The ZehnKatzen Times A blog by a Portland graphic deisgner about finding interesting and fun things in design and life and looking for his big payday Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 50 3625

Articles from The ZehnKatzen Times

[meme] ZehnKatzen's Weekly Winners #4: Lloyd Center Hypergammaspaces 2007-12-30 18:32:00 1217. The fourth in an occaisional series (well, I've tried to make it weekly, but there's this life thingy, ja'know?). Meme central here.I enjoy indoor spaces, especially spaces which enclose worlds which are small and large at the same time. Portland's famous Lloyd Center is just that sort of thing.One of graphic design's central concepts in juxtaposition. Moving significant things next to significant other things creates a visual dependency, just as moving your significant things next to your significant other's things can create a sense of co-dependency:At the end of the upper level of the food court is the office level of Lloyd Center. The Nephew™ (whose back is to us) mentioned the way the Apollo College sign near the Billy Heartbeat's (that burger joint in the background there) seems to imply that Apollo College (one of those modern-day churn-'em-out private vocational schools) offers sundaes, shakes, and hamburgers.While we agreed that that would indeed be righteous, ...

[logo_design] Channel Surfing: To The Nines 2007-12-29 20:30:00 1215. Nearing ever closer to the top of the VHF dial, we at last take our exploration to the nines.Starting out down under, we have one of Austrailia's major networks, the Nine Network. Oz has three major networks all known simply by a numeric name, seemingly based on the over-the-air channel that they originally started out on: Seven, Nine, and Ten. Nine is plain, simple, and effective, once again proving that sometimes a little design goes a hell of a long way:Next we come back stateside. Bay News 9 is a cable channel serving Tampa-St Pete. Usually squashing type results in a highly irritating appearance, but this squashed type seems to be working. Perhaps it's because it looks "designed" to be squashed (the strokes seem designed with this in mind) and the way the type plays nice with the red and blue parallelograms:Albany NY's Cable Channel 9 started out as being owned by the same people (Bay News 9 being started by Time Warner Cable, but is now owned by BrightHouse Networks) ... Design

[pdx] Channel 2 News 95 Brings you Windows 95 2007-12-29 11:24:00 1014. Reported by Ed Teachout 95, Introduced by JeffJulie 95, fronted with a teaser for ABC World News Tonight by Steve Dunn 95.Goodness 95 courtesy YouTube and user DelimitR (who happens to be the first nerd interviewed).Stumbled on it and just couldn't resist, FWIW.Tags: pdx, pdx_news, Windows 95, KATU, KATU Channel 2Powered by Qumana ...

[logo_design] Some More KOMO 2007-12-28 21:51:00 1013. One of the more hard-to-get logos was the one for Seattle's 1st-magnitude star in the Flag net, KOMO, Channel 4.The web page is one which completely elides the channel number, preferring to identify as simply "KOMOTV.COM" in the current graphic style. I was, however able to catch a few minutes of the live webcast tonight, and they've got some pretty good graphics going on. Here's a screen grab of the two anchors at work:I enjoy the way the lower third merges into the logo.The KOMO logo is incorporated into a video bumper that makes it part of a ribbon that rotates toward the viewer during the transition:It's clever. Motion, but not too much, a flash of the station logo quickly supplanted by the point of the transition.Here's a wider view of the news set, which we thought well done: all arcs and lines converge on the stars – the two news anchors – but it doesn't keep the weather and sports anchors in the shadows:The real treat was to watch the close, though. A rotating c ... Design

[us_politik] Best Headline of the Day 2007-12-28 21:47:00 1212. Good Tidings with the following gem:Republican Candidates vs. EvolutionMan, it sure seems that way sometimes. I would advise caution, however; if they really want to declare war on Evolution, they might want to stand that one down; judging on how various Wars (Poverty, et. al.) have worked out, they may find they'll wind up with more Evolution than they starte out with.Just throwin' that one out there.Oh, yeah, the post at Good Tidings is pretty good too.Tags: liff, us_politik, sarcasmPowered by Qumana ...

[liff] All We Have To Say About The TurboTax Thing 2007-12-28 21:33:00 1211. The Wife™ never quite trusted TurboTax. I didn't think it was that bad.The kicker check we actually recieved stands as unchallengeable vindication of her view.QED, baby, QED. Tags: TurboTax, Oregon Taxes, The KickerPowered by Qumana ...

[logo_design] Some Older Station Reviews With Logos 2007-12-28 21:25:00 1210. This is something just stumbled on, and bears mention in passing because it has a little history and a very sassy POV.This page by a user at Geocities who likes to review stations has a good selection of logos which have changed. Particularly interesting is the KOMO 4 logo which was probably the last version of the "Square 4" that they used (If anyone can remember when the old UPN logo changed from the "Circle-Square-Triangle" to the lower-case upn in a circle, that would date it ... I don't have the date to hand right now)The page is obviously by an opinionated watcher who pulls few, if any punches. Of WESH-2 Orlando's Newscast (then, okay, guessing 2002-2004ish) they bluntly opine: A pretty cheeset (sic) NBC affiliate. The News has some poor talent, including a weekend Sports Anchor with a strong southern accent! The Anchors desk is covered with papers that the anchors appear to look at often. Are they trying to petend that there is no teleprompter? The constant paper shuffl ... Design

[pdx] Portland Downtown Street Mnemonic Users' Guide 2007-12-28 11:28:00 1209. After turning the Portland Downtown Streets Mnemonic (PDSM) around in my head (provided thanks to commenter JD, as per the last posting, I wanted to analyze it a little more. The mnemonic, provided to us, was as follows:All Across Portland Our Streets Wind Around Mossy Yards. Traffic Snarls May Mean Jammed Cars, Cranky Motorists Making Minimal Headway. Harried Commuters Just Love Going Slow.This maps to the following street sequence (from north to south, not including Burnside):Ankeny, Ash, Pine, Oak, Stark, Washington, Alder, Morrison, Yamhill, Taylor, Salmon, Main, Madison, Jefferson, Columbia, Clay, Market, Mill, Montgomery, Harrison, Hall, College, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, and Sheridan.JD had actually extended our sequence to just south of the I-405 in the 4th/5th/6th Avenues area (though there is a slight error; after Grant comes Sherman, and Caruthers and then Sheridan. But someone can tack on the extra C and S; JD did a fantastic job and has given us all a toy to play with ...

[pdx] We Have A Mnemonic For Portland's Downtown Streets 2007-12-27 17:47:00 1208. Well, rough draft – but this is as good as done. Credit commenter "JD" for this bit of genius.Back in September, I'd posted about how fortunate Seattle was, given that they had a nifty, rather irreverent mnemonic (that's memory aid to those of you who don't read books) to keep the order of downtown streets in mind easily: Jesus Christ Made Kurt Cobain Seattle Under Protest, and that this was a problem for Portland – where our alphabet soup of downtown street initials made composing a simple mnemonic a true feat of daring and strength.For review, from Burnside south, the downtown streets run as such:Ankeny, Ash, Pine, Oak, Stark, Washington, Alder, Morrison, Yamhill, Taylor, Salmon, Main, Madison, Jefferson, Columbia, Clay, Market, Mill, Montgomery, Harrison, Hall, College, Jackson.Which generates an initial string as:AAPOSWAMYTSMMJCCMMMHHCJThis has been an intractable problem since at least sometimes in the 1980's, when over at The Big O the inimitable Jonathan Nicholas m ...

[geopolitik] Bullies Still Run Certain Areas Of The Planet 2007-12-27 17:26:00 1207. And here's your proof.I've been following Metroblogs in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad since the state of emergency was declared some time ago (thanks to a recommendation from Betsy Richter on Portland Metblogs. I love Metblogs). It's an unnerving thing to do, but necessary, and it's amazing how blunt and fearless the writers are, and that despite being more messed-up than I can remember, the USA is still a fairly fortunate place to be.The discourses speak for themselves. Karachite Tee Emm, approximately 0815, our time; Gathering from numerous sources, mobile calls and text messages from friends, it appears that a huge number of people are stuck right on the main roads all engulfed in panic, chaos and disorder. The situation is not only bad, there is no way the stream of vehicles that left their shops and offices for home can do a mass reversal. Even turning off the cars engine and parking them on the road - like we Karachites do during heavy rains - is not possible as every ...

[logo_design] Calling Tubers Everywhere – Here Comes IYP 2007-12-27 15:24:00 1206. I don't know how we missed this one ... 2008 has been deemed, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N., the International Year of the Potato, or IYP.It's no IGY, but you can't have it all, I suppose.The impulse, when such a mundane staple is celebrated in such a universal fashion, is to wonder if it's a goof; such is our sophisticated drive-by, pick-up media-saturated culture (you know, the one that treats La Britney's next trailer park moment as news even when more serious things are happening). No, it's not a goof; this is a serious, year-long, international promotional effort to elevate awareness of the Solanum tuberosum, the world's fourth-largest fresh produce crop (after wheat, rice, and corn).We aren't that unhappy about it; after all, we likey the tuber in a muchly way. And it gives us a chance to analyze some logo talk. Refer, if you all would be so very kind, to the provided illustration (including the IYP's tagline, Hidden Treasure, an apt tagline ... Design

[Address Nerd] How They Do It In Silverton 2007-12-26 04:18:00 1205. One of the more compelling and frustrating things in being an Address Nerd is finding the source documents that control and define address numbering and street naming, because the mark of a true Address Nerd is not only being able to intuit what decisions were made, but finding out for oneself why they were made.As Winston Smith once wondered: "I know how. I do not know why". Not that it's sinister, of course, but you just never satisfied until you know why. For instance, it's obvious, looking at the map of Salem, that State Street is the main divider on the east side of the Willamette halving the city in northerly and southerly sections. But why did they settle on State Street.We'll never know that. Salem's online city information is silent on the matter. For that matter, few jurisdictions bother to mount documents detailing the why of their street naming/house numbering. Even where it's obvious, the true Address Nerd has the burning desire to find out why, and what the poi ...

[pdx] The First White Christmas In Portland In ... 2007-12-25 15:34:00 1204. Anyone who's lived here more than a few years knows how often that white Christmases happen in Oregon; near enough to never as to make no difference. The safe money bets on a gray, wet Christmas:So, here you go, PDX metro area; slushy Cascade Concrete, 25 Dec 2007, with snow on the ground. We're off to Salem to see The Fam™ (perhaps against better counsel, but Mom's cooking ... ) Tags: PDX, Portland Metro, Portland Snow, Oregon White Chistmas ...

[liff] New Word: Wiiot 2007-12-25 02:49:00 1202. What you get when you run out of Wii's and the people waiting for them get upset about it, or are upset with you because they think you lied about how many you had. Portmanteau of Wii and riot. Coined by this esteemable fellow here.Tags: Wii, neologism, portmanteauPowered by Qumana ...

[liff, design] Why Andy & Bax Is Cool 2007-12-24 21:21:00 1201. Found by a certain The Wife™ at Andy & Bax a couple of days back:Apollo XVII was, of course, the last time mankind visited the moon.The Apollo program ended with XVII, three missions early, which to me is one of the saddest facts in American history. But the patch really takes our editorial staff (consisting of Yours Truly, a cup of Buttered Rum-flavored coffee, and a couple of Christmas cookies) back to that signal time when America could – and did – send a man to the moon ... about once every year or so.So, with that, Merry Christmas, Joyous Samhain, or what ever way your pendulum swings, good peoples. Your dogma, as such, threatens me not, or mine yours; we all need to get along ... remember, axial tilt is the reason for the season, the X in Xmas isn't just an X, and Santa was annexed from several European traditions. Subvert the dominant paradigm! Tags: liff, logo design, NASA, Space Program, Apollo, Apollo XVII ... Amp  Design