“Welcome back to concentration.”
That’s the tagline for Ommwriter, a new computer application for writers that transforms their desktop into a stark, wintry landscape. It can also be toggled to display a textured sort of burlap canvas or a plain white screen. Either way, all that remains is a blinking cursor and the endless expanse of the user’s mind.
Now write.
Cos that’s the point! Ommwriter blocks out all of the digital distractions that can hinder the creative process, leaving you alone with your thoughts. It brings along 7 different ambient soundtracks and a variety of ear-pleasing keystroke sound effects to encourage productivity. All in all: very Zen. When you’re finished, you simply click a button and save your file like you would in any other word processor.
I love the marriage of simple design and a word processor, and Ommwriter has really nailed a clever concept. I’ve been using it for a few weeks, in a daydreaming sense. It’s perfect for brainstorming, jotting notes and ideas.
Below the fold, check out the quick instructional video to see the app in action! Keeping with the program’s less-is-more theme, it doesn’t come with any documentation.
Read more…
Inside this toolbox are my secret materials that make crafts. I can’t show them to you.
The container came as pictured, dressed like a flashy figure skater minus the sequins and fringe. Every time I’d take it out, it seemed to scream at me. With jazz hands. Ultimately, that’s just not quite my style. I decided to turn my craft toolbox into a craft project of its own.
Take a mental picture. I got masculine with a can of spray paint this weekend, and I made the colors disappear. I’m a really butch dude, you guys. Like, really manly when I get right down to the sewing ‘n stuff.
Behold my toolbox makeover below the fold!
Read more…
This is a doll. I want it.
Perhaps someone who would not suffer a punishing exchange rate would like to gift it to me? Or we can all just gaze at it on the computer and pretend we have it in real life. He comes from Matilde Beldroega, the handmade doll shop of artist Rita Pinheiro.
I’ve already named my bearded, bespectacled pal. His name is Sandoval. And if this makes me a creepy doll person, SO BE IT.
(Swiss Miss, a great barometer for online cool, spotted this one first. Kudos.)
The computer desktop is a canvas. That’s why I’m always surprised when people decorate theirs with absolutely hideous, staid, uninspired stock photos, or, worse, nothing at all. It is a given that we would hang great-looking art on our walls…why overlook your desktop workspace? When I get new interns in the office, this is one of the first things I make them do.
I have two computers—a PC laptop that I work on at my day job and a MacBook that I prefer use at all other times. I thought I’d start occasionally sharing the desktop backgrounds that I’m running on those and where I found them. Dig into the cut for the details!
Read more…
I first came across illustrator and designer Blanca Gómez when her work was featured on the cover of the inaugural issue of UPPERCASE Magazine. Then, again, more recently I featured her in a roundup of creative 2010 calendars. There is a child-like quality to her pieces, as well as an almost retro sensibility, that makes her style very timeless. I think to know of her work is to love it—the color, the characterization…the color!
Her Etsy shop is filled with goodies from her studio in Madrid, including screen-printed journals, buttons and pocket mirrors. And her blog, Cosas Minimas (“Small Things”), will keep you up to date on everything else she’s got going on.
Dear Blanca,
Please come immediately and live in my pants pocket.
Love, Matt
