Iris Kao Design

Pi-Ling Chang has been a piano and flute instructor for many years, before I learned to design. The first time I made her business cards is only because I was better at using computer than she was. The second version came when I was still a student.

Now Pi-Ling and I both have many more years of experiences under our belts, our ideas also have grown. With the vision of expansion, Pi-Ling asked for a new design that can be used on different medium, for branding and for practical uses.

When she asked me to use bright colors in the design, I was excited. It’s like we both are ready to take a big chance. We settled on a golden yellow and navy blue. A combination that is eye-catching yet classy enough to go with classical music.

One of her request was a custom stamp so she could put her information on the assignment notebooks for her students. After much researching, I selected Master Mark instead of the chain office supply stores. This was my first design for self-inking stamp, I need a vendor who can answer my questions and they were very helpful in explaining on how to get a good imprint. You can’t get this from the clarks at the chain office supplies stores.

The biggest project is the tote bags for her students. With lead scare in the reusable bags out there, we went with Enviro Tote, their bags are made in the US and so are the materials. They were clear on how the design will look after the silkscreening and taught me how to redo the design to get the best result. As you can see from the photo, the logo came out clean with even coverage.

Collaborating with Pi-Ling was fun and inspiring. That must be how her students feel about her lessons. I wish her the best in this new stage of her career!

Still looking to import your blog feed into a Facebook Page? You can stop looking. It’s no longer available. Here is their answer:

We want you to connect with your fans in the most effective ways possible. That’s why as of September 30th (2011) you’ll no longer be able to automatically import posts from your website to your Page notes. The best way to get people to interact with your content is to give them insight into the links you share on your Wall by adding personal comments and responding to feedback from fans.

We’re focused on creating even better tools for Pages. Look for announcements soon.

So, I guess it’s back to manually posting links on your Wall.

After much experimenting on my Mysterious InDesign Okidata Issue for printing in booklet format. I finally solved the missing letters/numbers (printed out as crossed rectangles).

The problem only happens when I print only odd or even pages. So, if your printer can do duplex printing, you should be able to print straight from InDesign.

The solution:

1. print booklet format to a PDF
2. make a file with even pages only
3. make another file with odd pages only
4. print the Even file, flip the stack, print the Odd file

This is my first time making planner for my families and friends, just when I am comfortable enough to make one for sale, the 2nd half of my print out (using booklet printing) from Okidata color printer came out with crossed out rectangles instead of actual letters.

I tried making it into PDF, make a new InDesign (CS3) file, those didn’t work. Printing a few pages at the time is not really an option, since I need to print it out in booklet formate. It works when I print through a different but b/w printer.

I called Okidata, the patient and funny engineer (thank you, Dennis) determined that my file is somehow corrupted. So, I am back to square one. Glad I don’t have to buy a new printer though, this one has been working very well for me.

If that still doesn’t work, I might have to rearrange the pages myself for booklet format. Ah, being old school builds character.

UPDATE: FB Page no longer lets people import RSS feed. Please read “Import RSS Feed to A Facebook Page, The End” for their answer.

A visitor left a comment for Import RSS Feed to A Facebook Page, Part 2 (posted in 6/2009). It has been so long, I forgot to update on this topic.

Since using 3rd party apps often ask to share my info with more people, I now only uses FB apps. This is what I use now for importing RSS feed to my FB page.

Before I go on with the steps, I’ve found that FB doesn’t always update the feed on time (or even at all). But it’s free and it doesn’t matter to me that much so this solution might not work as well for your business.

Importing your RSS feed into “Notes” on your FB page:

1. Login to FB and get to your FB page
2. Click on the “Edit Page” gray button on the right, below the FB menu bar
3. Click on “Apps” link in the left sidebar
4. Under “Notes”, click on “Go to App”
5. Click on “Edit import settings” in the left sidebar
6. Copy and paste your feed into the box (I had problem using the “feed://…” option, so I used the “http://…./?feed=rss2″ from my WordPress blog.) You may have to try a few things before it takes.
7. Click on “Start Importing” button

A new client requested for a site where he will be uploading large number of photos and video but still want to use WordPress as the base of his site. But I’ve always seen the 2MB limit in the WP’s Media upload page and that will not work even with a short video.

I’m not sure how other hosts deal with this, but Lunarpages made it relatively easy.

It turned out to be a pretty easy fix:

1. In the root of your WP directory, find or create a php.ini file, then add this two lines: (? is the new limits you want to set)

upload_max_filesize = ?M
post_max_size = ?M

2. In your home directory (above your public web directories), find the .htaccess file, point the directory to where your php.ini file is in step 1:

suPHP_ConfigPath /home/yourUserName/public_html/yourWP_root

(remember to replace yourUserName and yourWP_root [might be blank if you installed it as the root])

Notes:

• If you’re not hosted by Lunarpages, you should check with your own host for a solution.
• Make sure you only use text editor to change the 2 files I mentioned here. For Mac: BBEdit/TextEdit. For PC: Notepad
• Always save a copy before you change these files
• If you don’t know how to see hidden file on your computer (like .htaccess), go here for Mac: via Terminal; via Finder Window, here for PC

Few weeks back, while I was visiting a local eatery, the owners told me they were meeting with a web design company so they can finally have a web site again. The last guy they hired took their money then disappeared.

Today, the owners told me that they where happy with the price that company quoted them but still ask them for a few days to think it over. That the company turned out to be a phantom vendor. They couldn’t get them on the phone and the address was fake. Good thing they didn’t get scammed again.

So, for all the business owners out there, before you hire anyone, check out if they are register to do business in your states. In Washington state, you can go to the Department of Licensing site to search for business licenses.

And as other situation in life, trust your instinct. I think that’s what saved my friend this time.

When the lovely Sarah Stiller from Neenah Paper told me about the Oxford & Esse clock design contest, I knew I would never meet the deadline (24 hours). Still, this fun promotion is something I had to do something with, so I ordered my paper anyway.

Confined at home by the icy world outside, I woke up determined to make my clock.

The image shows the time at 2:40+. For the clock face I used Esse, Pearlized Latte with hours and minutes punched out. The orange hour dot is Esse, Arancio. The background is Oxford, Black.

I called it Moon Shine because the design kind of remind me of moon moving in its phases.

Although my design is nothing like what people made, next time when I get a big break, I might just come up with something else!