Lenticular Business Cards Are Awesome

Yup, I'm totally blown away!

Wow, I just received my new lenticular business cards from The Mines Press (Visit MinesPress.com | follow @theminespress on Twitter) and they look fantastic! A few months ago, I was incredibly lucky and won a set of business cards after entering in a contest on one of my favorite blogs WebExpedition18. I strongly advise you to add their RSS feed, read their articles, and follow @colaja and the other writers and contributers to help you stay on top of all the latest and greatest webdesign trends.

Go on, follow those links in another tab right now... I'll wait here :)

Not "Just Another Surfin' Safari..."

I was doing my daily web surfing and regular reading a few months ago when I stumbled on the WebExpedition18 special giveaway post. I actually just commented and tweated the "Win Attractive Lenticular Business Cards from The Mines Press Inc." post because I thought the cards were super cool. Suffice to say that I was pleasantly surprised about winning the contest — and I am even more surprised at how cool the cards really are after they arrived at my door! Another plus is that he cards arrived more than two weeks before they were scheduled to ship. Extra nice... The cards are absolutely beautiful and the level of quality is stellar. They're double-sided, and incorporate multiple images which are revealed as you view the cards from different angles.

An American Dream Come True

The Mines Press is a family owned company located in New York and has been in business for more than 76 years. The company was started in 1933 during 'The Great Depression' and has grown to more than 130 employees. Yup, they are an example of 'The American Dream' come true and an inspiration in these difficult times... I followed the tips and recommendations on how to make use of the lenticular technology, and I think I was able to leverage it to get really nice results. Their customer service is fantastic, and the high quality of their work is outstanding. That said, if you're looking to stand out from the crowd, I encourage you to visit The Mines Press and have them handle all your future printing needs.

A bit about branding and Identity

These cards are a perfect fit for my brand. My design goals were to support and extend my web presence by matching the 'active', 'alive', and 'playful' nature of my current branding efforts and online identity. Yeah, the lenticular technology is incredibly cool and geeky but more importantly, it also adds a bit of sophistication and an active, lively and techy feel to my otherwise basic business cards.

LINKS:

· Lenticular business cards example & information »

· Read WebExpedition18 »

A few photos of my business cards

Here are a few photos of my new cards... It's tricky to photograph lenticular cards because they change depending on the angle at which you view them. I did my best to capture them in the photos, but it wasn't easy — you need to see and hold them to really appreciate 'em. They have a truly unique feel, and they're definitely unforgettable.

FRESH: Get On The Good Foot!

FRESH is more than a movie, it’s a gateway to action. Our aim is to help grow FRESH food, ideas, and become active participants in an exciting, vibrant, and fast-growing movement.

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

» FRESH the movie

FRESH Details
Total running time: 72 minutes
Production Year: 2009

Produced and Directed by: ana Sofia joanes

View A Trailer...

Will Allen, 6ft 7" former professional basketball player, is now one of the most influential leaders of the food security & urban farming movement. His farm and not-for-profit, Growing Power, have trained and inspired people in every corner of the US to start growing food sustainably.

This man and his organization go beyond growing food. They provide a platform for people to share knowledge and form relationships in order to develop alternatives to the industrial food system.

» Growing Power

New Gmail enhancements

I'm the type of guy who almost always checks my email before doing anything else in the morning when I first sit-down in front of my computer. The only thing I do before this, of course, is make a fresh pot of coffee and pour myself a mug...

It's a ritual.

Historically Geeky

I've used Gmail as my primary mail client since it was first available in 2004, and it just keeps getting better. I love it's simplicity, and the way Google has been rolling new features into it over time rather than a big "upgrade" or "redesign" as I've witnessed and experienced in other products.

I like the subtle changes and there's a feeling of 'delight' that this type of staggered (i.e.: Agile) feature roll out approach offers for the user. It also makes it possible for the developers to really focus on the implementation and get feedback early and often to squash any bugs and resolve any unforeseen front-end glitches more effectively as well. With this approach, everybody wins.

It's Delightful & Delicious

Today I had a pleasant surprise when I noticed some minor, yet really nice improvements in the way that Gmail presents their Tool-tip (a.k.a.: "HoverCard" information). These are admittedly not Earth-shattering changes, but they were a nice surprise nonetheless, so I thought I'd blog about it to see if other folks are also seeing these changes in their Gmail client.

Hover Info; Chat Column

The presentation of info is much better when you hover over a user's name in the chat column — much cleaner and more like a business card where the order of elements is better organized, and the buttons are placed on the bottom of the card. I really like this because the structure makes more sense, and it feels more natural to me.

Hover Over Sender Info

The other improvement I noticed isn't a huge change, but it is better in my opinion. When you hover over the sender's name you get the same presentation, treatment and structure as you do with the user's name. Same look, same feel, same structure: buttons on the bottom. I'm a big fan of consistency and this is also important in terms of usability.

If you're not using Gmail, I suggest you take a look at it and consider doing so. If you are using Gmail already, then I also think it's a good idea to check the Google Labs section every now and then or subscribe to the Official Gmail Blog RSS feed to find out if there's anything new you might want to try.

Cool Tool: MeetInBetween.Us

"Okay, I'll meet you half-way there..."
Simple problem, simple (yet sophisticated) solution. I was doing my morning surfing and reading tweets on my Twitter [Follow me @ptamaro] and I saw a tweet by @kyleplacy with the URL for MeetInBetween.Us and decided to check it out. I'm really glad I did because this is a really helpful app that takes two locations and finds a central location to meet, and presents you with places to meet by category.

How does it work?
For example, I want to meet my friend from Providence, RI for coffee next week so I type that location in and then type Boston, MA as my second location. I'm presented with Sharon, MA as the central location and categories like food, coffee, bar, hotel, mall, etc. and then it gives you places to meet based on the topic you choose. Simple, huh? It also gives you directions on how to get there from each starting location. In addition. it gives you a a nice short link to the map and location so you can share it with the other person.

Results, plain and simple.
How about coffee at the Starbucks at 5 Post Office Sq #5 in Sharon, MA on Wednesday evening around eight? Let me know if that works for you, either way... I'll have a Triple Espresso with one sugar please! :-D