According to the study, Muse is Adobe’s new potential creative software solution that will allow designers and creative professionals to design and develop websites simultaneously, without the need to write or manipulate any actual code. A pretty bold claim, to say the least.

This is not Adobe’s first foray into web-output technology. Their present iteration, Dreamweaver, has been touted as their WYSIWYG alternative to full-on code manipulation for quite some time. But even this software relies heavily on programming to bolster what can only be described as a clunky visual interface. What Muse is suggesting it will be able to do blows this right out of the water.

Muse start-up screen

According to Evans Research Associates, the company managing the study, the software will allow the user to:

• Quickly create a sitemap for your web design, easily adding, removing and rearranging pages.
• Create and apply master pages to share design elements such as logos, headers and footers that are common across multiple web pages.
• Lay out your website using tools similar to those found in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator including common shortcuts and features like multi-file place, smart guides, paste in place, eyedropper tool, hand and zoom tool, page columns, gutters and more.
• Place and style images and graphics including .PNG, .PSD, .GIF and .SWF with precise control over color, fill, opacity, stroke, rounded corners, gradients and effects.
• Quickly edit placed artwork and images in Photoshop using Edit Original.
• Embed HTML code snippets from sources like Google Maps, YouTube and social media buttons from the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
• Add completely customizable smart site navigation with menus that automatically reflect your site map layout.
• Add pre-coded, fully customizable interactive elements like slideshows, tabbed and accordion panels, lightboxes and more.
• Preview your design in Muse or in your browser.
• Publish your completed design from within Muse to a trial site for testing a review purposes. Take your trial site live by hosting with Adobe, or exporting your site for ftp to other hosting providers.

The survey also included a brief video showcasing the technology.

Web design in action on the Muse interface

In terms of functionality, Muse asserts that the experience will be similar to the suite that so many of us have come to know and love. The screens visible in the video are quite promising: guides and rules are visible (an Adobe mainstay), and objects on the stage seem to react fluidly and easily to drag-and-drop controls – a welcome change from the cursing and futile dragging so common previously in Dreamweaver. The user experience on first blush seems like something closer to Photoshop or InDesign, rather than Flash. As someone who has never felt at home in the sterile, finicky Flash environment, this is a very exciting possibility.

So far, the software seems to have one very-glaring downside: Adobe is positioning this to be a subscription-based acquisiton model, as opposed to the one-time purchase common for most Adobe products; purchasers will have the option of paying annual or monthly contract. Considering the exorbitant price-tag on the present Adobe Suite has been a sticky issue for creative professionals for quite some time now (being forced to shell out upwards of $2000 each time a new version is released is painful, to say the least), this may be an attempt to placate all those pirating designers out there while simultaneously building a model that continually funds itself. No word yet on what kind of fee will be attached to such a scenario, and many professionals may find themselves hard-pressed to try to acquire budget for a monthly expenditure as opposed to a one-time cost.

Auto-sitemap functionality

Surprisingly, my explorations on the web yielded very little about this new technology. It appears AIGA San Francisco has already been given a live demo of the software, and a San Francisco-based design agency has an article outlining an entire new suite of products that will be available via Adobe in the future centered around web content and output, among which Muse is listed.

Overall, I am hesitantly optimistic. Whereas I would be delighted to be able to develop my own websites while I am simultaneously designing them, I have serious reservations about what would be possible within the software. It seems to me the only way for this to feasibly work is for it to have a strict set limit of actions available in it’s toolbox of scripts and widgets, and this deeply concerns me. I foresee a future where the functionality and creativity of what can be accomplished online is limited to Muse’s software options. And that is precisely what differentiates a good designer from a great designer – the ability to think outside the box, and not suffer from the limitations of what is developmentally feasible to produce cutting-edge, unique solutions. Will Muse be able to accommodate these needs?

However, in terms of a down-and-dirty website creation kit, I am totally on board. Ditch the subscription model, give it a single price-point, Adobe, and I will be the first one in line. I am sure many other designers will agree.

I know I am like the last person on the planet to blog about this, but the Liberty of London collection for Target demands mad love. The patterns and color patterns are just so beautiful and vivacious, that even a non-print obsessed gal like myself must croon. They are like little pieces of spring you can permanently keep in your home or wardrobe. Also, I love the variety of items that they have chosen to create – from negligees to umbrellas, from picture frames to lamp shades. If it’s solid, and doesn’t breathe, they can pattern that thang right up!

Peacock Piggy! I would gladly feed you my money!

I must procure some of these fantastic ties for Mr.Kaboom. And perhaps the art nouveau one for myself…

Gift-givers take note! I would adore this bike. I might even start riding if I had this bike.

Explore the entire Liberty of London collection at Target.

I am completely smitten with Sanrio’s Hello Kitty Nerd Collection by Loungefly. Donning the iconic kitty in a pair of heavy black frames (taped at the nose) and a pocket protector, the result is an incredibly hip, geek-ily adorable homage to the new wave of nerd-love taking over or culture.

As much as I love these products, I wish they offered more items in this collection – I would love an umbrella, a business card holder, or a checkbook cover. Though it is so cute, I am trying to come up with reasons I would possibly need a metal lunchbox!

I “Hello Kitty Head” nerds. I don’t know what it possibly means, but I LUV it.

You can find this collection to purchase at Sanrio.com.

I like beer. And I like Japanese things. Therefore, it’s really not surprising to discover that I have a weakness for Japanese beer. Japanese beer tends to have a slightly lower alcohol content than other “beer-y” countries (see, Germany), and has a generally sweeter taste, very low on the hops. In short, it’s delicious.

One of my favorite Japanese beers is Hitachino Nest, a brand made by Kiuchi Brewery in Honshu, Japan. Not only is their beer extremely yummy, but their packaging is both adorable and hip in that retro, 70′s appeal sort of way. The iconic owl that adorns their bottles is easy to spot, and feels both traditional and urban all at once. His playful image makes what might be considered a strange, foreign beer both inviting, humorous and familiar.

Though it looks far from being done, I like what I see happening at . In the meantime, you can grab your Hitachino at a local quality liquor store near you. KAMPAI!

The grass is always greener, I suppose. First, we lived in an apartment, and I coveted a house desperately. Now we rent a house, and whereas I should be happy as a clam, I am not. Because now I want to OWN a house, so I can fill it with wonderful, permanent things that I will never have to worry about moving again, like wallpaper. Sweet, sweet, wallpaper…

Not helping my house-lust is the fact that I am absolutely, positvely smitten with the wallpaper of Grow House Grow!, an independent wallpaper company owned and operated by Brooklyn resident Katie Deedy. Between balancing two bartending jobs, Deedy hand prints these magnificent wallpapers, based on such whimsical inspirations as historical figures and stories.

A picture of the artist, in studio:

To see more of Deedy’s fantastic creations, visit Grow House Grow! by clicking here.

I know some might find it a little odd to go around wearing a pelvis around your neck, but I consider it a homage to nature, and the art found therein. It’s this truly marvelous, mysterious and lovely artifact.

Also, if you are as enamored of her work as I am, here’s a little news:

If you are in the New York area, there’s a sample sale today at
Tucker by Gaby Basora, 13 Essex St (between Hester and Canal), from 9am to 7pm. Laura works there, and tells me the clothing is beautiful and there will be some really good deals. Best part: Lauren will be selling some jewelry there as well!

If you make it out, tell them CMYKaboom sent ya.

The results are anything but…

Click here to see the entire gallery, and submit your own scanned mug.

My favorite month has arrived! I love October, mostly because I love spooky things. October is the month I indulge in all things creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky. In honor of this most haunted of months, I will be posting heavily on things I find appropriately creeptastic.

I am starting off the month with these 7 Deadly Sins glasses by designer Kacper Hamilton. Each glass is based off of one of the seven deadly sins. Not only are the glasses designed to look like the sins, but upon using them the sin is revealed in the act of drinking (for example, the Envy glass steals the drink before it can reach your lips).

Wrath:

Lust:

Greed:

Pride:

Not only are the glasses brilliantly designed in their functionality, but they are gorgeous pieces of art in their own right, each glass superbly looking their part. I can imagine what a delightful conversation piece these would be at any swank Halloween party.

To see all seven of the sins, visit Hamilton Designs website, here.

(Snatched from Uncrate)

I recall my first Typography class in design school. Me and my classmates anticipated it with the same excitement as one would a root canal. The professor who taught it was obsessed with letter forms to a degree I had never seen before, and have rarely seen since. We would wince as we handed our assignments in, shrinking under his scrutinizing gaze as he spoke to us in the foreign language of type: serif or sans, orphans and widows, leading and kerning, ems and ens.

Nowadays I am rather obsessed with type, and am usually the one screaming about leading and kerning. Aw, how things change.

Typography has had its ups and downs through the years. Since Gutenberg blew up its spot in 1440, it’s been a long, weird journey for letter forms. With the rise of the computer and the resulting obsoleteness of letterpress printing, there was great concern that the art of typography would be lost in the digital age. However, that has not been the case.

In fact, it’s becoming a very good time to be a font. As this New York Times article points out, there are more ways to make fonts than there have ever been before, in ways more accessible to the public at large. In the past, typography was considered a strange, incredibly specialized field; typographers viewed with the same curious interest and mystery as some rare, red-tailed lemur. However, with the new profundity of programs available on the market, more and more professionals and hobbyists are picking up this enchanting art form. There are even interactive social networks that are being built around font creation and sharing.

The current selection of fonts out there today is utterly enormous and wonderful. MyFonts.com publishes a wonderful newsletter dedicated to the faces behind the fonts, and there are numerous online font sites that host stunning libraries of free, downloadable fonts.

Read the full New York Times article here. What are your favorite font destinations?

One of my fondest memories growing up was receiving mix tapes. First, they were silly mixes from the boys in grade school, that me and my girlfriends would giggle over listening to on our crummy stereos. The tapes were the first real attempt at flirting I ever encountered, and would contain songs interspersed with goofy banter from the group of boys that put them together. Later in high school, mix tapes became much more serious affairs; careful compilations intensely labored over and scrutinized by their creators, and equally scrutinized by their recipients. Due to the difficulty of creation and replication, a mix tape was the most sincere gift of friendship/love you could receive from another person. Whether pouring through lyrics to decode hidden messages, or just rocking out to a fantastic ska comp, a mix tape said unequivocally: you matter.

Sadly, with the dawn of the recordable CD and later, the downloadable song, mix tapes have become virtually nonexistent. However, I was delighted to discover there is a site trying to rekindle the mixtape in the new age: Muxtape.com.

Muxtape allows users to upload and share mixtapes on the web. It’s functionality is remarkably simple, and it’s look is beautifully minimal and superbly designed. And while it’s not nearly of the same caliber as receiving an actual cassette, it’s the closest the internet has ever come to it (and let’s be honest: if you did receive a mix tape today, would you even have a cassette player to play it?)

I’ve put together a little mix together for you, dear reader. I hope you like it as much as I like you

The Tracklist:
Lavender Diamond – You Broke My Heart
Nina Simone – See Line Woman
Okkervil River – A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene
Laura Veirs – Secret Someones
Laura Marling – Night Terror [Explicit]
Le Tigre – After Dark
LCD Soundsystem – Never As Tired As When I’m Waking Up
Kaki King – Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be a Bad Person?
Sonic Youth – Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)
Wolf Parade – An Animal In Your Care
Dr. Dog – 12 Find The River
Greg Laswell – Sing, Theresa Says