The Sketch Kit Sketchtoon

Almost exactly month ago, I lost the first Moleskine I ever bought at the local shopping mall. I was hoping beyond hope that my little sketchbook might somehow turn up under the seat of my car, or be returned by a mall-walker. I've now had to face the facts: my little sketchbook is long gone.

Not coincidentally, my ink sketching has dropped off considerably ever since. I've found I like ink sketching because it's much riskier than pencil sketching. Once your pen hits the surface, you're committed to a sketch, baby.

Having accepted my Moleskine as lost, I bought a new Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook last week and have been sketching in it ever since. This morning, I decided to create a new sketchtoon featuring my normal Sketch Kit, shown below:

Bag: my kit is housed in my canvas Cafe Bag, which is a US Army surplus map case. It's small size and canvas construction make it light but tough. The Cafe Bag expands nicely to accommodate files, papers, books or other large items.

Books: a 6x8 Miquelrius squared sketchbook, where I do my pencil-based logo and web sketch work. I love the flexible cover and larger size. For ink sketches and sketchtoons like the one above, I carry a Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook, with thick, smooth paper stock.

Writing Instruments: I carry a Silver Pilot Dr. Grip Gel pen with 0.5 or in this case, 0.7 mm G2 Gel cartridge, or G2 plastic pen, and a FaberCastell E-Motion Pearwood mechanical pencil with 1.4 mm lead (thanks Fazal!). I especially like the thicker, softer HB lead for exploring shapes for logo design work I'm doing quite a bit of lately.

Misc: I'll often carry a small clear triangle for straight lines and a set of oval and circle drawing templates for perfect circles/ovals. Sometimes I'll bring a dedicated eraser if I'm planning a long pencil sketching session.

I like this Sketch Kit because it covers my needs, yet is small and light enough to take anywhere. I hope my sketch and description will inspire you to create a sketch kit of your own and go sketching! :-)

Notes on Going Retro with a Clié N610C

I've successfully made the move from a "Modern" Zire 72s back to a "Retro" Clié N610CS this week, and through this process have observed some interesting things I wanted to record and share.

Good Memories
Wow, I wasn't prepared for the pleasant memories of the "good old days" of using a Clié for almost 1.5 years (June 2002 through October 2003). It's been quite fun setting up the same old reliable system I loved back then: looking through my old archives and on the net for software and hacks, and scrounging old cables and cradles from old boxes of stuff, digging into the recesses of my brain for setup steps and tricks.

Font Issues
One of my pet peeves about with the Sony Clié are the thin, cheesy-looking hi-res fonts, built into the system. The first thing I installed after syncing my data and apps was X-Master and FontHack 123. I was happy to improve the fonts at low-res, but at high res the bad Arial-clone fonts wouldn't go away.

I tried locating a high-res OS5 font clone created by developer Lubomir 'lubak' Veselovsky that I'd loved so much called "OS5 Fonts" which included HrStandard, HrBold, HrLarge, and HrLargeBold in a file named OS5.pdb. I found references and links to the file, but all of the links to Lubak's old site were dead. So, I emailed Lubak directly to request these 4 hi-res fonts, which he graciously emailed back to me, and has given me permission to host them on my site:

Download Lubak's OS5 Hi-Res fonts (16k Zip file)

In the process of font-replacement searches, I came across a nice little $8 app Lubak has created for Sony Cliés that eliminates the need for FontHack123 and his OS5 font set, called Fonts4OS4. This nifty utility lets you select 1 of 7 fonts, which are replaced (after soft reset) to the entire system. Lubak also offers a more extensive $12.90 tool called Fonts4OS5, which applies up to 26 different font sets to most Palm OS 5 devices. Thanks Lubak!

Datebook Tweaks
I also wanted to try and retrieve the week view I've lost from the Moleskine. First I installed an old copy of Agendus v5, but found it a little too large and slow for my liking on the Clié. I considered Datebk 3 or 4, but felt those too would be overkill for my agenda needs and the 8MB of RAM I have available.

So I started checking out FreewarePalm.com, and found a pretty amazing, free Datebook replacement called KsDatebook. It can do much more than just show a week view, including displaying of datebook and to-do items and access to categories. I like that the application is small, yet reasonably powerful for my needs.

VFS Issues
I'd forgotten how much of a hassle using external Memory Sticks was just 4 years ago. When I fired up the Clié I couldn't access my Memory Stick at all, which was important for storing MyBible and Noah Pro databases on the stick. I dug up a copy of the free MSMount utility at PalmGear, set it up, and was good to go. MSMount adds a drop-down item for setup and activation in the built-in Prefs tool and can even restart itself on reset and shut itself off during HotSync.

Great Graffiti
Wow! After fighting to get Graffiti "Classic" installed on my Tungsten E and then Zire 72, coming back to a native Graffiti 1 device is like heaven. I make very few mistakes now, and often when I half-expect an error on a correctly drawn letter (the Zire and TE did that all the time) I find the Clié has interpreted my strokes perfectly. For someone like me, who has invested serious time learning Graffiti 1, the Clié is wonderful. This feature alone makes me want to use the Clié.

Lots of Dead Links
One thing I've discovered in my searching this week has been the number of dead links and discontinued applications on the web. I was able to find references to all of the apps I was looking for, yet in several cases the referring websites were either completely gone, and none of the Palm software sites seemed to have old copies of those files.

This is to be expected, I suppose, yet it reminded me that with the web we so often assume sites and the files they offer will be out there for ever, when the reality is, they may not. Word to the wise: keep copies of the apps, files and information you use locally, because there is no guarantee that the web will offer them forever.

Final Observations
Overall, my experience moving back to a retro Clié has been very positive. I've successfully setup a nice little system which suits my needs quite well. I'm very pleased to learn that in a world of PDAs with 200MHz processors, blindingly-bright screens and 30 minute battery lives, retro PDAs are still a very usable and reasonably-priced alternative.

Back to the Future: from Zire to Clié

I'm apparently on a "losing" streak the past 2 months: first I lost my Moleskine sketchbook back in February and about a week and a half ago, I lost my Zire 72s. Like the Moleskine, I thought it was secure in my jacket pocket — I knew I had it before I'd left church on Wednesday, but somewhere between church and the van and home, it went missing, and it has been ever since. Needless to say, I've been extra-careful with everything I own since last week!

The odd thing about losing something like a Palm is, you hope it will turn up before deciding to move either to a new device or something else, such as paper. So for the first week I simply lived in limbo, relying on iCal on the Mac for my appointments. I realized that eventually I'd have to choose how to handle mobile appointment management.

Enter the Moleskine Weekly Planner
First, I looked into a 2006 Pocket Moleskine Weekly Planner, but they're very scarce. The few I could locate were running in the $30 range. So, I decided to try creating a weekly format structure in my ruled pocket Moleskine for a week. I found reference photos at the Ninth Wave Designs Weblog for the weekly (1 week across 2 pages), and recreated it on a spread of my Moleskine.

Last week I used this modified Moleskine exclusively for mobile appointments and some tasks, and actually, I found it worked quite well. I really do like seeing my entire week at a glance, which is possible on a Palm, but not with the detail I could achieve with the Moleskine. I found myself writing a bit more in the Moleskine as well, capturing tasks on the week view and other thoughts on the back pages.

However, the Moleskine has some limitations, such as the width. While I love how thin the Pocket sized Moleskine is, the width is just a tad too wide to fit comfortably in my front jeans pocket, compared to the Zire 72. Carrying it in in my back pocket would mean bending it out of shape over time. As summer comes around, I need something less bulky in a pair of shorts.

Secondly, I have concerns about losing the Moleskine and my information, with no easy way for backup. I would of course be using iCal for storing some of the same information, using the Moleskine for capture and review. Still, with my current losing streak, this was something to consider.

Finally, the Moleskine has no alarms, so I can't easily be reminded of an appointment or task while mobile. I could certainly live with all these limitations, but after considering them, my mind started leaning back toward a simple Palm PDA that's small and easy to use, but has sync, backup and alarms.

Which Palm?
So, I began considering Palm devices. In the last several months I've realized the Zire 72 was not being used as much as it, or prior PDAs had been. Mainly it was my source for contacts, a few appointments, a few to-dos, managing my secured Splash ID data, reading weblogs in iSilo, studying the Bible in MyBible and taking an occasional picture with the built-in camera. Beyond these tasks, I realized the Zire 72 was being under-utilized.

I didn't want to invest too much in a PDA, since I still had a faint hope the Zire would turn up, and my usage doesn't justify a $100-200 PDA. As I checked what was available on eBay, I remembered that my father still had an old Sony Clié PDA around, so I gave him a ring. Sure enough, dad had my wife's old N610C, and wasn't using it much anymore, so he dropped it off at the house today.

Back to the Clié N610C
I'd always loved my old Clié, because it, like my other PDAs was so well-balanced. It had a color screen, was small, light and pocketable, ran a long time on a charge and had excellent Classic Graffiti implementation. Compared to newer Palm PDAs, I've noticed that the Clié has a much dimmer screen and slower processor, though I'll gain days or even weeks of battery life in exchange.

Tonight I was able to get my much-loved brown Vaja case for the Clie from the friend I'd sold it to, and bought a Pocket Squared Moleskine Cahier notebook for mobile note-taking. The Cahiers are the same width and height as regular Pocket Moleskines, but have only 64 pages wrapped in thick, black cover stock, for easier storage in my shorts or jeans pockets.

The Clié immediately recognized by The Missing Sync on the Mac, and was very shortly filled with all of my contacts, calendars, to-dos and notes, along with a few critical applications. Now I have a system in place like the one I used before the Tungsten E and Zire 72s. I'm back in business!

Conclusions
I find it fascinating that on the 10th anniversary of the original Pilot, and after several years spent in the modern Palm world, I'm stepping back to an older Clié. In fact, I very nearly abandoned the Palm for a Moleskine, which is amazing, considering how much of a PDA advocate I've been over the past 10 years!

Yet, in many ways this decision process syncs with my beliefs on technology: that each person's solution should be based on what really works for their needs, rather than how cool the solution is, how "advanced" it might appear, or how one might rationalize the decision.

Fancy features and glitzy possibilities will fade over time, but practical, usable solutions will always stand the test of time.

UPDATE 2006-04-18: Jim Barr at Jim's Tips has done something similar to my Zire72 to Clié simplification by reverting from a Palm T3 to a Zire 22, and finds he too likes the simplicity. The Zire 22 was in fact one of the models I'd considered before moving back to the Clié N610, and is still IMO a very nice little PDA for the money.

Technorati Tags: moleskine, technology, pda, palm

Jason Santa Maria & Greg Storey on The Web 2.0 Show

One of my favorite podcasts is The Web 2.0 Show, a podcast about the "new" web with Josh Owens and Chris Saylor of Steel Pixel. The interview This week they've posted Episode 16, an excellent interview from SXSW with designers Jason Santa Maria and Greg Storey (Airbag).

In the interview (which begins at the 15:00 mark) the guys speak with Jason and Greg about their backgrounds as freelance graphic and web designers. They talk about working on projects as freelancers and why they went freelance, their process of working, inspiration, working remotely vs. face-to-face as part of teams, the challenges of working from home and more.

It's an excellent podcast to listen to for designers who want to learn more, or for those interested in how these two designers work and think. Be sure to check in the archives, as The Web 2.0 Show has interviewed many other interesting personalities worth hearing.

An Interview with Marc Scheff of GoodStorm.com

Last month I was turned on to GoodStorm, an online t-shirt service that allows regular people like me to create and sell T-Shirt designs, by Chris Messina.

I'd been concerned by the high base prices of CafePress shirts and wondered if any other sites were competing with them, so Chris' tip was perfectly timed.

Through Chris I was connected to Marc Scheff, the Creative Director at GoodStorm, so I requested an interview. Marc has graciously agreed, so I'm pleased to present his interview on the Rohdesign Weblog:

Mike: Marc, thanks for taking the time to be interviewed for the Rohdesign Weblog. I have a few questions about GoodStorm, to help those interested in starting an online T-Shirt store more information about your services. I've came across GoodStorm from a tip by Chris Messina, but hadn't heard of your service before. How long has GoodStorm been around, and how it was started?

Marc: We started GoodStorm in October of 2005, and launched in January of this year (2006). We started with the vision of empowering socially progressive organizations, non-profits, and artists to generate higher income from e-commerce sales and use the increased profit to support their causes. Goodstorm was co-founded by Yobie Benhamin and Andy Rappaport. We develop and provide free tools, technologies and social-networking functionality for sellers to create online stores to market print-on-demand apparel and merchandise with their brand through GoodStorm.com.

Mike: Where are the GoodStorm offices located, and what's the work environment like there?

Marc: We're in Potrero Hill in San Francisco. We refurbished an old planning office and recycled all the materials to make desks and tables. We're a small team, and you'll see people cracking jokes as often as you see us running to handle the ever-increasing workload. It's not unusual for someone to bring in a snack for others to share, or pass around a cool article or design from the web.

Mike: How is GoodStorm able to offer its store owners 70% of the profit on shirts, when sites like CafePress seem to have such high base markups?

Marc: We're scaling GoodStorm to support hundreds of thousands of organizations and individuals.. Non-profits, progressive groups, artists, and musicians make more money with us. That's why we call it “Capitalism Done Right.” It gives everyone a chance to take part in a thriving progressive community that challenges the status quo. People will come through because they get to create a better world through supporting their causes. it's time for a change in thinking about what's fair, and GoodStorm is positioned to facilitate this shift, and sustainably do so on a large scale.

Mike: Can you share any stories about T-Shirt shops in the GoodStorm network that have become popular and profitable?

Marc: Sure thing. There are a lot of these stories because we help good people open up an e-Commerce store almost instantly. All you need is a design.

The NY America is a good example of an established organization using GoodStorm. They launched The Bring Them Home Now Concert for Peace featuring Michael Stipe, Rufus Wainright, Chuck D. and others. Cindy Sheehan was also there. We helped them set up a Bring Them Home Now Store almost overnight which has generated tens of thousands of dollars for their cause through sales of branded T-shirts, peace stamps and others merchandise. 

We also have mom-and-pop shops, or father-son shops like deadbeatdesigns. This team put up a handful of pretty clean designs on our site and enjoyed a few days to a week on our front page. They also marketed their store by putting up ads in local online dailies and bulletin boards like Craigslist.

What makes a store work are good designs and strong, sustained marketing. When an organization markets themselves in a few really basic ways, they make money.

Mike: GoodStorm's tagline is "Capitalism Done Right" — can you explain in a little more detail what you mean by that statement?

Marc: We're turning Capitalism, as a concept, on its head. Capitalism as we know it rewards the rich and punishes the poor. The few prosper on the backs of the many. Why should you have to pay, or give away your profits when you're doing the work to build your brand?

Just like deadbeatdesigns, we think you can do a lot with a little, and we're proving it with our model. In English, if you design the shirt and sell it on GoodStorm, we give you a big payoff, and we only keep a little so we can keep offering this service.

We're dropping the barriers to entry so that progressive individuals and organizations can get into the billion dollar e-commerce game. We don't charge a thing for our services, our wholesale prices are low, and we share profit equitably. This model is working, and our stores are doing well.

Mike: As a designer, I find your service is very designer-friendly. Does GoodStorm have some hidden history working with designers, or are designers just one of the markets you intend to serve?

Marc: No secret here. I got involved with GoodStorm in the first place for two reasons: I'm an artist and love working in community. I was happy doing concept art for film and games, web design is something I'd been doing for over ten years, and I've been working with and supporting various communities in different ways in the more recent past. I felt, and feel very lucky to be able to do these things that I truly love doing.

I saw that building GoodStorm would be a way to contribute back and give other people the same opportunity. I love getting artists and designers involved and we're also working with non-profits and progressive groups. As an artist, I know that designers struggle with funding in many of the same ways that non-profits and progressive groups do. I tell people that we work with and empower the underdog, and it's true.

Mike: What are some of your favorite stores in the GoodStorm network?

Marc: Ah, my favorites are the designers. I spend some time each day looking at new stores, new designs, and showing off to the GoodStorm team or my friends and family what people have created on our site. For example, there's this great little shop called Rohdesign...

Mike: Can you tell the readers why they might want to consider creating a store at GoodStorm?

Marc: Sure. There are so many reasons to set up a store at GoodStorm, and the main thing is that you make more money with us than if you went somewhere else and we're real friendly.

GoodStorm provides you with free e-commerce and networking tools so that you can open your own branded online store, sell apparel featuring your designs, and network with a community of people who appreciate your creative work. You can get set up almost instantly, GoodStorm is easy and fun, and you don't have to pay anything or buy anything.

Once you have a design (at 300dpi, saved in transparent PNG format...), you can upload it and have it printed on a wide selection of truly reasonably-priced, great quality t-shirts. We print your shirts on-demand. The best part is, we also do all the work — the inventory, shipping, fulfillment, everything. All you do is contribute your great designs and market your store.

You can create shirts for yourself, your friends, your family, your sports team, your school, your knitting group, your bowling team, your non-profit, your presidential campaign, really anything you want. You can use also GoodStorm to raise funds for a cause, yours or someone else's.

Mike: Any other thoughts about GoodStorm you might like to share, that I may not have mentioned?

Marc: Join the fun at GoodStorm and spread the beauty of your designs with hundreds of thousands of potential customers. We welcome more progressive organizations and individuals, artists, designers, bands, musicians, and do-gooders to benefit from our service.

Mike: Thanks again for the opportunity to interview you.

Marc: My pleasure, Mike. Thanks for taking the time with me.

If you have an inkling to create some t-shirts, check out GoodStorm!