In space, no one can hear you cook…

We’re excited (understatement) about the launch of Episode I for our newest kid’s property for the BC Dairy Foundation: Titanium Chef! This deep, online, Flash(TM)-based RPG has been developed for kids aged 10-13. More episodes follow every 2 weeks until mid-October for a total 6 to 10 hours of free online gameplay for kids (and we think adults will enjoy the subtle mod7-style inside jokes, too)!

Sign up and start playing right now: www.titaniumchef.ca.

(And stay tuned for Episode II…)

mod7 Designer Alex Nelson rocked out on some high-concept experimental visuals a few weeks ago.

Sweet!!

That “Web 2.0″ look… the elusive holy grail, the new bevel, drop-shadow-du-jour, the page curl of the new millennium… But how does one get that look? Well, now we’ve got every “design” effect tutorial conveniently indexed and logged for your Photoshopping pleasure, thanks to this Smashing Magazine post.

I even put the new mod7 logo through the Web 2.0 machine. Total “design” time: 5 minutes flat!

Funny thing is… it actually looks pretty damn hot!

(Thanks, Mark, for the tip-off)

Anytime a designer or artist complains to you that they don’t have the right tools to do a good job, you just show them this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Qpc4UzP9g

That guy is the Jimmy Hendrix of MS Paint.

Man, some of the best design and advertising stuff I see is coming out of Brazil these days. Eye-candy galore and an apparent “can-do” attitude (some of these studios are too small to making work of this callibre). Case in point:

http://www.seagullsfly.com/ (well, these dudes are quite big, actually)

And, ok, their interactivity is a bit weak (and one-trick-pony-ish), but their style, eye for detail, and execution values are undeniable.

While we’re on the subject of Brazillians, here’s a shoutout to my bud, Mauricio: www.thesoulsurfer.net