Notebook Entries from 2008

December 15, 2008

Illustrated by Yulia •

Computerlove links up a set of arrestingly gorgeous illustrations by Russian graphic artist Yulia Brodskaya.

I can personally attest to the pain of manipulating prototype layouts in Adobe Illustrator while trying to find a grid that balances the needs of a new site design. For those like me who don’t like to drag shaded boxes around, or just don’t like crunching the numbers, Tom Genoni presents a workable solution, complete with standard ad sizes, in Gridr Buildrrr.

December 10, 2008

50 Most Beautiful Icons from 2008 •

Great set of icons gathered by Noupe.com. I’m partial to these hand-drawn icons.

December 5, 2008

ABC3D •

Marion Bataille’s beautifully crafted alphabet pop-up. A must for the typophile on your gift list.

December 2, 2008

Photographs from Nicholas Hughes •

Nicholas Hughes creates eerily beautiful photographs that play hide-and-seek in the forest with fog and focus.

The Grid System •

Billed as “the ultimate resource in grid systems,” The Grid System offers articles, tutorials and other resources for designers needing help getting their ducks in a row.

24 Ways: 2008 •

The best advent calendar for Web designers is back with it’s 2008 edition of tips, tricks and insightful articles. Celebrate the holidays and start percolating new design ideas for the new year.

November 21, 2008

Mark Boulton’s Practical Guide to Designing for the Web •

If you put words on Web pages, this book goes on your wish list, period. Shipping in PDF in February 2009.

Pentagram’s New Work: Quantum of Solace •

Pentagram’s stunning and intricately detailed cover design for Penguin Books’ Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories.

November 20, 2008

Spy Type •

Hand-designed type from the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

November 14, 2008

Postage Stamps by Type Designers •

Frutiger, Spiekermann and other typography legends exhibit their skill on the small canvas of the postage stamp.

Virgil O. Stamps Letterpress Laboratory •

From recycled books to stick on nametags, Virgil O. Stamps is not afraid to letterpress anything, and the results are inspiring.

Pantone Rubik’s Cube •

Rubik + Pantone = Rubikone. Clever and gorgeous.

October 30, 2008

Vote

I voted.

This is not a boast, a political statement or an endorsement, just a simple reminder that you have a job to do between now and Tuesday evening.

It takes minutes; everyone is friendly; and you get a cool sticker at the end. Basically it’s like a trip to your childhood dentist, except you know ahead of time that you have no cavities.

Still need convincing? Do it to because you can and others can’t. Do it because it’s your one shot to have a say. Do it to cancel out my vote. Just make sure you that you do your part.

Vote.

Finds from the NYPL •

Inspiring typography unearthed from the collections of the New York Public Library by Hoefler & Frere Jones.

Hand Made Font •

At once warm and whimsical, organic and off-the-wall, browse the treasure trove of hand-crafted typography by the folks at Hand Made Font.

Pentagram Designs 100% Design •

Pentagram designs the identity and brand structure for 100% Design, an international series of architecture and design showcases, featuring tightly-executed geometric sans-serif typography.

Paris en Images •

La Parisienne de Photographie offers a beautiful collection of black-and-white photographs from Paris’ history. Tre magnifique.

October 22, 2008

Multicolr Search Lab •

Idée’s Multicolr Search Lab (via Kottke) looks like another must-have tool for the designers arsenal. Pick up to ten colors, and you’ll get back a gallery of the most interesting Flickr photos that match.

Here’s a sample gallery that matches this site’s pallette. Addictive.

Javascript Will Save Us All •

Eric Meyer wakes up thinking about how rapidly improving JavaScript performance in browsers could allow designers to append hacks that improve CSS standards support in non-compliant browsers at runtime using JavaScript.

So instead of coding a box-model hack for Internet Explorer every time you style an element, a JavaScript library would inject the CSS work-around as the page loads. While this is probably too time consuming in today’s browsers, it’s becoming more realizable as Firefox and Webkit compete to improve their JavaScript interpreters by orders of magnitude.

Think about it: most of the browser development work these days seems to be going into JavaScript performance. Those engines are being overhauled and souped up and tuned and re-tuned to the point that performance is improving by orders of magnitude…So why not write JS to implement multiple background-image support in all browsers?

Just like that, you’ve used the browser’s JS to extend its CSS support. This approach advances standards support in browsers from the ground up, instead of waiting for the browser teams to do it for us.

This would be game-changing for standards-based designers. I hope it happens.

October 21, 2008

Design Classics: The London Underground Map •

Comprehensive BBC documentary of Harry Beck’s iconic London Underground Map.

Mad Men Illustrated •

Great illustrations inspired by Mad Men.

Photogravure.com •

The comprehensive resource dedicated to photogravure (via Coudal).

Garamond Powerline •

Elements of the power infrastructure converge in silhouette to form this remake of the 16th century classic typeface.

Sherwood Forest Treehouse by Make Architects •

The whimsical, winning entry for the new Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex, from Make.

Fifty Inspiring Vintage Advertisements •

A great collection of vintage ads from the Mad Men era of the 1950s and 1960s.

About Us Information On Websites •

Jakob Nielsen summarizes and cites best examples of the common elements of about us content on corporate websites: tagline, summary, fact sheet, detailed information.

October 17, 2008

Way-Finding: West London Academy •

Modern, yet whimsical, way-finding signs designed for the West London Academy (via Coudal). I love the use of silhouettes and the natural way they add meaning to the signs they accompany.

October 16, 2008

The Living Room Candidate •

TV commercials from every U.S. presidential campaign since 1952, from The Museum of the Moving Image. (via Khoi Vinh)

Fair Exchange •

An admirer once wrote to Rudyard Kipling: “I see you get a dollar a word for your writing. I enclose a check for one dollar. Please send me a sample.”

Kipling responded: “Thanks.”

That’s what I call efficient writing.

October 15, 2008

Poster and Artwork Collection from the London Transport Museum •

Amazing collection of posters commissioned and collected by the London Underground (via Coudal). My favorite: The Tate Gallery by Tube.

Mac-O-Lanterns •

Halloween fun for bringing an old Mac Classic back from the dead.

October 10, 2008

National Theatre Posters •

Vast collection of posters from the National Theatre’s archives (via Coudal). The ebb and flow between illustration and photography is great as well as decoding the sometimes tangential relationship between poster and plot.

IDEO Redesigns •

The farther you dig, the better it gets, and the whole thing runs on ExpressionEngine. IDEO’s website redesigned by Solspace.

An Introduction to Information Design •

A great overview of information design with a bent toward advocacy marketing from Tactical Technology Collective.

October 8, 2008

Photographs by Cali •

Gallery of hand-colored, black and white photographs — nostalgic and ethereal.

Gruber on the iPhone 3G •

John Gruber discusses the potential place in history of the iPhone as “the greatest piece of consumer electronics that has ever been made.”

Having owned an iPhone since August, I can fully agree. The overall user experience is game-changing.

I also enjoyed his closing point:

A billionaire can buy homes, cars, clothes that the rest of us cannot afford. But he cannot buy a better phone, at any price, than the iPhone that you can have in your pocket today.

Having listened to former AT&T Chairman, CEO and President Ed Whitacre Jr. talk about his iPhone last week, I couldn’t help but smile, knowing that we had the exact same phone in our pockets — game-changing, indeed.

Evolution of 50 Logos •

A visual history of 50 well-known logo designs from Adobe to Yamaha.

Mad Men, Mad Props •

I have a penchant for typography and a newly-found obsession with Mad Men. Mark Simonson’s typographic scrutiny of AMC‘s hit TV show combines both. Outta sight.

Cabel Sasser on Wedding Design •

Pixel-perfect wedding invitations self-designed by Panic’s Cabel Sasser, beautifully letter-pressed and complete with matching website for RSVP’s.

October 6, 2008

Vancouver 2010 Identity: Transmoflection •

The team behind the identity for the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympic Games reflects on the research and creative process used to create the branding. Although the use of the coined-to-be-catch-word transmoflection is over-the-top, I really like the concept of visually blending natural and man-made elements into a kind of bio-urban fusion used throughout the identity.

October 3, 2008

2008 Web Design Trends •

A catalog of Web design trends gleaned from WebDesigner Wall’s Best Web Gallery. Top picks for 2008: vintage/retro, handwritten notes and paper clips, grunge, ink splatter, watercolor, collage and more.

Chris Jordan Photography •

Always poignant, often mind-boggling photography from Chris Jordan. Of special note, his gallery of photo-illustrations as socio-statistical commentary, Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait.

Vintage Logos •

Flickr set of logos from the mid-1970s.

Inspiration: Logos by Saul Bass •

Twelve of the most iconic logos designed by the legendary Saul Bass.

Thirty Fonts that All Designers Must Own •

Thirty fonts for every designer’s arsenal from Jacob Cass at Just Creative Design.

Vintage Poison Labels •

Skull and crossbones adorn this exhibition of vintage poison labels.

October 1, 2008

Anatomical Typography •

To start off October, graphic designer Bjorn Johansson‘s artistic-if-not-eerily-macabre play on the typographic anatomy of letterforms.

CNN Returns Historic Poster Maker to Spotlight •

CNN hired legendary letterpress shop Hatch Show Print to design and print promotional materials for the upcoming debate, because you can’t beat the real thing. Awesome.

Facebuster •

Extra-chunky block serif font from Silas Dilworth.

September 30, 2008

Bento Gallery •

Flickr gallery of bento, the traditional Japanese box lunch.

Christopher Doyle™ •

Sydney-based designer Christopher Doyle created a set of identity guidelines — for himself — and then entered them in an Australian design competition.

If you’ve ever worked with identity guidelines, it’s a great joke at the expense of control-obsessed designers.

Do Not Touch •

5 pine planks (each 6 feet), 5 metal brackets, tools and materials from the gallery utility closet or found on the gallery grounds. Each of the five shelves that comprise this work is balanced on a single bracket. All maintain their level balance by the precise placement of the objects they bear.

Very cool installation of counterbalanced shelves. Do not touch, indeed.

September 16, 2008

The Creative Personality •

Of all human activities, creativity comes closest to providing the fulfillment we all hope to get in our lives. Call it full-blast living.

Psychology Today reviews their ten paradoxical traits of the creative personality.

Flicking the Switch •

Des Traynor at Contrast:

It’s the second you stop thinking about what the problem you’re attempting to solve, and start mindlessly doing what the client wants…I call it flicking the switch.

Don’t do it.

September 15, 2008

Everymoment Now •

A fascinating website-as-info-graphic design currently focused on news coverage of the 2008 presidential election.

Typewriter Ribbon Tin Collection •

Incredible collection of typography found on typewriter ribbon tins.

September 12, 2008

TED: Redefining the Dictionary •

Erin McKean refocuses our fascination with language at TED.

I wish I had such a command of the English language.

September 11, 2008

What Your Global Neighbors are Buying •

Geo-tree map illustrating worldwide consumer spending habits, from the New York Times interactive team.

Umbrella Today? •

Billed as “the simplest weather report ever,” this site is made for today’s deluge.

September 10, 2008

On the Importance of Noticing •

AIGA’s dialogue between Steve Portigal and Dan Soltzberg on the importance of noticing and the proclivity of designers to ‘super-notice’ their surroundings.

September 9, 2008

Bass on Film Titles •

Saul Bass takes an in-depth look at some of his most memorable film title sequences.

iPhone Interface Elements •

Free GUI elements for creating iPhone design prototypes in Photoshop.

August 28, 2008

Alphabet Trucks •

Eric Tabuchi brings new meaning to the road-trip-classic alphabet game with his poster of 26 typographic scenes of semi-trailers on the road.

August 25, 2008

Porsche Design Kitchen •

Poggenpohl and Porsche team up for a sleek, minimalist redesign of the kitchen. The attention to detail is even more amazing than you expect.

How Design Can Save Democracy •

Unfortunately, because of technical limitations in voting equipment, misguided local laws, short time frames and tight budgets, many ballots will repeat design mistakes made in past elections. But with access to new ballot design guidelines, officials can now make significant improvements in election accuracy and voter confidence.

AIGA redesigns the traditionally dense American ballot and demonstrates the potential impact of design on democratic society.

Fourteen Ways to Use Twitter Politely •

From The Morning News, because even if your writing is limited to 140 characters, you should still use decorum.

Inside JetBlue’s Food Court at JFK •

As if you needed another reason to travel to NYC, here’s a sneak-peek at JetBlue’s redesigned food court at JFK’s Terminal 5, opening October 1.

August 22, 2008

Silent World •

Hauntingly stark black and white photography by Michael Kenna. Stunning.

August 21, 2008

Design and Branding Trends from the Olympic Games •

Colour Lovers explores the design of the Olympic Games and the colors used to brand them with a collection of posters from 1896 and accompanying color palettes derived from the images.

Wanderlust •

GOOD magazine unfolds an interactive map of “history’s greatest journeys from Magellan to Kerouac.”

The Vexed Question of Punctuation •

Artemy Lebedev speaks to some common typographical issues surrounding punctuation. Required reading for typophiles, designers, writers and even desktop publishers.

August 18, 2008

Black and White Ball Identity •

Black, white and beautiful. Masterfully monochrome identity designed by Pentagram for the San Francisco Symphony’s 2008 Black and White Ball.

Olympic Medal Gallery •

Photos of every Olympic medal made — summer and winter.

August 12, 2008

Surviving the New Depression •

Schadenfreude and Coudal Partners’ Steve Delahoyde present penny-wise, survival strategies for coping with today’s economy.

Vintage Color Photos of U.S. Cities •

Nostalgic collection of city-scapes from about 1940 to 1963.

Pattern Tap •

Great collection of searchable Web design patterns.

Why Apple Doesn’t Release Concepts •

Kontra explains why don’t we see concept products from Apple?

Because, to paraphrase Jobs, real artists ship.

(via Gruber)

August 8, 2008

Smart Car, Smart Design •

Simple site design, engaging interactive features and a solid case for Smart Car ownership. I watched all the way through; too bad they’re sold only in the UK.

Pictograms from the Beijing Olympics •

Soon-to-become iconic pictograms from the Beijing Olympics. I love the elegance of the joint-less, abstract figures.

August 4, 2008

The Economist Style Guide •

The replete style book given to all writers at The Economist — in online form.

NYT: A Collection of Olympic Torches •

Another well-designed interactive feature from the New York Times covering the history of the Olympic torch.

August 1, 2008

Boulton on Signage •

Mark Boulton turns his 20/20 typographic vision to the art of sign design. His advice: don’t screw with conventions.

July 29, 2008

The Survey for People who Make Websites 2008 •

A List Apart is has sounded the call for participation in the 2008 census of The Survey for People Who Make Websites.

What started as a quest to quantify the working conditions of the online design industry resulted in the first complete glimpse into what it means to be a working Web professional. This year’s survey looks to ferret out answers to some of the leftover questions and grow the body of knowledge about the profession for people who make Web sites.

So if you’ve ever scrutinized the alignment of one stubborn pixel or nit-picked the semantics of a page’s HTML source, take five minutes and help define what it means to be a Web designer.

July 28, 2008

Metro Logos Around the World •

More than 150 metro logos from around the world.

July 16, 2008

Western Spaghetti •

Really cool stop-motion animation by PES (via 37signals). Incredible.

July 11, 2008

T-STEM Transition

Today marks my last day with the Texas Tech University T-STEM Center and the end to a rewarding part of my career.

Over the last few years, I’ve had the unique experience of helping to create and market a center that’s part of the largest K-12 education experiment in the nation. As part of the Texas High School Project, the T-STEM Center is doing important work to reform science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and help students and teachers adapt an aging education system to meet the needs of tomorrow’s technology-driven workforce.

In my time with the center, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about marketing nonprofit organizations, done some of the best work of my life and built more than a few rockets and robots in the process; it’s been a lot of fun.

The decision to leave the center was difficult. The T-STEM Center has an incredible amount of support going for it, and they have exciting things in the works for K-12 educators and students. But, I’ve always been drawn to new challenges, and with a new opportunity that matches up with my skills and interests, the timing is right.

Monday I start a new job with the Texas Tech University System, which supports three higher education institutions: Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Angelo State University. I’ll be working for the Office of Institutional Advancement, where I’ll be focusing on online and new media marketing and helping their marketing team tell a larger part of the Texas Tech story.

It’s been a great couple of years at Texas Tech, and I’m excited to see what happens in this next chapter.

July 8, 2008

Ira Glass on Storytelling •

Ira Glass:

Most everybody I know, who does interesting creative work, went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be…It’s totally normal.

An honest and reassuring look at the creative process from NPR’s Ira Glass.

On Content and Design •

Zeldman nails the relationship between content and design, in 14 words.

June 30, 2008

BBC Web Identity Guidelines •

Interesting collection of corporate Web identity guidelines to correspond with the redesign of the BBC Web site.

May 29, 2008

Free Vector World maps •

Assorted world maps from Web Resources Depot.

ExpressionEngine Screencasts from The Pragmatic Bookshelf •

New ExpressionEngine screencast videos from The Pragmatic Programmers, and affordable at $5 an episode (DRM-free). Likely a valuable resource for designers new to ExpressionEngine.

April 4, 2008

NYT: Mad Fold-Ins Past and Present •

Addictively intuitive Mad magazine fold-ins from 1960 to the present.

Another great online interactive feature from the New York Times.

March 14, 2008

Awareness Test •

The fast-becoming-classic illustration of change blindness — the phenomena that we only see what we’re looking for, regardless of what else may be going on around us.