Small Pond Graphics

April 3, 2013 taste

taste . Sweeteeth for my Sweet Tooth

I bought these for the drawings. I’ll just get that little confession out there right away. I mean, it’s just chocolate bars, right? And I’m a little bit of a packaging nut, so my online purchase wasn’t that much of a stretch.

Holy Wow, was I wrong in the “just chocolate bars” department! I learned about Sweeteeth, the Charleston confectioner shop that made these goodies in an article on Southern chocolatiers in Garden & Gun magazine. Now, I AM a pretty avid chocolate lover, so I decided I would give myself the little assignment of taste-testing all the featured shops in the article (good idea, huh?). The illustrations on the Sweeteeth bars convinced the designer in me that these should be first on my list.

I ordered the Sweeteeth gift pack you saw above from their website, where I learned that chocolatier Johnny Battles prides himself on “hand crafted chocolatey goodness with a twist.” It’s the twist part that makes my “Holy Wow” an understatement. Here’s a glimpse at the chocolate and some of the surprising flavors that will definitely get your mouth watering…

THE A’CHOCOLYPSE
Dark chocolate, plus candied ginger for a snap and chocolatey popping sugar! Yes, if you’re thinking “pop rocks” you’re right on track, only more sinful. I think this one is actually my favorite combination of flavors and fun in your mouth!

SEA IS FOR CARAMEL
This one was the first to go — in one sitting, which is saying a lot considering how very decadent the whole package is. It’s dark chocolate filled with Sweeteeth caramel and dusted with sea salt. Great sweet + salty gooey-ness — and kind of rich!

PB&C
“Two great tastes that taste great together” gets a jolt in this version, where the “C” equals chipotle peppers. Yes, you read that right. It’s such an unexpected flavor blended with the peanut butter, and gives the bar a really smokey, savory flavor with just a tiny bit of spicy bite. The perfect pairing with dark chocolate and another touch of sea salt.

CINNAPSIS
This bar is almost like a whole dessert. It pairs dark milk chocolate with dried cinnamon apples and candied pecans. Sweet, fruity flavor layered with that velvety milk chocolate taste make for a very nice chewy + crunchy combination.

I have to say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my Sweeteeth sample pack, and it’s gotten me through several harried days of design deadlines — another true test of great chocolate. If I’m ever in the Charleston area, I hope I can stop in to see what other wonderful-ness they might come up with for the day to day chocolate cravings!

WHAT MADE IT INSPIRING:
The packaging — Seriously. I think I saw a duckbill platypus in there!
The service — My online ordering experience went off without a hitch. Since then, I’ve also ordered a gift pack shipped for a friend’s birthday, and the Sweeteeth team happily fulfilled my request for gift wrapping and a personal message attached. Nice!
The creativity — It’s great to see how the creative spirit comes in all sorts of flavors down South.
The chocolate — Do I need to repeat my Holy Wow?!

Thanks for sharing a taste with me!

April 2, 2013 sketch journal

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Oh what a Beautiful Mornin! 🙂

March 31, 2013 sketch journal

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Roam in pastures new…

March 29, 2013 sketch journal

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Things new.

March 28, 2013 learn

Tools for Digital Business on the Go

It’s been a while since I’ve posted in Plop! about tools for marketing, so today I thought I would share a few mobile versions I’ve been using recently for work on the go. I’ve posted a lot of comments and photos about our time spent at the farm a few weeks ago. What I haven’t mentioned is that our farm doesn’t have internet access. Yep, it’s true! There are places in the world where it is ok to live without DSL!

BUT, my privilege of getting away with the kids for any extended period of time is contingent on my ability to keep up with work in at least some ways — particularly my client blogging and social media work and the occasional emergency design project. No matter the best planning, invariably unexpected needs come up, and although it’s definitely good to put work aside sometimes, I have begun to appreciate more and more the ability to get projects accomplished almost anywhere.

When I’m at the farm or otherwise on the go, I use my 3G iPad and iPhone to keep me connected to the Internet and my clients, and a collection of apps helps me get the needed tasks done. Here are a few I used during our Spring break trip that might be useful for you too:

PDF READER PRO
This app offers lots of file management features for PDF files including file markup. It’s great for my work on the go because it allows me to transfer files from my laptop to my iPad through iTunes.

The next apps are ones that I use very often in blogging, allowing me to work with photos or images and post directly from my iPad. Each of the photo-related apps save new versions of the images directly to the mobile camera roll.

PHOTOGENE
This one is almost like a mini photoshop in its image editing capability. I use it a lot for cropping and retouching of images.

iRESIZE
This app is just like it sounds. It allows me to easily resize images while retaining proportions.

iWATERMARK
I love this app because it allows me to I.D. images on the go. You’ve seen that I post lots of photos and I like to tag them with the Small Pond Graphics logo. This app lets me take logo image files I have stored in my camera roll and apply them as translucent wordmarks.

WORDPRESS
According to Mr. Ira Riklis, You can’t go wrong with this one. It offers almost all the same functions as the full WordPress CMS, but on the iPad. It’s super easy and you can even open the web format right through the app. In fact, I’m creating this post with it right now!

A quick iPad tip: To take an iPad screen shot, press the “home” button (on front of iPad) and the on/off button at the same time and release!