As designers, we are continually striving for the most strategic or creative solutions. If you find yourself stuck on a problem or are thinking everything has been done before. Or, maybe you just need a little boost of creative inspiration? Watch and listen to children. Kids love to play, learn and create! Their purity and innocent approach is the foundation of creativity and discovery. When I watch my daughter paint, draw, do crafts, or play… it’s always refreshing and a powerful reminder that creativity and discovery is infinite.

Artist: Sophia (age 4)
Title: “I love you Disneyland”

I rode the bike (with the motor) for the first time today… I think it’s going to be pretty fun and a decent commuter. Maybe a little loud, but not bad. When it’s opened up it’s about as loud as a chainsaw or lawnmower… no surprise. Here’s what I ran into when building the bike.

The bike and motor arrived no more than 5 days from the day I ordered. Bikesdirect has delivered 2 bikes to me now and they arrive as described. I would recommend them to anyone who’s interested in ordering a decent bike for less. The only downside is that you don’t get to test ride them beforehand, but if you do your research you can pick up a good bike online. The motor arrived in a small 26lb box and seemed to be in good shape.

Building the bike was straight forward. Most of the bike is already assembled in the box. The only things left to do are install the handle bars, front brake, seat and seat post, wheels, pedals, and fenders. It took about an hour. I didn’t realize this bike has a large oval type tube for the front part of the triangle on the frame. And the top tube went down farther than I thought it would. I got a little nervous about how the motor might fit.

I unpacked the motor from ZoomBicycles and everything was in the box. I set out all the parts to familiarize myself with the kit. I put the bike up on a workbench and began to fit the motor. It was obvious that it was going to be real tight. It had to be low enough to fit the carburetor. The large frame adapter that came in the kit raised the motor up an inch and would not work. It seemed that none of the mounting hardware that came with the motor was going to work for this bike. I had to take a trip to the hardware store…. and ended up getting 3 feet of threaded 6mm Rod. The same size as the threaded bolts already in the motor. There might be a better solution in the future (I might build wood mounts that work and potentially cast them or maybe even just try the wood.) For now this should do it… long bolts bent around my oval shaped frame. I used an old tube for all the parts sitting against the frame… one, to keep it from scratching and two, for vibration control.

Custom Front Motor Mount

After a couple of hours of messing around with it I finally got it in and ended up using the smaller metal brackets from the kit on the tube under the seat.

From this point, I followed the instructions that came in the box and proceeded to install the chain ring to the rear wheel. It wasn’t too hard. Aligning it so that it didn’t wobble took a little tweaking.

Chain Ring Detail

I ran into a problem when trying to fit the throttle handle onto the handle bar. The bike came with a SRAM twist shift that would not fit with the throttle/grip. I took a trip to Recycled Cycles in Seattle and found a used 7 speed shifter for $10. It slid over the handlebar and left enough space for the grip.

Used 7 Speed Shifter (right)

The clutch install was straight forward…. I chose to leave one of the springs off of the cable… it just made it harder to pull and I didn’t see a real benefit. The carburetor install was easy too… just slip it on to the intake manifold tighten the screw and hook up the fuel line/filter. The tank mounted easily with a little layer of rubber under to hold it off the frame and one cable.

Ok… now on to the electronics. I mounted and hooked up CDI unit. I made another trip to a auto parts store and picked up a better spark plug (NKG B6HS) and a plug wire/cap. I unscrewed the original plug wire out of the CDI unit and screwed the new one in. A simple upgrade that I read about… and cost less than $10. I then plugged in the kill switch as described in the manual. All set! Well, not so fast. I mixed up my fuel at 24:1 (the manual to break in the motor with 16:1 for 2 gallons…. many blogs I visited and read said 24:1 is sufficient). I hopped on the bike and nothing… popped the clutch… rode downhill with the compression of the engine pumping and couldn’t get the bike to turnover. I tested the plug outside of the motor and could not see a spark. Checked the wiring. Then did a little research online. I found the what the OHMs should be for the Magneto and for the CDI unit. I couldn’t get a conclusive reading with my OHM meter, so I decided to email Zoom Bicycles customer service department.

To my surprise (I read many blogs that many motor companies don’t respond) they replied with in 24 hours and told me to do a couple tests to figure out which part was bad. Checking the spark in the same by pulling it, grounding it, and turning the rear wheel. The second test was to hold the black and blue wire coming from the motor (magneto) and turn the wheel. If I felt a current then the magneto would have been good… I didn’t feel anything. I still didn’t know which part was faulty. I emailed ZoomBicycles again and told them the tests that I did and asked them to send both parts if they would. Again to my surprise, I got a email that day that said, the parts were shipping that same day.
ZoomBicycles has been great responding to my problems.

I got the two parts 3 days later, put them on, turned the fuel on, pumped the primer button, put the choke up, pedaled down the road and let the clutch out… the motor started right up! After a couple miles, I adjusted the idle screw a bit… but for the most part the thing ran great. I’ll post again with an update.

If you have install questions… let me know.

Handle Bar Setup

I’m using SlideshowPro Director for parts of my website… This is a test to see how easy it is to publish embed code for desktop and mobile devices. First embed code should work for most mobile users. I’m testing now!

I just came across this new logo for Pricewaterhouse Coopers (now PwC). The logo is an abstract shape that meaning can be built into… a beginning, transformation and endless possibilities. Whatever it represents, it is clearly the foundation for the rest of the brand to come to life. It’s a small part of a bigger picture. From refined messaging to collateral and signage design, to the website and animations, London office of Wolff Olins has created a nice brand system. The concept — that logos alone cannot carry all of the weight of a successful brand — is one that design firms have to convey to clients all to often. A logo is a logo… a brand is everything else. They did a nice job delivering a complete brand system.

BTW, the meaning of the new PwC logo is summed up here:

“We think our new brand expression visually distinguishes PwC in the same way that the quality and expertise of our people differentiates the experience of working with PwC,” said Dennis Nally, chairman, PwC International. “Underlying the visual elements is what the PwC brand really stands for — how we are viewed by our clients, our people and our stakeholders. Beyond our capabilities and experience, we want PwC to be known for building great relationships with clients that help them create the value they’re looking for.” (Ahhh… now I get it.)

This is not atypical for a logo explanation. Abstract is usually more interesting and memorable than being literal. However, is a logo a failure if it needs to be explained in a video or press release? I’m fine with an icon that gains depth with an explanation, but the truly great ones require no explanation. And, on a tangent… it kind of baffles me that the logo is all lowercase, but in text acronym they use cap “P”, lowercase “w” and cap “C”. I don’t get it!

I have mixed feelings about the website design. Specifically, two things I note right away are the placement of logo and the navigation. A leading professional services firm who boast gross revenues of 26.2 billion USD (fiscal year 2009). One of the “Big Four” — the three others are Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, and KPMG — has placed their logo towards the middle/bottom of the home page and has incorporated a very refined navigation. I’m not sure what to make of this logo placement. It works nicely with the animations… but, there’s is a big white space at the top left that is just waiting for it to return. You’ll see that as you navigate the site, it mysteriously reappears there and actually looks pretty good. And by refined navigation, I mean small (borderline tiny) serif fonts spaced out with loads of white space. I love smaller type, but is this a little extreme for a website? I really do want to like it, but for whatever reason, I am missing some visual Q or design element(s) that helps me find my way. Am I alone here?

With the negatives aside, it is an encouraging sign that in 2010s economy, interesting work still can be done with corporate clients. Will this logo/brand endure time? Probably not. I give it 3-5 years.

My 2 cents.

I have embarked upon a new project that has nothing to do with graphic design or visual communications. I’m building a motorized bike! Let me back up… I have been bike commuting for years now over 8 miles each way, however, due to a lower back injury I have been taking it easy and have found myself behind the wheel for just about every day this summer.

My “car” time got me thinking and wondering why are there not many little homemade mopeds or motorized bikes driving around? I’ve seen a few, but not many…. Is it price? Is it too complicated to build one? Is a 150mpg’s not enough? Or, maybe it’s the noise, and the fact that these little engines pollute the air too much? I’m not sure… I’m thinking these little gems will eventually be very popular in many cities. Especially if people realize how easy and inexpensive it is to get/build one. Electric bikes are becoming popular and people might feel that another gas engine is not good for the environment…. I guess that I’m in the camp of, if I can go 150 miles on a gallon of gas, this is a good thing (especially considering most cars only gets around 15 mpgs.)

I spent a few days researching engine distributors… such as:
Gas Bike
Kings Motorbikes
Daemon Bikes
Zoom Bicycles

They are essentially the same kits, but one stuck out. Zoom Bicycles provided a better online experience that was just more believable for me. Plus, I reached out to Gas Bike via a little “Live Chat (offline)” button and never heard anything back. (BTW, live “offline” chat buttons have to be the most annoying feature ever on a website.) Daemon Bikes kits are less expensive (I paid $129 no tax/shipping) and claim to have a superior chain and bearings as well as a handful of other parts.

Anyway there were 2 kits that made the most sense to me… The Black Slant 80cc or the standard 49cc (street legal) kit. From what I can tell the motors look identical. Where I live is very hilly, so I chose the larger engine. There’s a carb upgrade that claims to make the engine idle more quietly and give you a little smoother ride, but I held out for that option. Maybe it’ll be a future upgrade. One other thing to note is that the “slant” is a newer model where the spark plug is on a angle compensating for the angle that the engine is mounted and supposedly performs better than the standard kits. Below are the o/a specs.

This 80CC Slant Head Bike engine has 2.75 to 2.9 HP which is very powerful for an 80CC motor engine of that size. The kit comes with everything you will need to get started. Just add oil and gas. The 2 Stroke engine can reach speeds upwards of 40 MPH and has enough power to move even a larger individual. These engines have excellent fuel economy and gets about 150 miles per gallon of gas. Turn any mountain bike into a moped with this engine kit.

Engine Box #1

* 1 x 80cc Black Slant Limited Edition Bicycle Engine (Model: ZB-80S-BK)
* 1 x Dished 44 Tooth sprocket with 9 holes
* 1 x Thottle Assembly with built in Kill Switch and Matching Grip
* 1 x 48 inch Thottle Cable with tension adjuster
* 1 x 56 inch Clutch Cable with Heat Protection Spring, Separator Spring, and Clutch Cable Keeper
* 1 x Glossy Black Heavy Duty Push Clutch Lever
* 1 x 53 inch Heavy Duty 415 Chain

Gas Tank Box #2

* 1 x 1.8L (1/2 Gallon) Glossy Black Finish Gas Tank
* 1 x Spring Loaded Gas Tank Cap

Accessories Box #3

* 9 x Sets of Mounting Bolts, Washers and Nylock Locking Nuts for the Sprocket Assembly
* 2 x Rubber Sprocket Mounts
* 3 x Semi-circle Metal Sprocket Mounts
* 4 x Nylock Gas Tank Mounting Nuts
* 1 x High Quality Fuel Grade Line
* 1 x Inline Soft Plastic Fuel Filter
* 1 x Gas Fuel Valve with Nylon Fuel Filter and Fibre Washer
* 1 x Spark Plug
* 1 x Spark Plug Removal Tool
* 1 x Black Chain Guard
* 1 x Chain Guard Fasteners
* 2 x Fuel Tank Fasteners
* 1 x EPA Approved Exhaust Muffler with built in Catalytic Converter
* 1 x Heavy Duty Exhaust Muffler Clamp with Nyloc Nuts
* 1 x Adjustable Bearing Chain Tensioner
* 1 x CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) Module with mounting assembly
* 1 x Large Frame Tube Adapter mounting plate with U Bolt and Engine Adapter Bolts.
* 1 x Parts Pack (2 x Exhaust Gaskets, 1 x Master Link and Keeper, 1 x Rear Engine Mount, 1 x Rear Engine Mount Clamp, 1 x Spark Plug)

Bicycle Requirements:
This 80cc Slant Head Bicycle Engine Kit fits most Men’s 24″ and larger bicycles which includes mountain, cruiser, the bike must have a V-frame with at least a 8.5″ height clearance for the engine. Larger frame size might require drilling of the bike. Ride you bike just like a moped

Dimensions:
This 80cc Slant Head Zoom Bicycles kit is about 8.5″ height 7″ length 5″ width and fits on most standard 24″ – 26″ or 25mm 29mm frame bicycle frame tubes.. This engine kit only adds about 22 lbs to your bike.
Gas And Oil Mixture For Fuel Ratio: Use of a good synthetic 2 stroke oil is recommended.

This bicycle moped 80CC slant head motor engine kit is a 2 cycle/2 stroke design, therefore, a gasoline/oil mixture is necessary as follows:
• When New: 16 to 1 (8oz per Gallon)
• After 3 Tanks Of Break In: 32 to 1 (4oz per Gallon)
The engine crankshaft bearings are lubricated from the oil in the gas mix. A rich break in oil mixture ensures bearings will not cease during engine break in period.

Now moving on to my decision about what bike to put this motor on… after hum hawing about picking up a used bike on Craigslist, I decided to look at a new bike from BikesDirect. I previously bought my road bike there a few years back and thought it was a great deal! You can see the picture above, but the specs are here. I’m not a big hybrid know it all, but this bike looks to be a decent bike especially for the low price of $269 (no shipping, no tax), plus it has fenders and a kick stand! Here are the details about the bike:

Frame Lightweight Welded Aluminum with multi-shaped tubes and reinforcing gusset. Replaceable rear derailleur hanger, 2x H2O brazeons, Fender mounts and Fenders (included)
(Fenders are Grey or Black)

Fork Zoom/Enjoy Aluminum Suspension Comfort Front Shock
Stem Adjustable Height/Angle, Aluminum alloy
Derailleurs Shimano Tourney SIS Index, SR Suntour
Shifters/Cassette SRAM Gripshift MRX 21 Speed, Shimano 14-34T SIS Mega-Range Cassette
Brakes/Levers ProMax Linear pull ‘V’ type Aluminum
Hubs Formula Forged Aluminum Alloy with quick release and dust sealed ball bearings
Rims Aluminum 700c with 36 holes
Crank TH Forged SteelArm triple 48/38/28T
Saddle Comfort wide-style w/suspended Spring base Seatpost Comfort Suspension Seatpost, Aluminum alloy
Pedals Resin Dual-purpose
Tires Comfort-ride 700 x 35c
Colors Blue Nightshade or Gloss White
SizesMen’s – 15″, 17″, 19″, 21″, 23″

Both the bike and motor have shipped and should be here this week. More to come!

I just came across these pretty cool building blocks from House Industries. I love the color palette, the typography styles, the graphics and the packaging. I just might have to get a set of these someday… for my daughter of course. I Imagine that she’ll play with them for a couple weeks… then, voila! I’ll have a new centerpiece for my coffee table!

Eames House Blocks: $175Tours of the Eames House and Studio require a sizable donation to the Eames Foundation, but you can bring the Case Study No. 8 house to the convenience of your coffee table or kids playroom for less cash than dinner for two at the local upscale chain restaurant. It’s a bargain when you consider that each set of 36 replenishable Michigan-grown basswood blocks represents 29 separate hand-pulled screen passes. In the true Eames spirit, your kids can create a ligneous yard sale on your living room rug while youre in deep conversation with your guests, then build this living landmark to demonstrate how you are properly introducing them to important bits of culture. And, as a whole, they take up much less room than those awkward and unsightly Montessori toys.

36 Alphabet Blocks 20 for the house, 16 for the studio

Blocks 1.75″ 4.5 cm square

House 8.75″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″ 22 cm x 8.9 cm x 8.9 cm

Studio 7″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″ 17.8 cm x 8.9 cm x 8.9 cm

Made in the USA!

Replenishable Michigan-grown, kiln-dried basswood.

Printed with non-toxic, lead-free, child-safe inks.

via House Industries – Objects – Eames Blocks.

Romancing Your Soul Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a well thought concept and well executed. Nice work.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

This is nice.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes no Photoshop edit. I knew it wasn’t the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.Here I’ve posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score composed by the birds.Music made with Logic.Video made with After Effects.The newspaper story about my work O Estado de São Paulo: tinyurl.com/l4qdbg

via Birds on the Wires on Vimeo.

On occasion I get confusing “brand” inquiries from clients. Comments like “we need to add this image to our logo. It’s on our Web site and it’s what people remember.” I have to back up and take a deep breath and try to educate them as to the role a logo has in their overall picture. As discussed in this article, your logo only one piece of your brand strategy. Successful brands have strong association between all points of contact (your brand) and your logo.

–

via What Role Does Your Logo Play in Your Branding Strategy?.

By Laura Lake, About.com

When I speak about branding it’s not uncommon for people to mistake their logo as their “branding”. Your logo is only one piece of your branding strategy. Your logo is a symbol that can provide consumers with instant and powerful brand recognitionof your business and the services or products that you offer.

Before beginning the process of logo creation be sure that you have developed your brand strategy. Why? Your logo is like a small ad for your company, without the strategy behind it a logo can put across the wrong message and in return weaken your strategy. You want to keep your brand message consistent to help increase consumer recognition.

How do you know when you are ready to move to the process of having your logo created?

* The mission of your logo is to portray the values and goals of your company. Make sure that these are clearly established before venturing out to find a logo designer.

* Be clear about the message you want your brand to convey so that your logo can clearly reflect that message. You must have a strong association between your brand and your logo. Remember it is only one piece of your branding strategy.

* Your logo should reflect professionalism and growth no matter how small your company is.

* If you are designing your logo in-house to save money be sure to market-test your efforts.

* Make sure that the logo you select is not dated but can be used effectively year after year. Keep in mind it is how consumers will recognize your company.

The conclusion of the role your logo plays in your branding strategy can be summed up in the following statement.

Confident branding and a strong branding strategy uses design to communicate a message that attracts the target audience that you want to attract – a message that creates confidence in your brand while differentiating between you and your competitors. Does your logo fulfill this mission? If your answer is no it may be time to consider strengthening your brand strategy and looking at a new logo to re-position your company.