Good Old Fashioned Pie Crust

Who doesn't love a good old fashioned apple pie, peach pie, key lime pie, pecan pie, or any pie for that matter? I love making pies, but I love eating them even more.

Realsimple.com has a great "how to" article on how to make pie crust. I have to admit, I'm pretty lazy and usually buy my pie crust pre-made, but it never tastes the way my mom used to make it. Her homemade pie crust was moist, crispy, and absolutely delicious! I think I hit the jackpot when I came across this article, and I'll definitely be trying out the recipe soon.

The article tells me exactly what ingredients I need and then gives me seven easy instructions with pictures to illustrate each step. They make it look so easy! Even the headlines are simple. For example, "Add water"... how could I mess that up? Maybe they are making it look easier than it really is, but this article has convinced me to give it a try.

Websites can be very overwhelming. There are few out there that are well design, with the majority being cluttered and difficult to navigate. Whenever I'm researching a topic, it takes me forever to find my answers. I know the information is out there, it's just a matter of clicking through pages and pages of junk until I find what I'm looking for.

The Alaska Native Collection website, part of the Smithsonian, is one of my favorite websites. It is visually stunning, yet clean and organized. The homepage makes you feel peaceful and calm, something very difficult for a website to do these days. It has a beautiful image of mountains in the background, but they are greyed out so are not in your face.

The website is uncluttered and easy to navigate through, with a simple menu bar that lets you know what page you're on, easy to read typefaces, and an earthy, yet elegant color scheme. The few text and images are big, bold, simple, and clean. You can always find what you are looking for. No matter what page you are on, you can easily navigate back to another page. This website takes my favorite design elements, simplicity and beauty, and translates them into functionality.

Holiday Memories

Every Christmas, Coca Cola comes out with holiday commercials featuring the cutest penguins, polar bears, snowmen, and good old Santa Claus. They are trying to reach the "inner child" of every viewer and bring back fond memories from when we were young and still believed in Santa. I think their story does a great job of bringing out the holiday spirit in us all.

Last Christmas, I saw these Coke bottles on the shelves. I thought they were super cute, with their small, round shape and the images of snow falling and families building snowmen on them. They are something I would buy just for the package to keep as a collector's item.

I guess it's not very practical to have such a small bottle of coke, for probably the same price as a regular sized can. You're getting less of the product, but paying more for the package. Regardless, I really like the design and I would buy it anyways.

What's on the Outside Counts

Liquid eyeliner. It's big, it's bold, it's a statement. But whether this statement is hot or not depends on the container of eyeliner you use.

Liquid eyeliner is sold in two packages. The first version provides you with a brush applicator. You have to dip the thick brush into the liquid eyeliner and then paint it onto your eye lids. Most people I know don't have a painter's hand with steady flow and find this process very difficult. You want a thin, straight, clean line of eyeliner on your lids, not a thick mess. Plus, when the liquid is exposed to air, it dries out quickly.

The second version of eyeliner is similar to a pen. It comes with a pen-like applicator, with the liquid already soaked into the tip. This thin, pointy, and precise tip is very easy to use and doesn't make a mess. If I'm drawing black lines across my eyelids, they better be precise. I find the design of this package to be much more practical and definitely worth the few extra bucks.

Call to Action

I began my morning at the kitchen table, sipping on a cup of coffee and leafing through a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Each page was filled with bright and colorful images, dynamic layouts, and happy, smiling faces.

Imagine my shock when I turned the page to this sad, little boy. Seeing this picture of him crying almost brought tears to my eyes. The photo is a real close up of his face, focusing on his eyes with tears dripping down his cheeks. I felt so bad for him, and even worse when I read that he's been waiting for surgery for 5 YEARS!! I was heartbroken!

Then, I read the follow up message... in 5 minutes I could save him! My feelings quickly turned from sadness to hopeful. I was ready to donate to SmileTrain. They knew just how to grab my attention, summon my emotions, and then show me what I could do to help. With a donation form printed right on the magazine ad, a website, and a phone number I had no excuse not to. These numerous ways to donate were right at my finger tips.

Design for Change

Cafe Prevention is a non-profit organization that supports healthy lifestyles and community building through their products. They focus on topics such as drug and alcohol prevention, homelessness, education, and violence prevention.

They created this postcard to discourage underage drinking. The front of the postcard really catches my attention. I like that it is a very clean design, with lots of empty space. The simplicity of the postcard makes its message stand out loud and clear. The back of the postcard is nicely organized with bullet pointed facts. The facts are pretty interesting to read, and they don't look like too much text because of the alternating colors.

The designers did a nice job of conveying their message in such a small amount of space. I find that many postcards are overcrowded with words and images, and this turns me off.

I started off this assignment looking for a postcard, but found myself to be really interested in the work that Cafe Prevention does. It's always inspiring to see designers use their creativity to make a difference in the world. If you're interested in this too, check out this video I saw a few months ago on ted.com.
http://www.ted.com/talks/emily_pilloton_teaching_design_for_change.html

Protect the Wildlife Public Awareness Campaign by WWF

In the summer of 2010, the World Wildlife Fund ran a public awareness campaign in Turkey on the importance of protecting our environment. Three advertisements were published as a part of this campaign. Each of these ads took an animal that we consider threatening (a vulture, a snake, and a shark) and showed us how much scarier the world would be without them. The advertisements in the campaign read, "Exploiting the ecosystem also threatens human lives. For a living planet: wwf.org."

I found this ad campaign to be very effective. It uses a comparison technique on two images to make a strong statement. It takes very simple photographs that focus on one animal and makes them even simpler by eliminating the animal. The message is so powerful that those images and a few words are enough to make a strong impact on the viewer.

When I saw the ads in this campaign, I felt really bad for these animals. I couldn't imagine what the world would be like without them, as the second picture in each ad shows. The ads actually inspired me to go to the website wwf.org and see what I could do to make a difference. I think the point of these ads is to encourage viewers to go to the website and take action to protect the environment/wildlife, so they were definitely a success in my opinion.

The Culture of Vienna's Coffee Houses

Coffee shops are a simple pleasure of mine. I enjoy sipping a sweet and spicy cup of chai on a cold winter's night and drinking a refreshing, iced cold vanilla latte on a hot summer's day. There's something about enjoying my drink in a warm and cozy coffee shop that makes the experience all the more pleasurable. Whether I'm alone and people watching, or gathering with a group of friends, it is always a special treat. Coffee shops are a friendly, casual, and comforting atmosphere for me. One where I can relax and let loose.

The February issue of Travel + Leisure magazine features a piece on "Vienna's Cafe Culture," by Michael Z. Wise. Until I read this article, I never realized that my idea of a coffee shop is only unique to the US. The article describes how customers "puff cigarettes between sips of espresso" in Vienna, and waiters, dressed in "jackets and bow ties," "provide excellent service, not with a smile, but rather with a serious attitude." The coffee shop culture in Vienna is a 300 year old tradition, but does not seem to fit in with today's society.

I found this article to be interesting because I never realized how different a coffee shop could be in another part of the world. Although I am always open to trying new things, I don't think I would feel relaxed or comfortable sipping a cup of coffee with waiters in bow ties at my service, especially when they are not smiling! Casual and cozy coffee shops are one American tradition that I would certainly miss in Vienna.

The Power of Citrus

I always find myself feeling gloomy in the winter. The weather is cold and gray, the sun is gone by the time I leave work, and even when I'm lucky enough to escape the flu bug, everyone around me seems to be sick.

The only thing that makes me feel better is eating warm comfort food, but as the pounds add on, the depression comes back. Every year when the winter rolls around, I find myself wishing I lived down south... and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Today, I read an interested article that made me rethink this discouraging season. The January/February 2011 edition of Cooking Light magazine features a piece called "The Winter Warmth of Citrus," by Deborah Madison.

From the moment I turned to the page, colorful and vibrant images of oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and limes filled my thoughts. Could this fruit be as promising as its pictures?

A native of California citrus country, Madison gives the inside scoop on this wonder fruit. She uses three of the five senses, taste, smell, and touch, to describe these delicious treats. Who wouldn't be craving citrus after reading about its "cheerful yellows and oranges," "glistening deep reds," "hugely aromatic peel," and "tart and sweet taste with a delightfully bitter edge?"

Madison continues on to describe how citrus fruits are the perfect fix for the winter blues. Citrus provides an enticing cure for the common cold, is a refreshing snack on a gloomy winter's day, and is a flavorful companion to many winter meals.

And just when she has my mouth watering, Madison concludes the article with several citrus recipes that are sure to satisfy including a grapefruit buttermilk sherbet, clementine date cake, light citrus pudding, and fish with lemon herb sauce.

So the next time I'm feeling down on a cold winter's day, I plan on giving citrus a try. It's certainly a cheaper option than packing up my things and moving down south. I have a feeling this refreshing fruit might be just what the doctor ordered!