Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:47:29 +0000

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Clip Art of the Month for February 2010 will focus on Content regulation.

Whether one stands in favor of Apple’s products or against them, it’s impossible to deny Jobs and Company’s impact on our technological lives. Last week saw the unveiling of what Apple believes will become a “third category” of mobile computing: the iPad. The iPad aims at simplifying the user’s computing experience by merging elements of Apple’s existing laptop and phone releases.

In the new millennium, computing platforms have trended toward more open source solutions. While it may offer the end user a more simple and streamlined experience, the iPad also seems to assert Apple’s intention to focus on technology as a controlled gateway for proprietary consumption.

Images by Frector, adam_lowe, Minduka, flomar, and Tranberry (all above) demonstrate Apple’s influence on modern design and why it cannot be ignored. The reception of their latest product has been decidedly mixed. How will the introduction of the iPad affect the Open Clip Art Community? What ramifications might this have as open source computing progresses? Time will tell. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts and continue supporting Open Clip Art Library by using and contributing vector artwork.

Clip Art of the month is sponsored by Worldlabel.com, a multifunctional label manufacturer.

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:27:59 +0000

I somehow didn’t post my praises towards the excellent NSC1 Neotenylabs conference in Singapore which happened in mid-December. What a great event! Great Friends all in one place! And I accumulated another huge mound of business cards to process I’ll get back to you all soon! Expect much more happening in Singapore over the next year.

Here are my sets of slides from presenting lightning talks, then I used my current StatusNet slide deck to talk about StatusNet. I don’t have any slides for the Kids2.0 that Jon, Max and I did! That happened last minute! That session was more popular than my sessions!!!

Here is the StatusNet slides on Scribd.

Here is my slide deck as well from the Open Font Web 1.0 mini-presentaiton I gave for a competition, but Joi, Cory and Sean gave me the shaft in not voting for my presentation.

Open Font Web 1.0

Here is the non-flash version of the DOC and PDF.

And, here is another presentation that Bassel and I put together for the conference. There will be more about this in the new year as well.

MiddleEast Entrepreneurship

Here is the link to the presentation in non-flash google docs.

Bassel wrote a bit more about in arabic, and I encourage you to read his page.

The above documents were more relevant in December, but some projects have already changed hands slightly. The SAMAlab, Bassel and I are now calling the AikiLab, and these projects are actively being pursued from the IDEA2009 stack to SHARISM2010 project.

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:53:03 +0000

2010 has arrived! What sort of visual trends can be expected in the next year? How will Clip Art evolve into the new decade?

Going back through 2009 submissions will provide a point of reference as we search for these answers.

When used effectively, gradients can add new dimensions to vector-based imagery. The landscape designed by hrum (pictured above) combines multiple gradient layers into an effective piece of art.

Photorealistic techniques became very popular design choices for the Clip Art Community in 2009, and Chrisdesign provided an excellent example with his longsword.

Near the end of the year, placidoaps merged traditional vector graphic lines with tactical uses of gradients to give his rendering of a penguin both character and depth.

The Open Clip Art Library accepts vector art from anyone, anywhere, so help make visual landmarks in 2010 by contributing! Check out other 2009 works by Simanek and klaasvangend to get inspired.

Clip Art of the month is sponsored by Worldlabel.com, a multifunctional label manufacturer.