Will we be seeing geometric packaging hitting the shelves in the near future?

If it’s up to the imagination of students Dzmitry Samal and Petar Pavlov maybe we will. These Buckminster Fuller-esque packaging structures mark a distinct departure for Doritos and Coca-Cola.

Clearly these multi-faceted structures may pose challenges to implement. And of course the increased costs and environmental impact would need to be factored in. Do you think we’ll be seeing more of this come to market in the food and beverage packaging? Maybe in another industry?

What are your thoughts?

We’d like to welcome Clara and Katarina, the Design in Transit duo, to Los Angeles, California and the US of A.

These two adventurous ladies are here from Germany, taking a tour of the west coast and hoping to gain graphic design experience in the process. About a month ago, they emailed from Germany to set up a time to come by and get a tour of Studiofluid on their arrival in L.A.

As short-term interns, they’ve contributed to an advertising campaign and website design. But it hasn’t been all work. We’ve shared a few meals together, have taken a few sightseeing tours of some highlights to check out in Los Angeles. Next week I think we’re going together to check out the Echo Park Time Travel Mart for some packaging and general design awesomeness inspiration.

I’ve also introduced the DIT ladies to a few other design firms in the area that might be interesting for them to visit. If you’re in Los Angeles, San Francisco or maybe even Portland and you want to collaborate with Design in Transit, they’d love to hear from you. To invite them out for some good American beer or just say hello, you can get in touch at: designintransit @ hotmail dot de — and tell them Studiofluid sent ya.

I was recently contacted by Sabrina Vega to be a part of her online / book project. The image above is my postcard submission to her project, which is this…

“A couple of years ago in 2006 , right after I graduated from Texas State University, I had the idea to collect my name, Sabrina in every shape and form I could think of…”

Working on my submission was a rewarding experience—in particular getting my hands dirty with a soft pencil to fill in the background.

I was honored to be included among some high profile contributors such as Milton Glaser, Stafan Sagmeister, and Gary Baseman. I think my favorite is done by Kim Robertson, who created an anagram our of Sabrina’s first and last names, turning it into “A Bar in Vegas.”

Thanks Sabrina, and good luck with your book!

When we were looking for the right furniture to outfit the studio, finding the right solution took quite a while…

And then I discovered Infinite Storage Solutions, based in San Clemente, CA. I knew I had finally found the right company, and within 20 minutes I was in the car, driving down to see the product in their showroom.

ISS is based on a modular system of sturdy extruded aluminum rails, which—as their name suggests—can be customized for an infinite number of useful configurations. We’re thrilled with the L-shaped desk and standing height work station, for the function as well as the attention to detail and minimal lines of the ISS system.

I also love the product is made right here in the USA, and that they’re a family owned and run business. In fact, during my visit, John and Mona they invited me to join them for pizza in the break room with their staff and kids. It’s always nice to meet people who are creating their own opportunities through innovation—and thriving.

ISS actually custom designs your furniture in Google SketchUp so you can evaluate in 3D before purchasing. You can even drop their SketchUp files into your floor plan and see how it will fit into your space.

Their customer service is top-notch too. (Thanks, Kristy!) What else could you ask for? If you’re in the market for a workspace, you would be wise to give ISS Designs a closer look.

And if you’re headed to the Dwell on Design Expo in L.A. this month, make sure you stop by the ISS exhibitor booth, and tell them Studiofluid sent ya.

Here’s a link the the Freedom App, which is highly recommended for those of you on the Mac.

Yes, it’s no surprise that your website needs to reflect your brand. And yes, it should look great. And while we’re at it, your site might as well be intuitive and elegant for your visitors to get around. But is that enough?

Not exactly. Your site also needs to be visible to search engines if your customer is going to find you in the first place. (Making your site visible to search engines is called “Search Engine Optimization” or “SEO.”)

At some point, when you’ve got all the fundamentals in place, partnering with a dedicated SEO company may be the right decision. But if you’re a small to mid-sized business, building your site properly and adding quality content will likely be money much better spent.

So how is your site currently scoring? If you have a existing site, now you can get an objective analysis by Website Grader for free!

Website Grader is a free seo tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.

On May 5, 2009, Studiofluid recieved a WebsiteGrader score 91 with an Alexa rank of 755,131 which is in the top 2.7 % of all websites.

How did your site score?

If you’re looking to revamp your low-scoring website, or build a new site right from the ground up, Studiofluid can help. We build efficient and intuitive websites that are easy for your visitors to use, and that allow you the best possible visibility to search engines like Yahoo! and Google.

And yeah, your site will look great too.

Unfortunately I see no mention of it in our AIGA Los Angeles chapter.

And today is the 15th anniversary. Who knew? Now we do.

Keep scrolling, there are a lot of solid ideas and unique business models made possible through our increasingly connected world. What sorts of business ideas do you have in mind for a side business? When do you think you’ll take the steps to make your dream happen?

If you find yourself on the fence about your next business move, you might want to give this a read. Business Coach and Venture Capitalist Paul Graham shares his insights on why to start a startup in a bad economy. Some of these really jumped out at me:

• If you’re the right sort of person, you’ll win even in a bad economy. And if you’re not, a good economy won’t save you.
• If you’re worried about threats to the survival of your company, don’t look for them in the news. Look in the mirror.
• Startups often make things cheaper, so in that respect they’re better positioned to prosper in a recession than big companies.
• Another advantage of bad times is that there’s less competition… If everyone else is cowering in a corner, you may have a whole car to yourself.

Also worth checking out is Paul’s latest company, Y Combinator, which specializes in funding early stage startups.

Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel put together a short film posted on the AIGA site (American Institute Graphic Arts) based on her thought provoking text on the presence and pervasiveness of Graphic Design in our world.

“…Graphic design is the boldly directional arrows on street signs and the blurred, frenetic typography on the title sequence to E.R. It is the bright green logo for the New York Jets and the monochromatic front page of the Wall Street Journal. It is hang-tags in clothing stores, postage stamps and food packaging, fascist propaganda posters and brainless junk mail…”

Graphic Design is deeply rooted in the past and the meaning we’ve assigned to images and symbols over many centuries. Understanding and reinterpreting those meanings is one aspect of graphic design that I find so fascinating.