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Author: Benson C.

My first experience in Beijing – Arrival

I’ve finally visited the place the makes millions of products around me. Well, part of the place. Just this past week I had the chance to layover (for 7 days) the capital of China, Beijing, before my way home to Taiwan. Beijing is one of

afterschoolspecial & DANakaDAN – Rebranding

I’ve worked with afterschoolspecial, an uprising band from Southern California, on a couple of items in the past, but this time I was given full control to rebrand the group for the next chapter of their career: afterschoolspecial’s used as one single word. It’s quite long. Though,

Olympus EP2 – First Look & Unbox

Love the quality of a DSLR, but its bulk size (yet, I’m already using a baby size DSLR T2i) and its obtrusive construction has been swaying me to get something more portable and subtle for my daily outings.  Mirrorless cameras/ Micro four thirds seem to

Design Exercise: NBA Ticket Redesign

There are plenty of things out there that are beautifully and intelligently designed – NBA tickets aren’t one of them. Inspired by the Boarding Pass FAIL project by Tyler Thompson, this is an exercise that I came up with  to allow participants to think critically on the importance of

Automotive Shoots

Cody’s recently acquired a Mazda Miata in superb condition. For once, Cody’s mind is actually occupied by something other than coding. I don’t blame him. It’s a beauty. And like any new car owners, we find ways to preserve the moment.I’ve tried stills (waaay back when all

Linsanity – Design Process

From sleeping on his brother’s couch to Time Magazine cover, Jeremy Lin, or most of us known him as Linsanity, is what flooding people’s facebook dash page. He’s an underdog. And everyone loves an underdog story. Not only is he swiping people off their feet with

Make Music – Make A Wish Concert

Eden, one of the core members of TIZ, have been missing. Aside from her occasional Friday dentist appointments, one can find her investing majority of her time planning this benefit concert. She’s been going at it, making phone calls, and scheduling appointments since 2011. All

Lunar New Year Dinner

I don’t typically attend dinners like these. The meet and greets, the dress up, the shows, and the 3 hour dinner just sounded like it hassle. I’d prefer keeping it simple with the family at home.  However, unlike the past years, this time around, I

BBQ 101

Today we talk BBQ. Just this past weekend I’ve had one of the best meals ever. Not to brag, but what came out of this seemingly ordinary BBQ experience are butter crabs, tender charbroiled chicken, and smoke squid. Man, just recalling those memories made me

Valentine’s Day 2012 – Pre-orders now Available!

TIZ’s putting out a limited set of photography related valentine’s tee for 2012! Collaborating with Plushtography, we want to make this vday a picture perfect one. Time flies, hard to believe this is our 5th edition of Valentine’s day tees. An occasion-neutral design makes any

Wacom Intuos4 Pen Tablet – unbox and review

Maybe more like an unbox and first look than a review. I’ve had this guy for about 2 weeks now and I don’t think I’ve had enough chances to thoroughly dissect all of its elements and bring out its full potential as a design tool.  Partly because

Friends from the other side

All the way from the Buffalo, NY and NYC, a couple of friends decided to pay California a visit this past week. California’s home for a couple of them, but for the rest, it’s a place with great food, spectacular scenery, and no snow for the

Berkeley Marina + Skates on the Bay

Lunch that was way past due. The plushtography team and I planned to celebrate the “selling-out-our very-first-batch-of-pillows” by having lunch together. 3 months ago. With our workload finally cooling off, we took a trip down to Berkeley Marina to enjoy one of the greatest seafood restaurants out

Proudest Accomplishments Giveaway Winners!

Must I say that I was continued to be inspired as I read through the entries you guys submitted.2011’s almost finished, very glad to see so many of you lived it up and made it count. There were many amazing accomplishments, here’s a few at

Merry Xmas

Dear friends, I’m sure some of you are still resting from the holiday drinking last night, but nonetheless, hope you’re all having a wonderful X’mas. As you can tell, I’m having a blast on X’mas sitting in front of my laptop scripting up this entry.. while recovering

Goodies – Pretty Awesome Stuff

Cooler and more innovative products surface daily and it’s getting harder to resist from pulling my credit card out of my wallet. Although I brag about having self-control over impulsive shopping sprees, I hate to say that I still give in occasionally (especially when sites like werd and uncrate continuously broadcasting each

Goodies – Pretty Awesome Stuff

Cooler and more innovative products surface daily and it’s getting harder to resist from pulling my credit card out of my wallet. Although I brag about having self-control over consumerism, I hate to say that I still give in occasionally (especially when sites like werd and uncrate continuously broadcasting each product’s awesomeness.)

New Media Rockstars – Logo Design Process

A recent project with New Media Rockstars – An online publication which aims to showcase current and rising creative minds in new media as well as to connect New Media to Mainstream Entertainment. They’ve worked with Mystery Guitar Man (YouTube Personality), KassemG (Comedian), David Choi (Musician,

Plushtography Photoshoot

Pardon the major MIA. Plenty of blog posts are in the works, will get to them soon enough. Just had yet another photoshoot a few days back (I’ve been doing more than participating in shoots. I promise) with my partners from Plushtography. Had a good time

Summer with Melly – Underwater Photoshoot

Just this past summer while I was down in LA, I was lucky enough to steal Melly away from her ever-so-busy schedule for an underwater party.  Melly might sound familiar to you because not only is she the art director of theOtherAsians and cofounder of the ready-to-launch NewMediaRockstars, she’s

For 24 hours only.

↑Black Friday Celebration. -Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination || http://www.theimaginaryzebra.com

Red Ballooon 2011 – Event Recap

Last time was fun. Invited by Jen again, the team and I went down to Vallejo for the first, and I’m sure many more in the future, Red Balloon event at Touro University. I used to sit down with dancers to brainstorm for performance ideas,

Thoughts on building a brand

I’ve been receiving quite a bit of emails regarding the ways or tips to establish a successful brand.I’m flattered, but as much as I’d like to help out and hand you guys an equation of a successful clothing brand (if there is one,) I afraid

Instagram – 10/23 to 11/13

Snippets of my day to day adventures. Lots of them happened in my pad. ↑Sometimes I procrastinate on waking up.  Man cave. ↑ Pretty cool place I visited a few weeks back. ↑Always. Someone that’s more into the camera than the main folks in the

Aloha Pure Water + Shaved Ice Design Process

A collaboration tee for an upcoming water + shaved ice company in the bay area! Before I even get into the design process, just like to say that I’m glad there’s this place in San Pablo now to cool off the summer heat. (Although, there’s

Airbnb + Dropbox Studio Tour

Cody attended the Startup School this past weekend at Stanford. Startup School’s pretty picky about its attendees. I don’t blame them – We’re talking about an event that invites some of the biggest players in the silicon valley (Founder of Netscape, Zynga, angel investors, and

If you’d like to be the zeeb(s) of the day. Send us photos of you rockin’ em Zeebs! or via Facebook, Twitter, or just tumblr label #tiz or #theimaginaryzebra..etc! ↑ -Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||

Glimpses into my notebooks

I’ve been posting snap shots of the new notebook via instagram, now it’s time for a review.  Or rather, a look back at the notebooks of the past. ↑ Really learned to optimize the space of each page second time around. It was not a sign of

Red Balloon x TIZ is back!

Red Balloon is a benefit concert sponsoring local non-profits organization and global efforts to secure opportunities for children in third world countries and here in our own backyard. They have events in Davis and San Jose to connect the community through music. We’re proud to

Campus Rotaract Club of Davis – Design Process

Cheryl from Campus Rotaract Club (CRC) of Davis contacted me awhile back to collaborate on their latest club tees – a shirt design that represents the club’s aim for the given year. (This item’s available exclusively via CRC at UC Davis.) Here are a couple

The Beginning

A friend of mine ask me “I’m curious what got you into design and where did you start from when you knew that’s what you wanted? What did you start learning/improving first?” I don’t normally write things like this. So, please take it easy on

A Look @ Intel Inside

I’m fascinated by the workspace of companies. Image the hours it took and the amount of money spent to design a life long work environment for thousands, if not hundreds, of employees. Thanks to Cody, who’s now a full time employee at Intel, I got a chance to take a

The Imaginary Zebra on Instragram

I’m onto it now. and I like it.A picture is worth a thousand words; twitter only gives you 140 characters (On average 30 words?) It’s clear which one’s got the leverage. Here are a few photos I took recently. I like the square format.Now I

Vans OTW – Woessner – Review

Maybe it’s about time for some new shoes.I’ve once gone through a phase of customizing my kicks for that “breakneck” factor. Today, I see shoes as a subtle addition to the outfit – a piece that’s plain and simple. Guess I’m still a t-shirt-focus kinda

BonesBall – Identity Design Process

Founded by Barry Orms, former professional basketball player, BonesBall’s an online platform that provides an educated perspective to sports issues and topics. Their objective is to show how sports can be a metaphor for life. I was asked to redesign their identity for the recent