Design Notes + Photos

Come celebrate our love for DC tomorrow at ReadysetDC's launch party. The space is phenomenal. The prizes are substantial. And the surprises will impress you.

Info and RSVP at: http://www.readysetdc.com/rsvp

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A wise man once said 'We are all at the mercy of our wild monkey minds. Incessantly swinging from branch to branch.' With multiple windows and applications all vying for our attention, we have sadly adapted our working habits to that of the computer and not the other way around. Ommwriter is a humble attempt to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate.

Ommwriter is a simple text processor that firmly believes in making writing a pleasure once again, revindicating the close relationship between writer and paper. The more intimate the relation, the smoother the flow of inspiration.

If you are a scriptwriter, blogger, journalist, copywriter, poet or just someone who enjoys writing, welcome back to concentrating.

Download this tool at http://www.ommwriter.com/ -- a nice alternative to WriteRoom.

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"We love our space," Suzi Molak tells ReadysetDC as she invites us for a walk-through of the new Long View art gallery and cultural venue—and we agree! What an amazing location for our upcoming "For The Love of DC" art party, to be held on Thursday, December 10 (see event details; RSVP here).

My favorite piece during our walk-through: Jessica Angel's beautiful imagined cityscape, inspired by the artist's Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. The painting is a temporary installation that Suzi wants to make permanent (she wants to see if Jessica would use Long View's big paneling out in front as street art).

Art gallery director Drew Porterfield was also with us for conversation. He tells us that he hopes to travel for Thanksgiving, despite the massive undertaking of installing 30 advertisements for an upcoming event, "Ads vs Aids" (see the flier for that here).

For more photos Long View Gallery, check out these awesome shots by Brandon Bloch: "DC Artists Go Big at the Grand (re)Opening of Long View Gallery." DCist's Lynne Venart has a great preview post of this creative new space.

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Malcolm Gladwell Discusses His New Book on The Colbert Report

• Too many writers not happy simply engaging people; making them think
• Malcolm wants people to see their world in a different way,
• "to see the connections between their own world and the world around them"
• As a journalist seeking connections, Malcolm spends "a lot of time as a kind of a tourist"
• Colbert plugs Malcom's new book, What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

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Check out these awesome new cards designed by our Creative Director Justin Young! They are a tiny preview of what's brewing over at ReadysetDC: a redesigned web space, the official launch of a creative agency, and a party on Dec 10 to celebrate our love for DC.

The theme and title "For the Love of DC" reflects the website’s mission to promote and spotlight the urban renaissance that’s happening here in the nation’s capital and coincides with ReadysetDC’s new site redesign. "For the Love of DC" also marks the beginning of the ReadysetDC creative agency; offering branding, web design, photography, video, writing and marketing services.

The location of this exciting party: the super cool new Long View Gallery space.

As a designer, I'm motivated by the advancement of creative efforts in DC, (that also cater to exceptional design), and ReadysetDC is one of the ways in which these efforts are setting the stage for 2010.

See the Facebook invite for party details. Follow ReadysetDC on Twitter.

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I just spotted this article -- "Revenge of the Nerds" by Hays Sibley -- in November's issue of DC Magazine by Modern Luxury. The issue spotlights DC tech talent-- very nice! Personalities and events mentioned in this particular article include Jason Garber's Refresh DC, BarcampDC 3, Accessibility Camp's John F Croston III, She's Geeky, and Frank Gruber's TECH Cocktail.

Peter Corbett, of iStrategyLabs fame, is mentioned for TechArts. We also know him for his contribution to recent unconferences such as PubCamp and Barcamp. Yesterday, Peter spoke at an arts and technology panel moderated by Philippa Hughes of the Pink Line Project.

DC Tech Events's Ross Karchner also mentioned. Good job, guys!

     

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Sent from my iPhone

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As we explore possibilities for Tell Me DC, I am reminded of Corey Greeneltch's discussion at Refresh DC August. Corey illustrates the fundamental connections between art history and web design. At the meetup, we reviewed works of fine art (the old and venerable kind) and websites to discuss ideas of creation, inspiration and innovation.

How Art and Design Inform Each Other

Too often, we work without looking at the root of our curiosities and interests. We spend too much time "idea shopping" at CSS galleries.  Corey has nothing against inspiration-seeking. What he suggests is not that we slow down our systems of capturing but that we "learn the basics" of what makes design worth clipping in the first place.

We are natural clippers, so while we can't force inspiration, we can prepare for its arrival.

The challenge is this. We strive for flow: the mental context within which our best ideas are explored, measured and perfected. Flow is extremely valuable because it is hard to achieve. Between e-mail and client meetings, we lose sight of innovation and learning.

Luckily, many of us have had the privilege to connect disciplines--Corey, for instance, coming from a studio and liberal arts background. The truth is that artists, philosophers and violists make really good web people. A "right oriented" brain is simply a more connected brain.

Corey remind us that every critique we've had in school serves a purpose today. We appreciate them now, because we realize how much  stronger our work becomes after suggestion (the extra set of eyes; Nielsen's 5-person usability testing).

I hope you join my friends at Tell Me DC, who are seeking to showcase design talent as perceived from our design community. Follow @tellmedc and tell them you want to contribute (the group blog is powered by Tumblr, the super easy way to post just about anything). Only a few days old, so be nice!

See more photos from Corey's Refresh DC session >

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I think we've started a movement! - @bloch_party

Update: Thanks, DCist, for the mention! Check out the ReadysetDC tweed ride wrapup. An awesome day for our team.

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Curation is the latest trend, so we thought you might like to share tidbits that inspire you--as they come. Tell Me DC is a local design scrapbook edited by DC graphic and web designers (we are 3 for now). A fun experiment. Become part of it.

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