http://gruntmonkey.tumblr.com/

Indv. is now (officially) launched

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:32:09 -0600

Yesterday our latest endeavor through the studio was launched. Indv., pronounced “Individual”, is a quarterly publication focusing on personal expressions of creativity. Our initial list of contributors are each amazing in their own right and we’re lucky to have them participate. It would mean the world to us involved if you could help spread the word about our campaign and help us reach our goal.

Thanks in advance,
-J

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1981343877/indv-a-new-quarterly-publication-from-gruntmonkey

"Design has been with us since the creation of the universe. Be aware of it, explore it, take from it..."

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:03:12 -0600

“Design has been with us since the creation of the universe. Be aware of it, explore it, take from it and put something new into the timeline once in a while for someone else to steal. Trying to re-solve a problem that has been solved by millions of other designers without the awareness of what they did isn’t just a sin of ignorance; it’s a sin of ego.”

- Mike Monteiro

Neenah Paper delivers excitement and resources to our designers.

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:29:35 -0600

This was originally posted on the Creative Go-Round website.

With a growing digital workflow being established in the design industry we’ve found that our design students are less familiar with the production process of design then in the past. So before the holidays we had an inter-office session with our emerging designers about the importance and possibilities of paper choice. It’s just one of many topics we discuss with them over the course of their internship. We weren’t surprised that they were unaware of the amount of paper options out there, but we certainly wanted to educate and inform them of the subtle (but effective) tool that is proper paper choice.

We pulled out the office swatch books and encouraged them to flip through and feel the differences between a 65lb sheet of text stock and a beefy 140lb sheet of cover stock, and explore the numerous differences in texture, weight, and color that vary between paper types. We explained that decisions regarding *how* solutions would be produced are just as important as to *what* was going to be produced and how paper stock plays a part in those decisions.

In an effort to expand the resources available to our designers, our friends at Neenah Paper were generous enough to send us some goodies to help consider possibilities. It was an early Christmas at Creative Go-Round the day the boxes showed up.

”Just got a ton of @NeenahPaper samples in at work today. It’s amazing to think how exciting paper can be!!” -Alex Gilbert

It was great to see our design students as well as our design professionals nerd-out over something as important but often overlooked as paper.

A huge amount of thanks go to Neenah Paper for the goodies. You delivered above and beyond our expectations and our designers will benefit greatly for it.

Introducing Indv.

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:13:03 -0500

Today we’re excited to announce our newest project Indv.

Indv. is going to be a quarterly publication showcasing the work of creatives with an emphasis on collectibility and the quality of keepsake. We hope you’ll consider signing up to receive more information via the official site. We have a number of announcements lined up for the coming weeks that will go to our subscribers first and we wouldn’t want you to miss out.

Thank you Steve, for being you. Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011  (via...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:26:00 -0500

Thank you Steve, for being you.

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011



(via zeebeefreebee)

google+ and contacts.

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:55:00 -0500

Seems we found ~~a big bug~~ an issue in google+ this weekend. Adding people to your circles automatically adds them to your gmail contacts. If you use google’s active sync feature to keep you mac address book and calendars in sync it adds them to your contacts. By deleting those google+contacts from your mac address book they are REMOVED from your google+ circles. Seriously?

Ever since google+ rolled out I’ve been noticing a few other inconsistencies with contacts getting updated correctly.

Does anyone know a way to keep google+ from adding people to your contacts? That would be a great start.

anthonymenecola: Amazing traditional ornamental glass artist,...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:05:23 -0500

anthonymenecola:

Amazing traditional ornamental glass artist, David A. Smith.

(Via Neusblog)

Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka speaks about the typography and...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:59:55 -0500

Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka speaks about the typography and optimism of Disneyland.

One For You, One For Me

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:45:46 -0500

That sums up the work schedule around here. And with another round of client work getting wrapped in the next week or two, it’s time to start focusing on the next studio initiated project.

In the meantime there’s some housecleaning on the website in the works that will include showcasing some new(ish) work.

Another bit of news that I mentioned over on my personal twitter stream is that I’ve begun working with a great organization called Creative Go-Round in a mentorship capacity.

Creative Go-Round is a creative nonprofit that offers design students an internship opportunity to work directly with real clients to produce real work. As a mentor to the students I’m available to offer feedback, advice and insights to the design profession that will build upon their studies at their respective higher learning institutions.

Well that’s it for now, till the next emergence from #molemode.
-J

At some point we’ll all stop calling these...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:49:34 -0500

At some point we’ll all stop calling these “books” or “apps” right? How about we just call them what they are? “Totally badass and immersive interactive stories that can blow your mind…(for kids and adults)”.

via Moonbot Studios

The future of mobile.

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 13:29:00 -0500

With social networks like facebook, and now google+, competing to be your source to keep in contact with friends and family I wonder how it will effect the mobile communication landscape. Right now, smart phones provide multiple ways to communicate, (talk, email, sms, video) all through different channels (or apps). With Skype integration into facebook and google+’s “hangout” feature allowing users to see and talk to friends through their systems, one has to wonder if the current cellular communication system is on it’s way out. Could the next stage of mobile communication be a 3g/4g/wifi device that’s always connected to the internet and have google+/facebook/skype as the OS?

Are social networks poised to replace cellular service?

Recent work: B. Events and Catering

Sun, 29 May 2011 12:39:45 -0500

B. Events and Catering is a newly launched event planning and catering service located in Chicago. Working with the owner, Bernita Outlaw, we decided that the business needed a web presence that provided a way to showcase the food, offer a way to interact with her clients (both past and current), and offer a way for future clients to request an estimate for their upcoming event(s). Working with a small startup budget, it was decided that the best way to provide these features was to work with the business’s already existing facebook page. Cultivating a number of basic level services from Wufoo, Mailchimp, Eventbright and even Dropbox a solution was delivered that reduced the number of hours (and cost) spent on development, and removed the need for recurring web hosting and domain name costs.

Can I show you my portfolio?

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:18:00 -0500

Today I’m pleased to announce the first release of Viewport: A Web-based Portfolio Framework for iPad.

If you’re a professional creative then you know how important it is to have a well crafted, organized, and updated portfolio of your work. You also know that always carrying around your portfolio just isn’t feasible. Wouldn’t it be nice to easily carry your portfolio with you along with the rest of your daily tools?

Viewport is meant to do just that. Think of it as your expandable digital book. Viewport combines compartmented presentation, touch sensitive scrolling, and the iPad’s screen resolution to create a portfolio framework that fits your work.

Web based for all.
Viewport is built with a healthy dose of HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript optimized for the iPad. This creates a native app experience, and makes it updatable as a simple webpage.

No understanding of complex programming languages needed.
The major resource files, the .CSS and .JS, are linked externally to your HTML file so you won’t have to worry about them. And commenting within the markup makes organizing and updating easy.

Inline CSS
If you do happen to know CSS and want to add some personalization, there’s inline CSS to handle the common elements. Want to revert it back to the default styles? Just remove what you added inline.

Offline Access
Viewport uses the HTML5 cache manifest to store your framework on your iPad. Load it once from home and its accessible on the go. Even if you’re not near a hotspot.

Viewport for iPad is now available at viewport.gruntmonkey.com.

bob-bags: Somebody Give this man an EGOT. So amazing.

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:40:17 -0500

bob-bags:

Somebody Give this man an EGOT.

So amazing.

anthonymenecola: Aweeeeeeesomeeeeeeee

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 03:19:13 -0500

anthonymenecola:

Aweeeeeeesomeeeeeeee

“Are apps the new Flash?”

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:34:00 -0600

Lots of great conversation was going on today based on the simple question, “Are apps the new Flash?”. The idea was originally brought up in October in Jeffrey Zeldman’s article “IPad as the new Flash” which focuses more with e-magazine publishing, but the concept was re-sparked, in my mind at least, by today’s Big Web Show.

There seems to be a bit confusion what this question infers. While most of the comments featured a monetizing aspect, an interactivity aspect, or a functionality aspect, none of them featured usage.

In the past Flash had a purpose. It was a way to get wider typeface choice, interactivity, and video into websites, among other things. Designers and developers were using it as a solution to a problem, and flocked to it in droves because it was new, exciting, and clients wanted it.

Demand met supply so fast we all jumped in and started swimming. It wasn’t until technology and our tools evolved that we started to think about what we were doing. We started to look into why we created solutions this way and suddenly had options to create with. Typography choices could be stacked and rendered with preference in the users browser, mouse over actions could be made with three lines of CSS code, and now with HTML5, and a speedy connection rate, video can be served up in a way that can reach devices with internet access on the go.

Flash is no longer the only solution. But for a while, let’s not forget, that it was THE solution.

Now, we have apps. Apps for just about everything, and development is huge right now. It’s new, exciting, and clients want an app of their own. Demand is meeting supply so fast that developer’s are jumping in and have started swimming… Is this sounding familiar?

People are so swept up in the new hotness of native apps they’ve forgotten, or just over looked how this trend got introduced. And that was through web apps.

I’m not saying one is better then the other. Both offer different solutions. However, now that there are options the issue is that people seem to have blinders on and are running towards the native app solution instinctively, without consideration of those options.

That’s what is meant by “Are Apps the new Flash?”. Are apps this solution that people are flocking to simply because it’s a new, exciting option? Or are they actually taking a moment, looking at the choices, and decided that yes, a native app is the answer for their specific problem.

I see a lot of internet services that have a native app on every mobile device made, and I have to wonder, why? I’m not talking about a game that needs the devices’ hardware to function. I mean services like Twitter, Gowalla, or Facebook for that matter. Services that already live on the web. Do these companies really need a version of their website on every internet accessible device natively? Or is there something that can be done to add those native benefits to a web based solution? This just seems like a novelty and they are creating solutions without a real problem.

Comments or questions? Feel free to leave them below.

On Holiday.

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:29:00 -0600

(comic via Foxtrot.com)

Thanks for a great first year. We have a bunch of exciting things lined up for 2011. See you then.

The real life “AngryPaulRand”.

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:14:20 -0600

The real life “AngryPaulRand”.

Add it to your shelf.

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:23:00 -0600

We tend to read a lot around here and a while ago decided we wanted a way to let our visitors know of books that we thought were insightful, beneficial, or inspirational within the field of design. In the past we would occasionally post a small write up of a book or even a film that we wanted to recommend on our blog. However, as the posts were already infrequent, over time they would get lost within the news, updates, and other finds that we share.

So as part of a larger group of updates, we’ve revisited the idea of our suggested readings, taken the few books and films already listed, added several recommendations, and collected them on a single site. We think this will provide our visitors a simple way to discover and purchase the same things that brought some inspiration into our studio. Hopefully you will as well.

You can visit the site at theshelf.gruntmonkey.com

Bonnier unveil’s their concept for newspapers on the iPad...

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:00:29 -0600

Bonnier unveil’s their concept for newspapers on the iPad called News+. Previously, Bonnier presented their concept Mag+ for magazines on the iPad that ended up being the engine for the Popular Science iPad app.