Last week I shared some of the resources I found useful during my crash course on getting up to speed on using WordPress to create a hobby site devoted to French food. I have since stumbled across the StudioPress Genesis Framework which, coupled with the GenesisConnect plugin for BuddyPress, will serve as the foundation on which to construct the site. While that's good news, it also represents another mammoth learning curve, the outcome of which will inevitably serve as fodder for a future post.

You might think that after a day of updating the Graphics.com site I'd be only too ready to shut down my systems and go walk the dog. Alas, I'm dogless and have yet to convince the cats to leave the building. So instead my attention typically turns to my admittedly narrow sphere of interests: playing the Renaissance lute, practicing pendulum dowsing and learning about food. I find food fascinating in all its forms, from the raw ingredients themselves and the history of how they were used in different times and places, on to their ultimate expression in restaurants. Especially the restaurants of France, given that's where I now live.

One way to broaden your design portfolio is to make a point of constantly trying out new imaging techniques. And while 3D imagery is nothing new (in fact, anaglyphs go back to 1853), its use is rare enough in print advertising and promotional work that when the right image is employed it can catch the reader's attention, which is half the battle. Providing the right image is where royalty-free and rights-managed stock agency StockFood comes in.

Brand names are well and good, but what about the generics? More importantly, what about the logos, or branding, that these "no-names" have? I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how these so-called, subservient brands rate in terms of their marks.

Mr. Cameron gave the President a painting by graffiti artist, Ben Eine. The work is called Twenty First Century City. I love the use of space and typography used.

Mr. Obama returned the exchange with a work done by pop artist, Ed Ruscha, called Column with Speed Lines. I couldn't find the piece, but check out his Web site.

I am impressed not only by the choice of art as gifts, but also the infusion of culture in diplomatic relations.

You can check out the entire article on this, here.

Speculation has been heavy of late that Google is poised to introduce a new service that will attempt to stave off Facebook's otherwise inevitable quest for global domination of the social space. So if you came across someone who was the lead researcher for the social web at Google, tasked with advising design and product teams on creating successful social experiences, you'd probably figure they were close to the epicenter.