Go for a brief case.

The 'man bag' is a cliche at this stage.

I have been carrying a briefcase since college (so.. about 6 years now) so I am partial to that look.

I use a backpack because I am a low-ranking CAD monkey who likes to have his hands free to swing from the branches. Mine has a separate banana storage compartment which keeps them from spoiling. If I were higher on the totem pole, I'd get a briefcase.

What goes in these bags anyway, other than maybe lunch?

I carry my sketchbook and calendar (which is essentially an A4 sized sketchbook) the magazine I am currently reading on the bus... and then my wife and I own a wine bar/cafe that I do the taxes for.. so I have a file folder full of that crap.

I used to bring my lunch, but now I just go down to the cafe.

the one i carry my TabletPC in, an Olympia

a bag of weed naturally:

that looks good ml

At the moment I use a backpack I got for free when I joined the Sierra Club, but given that I usually carry it with only one strap over my shoulder, it's has a way of killing my bad shoulder when it has too much stuff in it. Plus, it's getting old and starting to fall apart.

As soon as I have some extra money to blow, I plan on getting something from Manhattan Portage, which seems to a good reputation locally. The company was started by former bicycle messengers, so the bags are designed to take a beating.

One of these:
F-cut

you can tell alot about who these companies are marketing to | check out the magazine in the bag. The price is also an indicator...hoping they become a cliche piece like a rotring fountain pen, etc

one of my fave flickr groups

my parents bought me this bag as my college graduation present.
i absolutely love it. its super durable, looks brand new though its a few years old... really the best bag ive ever had...
only bad news is that i see them everywhere now...
when i first got it, i would see them occasionally... now i end up walking beside someone with the exact same bag at least a couple times a month... it feels weird....

mightylittle™ no wonder you are so creative and your brain has so many expanded cells and new growth as studied and proved my Canadian scientists.

I can't come to terms with carrying a Murse.

so at least there's one thing upon which we can agree anti.

but for the record...they're really not YOUR canadian scientists now are they?

ml, niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. =)

what strain ya got!?

Spire

yessss... i was listening to peter tosh's live performance @ the '78 one love concert yesterday.

ha ha ha ha, nice.

lletdownll, i have that same bag (green). mine's 4 years old and still looks new.. well the outside does, the inside has turned a more 'burnt' orange from pencils, pens, debris being tossed around. it's actually a nice size and has decent pocket features.

i carry two bags. one under each eye...

i used to rock the f-cut that i got when i lived abroad, and when i came back, everyone and their mother had one too.

so now i rock the lunch box

i, like vado, often carry two bags.

my wife gave me a black swiss army shoulder bag about 5 yrs ago and it still looks new. some kind of mesh weave material. fits my laptop, file folders, a few books, scale, calculator.

most mornings i often take a plastic kroger bag of some random other stuff with me: clothes for swimming, lunch, something to return to a store, etc.

i carry the bag a company gave me 8 years ago - still has their logo on it even though Ive had 3 jobs since then

oh this is a really good thread
i need advice about bags

i personally carry a backpack
but am really self-conscious about it
because everyone tells me backpacks are for schoolchildren
and i haven't found an awesome looking backpack yet

i need something to carry my stuff
i carry my lunch, my cell phone, bottle of water, camera

i've never like the aesthetic of the man-bag
and briefcases are cool because they're different,
but you have to carry them with you hand, which is annoying

what is the next cool thing that I can jump onto first??

so judging from this thread,
the man bags are still the most popular thing.
hmm. i think they work great for a lot of people. not for me though.

i think my new thing is going to be 'bagless'
i am already 'brandless' in my clothing

here is how to achieve 'bagless':

(1) don't carry water or food. rely on the city around you for your basic needs

(2) don't carry a camera. rely on your cell phone for pictures, which you can put in your pants pocket.

(3) keep your sketchbook in your right hand. this will also help you to avoid having to shake hands w/ clients whose cleanliness you are unsure of.

any more ideas about how to be bagless,
please post them here.

I use a tool bag to carry my lunch and books and miscellaneous crap to work.

I have a horrible tendency of wearing out and breaking even the most indestructible things, my last two bags lasted a few months each. Shoes won't even stay on my feet long enough to be broken in properly, shirts scream in terror when I approach.....and sensitive electronics? They poop out little microchips if I even glance at them.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I hit my local hardware store a year ago and found a $10 special on a combo including 'mechanic's gloves/ tool bag/ something else I've destroyed by now'

The gloves were decimated a long time ago, but the tool bag became my carry crap to work bag and so far it hasn't suffered any damage, not even a tear...which for me is surprising....heck even the zipper works....IT STILL WORKS.

Anyway wish me luck, the bag is approaching the one year mark, things that have survived this long in my possession generally break catastrophically at this point.

nicolas - make sure you bring a utility knife and a fire starter.

holz--so far I've only run into one person with a freitag bag, guess I don't get out much…

I use a DC backpack with a whole bunch of pockets. It carries my lunch, spare inner tube, bike lock, pump, patch kit, ballast book, file folder towel, water, bus schedules, etc. with a whole lot of room to spare.

my old boss was a walking draftsman.

I forgot to mention that the reason I even hit up my local hardware store is because I managed to incinerate my father's sander and power driver...yup that's right, they both caught fire....bloody Black and Decker crap....my father was NOT impressed.

I carry a fabric briefcase thing my friend got for me. I have always carried a bag, other than the one I put my laptop in, and its always heavy, but at the end of each day I realize I have not used any of the things inside of it.

I figured this out very early in my school days, but I still persist.

i've been seeing a ton of chrome bags lately.

rehiggins, when i got back from overseas, it took about 2 years, and they were selling them at nordstrom's. that's when it went into hiding.

Up here in Seattle it seems too many people have the freitag bags... I think there is a store in Portland that sells them.

I ended up purchasing a NAVA bag at lunch yesterday.

you can get the freitag bag in pdx at hive modern and the lizard lounge...

That's what I thought...
which is why I see so many up here in Seattle.

At least they all look different...

Iheart, holtz, in Seattle there’s a messenger bag company that does custom bags similar in cut to the chrome bags but custom everything, they will even stitch any vector graphic that you give them on to it, I highly recommend this company

http://reloadbags.com/bags/list.php?t=old&m=2

i have a chrome laptop bag--bought it about 4-5 years ago; the strap broke the first time I used it, the clasp/clip broke a few months ago…not that impressed with how it's held up

the courier versions look a bit tougher though

holz - I'm also seeing a lot of chrome bags lately too (all the bike messenger groupies)... My favorite thing is to walk up to someone wearing one of those and push the buckle button.

I still carry my old crumpler laptop bag that I've had for 7 years now (it's held up extremely well)... I still get the occasional Australian coming up to me and wanting to chat.

I like R.E.Load - I got a bag for my spouse from them over a year ago. I think they are also in Philly.

ReLoad is actually a Philly company, though they may have stores everywhere now. I love their bags but last time I shopped for one I felt they were too-too "messenger-ey" for a non-bike-riding architect. Which is kind of the point of their company, as I recall. They're hardcore.

But, this was years ago. Things do change.

there have been many good bags presented here, but i'll stick to mine as posted above!

besides, if i ever need something to carry my things in, i can just hustle off a portion of my bag to pay for it.

does anybody else's bag have a revenue generating component??

Also: the bag I carry, even in black, is probably too girly for most guys, but I assume there are women reading this thread that might benefit.

Here it is.

The nice thing, in addition to helping me be organized, is when I carry it by the short straps it looks like a carpenter's bag. Makes me feel like I fit in at the jobsite!

Has anyone mentioned Acme Made? They have some lovely stuff and some of it seems to be unisex.

Steven, where is your GSA courier bag?! I used mine last week to carry some tile samples!

Jack Spade Green Street... just like letdown... but in black. dressy enough for a meeting, casual enough for just around town...

what about your other shoulder? i would imagine 1 strap bag people need more chiropractic thus far off setting the small cost to avoid 2 straps they saved

along the same logic as wearing all black unbreathable material in the summer ;)