AeroVironment provides us with constant work. We love everything about them. They are great people to work with and the technology they develop is awe-inspiring. From clean technology solutions to unmanned aircraft systems, they have consistently provided breakthrough engineering since the early 1970′s.
This video reveals the progress on their latest gadget, a flapping robo-sentinel. It is the first-ever hovering air vehicle to use flapping wings while carrying its own power source. The hope is that the hummingbird will be useful for indoor and outdoor surveillance, as well as dropping off listening devices and other super-spy cargo.
Check out their website for more info on their other products:
OK, so I am a dork. But who didn’t love Tron back in the 80′s? Am I showing my age a bit? If you are a sci fi aficionado then you will enjoy this re-creation of the light bikes. It’s hysterically hokey but very well done. It reminds me of the furniture design course I took at CSULB where we had to make a chair out of nothing but cardboard that the teacher could actually sit in. Trust me, there were a few he was afraid to sit on.
Here at Pi Design we spend a great deal of time educating ourselves so that we can stay current with trends. We pride ourselves on knowing what colors are in, what typefaces look outdated this week, as well as contemporary trends in language. We love to share our findings. Please enjoy this very educational video.
Good design doesn’t always require super creative genius. Armed with a basic understanding of typography, you, the non-designer can create well-designed, professional looking business documents that can carry your brand image to the next level. Note here though that great design, however, does require a certain level of genius and professionals like us should be hired for the really complicated stuff.
Typography involves the selection of appropriate typefaces and their arrangement on the page. Bad typography practices can negatively affect the reader’s view of your company. Good ones should be invisible, placing the focus on the content of the document and not the totally cool typeface you chose. Read the rest of this entry »
I know this doesn’t really have anything to do with Design or Marketing but it soooooo worth sharing. These were a huge hit at our Pi Day event. Amazingly yummy. My client/friend Vicky made them with fresh lavender from her own fields and they disappeared so fast. She was nice enough to share her recipe. She says, “If you don’t have lavender florets, you can always use 1 drop of lavender essential oil.”
The dough needs to be refrigerated for at least an hour before rolling.
INGREDIENTS:
• 12 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon dried lavender buds
• 1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1 egg
• 1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2-1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour Read the rest of this entry »
12 Reasons Why You Don’t Need to Redesign Your Website…Yet
The flashing, pulsating, blinking bright yellow boxes with the red text on your home page look pretty.
No one ever contacts you from your site anyway…or at least they don’t stay long enough or dig deep enough to find the contact information which was supposed to appear on the home page but for some reason shows up on the third page of services and you have to scroll to the right to see it.
Your site loads rather quickly. By the time you make a cup of coffee and get back to your desk the home page is almost completely up.
It doesn’t matter that your site is all messed up when viewed in IE6 or Firefox because it looks just fine in Netscape.Read the rest of this entry »
You really, really like Comic Sans and think it is perfect typeface for all your business documents.
I don’t need graphics. I just want a company logo, brochure, website and trade show booth.
Joe, the IT guy, knows how to stretch and squish photos and place them into PowerPoint to make cool trifolds we can just print out on our desktop printer.
Because you KNOW that people will look at your ad longer if you fill every inch of it with all the information they ever needed to know about your product.
You have all the special effects you could ever need in Microsoft PowerPoint. You know, like rainbow gradients and bevel emboss. Read the rest of this entry »
Many of our clients lately are asking about whether they should be incorporating social media into their marketing plan. My answer is YES! Marketing is really changing these days. People can block out the message you’re trying to get across with the old traditional methods of advertising and marketing by using Caller ID, TiVo and Junk Mail settings. Magazine and newspaper subscriptions are way down indicating that you have to be more careful with your advertising dollars. We must constantly look for new methods for promoting our companies in places where people are open to the message and don’t feel interrupted.
Today people expect a strong online presence. If you don’t have one you are losing potential customers daily. Everyone between the ages of 20-40 is online for at least part of the day, everyday. They are more likely to search for something on Google than in a phone book. Come on, when was the last time you actually picked up that huge yellow book and thumbed through pages? I used to heft it out to find the phone number for the pizza place. Now I even order my pizza online! Below are some things you should be doing to promote your company (and yourself) if you’re not already: Read the rest of this entry »
When people Google, they know basically what they’re looking for so your site has to speak to your potential client/customer instantly. What with the bombardment of information we receive on a daily basis, no one wants to sit and read a lot of fluff about the details of your business. They want to know why they should choose you immediately. Everyone is in a hurry to do their research and get on to the decision making. If you don’t tell them right up front what makes you different and better than your competitors you had better believe they aren’t going to dig through the paragraphs of copy blabbing on about your superior this and ultimate that to find out for themselves. They are going to jump right to the next site listed on that first page of Google.
Your home page content should do these three things:
1. FOCUS on your differentiation – Choose one and only one differentiation because that is all people can remember. Do not list and describe all of your services on your home page. Make the decision to choose your company easy because your difference is obvious. The less information we are given, the more likely we are to remember it later. This FOCUS is fundamental to branding and should be maintained throughout all marketing materials. Read the rest of this entry »
In honor of the mathematical value that is represented by the 16th letter in the Greek alphabet, Pi Design will be hosting an OPEN HOUSE to celebrate Pi Day in our own way with a PRE-PI DAY event. We will be serving up FREE PIE and other circular treats to all attendees. The first piece of pie will be served at 3:14 pm (in honor of the value of pi) here, at the Pi Design studio on Friday, March 13th. We will continue celebrating until 6:00pm.
In attendance will be Essential Wine Company’s, Jim Casey as a special guest pourer of dessert wine tastes to pair with the pie. Other sponsors of the Pre-Pi Day event include In the Know Resources and Vie, the spa in suite A3 who will be serving cheese, providing tours and handing out samples of their custom formulated lavender bath salts.
Pi Day openly promotes the celebration of mathematics education, the collective enjoyment of mathematics, and the ageless, multicultural interest in pi. Pi Design wishes to join together with the community to express in an imaginative way, their passion for the longstanding creative nature of mathematics. Pi Day is observed on March 14, due to pi being roughly equal to 3.14. Pi Day also celebrates Albert Einstein’s birthday. Pi is one of the most common constants in all of mathematics. Nobody knows its exact value, because no matter how many digits you calculate it to, the number never ends. In honor of this incredible number, we will be taking donations to get middle school students excited about math. We will provide a select middle school child with a scholarship for a math tutor.
Pi Design is always looking to share our passion for design. This event is a way of connecting with our clients and the community. We are excited to open our office and invite everyone to celebrate the irrational and transcendental mathematical constant that is Pi. Pi represents to us, the science of design. Every design problem has infinite solutions. It is our job to find the one that works best for each individual client. And we have a great time doing just that.
For additional information on the FREE PIE on PRE-PI DAY EVENT, contact Sharene Lewis at 805.383.0054
