The Gold Office Supplies

To start off, why not exchange all your current office supplies with some “bling bling” ones. These are authentic 23kt Gold platted stationaries, and will get the attention of your coworkers. You can see more here. I imagine Donald’s Trump Office is filled with these products- he is always so subtle about his fortune.

The Gold Hub

Well, this one you probably can afford. The USB hub, from Thanko is in the shape of block of solid gold, which, of course, it isn’t. However, it does have some use, with its eight usb ports into which you can plug your various USB gadgets. This little gem goes for about $79, which is fair price compared to similar products.

The Gold Iphone

In case just having an iPhone isn’t good enough of a statement for you, you can have an iPhone plated in 24 carat gold. I’m not going to say it looks bad, it’s looks rather nice and expensive (and it’s an Iphone), but I will say the concept is a little over the top and a bit ridiculous. If you were scared of getting your Iphone stolen, well definitively don’t get the gold covered one. Once it is out of your sight, I promise you will not see it again.

The Gold Mac Book Air

The folks at Computer Choppers bring ElDorado to reality with this MacBook Air covered in gold and crystals. 24kt gold plating cover the entire laptop and, an Apple logo is ensconced in multi-colored sapphires - not to mention a polished gold SuperDrive to go along with it. I didn’t dare look up the price because I am sure it would make me quite upset. If your eyes can take it, you can find a few more pics at the Computer Chopper website.

The Gold Printer

In this display is is a 24-carat gold HP Laserjet p2015. Presented at the GITEX show somewhere in Dubai, this working prototype is up for auction with a starting price of US$299 or about a Benjamin less than the printer costs without all that gold. Why did they choose a to cover this LaserJet in gold? Heck, I have no idea, but I will let you know if we learn anything new about the subject.

The Gold Porsche

If all the above items were not enough to show off your new promotion, there is always the solution of getting yourself a gold Porsche. This one though is only gold leafed. The guy doing this has lovingly applied around 25 sheets of gold leaf to the left front fender - see more pics here. Using some basic, if inaccurate math, that’s 100 sheets for the fender and maybe 1,000 for the car. It may not be solid gold, but this car will still guarantees you to get quite a bit of attention while cruising down the streets.

Post It Sculpture

Now not only are they functional, these morph pads become beautiful sculptures themselves and are a sight to behold. Mold your stress into these pads and watch beautiful museum pieces emerge from underneath your fingers. Who knew post-it notes is so therapeutic as well as they are functional? Thanks Geekologie.

Transparent Post It

Now I can mark my reading materials and remember my thought processes as I was reading it! Really wish this was in existence when I was in school! Thanks 3M.

Post It, But Pock It Too!

Hey, how come I didn’t think of this. Sigh, there goes my million dollar idea. Is it possible for post-its to get any more multifunctional? Thanks Yanko.

MIT reinvents the Post-It Notes

Can only be described as post-its on steroids. These post it notes are digitalized, can be managed through computers, can be sent through SMS, and can be tracked down through RFID tags, just in case you misplace them. Thanks engadget.

Post It Table

Great for spontaneous coffee table conversations and doodles. Mmm, and just in case you don’t have anything to write on in case you do meet your dream guy or gal. Thanks Boing Boing.

Post It Table 2

Table and stool in one! Thanks tom seymour.

Dear readers,

Last time I checked my bank statement, it was dismal. I am sure I am not the only one who have noticed the incessant increase in basic commodity prices, such as gummy bears and potato chips. With my favorite publications, Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, announcing on a daily basis the worthless of the dollar and other inflationary pressures we are facing, it’s hard not to panic and look around for ways to store up on some extra dough. The first thing I would suggest is going to your employer for a raise. Below is something I came across recently that does a great job of asking for a raise, and should it be futile, it could always be passed off as a joke.

——————–

Dear Bo$$

In thi$ life, we all need $ome thing mo$t de$perately. I think you $hould be under$tanding the need$ of u$. We are worker$ who have given $o much $upport including $weat and $ervice to your company ..

I am $ure you will gue$$ what I meant and re$pond $oon

Your$ $incerely,

( insert your real name)

—————-

And here is something for the boss, should you need a similar way of responding to such pestilent request should the employee be undeserving of such consideration.

—————–

Dear ( name of employee),

I kNOw you have been working very hard. NOw a days, NOthing much has changed. You must have NOticed that our company is NOt doing NOticably well . NOw the newspapers are saying the world’s leading ecoNOmists are NOt sure if the United States may go into a NOther recession. After the NOvember presidential elections things may turn bad . I have NOthing more to add NOw. You kNOw what I mean .

Your Boss.

———

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Laugh Your Head Off Monday
Almost all of us office workers have Case of the Mondays. On this day, we plan to provide a little bit more humor than usual, to go with whatever else energy infused supplements you do take on Mondays to jolt yourself into action.

Eye-opening Tuesday
We scourge the world in search of the useful, the weird, and the interesting so we can get your eyes to pop, just a little. (more…)

Geek Art is Art where science, technology, or video games were the primary source of inspiration (please do not quote me on that definition). Anyone who was at the MoMA, and saw Design and the Elastic Mind, knows that Geek Art is slowly penetrating the mass and evolving in the most creative ways.

Coming back to the subject of this post - post-its Note Art fits right in the Geek Art category. There is a lot of images floating out there on this subject matter. One emerging trend, I noticed recently, involves the use of iconic video games characters from the 8-bit and Atari days.

See Megaman’s creation step per step here

The connexion between Pixel Art and post-its Art should be made. Both genre use different mediums, but both use the common unit “the pixel”. Through ordered association of the pixels, the subject matter is revealed. Similar to many of you, I grew up in an analogue era, where video games were not anti-aliased or rendered but pixelated.

Post-its Art impacts the audience through the subject matter and the scale of the work. These art piece takes a lot of time, patience and post-its to produce. In the case of the Donkey Kong piece, engineering students over at the University of California Santa Cruz took time out of their busy academic life to create a larger-than-life work, where each pixel is matched by a Post-it Note.

The Donkey Kong installation took the team of ten people about five hours to complete, and used over 6,400 colored Post-it Notes (although they had to buy over 14,000 of the little sticky buggers to get all the colors they needed.)

This underground art trend was eventually picked up by marketing agencies in their own efforts to capitalize on such unique and powerful artform. For Instance, Nintendo marketing agency used post-its to create giant versions of Nintendo’s All Stars classic gaming iconic characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, etc.

Each individual post-its could be removed by passersby, revealing a small advertisement for the Wii’s virtual console. (coutesy of technabob.com)

I am only touching some basics here in regard to post-its Geek Art, I am sure there is a lot more to be said. If you like this piece, you should check out one of our earlier post on post-its Art.

#5 Geek Girlz Hair Tie

Geekiness is the new hotness! We all know you have extra wires in your closet. So maybe it is time to air out your closet. Instead of throwing those unsightly computer peripherals out, wear it proudly this year, because we hear the geeky goddess hairstyle is the new MUST-DO for summer.

#4 Elastic Hold-It-All

Completely original. This simple hack will turn your cubicle into the MOMA of office supplies. All you need is 2 push pins, with an elastic band of your choice in between. And viola, you now have an extremely versatile device that will hold almost anything from pictures, to notes, to pens, to decorative objects, to even my lunch!

#3 Clipboard Picture Frame

With a little bit of time and effort. You could turn the ugliest particle clip-board lying around into the best looking photo frame of your choice! This should also be relatively inexpensive compared to any store bought photo frame.

#2 Ultimate Post-Its Holder

This is a ruler turned post-its holder, that is probably more applicable to certain offices than others. This is for all the cubicles that have cloth material as dividers. Though this type of material may be good at muffling sounds, and pinning thumb tacks in, the material is really bad at holding anything with a sticky surface. Thus, thanks to my ingenious co-worker, he devised this ruler hanging by a thumb-tack to be a hold all for post-its! Ingenious!

#1 Clear Tape Page Turner

Last, but not least. One of my favorite office supply hacks because it is so effortless to make, but so useful, especially when I have to go through massive amount of papers. For this simple office hack, all you need is tape. Simply reverse tape your index finger. Make sure the sticky side face outside. Rub the sticky part on paper towel, or cloth material a bit, so it picks up some lint and looses some stickiness. Now you have the perfect page turner, with enough stickiness to help you glide through pages.

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p.s. here is another post over at Life Hacker regarding 10 other DIY office projects.

5. “They told me at the Blood Bank this would happen.”

Medical excuses goes a long way, especially with your boss.

4. “Oh, Hi, I was trying to pick up my contact lens without my hands.”

Every contact wearing office worker should appreciate and empathize with this one.

3. “Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout. You probably got here just in time.”

Whiteouts are still dangerously toxic, no?

2. “Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?”

Yes, there are creatures hiding inside your keyboard, if you listen closely, you can hear them yelp. Highly recommended.

1. “This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!”

My personal favorite! It is, isn’t it??

There’s an easy formula for becoming a slacker: Do nothing. Go get more coffee. Repeat. However, what is the key to staying a true slacker at heart, but keep your job, and be raved about like a corporate messiah? “It’s all about appearances”, said Dilbert creator Scott Adams, who listed low-cost ways to achieve high impact genius-dom at work.

1. Complain that you’re totally swamped at every opportunity. Use phrases like “am neck deep in turbulence” and “jumping from one fire to another” to make your job sound all shades of sexiness and dangerousness.
2. Carry a piece of paper wherever you go. Also give yourself the necessary urgent facial expression and body language, imagine it’s something incredibly important, like a stay of execution from the governor.
3. Never clean your cubicle. After all, how else are you suppose to show the real sweat and grit of your efforts at work?
4. Emailing looks like work. Emailing is work, so email friends and family often.
5. If you feel like talking instead of working, talk to your boss. That counts as work no matter what you’re chatting about. The ideal topic of conversation is how poorly all of your coworkers are performing.
6. If you wear glasses, leave an old pair on the desk as though you will be right back. Then go home.
7. Leave voice mails for coworkers at 1:00 am, even if you’re getting up just to take a whiz. If you really want to inspire awe, leave a message for your boss with your thoughts on the company’s outdated filing system at 11:30 pm on New Year’s Eve.
8. Be sure to get involved in unquantifiable projects. You want to be doing a lot of consulting and advising and attending. Avoid anything with a hard and fast deadline. Try to answer questions with another question. And use vague yet foreboding words like somewhere, somehow, might possibly, indefinitely etc.

Now you have learned the art of slacking at work, do go out and try it at work and keep us posted about the results!

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Be Careful With Your Fingers

They may be stronger than you think. I would really like to give my wonderful SU buddy Jenna, for discovering this video, that set me on this path to find the funniest ads that really understand how things work in the office.

This is why we have cell phones

Cell phones are great for productivity!

You Can’t Have My Cake

Um, you can’t have my cake, and eat it too. Beware, the sweets stealing coworker, I might just spring a Terry Tate on you.

Two Golden Rules to Live By

1. When you are designing for print, make sure you are designing for print. This is the single biggest mistake I have seen people make time after time again that really ruins the quality of their print presentation. How many times have I seen people make presentations that attempts to fulfill projector needs as well as print needs, and in the end make monstrous amalgamates that have either too many bullet points when projected, or screaming texts when printed? Realize that when you are designing for print, you are designing for a document to be read approximately within 18 inches away from your eyes. Thus the scale has to be appropriate for close reading.

2. As is true for everything else in life, simplicity is the key to success, especially when applied to making captivating presentations. It’s often the subtle details that lend itself to cohesiveness, that ultimately wins people over with its unified vision.

Essential Guidelines to Follow

Font: Choosing a font family can drastically influence the look and feel of your entire piece. Realize that when choosing type, listen to the inner content, and the subject matter of the content will help you in choosing a speaking voice. I like to use dafont.com to get wonderful free fonts.

Layout: Choose a grid, and stick to a grid. Realize that the grid is what gives your document structure, both visually as well as content wise. A grid is what allows readers to quickly understand the relevance and the importance of information. However at the same time, know how to, and when to break the grid, in order to incite excitement, build drama, and create rhythm throughout the print piece. Here is the link to Adobe InDesign, the industry standard print publication application, you could download it and try it out free for 30 day.

Binding: The binding is what gives the printed piece functionality. It’s what allows the book to become an interactive object. Can you imagine the embarrassment and the annoyance of flipping through a presentation that won’t hold together, or won’t stay put? Nothing turns your reader away from a presentation faster than the inability to operate the mechanism. I personally love wire bindings, because they are very inexpensive, durable, non-intrusive, allow pages to turn smoothly, and very fast to produce. I recommend using Shoplet.com’s binding product helper tool, we recently launched this special product helper tool to make finding the right binding materials a breeze.

Cover: A book, sometimes is just as good as its cover. People do indeed, judge a book by its cover. Thus my advice for making a great print presentation would be to make such a spectacular cover, people will stay impressed throughout the rest. A great cover needs protection most of all. Imagine how disappointing it would be to have your cover ruined by unsightly stains? I recommend using Shoplet.com’s laminating product helper tool, we recently launched this special product helper tool to make finding the right laminating materials a breeze.

Image: A good image is worth 1,000 words, and a few good ones are hard to come by. Understand that sometimes consistent imageries, both in terms of look & feel as well as content-wise, are hard to obtain. Use images sparingly, and strategically. Too many images of diverseness is easy to be an over-kill, and can ruin the coherence of the print piece. Corbis is the king of stock photography, however not everyone of us have money to burn. Thus, I recommend stock.xchng for free photos, and istockphoto for relatively inexpensive photos.

Paper: The weight, texture, sheen, and slight gradation is what gives the presentation class, or crass. It may not seem much, but appropriately chosen paper can really add personality to the presentation. I recommend going to your local papery to get a sense of all the available options. I prefer Kate’s Paparie in New York. Though they are on the pricey side, they truly carry diverse selections of quality stationeries and the service is great.

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~ angela