prior to the party, I was asked to bring props to make things more entertaining. Of all the interesting places that I could've gone to, I chose Vons. (or Safeway for us NorCal peeps.)

David Choi had his underwater photoshoot with guitars, which I couldn't afford, so I had mine with $9-a-pop disposable underwater cams. I got two of those. That makes a total of THREE photoshoots in one setting. In yo face, David.

Big thanks to Sam from Akufuncture for letting us use the pool.

Prop, check. Pool, check. Wardrobe, check.

↑An upside about starting a t-shirt business is never needing to buy another t-shirt again. ever.

Just the day of the shoot, I was able to ~~invite~~ convince two of my friends to jump into the pool fully clothed with me. Good times.

This magical gadget's capable of submerging a dSLR while maintaining its image quality.

In this case, Melly brought her Canon 5D markII. oooh yeah.

Testing:

Temperature was just right.

Now that everything was prepped - Here we go, through the eyes of Melly Lee.

check out the rest of the photos via our lookbook.

I mentioned that THREE photoshoots were happening simultaneously:

..except the success rate of a good photo weren't too high.

..and two of which were taken on land.

↑What a boss.

Melly, you're awesome.

All photos are now up on our lookbook.

'til next party,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

For 24 hours only.

2011-11-24T13:22:00.001-08:00

↑Black Friday Celebration.

-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Red Ballooon 2011 - Event Recap

2011-11-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

Last time was fun. Invited by Jen again, the team and I went down to Vallejo for the first, and I'm sure many more in the future, Red Balloon event at Touro University.

I used to sit down with dancers to brainstorm for performance ideas, but since I no longer living in Davis, the dancers had full creative freedom (without me nagging) to come up with their own set this time around. I saw the rehearsal for the first time just a few nights before the event. And I must say, UCD Popping club never disappoints.

Eventually, we all learned to find alternative venues to practice when dance rooms are occupied.

↑This is on a Thursday night. 50 degree weather. Can't stop, won't stop.

Did I mention it was 50 degrees?! Scott's a sav.

After following an elaborated driving directions, I've finally arrived Touro University.
Like usual, we'd start a couple of hours before the show to sound check, set up, and final rehearse.

We got kicked off the stage after one run; more performers are waiting to rehearse.

Good thing the dancers are resilient. This is what they've obtained when practicing in Davis - all the dancers get kicked out so often, they can now practice ANYwhere with music as loud as an iphone can get.

New buddy, Victor from MMD.

↑All the way from so-cal, Vic and his partners Kim and John came out to cover the ins and outs of Red Balloon. You gotta utilize the things around you for shows like these. Panning with chair backs? check.

Tony showed up to support. and to help a brother out.

Giving people a chance to capture their own moments of Red Balloon, the staff had a photoshoot set up right across from us: (every event should have one of these.)

↑Side note // Does anyone know where we can browse the photos taken at the the booth?

Like we always do, we snuck the prop when no one's watching.

Soon enough, the door was opened and people were pumped.

Andrew came out, too.

The night's MCs:

↑Always a pleasure to have Nicki around.

Jen did a great job pulling all the passionate musicians together. Red Balloon had yet another incredible line up for the night:

We're up first after intermission. Quick snack!

Quick prep!

Quick jam!

↑Summoned by Nicki. Mind went blank, but was still able to give it quick pitch on the Red Balloon tees.

Go Aggies!

↑Ruby, Anna, and Donna have been the veteran of Red Balloon.

Stunning performance once again:

Last but certainly not least:

If you don't know who this guys is, you ought to YouTube more.
With 26 million views and counting, his world renown rendition of "a whole new world."

Cooler yet, he's an employee of Pixar! Mad respect.

Everyone was invited on stage for the party.

↑ excitement.

Thanks again, Jen, for the fun-filled show.

Super awesome peeps that made this show possible.

Everyone wanted a piece of Nick.

↑Red Balloon x Nick Pitera x UCD Popping Club x TIZ!

Good fun, good turnout. Red Balloon was a success!
If you still plan on grabbing a Red Balloon x TIZ tee, a few are still available here.

'til the next party,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Thoughts on building a brand

2011-11-16T03:27:00.000-08:00

I've been receiving quite a bit of emails regarding the ways or tips to establish a successful brand.
I'm flattered, but as much as I'd like to help out and hand you guys an equation of a successful clothing brand (if there is one,) I afraid I am also a guy trying to experiment with the field of, but not limited to, streetwear.

Speaking of success. It's just vague and it can be measured in too many ways. But I know one thing, success can't be achieved overnight. It'll take a good amount of time to push your brand out for recognition. That being said, I believe in a couple principles that will guide a brand to last, perhaps a little longer, than others.

1 - Be ~~interested~~ passionate in what you do.

↑ I can come up with projects and designs all day (although, they may not be any good) and have time fly right pass me. I'd even do it for free (but I shouldn't, because I got bills to pay.)

Seems like a lot of you already got this one down. Though, I think there are plenty of brand owners out there that are confused. There's a thin line between passion and interest. You may find fulfillment in both. But when you morph your interests into a job, eventually the fun you find in the things that you do would soon be demolished by internal or external obstacles. What sparked your interest would then become a drag. Finally, you'd quit. On the other hand, being passionate would be the key factor that brings you over those bumps. However, passion's only the first step and brands these days are passionate by default. Able to execute your ideas and create a community would be what differentiate you from the rest.

2 - Create your community.

↑People that back me up.

Trends and hypes are constantly evolving and it's happening as we speak. A cool design on a shirt can be easily replaced. The design is the "product" of a brand. But to create a community, a brand should expose their supporters to the "philosophy" of the brand. Hence, the blogs. Connecting the supporters to your lifestyle and the reason you create each design may affect them more than you think. A community would be formed because the people in it can relate to an idea that belongs to you and the brand. And that's irreplaceable.

3 - Quality is the best advertisement.

↑The different tags I had. Here's the story for the one on the right.

With thousands of ads we're exposed to daily, people learned to be really good at ignoring them. Massive exposures will eventually convert users to buyers, but most indie brands like us don't have the capital for such things. Plus, it's not really cost effective (100 exposures to a person yields 1 behavioral change. And by behavioral change, it can be as insignificant as attempting to google the product.) Best way to spread would be through word of mouth. How cool a product can be is certainly more convincing from the words of a friend than a TV ad. To achieve that, you should invest your money on the products and your time on customer service. Small brands like us have something that the big corporates don't have, which is the leverage of making interactions personal. If a kick ass product and top notch interaction don't get people talking about your brand, I don't know what will.

4 - Focus on meaningfulness, not lucrativeness.

↑ One of my favorite tees. Thanks to Kev, Shirelle, Adrienne, and Tim for making it look so dam good.

I understand that money plays a big role in startups, but don't get blinded by it. Weighing in your effort into lucrativeness would make the brand act like a sell out. Actually, that would be a "sell out," by definition. People don't talk about sell outs. And community won't back a sell out.

Those are thoughts. Best of luck to all you entrepreneurs, freelancers, project starters out there.

Dream like you mean it,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Instagram - 10/23 to 11/13

2011-11-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

Snippets of my day to day adventures. Lots of them happened in my pad.

↑Sometimes I procrastinate on waking up.

Man cave.

↑ Pretty cool place I visited a few weeks back.

↑Always. Someone that's more into the camera than the main folks in the photo.

If you haven't heard, the Red Balloon's back.

↑Now available here.

↑Two thousand and late.

↑If you're down to be a part of this awesome fridge. Hit me up.

Through thick and thin when I'm out.

..except I haven't been going out. much.

↑Cereal box-size michelle from Airbnb office.

I'm always a few steps ahead of the game.

Collection of books:

↑Soon available for the holidays @ Plushtography.

instagram: @theimaginaryzebra

'til next time,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Aloha Pure Water + Shaved Ice Design Process

2011-11-09T16:21:00.000-08:00

A collaboration tee for an upcoming water + shaved ice company in the bay area! Before I even get into the design process, just like to say that I'm glad there's this place in San Pablo now to cool off the summer heat. (Although, there's never a bad time for shaved ice. )

Back to design process:
I was given full creative freedom as long as the shirts are blue (teal) and pink (Fuchsia.)
This means the design would have to be "color neutral."

After the brainstorm session, I decided to go with the icon approach.

↑ A series of related objects and elements that came to mind when I thought of the company.

Illustrator it up.

Since I've already made the icons, why not transform em' into equations :

For fun.

..and a couple more left.

Black was used to add depth to the design and to off set the plainness.

↑The final design.

'til the next collabo,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Airbnb + Dropbox Studio Tour

2011-11-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

Cody attended the Startup School this past weekend at Stanford. Startup School's pretty picky about its attendees. I don't blame them - We're talking about an event that invites some of the biggest players in the silicon valley (Founder of Netscape, Zynga, angel investors, and Mark from facebook) as speakers. So, I'm proud of Cody that he got to check it out, but that's not the point. The point is - Y-Combinator, who hosted the event, also organized a series of open house tours for some of their funded startups such as Addmired, Greplin, Stripe, Airbnb, and Dropbox..etc this past Sunday. It was a golden opportunity to add a few more offices into my collection.

The curious bunch:

Felt lucky that we actually got to take pictures of the office. By office, I mean the utopia for creatives.

↑ Michelle couldn't get more than 6 feet away from the cafeteria. I don't blame her.

With limited time on hand, we narrowed it down to two offices. First stop, Airbnb.
For those who are unfamiliar, they're a worldwide platform for homeowners to list their homes for rent and tourists to seek a cozy (often time luxurious) place for a short term stay. Aside from that, their mobile app was the finalist for the South by Southwest Interactive Awards. That's done it for me.

Greeted by a bowl of pins.

Used as one of their fundraiser campaigns - The Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's cereal.

Quick look at the roof.

↑Staff would come up for lunch - otherwise empty.

the Dome.

It's got a sofa, a desk, some shelves, and a bed.

What do you do with $100+million in investment? You get whatever the hell you want - even a piece of a plane:

Airbnb's still a rather small company that does tremendous work.

Amazing.

Towards the back of the studio, Airbnb has a couple of rooms for ideation:

"The Peace Room."

That was that.

Moving on to the next destination:

The Dropbox office:

↑Also happen to be the only office worldwide. With their rapid expansion, they'll be moving near AT&T park shortly.

I mentioned dropbox in my blog a couple of times before as one of the most frequently used program I have on my laptop. It's a cloud service company, where they provide users with space to store their files online, making it easy to share and access the same files through different computers.

The dropbox office is lightly smaller than the Airbnb's.

↑Seems like most startups today have open desks and open space. Decentralizing the company and promoting interactions between members. Keeping things flat also consumes quite a bit of space, hence the soon migration to the new venue.

Details:

Dropbox's cafeteria just blew the Airbnb's right out of the water.

↑Ham, cheese, miniburgers.

All you can drink ANYthing.

Luxo's twin.

"Rate your bathroom experience."

Staff using their shirts as wrist pad.

Oh, did I mention we all got free 5GB worth of space?

I sure left my heart in San Francisco.

'till the next mind blowing office,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Glimpses into my notebooks

2011-11-01T02:11:00.000-07:00

I've been posting snap shots of the new notebook via instagram, now it's time for a review. Or rather, a look back at the notebooks of the past.

↑ Really learned to optimize the space of each page second time around. It was not a sign of half-assing my note-taking skills.

Both my sisters had the habit of bringing a journal with them when they travel (they stopped when "blogging" via the internet emerged.) So, I decided to start mine in college, except it was more like a journal for life. Sike. It was a journal for doodles. lots of doodles.

↑ I needed a hard cover for a project, which is why the 2nd notebook's nude.

#1:

↑ Look how many zeebhead stickers I've wasted for the back cover.

The first notebook really served as an archive. I had dozens of business cards, contact information, news press, and inspiration taped onto the pages - making it fat and hard to carry. Pieces of paper would tear from the binding as i flip through the pages.

First page. It's always been the hardest page to write on. Lots of pressure go into what deserve to be the first sketch of the book. Yet, I couldn't believe I had a cat playing the UFO game for my first page.

Ah, the memories.

↑ The zeebhead logo I had at the time was really complex. The style of my design was drastically different, too. I liked layers a lot. apparently.

↑I screen printed a few pairs of jeans in the past (times when Evisu was the hottest shit ever) - result was never good enough for the store so that idea went out the door.

↑ I'd cut up magazine pieces and pasted it in the notebook. Today, we can find almost ANY image you see in the magazines online and store everything up in the cloud.

↑Another idea that didn't really go through.

Phases when rhinestone's the shit.

thanks to Kevin. We had our first news paper appearance.

More stuff.. that I could've stored elsewhere.

BAM, that was the first.

Now goes the 2nd:

↑ This one was used strictly for ideas and sketches. Hence, the much thinner look.

The different approaches for the AggieTV shirt.

My lame attempt at industrial design:

↑ An ideal monitor stand on the left and a clothing brand idea I had in mind on the right. I had the whole branding down, but never had the time to execute it.

The V2 afterschoolspecial tee and AKPsi rush tee.

More on identities here. Logo usually take the most space out of my notebook. Here we got Melly's and another that I cannot speak of yet.

A spontaneous sketch for the project Everyday I will, an outlet for people to contribute what they're working on and hopefully motivates others to do the same.

It was used as scrap papers, too, for calculation. This is the trial and error page of this project.

Some of my 365 ideas. Some look better on sketchbooks than the actual posts.

Last but not least:

Finally got myself a moleskine. Heard lots of great things about it. It's thin (even with 120 pages), compact, looks freaking amazing. According to Moleskine, Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, as well as Hemingway were fans of this legendary brand of notebooks. I don't even care if it's true because using it makes me feel like a rockstar. (Oooh Moleskine and their branding tactics.) However, they can certainly use a redesign for their site, I don't think it quite fits the notebook's aesthetic.

Got mine from Amazon. Moleskine's about 20% more expensive than most notebooks of the same size.

Worth it? I'm not sure. Judging from the speed I used my last one, will tell you in 6 months.

I picked the squared notebook because the grids will guide a lot of my sketches. (especially logos)

Darn, now I have to put an reward. in dollars.

Bookmark's a nice feature. More and more common for notebooks.

Small folder in the back.

Well, that's it. Now you know all my secrets.

'till the next kick ass product,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Mission District - 826 Valencia, Graffiti Alley, Philz Coffee.

2011-10-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

Although I've been living around the bay for almost 10 years now (holy crap,) I have only skimmed through the surface of the creative and organic culture of San Francisco. I don't know the cool spots to hang nor the best diner to grub on, but I guess that makes my every trip to San Francisco as refreshing as it can be. Anyway, I ought to go out more.

Good thing Michelle's a San Francisco native. and a good tour guide.

..except this time I am showing her around.

I heard of this place through TED (check it out.) The "826 Valencia."

A place named after its address. The seemingly pirate supply store from first glance turn out to have a non-profit tutor center in the back that holds workshops and lessons for kids to swing by and work on their assignments. THIS is the kind of tutor center I'd go to - there's no turning away from a pirate supply store.

The shop portion was tiny but filled with witty, yet hilarious gadgets, posters, and items (all regarding pirates, of course.) Interior design of the place was incredible, too. Unfortunately, no cameras allowed inside.

So, I took a few photos outside:

..and grabbed their card and flyer for upcoming events.

↑ Don't mistaken it for a carnival flyer, this one's for a personal statement workshop. And seeing what they've done so far, I wouldn't be surprised if the workshop's just as fun as being at a carnival. A great example of the power of good and intriguing design.

I also found a few pictures of the products they sell in sore:

I'm a sucker for well designed things, so I got one of their posters for Raskeezy!

Then, we continued our adventure along Valencia.

Interesting flavor. Bourbon was a bit heavy.

Graffiti alley. I just made that name up.

Michelle's got word that Philz Coffee doesn't disappoint.

Typical bathroom in San Francisco.

Mint Mojito Iced Coffee's one of their crown jewels.

Last destination: Michelle's renewing her contract with AT&T.

Abe (ah-beh) interviewing people in line regarding innovation and consumerism. I happened to be one of the lucky ones. Except I stuttered a lot. And I gave a lot of, now that I think of it, moronic answers.

Feels like a boss, nonetheless.

Well, that's wrap

'till next adventure,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Red Balloon x TIZ is back!

2011-10-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Red Balloon is a benefit concert sponsoring local non-profits organization and global efforts to secure opportunities for children in third world countries and here in our own backyard. They have events in Davis and San Jose to connect the community through music.

We're proud to be a part of the effort last year.

It's back and it will be hosted at Touro University in just a few weeks. From 5 -8 PM.

Once again, TIZ's given little snippet of time to perform. To optimize the time frame and the setting, I'm glad to work with Popping Club of UC Davis to put together something aimed particularly for this event.

We're also bringing back the Red Balloon x TIZ tee!

Background: Red Balloon's a benefit concert.
Just the basic idea of the event gave me enough room to brainstorm for ideas - music, red balloon, instruments.

Rough sketch:

Concept: A musician playing for passion and for the good cause of the benefit concert - minding the red balloon. Hence, the balloon looking head.

Final Design:

Lastly, a custom back logo also for the event.

Placement of the designs:

They are in Unisex sizing and ready to be [pre-ordered]. Check out [our shop] for the shirt!

50% will go to UC Davis Children's Hospital. [Pre-order here]!

↑ -Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Campus Rotaract Club of Davis - Design Process

2011-10-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

Cheryl from Campus Rotaract Club (CRC) of Davis contacted me awhile back to collaborate on their latest club tees - a shirt design that represents the club's aim for the given year. (This item's available exclusively via CRC at UC Davis.)

Here are a couple steps that I'd usually go through to whip out a design:

↑Research: If the club's done shirts in the past, I'd usually take a look at them to get a general design approach for the new design. Aspects such as the color way, placements of the designs, and the font choices they used are worth paying attention to.

Then I'd focus on the theme to brainstorm for ideas:

↑For this year, CRC aiming for "Giving service, guiding leadership." Picking out key words usually help filter down the cluster of various concepts. In this case, I chose "guidance" and "service" as the root of the design.

Judging from the past t-shirts, the dominant color's red with white and yellow designs.

↑ Color's crucial. It affects the potential objects you can use in an illustration. It's best to settle down on what color you can work with before sketching out any ideas.

Once I figured out the fundamentals, I'd begin the doodle process:

I took a direct approach with the theme "Giving Service, Guiding Leadership" by having people building(giving service) the lighthouse.(the guiding light for leadership.)

While maintaining the original color way, I added the extra black as accent to offset the bright colors.

Details are fun to add.

Slightly rearranged the letters to complement the front design.

Ta da!

↑Courtesy of the CRC @ UC Davis

↑Courtesy of the CRC @ UC Davis

'til next collaboration,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

A Look @ Intel Inside

2011-10-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

I'm fascinated by the workspace of companies. Image the hours it took and the amount of money spent to design a life long work environment for thousands, if not hundreds, of employees. Thanks to Cody, who's now a full time employee at Intel, I got a chance to take a quick look inside.

I do apologize for the less sharp photos of this post - had to rely on my iphone; didn't think it was a good idea snapping photos with my flamboyant orange strapped DSLR.

Oh snap. I'm amused by ANYthing with my friend's name written on it.

I notice that it's rather common to have dissected personal space(cubicles) within tech companies. Walls within walls.

Cody's man cave = Multiple laptops + phone + whiteboard.

As we moved our way down the isles, I got to see a series of toys, dolls, and table top decorations on top of people's shelves for personalization. But nothing beats this guy's collection:

↑ Epicness corresponds to the amount of that particular item you acquire. And this is way epic.

Met up with Layne, another super smart engineer at Intel. (Go Davis!)

Portraits of Intel. No faces, just circuit boards with, I'm assuming, something revolutionary on it.

↑No clue, but looks cool.

Their penthouse lounge.

Massive dining hall.

Gym - the only place filled with people. Intelligent people sure know how to keep healthy. I know I'd see myself at the penthouse lounge all day with my hot pockets and soda.

That's a wrap on a good note. Stay healthy, guys.

Check out the other campuses that I visited: Google. Cisco. Pixar. Pacific Bicycles.

↑Zeeb of the Day! Amanda with the Rabbit Tee. Photo courtesy by Michelle.

If you'd like to be the zeeb(s) of the day. Send us photos of you rockin' em Zeebs! or via Facebook, Twitter, or just tumblr label #tiz or #theimaginaryzebra..etc!

'til the next campus,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

The Imaginary Zebra on Instragram

2011-10-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

I'm onto it now. and I like it.
A picture is worth a thousand words; twitter only gives you 140 characters (On average 30 words?) It's clear which one's got the leverage.

Here are a few photos I took recently.

I like the square format.
Now I can shift my effort on deciding whether to use portrait or landscape to something more important. Like the content of the photo or something.

It's quick, easy, and subtle. (except the times when I use my leica case.)

Feel free to follow me on Instagram here.
My user name's "theimaginaryzebra"

↑Zeeb of the day - Carlo or [Aarozcarlo] via Tumblr! Making the "California tee" look especially good.

If you'd like to be the zeeb(s) of the day. Send us photos of you rockin' em Zeebs! or via Facebook, Twitter, or just tumblr label #tiz or #theimaginaryzebra..etc!

'til the next set of photos,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Vans OTW - Woessner - Review

2011-10-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's about time for some new shoes.
I've once gone through a phase of customizing my kicks for that "breakneck" factor. Today, I see shoes as a subtle addition to the outfit - a piece that's plain and simple. Guess I'm still a t-shirt-focus kinda guy.

They say 'age builds character', but that's no excuse for these:

↑The originally pitch black Van's Authentic with bamboo sole is now severely faded into this mess. Though, it's still one of my favorites of all time. They're light, complemental, and comfortable. Gotta give it to Vans. Simplicity goes a long way.

Got these as my 22nd birthday gift. It's been a good 20 months with these bad boys. They've been a loyal companion through hikes up the mountain and photoshoots under water.

Even with all the tears and holes, I was going to rock those for another month or so until one of my friends accidentally mistaken them as trash to throw out. It was a clear sign that I should wear them no longer.

So I came across these: I'd say my 6th&7th pair of vans since high school.

↑ Vans OTW collection - Woessner (Ran out of these color ways through Van's official site). I dig the shoe shape so much, I grabbed two pairs in different texture and color. Originally $60, but I was lucky enough to come across them at the outlet for a mere $30!

In black leather.

Enjoy the detail in its design.

White Canvas.

↑ I barely wear any light color shoes, mainly because it's difficult to maintain, but I couldn't pass these on.

Design: 4.5 stars.
Comfort: 3.5 stars. ( The back rim almost gave me a blister on my ankle.)
Price: 4.5 stars.

↑Zeeb of the day - Jerome & Khelani rocking the timeless B/W tees!

If you'd like to be the zeeb(s) of the day. Send us photos of you rockin' em Zeebs! or via Facebook, Twitter, or just tumblr label #tiz or #theimaginaryzebra..etc!

-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||