* 1 The Green Bowl
* When I started at Mindgrub and first learned of Food Truck Fridays, everyone talked about The Green Bowl like it was a legend. It only came around every 3-4 months, and supposedly had the best bibimbap in Baltimore. At the time of writing this I have finally had this famed food truck and feel like my list can finally be complete. The Green Bowl definitely lives up to its name. For around $10-$12, you get to choose between a customizable bibimbap bowl, a “green bowl” which is sort of the same thing but no rice and salad instead, mofongo (mashed fried plantain dish), or burrito bowl. I went with the portobello mushroom bibimbap and was not disappointed. I will eagerly be awaiting this food truck’s return in another 3-4 months.
* 2 Pan Canteen
* A Thai food truck. They have a pretty customizable menu like The Green Bowl, and everything is grilled and made to order when assembling the bowls. I got the Thai fried rice with sautéed veggies. Their rice is cooked in coconut milk which gives it a good flavor, just may have been a tad too salty for me. I think they could have scaled back the amount of rice and given me more veggies.
* 3 Gypsy Queen
* Their crabcakes are solid, and you have the option to get one in a taco or even a “crab cone” which is artery clogging goodness. Crab cones are basically waffle cones filled with French fries, then topped with a crab cake followed by remoulade sauce or cheesy crab dip poured on top. I haven’t had the courage to try one yet until I can run the amount I used to.
* 4 Mindgrub Cafe
* The official food truck of Mindgrub has some surprisingly delicious food. Their black bean burger is mashed with coconut flakes which I’ve never had before, and the pickled red cabbage tasted fresh and crunchy. My biggest complaint is that for the price you pay the portions are a bit small and I wish the menu was a bit more extensive.
* 5 Pasta la Vista
* I got the pesto ravioli which had great basil-y flavor. While the sauces are super creamy, but the pasta itself was cooked a little too far beyond al dente for my taste. Probably could have done with less butter as well (shocking I know). Overall would still go back if the temp outside was below 50 degrees.
* 6 Bistro Lunch Box
* It’s good I’m just a little tired of seeing it. They’re here at least once a month, and are pretty standard as far as lunch sandwiches/burgers go. Nothing to really complain about, just kinda meh. I won’t eat their burgers, but I hear they’re very good.
* 7 Beef on the Street
* Nothing to really say about this one, just that as expected there weren’t great vegetarian options so I just went with fries.
* 8 Mexican on the Run
* How do you ruin tacos?!?! Dry, uninspiring. Too much raw onion piled on top of them.
Make a Mark Baltimore logo updates!
Been working on a few potential logos for Make a Mark Baltimore! The Make a Mark brand itself is already very well established, but the founder has left us a lot of room to play with ideas. A team of people at Mindgrub decided to do some exploration on a graphic element that would fit the city of Baltimore. The first step was to start sketching out ideas.
I’ve only been in Baltimore for a few months now, but what’s cool to me about this city it’s not perfect. It has grit to it, and I wanted to try to carry that through with a few of the concepts. It also has this wild and artsy side to it, especially with MICA. I wanted to explore a few ideas that felt like Artscape. If you aren’t familiar with it, Artscape is the largest free arts festival in the country. It’s bizarre and weird and lovely.
Here are 3 of the ideas I decided to move forward with…
This one was inspired by a letterpress feel. I’m not sure how I feel about the yellow outline, but playing with the lines in the type was pretty fun.
My “artscape” logo. I kind of liked how playful this one felt to me, it reminds me of an arts festival logo that may be more in the direction we want.
Lastly, a more industrial logo inspired by a lot of the type on old buildings around here. I rounded the corners a la Draplin because I just do that now.
Just wanted to post a quick peek at what we’ve been working on so far. More tweaks to come!
The Rutledge House Logo Progress





Facing Backlash: Defending the VT Rebrand
If you didn’t hear, Virginia Tech rolled out a new marketing campaign this week that included a new logo. They dropped the Pylons and the “Invent the Future” tagline, and instead went with a version more similar to the Athletics logo. They added a slight curve to the two letters, citing “It’s one very simple line, but it’s open, that openness is inclusion and diversity.” Needless to say, the reaction on Reddit and social media has not been very positive.
After seeing a Reddit post that wanted to start a witch hunt for the firm responsible for the VT rebranding, I felt like I needed to say something in the defense of the design team.
Now, before I get into this I have to admit I’m not a traditional Hokie. I never went to Virginia Tech, but I did live and work in Blacksburg for 6 years — longer than the average undergrad. In that time I developed a fondness for VT and even slapped a Hokie sticker on my car when I moved from the area. I consider myself an “adopted Hokie” and now have maroon and orange proudly in my wardrobe.
I’m not going to debate that the logo is perfect. Personally, I would have liked to see something different from the athletics logo because VT is more than football. But I believe in the firm that presented this direction and I don’t think the armchair designers on Reddit know the full story. As as an adopted Hokie and designer myself, I plead that you put down the pitchforks (for the time being).
The university branding is all over the place
If you’re reading this, I assume you know me or understand the importance of establishing a solid look and feel. When was the last time VT had a serious look at its current brand? I used to work on a few projects for VT, the branding was inconsistent overall and I struggled to find the right assets or guidelines to tell me what to do. Finding a correct maroon was an absolute nightmare — the existing brand guide’s was too pink and I ALWAYS had clients commenting on it.
When you look at that logo and hear “WHAT? This was part of a $1 million initiative to put together?” it’s hard to look past what was involved. There was an existing mess of inconsistencies, and VT needed to take a serious look at cleaning it up. That price sounds about right with how much it’d cost. When I worked on a UVA project, as much as I hate to admit it, there was a much clearer direction on the color palette and fonts. VT’s brand was old and took hours to decrypt for any external project. I’d honestly love to work on another VT project if it meant I could get answers on the proper colors, fonts and assets.
There was (hopefully) research put into this
Designers are used to preparing for backlash after “moving someone’s cheese,” but most of the time it’s shrugged off because you know you’ve made informed design decisions. Just look at how consumers react to a Facebook or Youtube facelift every few months. In the higher education world, the loudest people in this space are typically alumni or current students.
This is all speculation, but I’m going to assume that a $1 million branding initiative did not come into the world without some serious testing and research first. Usually, concepts are A/B tested with an audience. In higher ed, that audience tends to be prospective students. When you compare the two logos, I can definitely see the Gen Z audience picking the new logo over the pylon one.
There’s never just one concept
There are sketches, there are revisions, there is testing…it’s so much more work than just adding one little curve. 30 logos were probably presented to VT and this is the one the client picked. If you don’t know anything about how difficult it can be to get unanimous agreement from university stakeholders, I would be more than happy to explain to you the long, lengthy process that it is sometime.
We need to see how it’ll be applied first
Twenty years ago, when a company would launch a rebrand, consumers often saw those changes gradually. Business cards, letterheads, a few page designs. The rebranding was a slow process and didn’t just happen overnight.
We live in a mobile first world now. Rebranding is way more immediate and personal. Universities have to prep themselves for that reaction as not everyone responds to change very well. So far, we got a sneak preview on Twitter and the university website launch. I won’t argue that the website needs work, but I am interested to see how it’ll be applied to other things. Universities evolve, advance, and grow. There is a stale past that the previous brand had, and I encourage you to try and be open and see what comes next.
“But I don’t care about the process, I still hate it.”
Chill, rest assured VT is still listening. Besides the Reddit witch hunt and protests, I’d actually be flattered to see this much passion about a logo. This reaction is only natural. It means the student and alumni population is loyal and feels connected enough to speak out. They’re invested in this and want to be a part of the change. And maybe this logo is not the right direction — in some rare cases, logos will even revert back. But just keep in mind that brands do evolve, and a company that stands still will be left behind. There needs to be change somewhere.
I’m sorry that I don’t have an answer for you if you want the old logo back. I’d actually be surprised if Virginia Tech sticks to their guns on this one. But I hope I presented another side to the story you may not have known, and you’ll understand that starting a protest or witch hunt is not the right approach here.
Now that I have that off my chest — Let’s go, Hokies!
Updates!
Been playing quite a bit of Yonder Chronicles lately, and it’s made me realize how I need to bring back some self reflection and meditation for myself 🙂
Officially I’ve unpacked the last box (as a procrastinator this took 6 months+) and finally settled into my new home in Baltimore, MD. I’ve also been busy at my new job, Mindgrub, working on some great mobile apps. My first big one launches soon, and I’m currently writing up a blog post on what it feels like to design in an agile environment.
Additionally, I’m also working to plan a neat little event called Make a Mark Baltimore. It’s a 12 hour design and dev marathon benefitting our local nonprofits that do so much for our community. I’ve participated in it for 3 years now back in Blacksburg, but since moving to Baltimore I wanted to try bringing it here. If I can capture at least have of the energy and positivity of the events that have run before it, I’ll be happy. We’re currently set to have it on April 14th, 2018 at City Garage in Baltimore.
Last small update – I’ve submitted a proposal to hold a panel at MAGFest about the importance of UI in Video Games. If it’s not accepted, I’ll probably release the slides here on my site or make a video about it 🙂
Cheers!
Moving to Baltimore, stay tuned
“I would never want to live anywhere but Baltimore. You can look far and wide, but you’ll never discover a stranger city with such extreme style. It’s as if every eccentric in the South decided to move north, ran out of gas in Baltimore, and decided to stay.”
― John Waters, Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste
How to be a Young Professional in Blacksburg
Buy your coworkers a beer
VT Clubs usually accept non-students
Join a Gym
RBTC & Tech Events
Another tech event – Make a Mark
Get a dog!
Pokemon GO is making me want to be outdoors this summer
As I’m sure you’ve heard, Pokemon is coming back into the limelight with a geocaching app called Pokemon GO! Now, I avoided this thing for a while because it seemed like a super simple, casual mobile game I didn’t want to acknowledge. A lot of mobile games are plagued with micro-transactions, stupid wait timers, shit mechanics etc. Basically…I thought REAL fans are going to play the REAL Pokemon games. My fiance and I have basically gone to every midnight Pokemon release since we met so I’d say we’re pretty hardcore.
But then, we got it…and I think I spent 3 hours yesterday trying to chase down a Scyther. At the end of the day, I was at about 22k steps. I don’t even get that much activity even if I’m walking to and from work, then run a 5k. It’s insane. I’m level 8 and just craving to get back outside to catch more Pokemon.

It really is fantastic that this game has come out this summer. I’ve been losing motivation at the gym lately but I have a wedding dress I need to fit into in a month. Pokemon GO has given me an excuse to be walking around downtown and I’m not even tracking nor do I care about my steps. I just want to find some damn Eevees.
Not only am I outdoors more, but people are so damn friendly about this game. People of all sorts of ages have come up to me while I have my cellphone out, asking “POKEMON GO?!” and then we’ll all freak out in an eruption of nerdiness over this damn thing. A dude yesterday drove by me while I was out hunting, yelling “WHAT TEAM ARE YOU ON?!?!” Never have I been happy to hear a guy yelling at me from a car.

I’m also really impressed with the UI which unfortunately I haven’t heard many people talk about. It’s clean, simple, and easily legible as I’m wandering around in bright sun. I’ve never seen such a pretty representation of Google’s API. It feels separate enough from the main games where it won’t be a turn off to beginners, but still integrated with the Pokemon atmosphere. I also love the “researchy” feel of it, like I’m walking around with a real life Pokedex.
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience with this awesome game. Nintendo was slow to embrace the mobile market but I’m excited about where they’re headed with it. Hope you all have given Pokemon GO a try or plan to before it gets cold!
How Gaming Can Make You a Better Designer
In the midst of E3, I wanted to shed some light on one of my favorite hobbies.
Weekend beer haul
Happy Friday, all!
Posting what I’m drinking this weekend because it’s sunny and my projects are going well and I’m going tubing tomorrow. YAY BEER. Here’s what I’ve picked up:
Sierra Nevada released their “Beer Camp Across America” series, so I picked up their session rye. They’re basically limited edition collaboration beers with various breweries. Usually only available at these beer camps but they’re around for a limited time. Untapped is telling me I’ve never had a session rye before so I’m looking forward to trying one from one of my all time favorite breweries.
Not gonna lie I bought this guy for the label alone. Wild Beer Co Evolver IPA. Kinda of thrilled with how my hot pink nail polish went with it too lol. I’m always down to try a new IPA, Untapped and Beer Advocate are leaving me wondering about this guy though, seems like a solid IPA but nothing ridiculous.
SORRY NOT SORRY. Sweetwater Brewing Co’s Goin’ Coastal. This summer I freaking LOVE citrus flavors in beers and no one can stop me. Grapefruit Sculpin, Pineapple Sculpin, even Key Lime Pie ales. To me, they’re the perfect balance of something refreshing while not overly sweet. I love hops, but 90 degree weather doesn’t exactly make me crave a double IPA. Living in Savannah taught me to love Sweetwater Brewing Company so I’m excited about this pineapple IPA.
Stillwater Superhop. It’s got some solid ratings on Beer Advocate & Untapped so I wanted to give it a try. Only 6% ABV too so it seems like an easy drinking beer for some hot weather. I have no idea what a Neo-Tropic IPA is supposed to be, but I’m hoping it’s citrus-y and crisp. The label is pretty kickass too.
Decided I wanted something more local in my 6 pack so I picked up this Good Adweiss from Brothers Brewing. I’m not really a Hefeweizen fan so this purchase was more for my fiance than me, but I’ll be giving it a taste still. After the name and distribution changes, I haven’t really seen Brothers crank out as many unique brews olately so I was excited to see they had something different on the shelf.
I love how fucking crazy Flying Dog is. They don’t make the most ridiculous stuff ever but you gotta admire a brewery that puts Old Bay in a beer. Well, at least I do. I’ve had some good and bad stuff from them, but I still am never against trying new things from their brewery mostly because their Ralph Steadman labels are still amazing after all these years. This one is a Flying Dog “Brewhouse Rarity,” so limited release. I had to give this a try mostly because a Mint Julep Ale sounds disgusting and I oh so want to be proven wrong. Time…or um, less than 24 hours from now…will tell.
If you’re looking for my ratings on these beers later, follow me on untapped! Happy drinking!