You’d think the first priority doing business in the interactive design industry would be investing in one’s own corporate identity– after all, that’s the first place clients look (whether it’s your business cards or website) for a showcase of the true potential you have to offer. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve ditched a card after someone claimed to be a graphic or web designer, but then I realize I’m holding a free VistaPrint business card or clicked through to a shoddily-crafted website. It’s not about vanity, it’s about displaying your talents in the most effective and creative way possible, and there shouldn’t be extended periods of downtime or redesigns. Investing in your own brand is plain commonsense.

Red Interactive Agency is a perfect example to follow: not only is their client list as extensive as it is impressive (HBO, Comedy Central & Lionsgate, to name a few), they were recently awarded the Best Self-Promotional Site and Best of Show at the FITC Awards for their own amazingly slick and original flash-based site. In short, it’s like Second Life for people with lives short attention spans. After you plug in a name and pick a character, take a spin around their Tim Burton-esque wonderland and interact with others in a variety of ways, be it practicing your white-man’s overbite and busting a move, or smacking them in the face with pan. Oh, and you can chat, too. All that and the pertinent information about their company is right there, seamlessly displayed on the same page. Brings new meaning to the word “interactive”, don’t you think?

I’ve been reading my voicemail (sounds weird right) since my good friends over at Cool Hunting introduced me to Simulscribe last November– It’s an amazing voice to text service that I haven’t been able to live without since the day I joined. Their new application called Simulsays allows you to see your voicemail messages in a list and selectively play them back without ever dialing in. If you’re already addicted to Simulscribe (like yours truly), you can just point your mobile phones browser to mobile.simulscribe.com and be up and running in mere minutes. If you’re not a user, I strongly recommend it. This was a great service before and their status just got upgraded to extraordinary in my book. Right now it’s only available for the Blackberry Pearl and 8800– but compatibilty with more handsets is promised in the future.

San Diego born Splaff Flopps is picking up right where companies like Alchemy Goods have left off, but this time the rubber is hitting the road in flip flop form. In fact, the idea for these flips came from a meeting in a garage with a tire, a bike tube, and a shoe knife (no word on whether mind altering drugs were also part of the equation). In all seriousness though, these flops employ the sort of eco-ingenuity I like to see in new footwear products. You may also enjoy reading the Phoresia review, here. All three models are crafted with recycled race car tires, bike inner tubes, hemp, and regupol (which is a cushioning material derived from used tires that have been chipped and pressed into mats). Each pair is made by hand (presumably in San Diego) as part of a 0% waste production process (i.e. all waste products are either recycled or reused). At around $40, their also affordable as compared to other handcrafted domestic sandal brands like Splaff’s up-the-coast-counterparts Rainbow. And the best part: you’ll never pop a flop wearing these– because they’re made with already deflated tires, there’s nothing to pop! Ok, that’s a horrible joke.

Via The Goat

Unfortunately, none of the JoshSpear.com crew made it to Coachella this year to see the likes of The Arctic Monkeys and Amy Winehouse (above). And from what I’ve seen from the coverage of the festival, which went on this past weekend, we really missed out. There’s just something about great music in the warm desert sun that strikes my fancy. Because my friends who did make it were too dehydrated to remember the experience, I’ve been leaning on Pitchfork to give me the lowdown. They had Amy Phillips and Daphne Carr there to cover the shows live. Now after the fact, they have an awesome re-cap posted, so you – like me – can live vicariously.

Chicago based Jay Byrnes, who’s the principal of the Creative Studio Adapt, just updated their site with some new goodies. Head over to have a look at what they’ve been up to lately. Some of their clients have included Heineken, Salomon Snowboards, and Flavorpill. My favorite contribution though, is Jay’s submission for the Jeremyville/Design is Kinky Sketchel Exhibition (shown here). Keep up the great art-driven work Jay and Adapt!