I share because I care.

Yep, yet one more thing that's only marginally relevant:

Design sample: Cuil, a new search engine

Some former Google employees just created Cuil, a new search engine that they, of course, claim is better. I'm not sold on it, and at least half of that is due to its design. Go play around with it and see what you think.

Design Gangsta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJexyQT0l1c

Changes in reading, changes in design

This article examines how the internet is influencing how we read and attention spans, consequently also influencing design. I found it worth the read.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

A Typeface Crisis at the Font Conference

This video is pretty funny, particularly Mr. Wingdings. Danielle probably won't like the ending, though.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

A little off topic, I suppose...

...but I feel obligated to spread the love, in case people haven't already seen this.

One of the brilliant things about this is its marketing--entirely viral, from what I can tell. And the entire thing will only be up until Sunday at midnight, thus making it a scarce commodity, which should encourage people to buy it when it becomes available.

Habits and Advertising

My roommate just linked to this fascinating report on how visuals and habits are tied to advertising: Warning - Habits May Be Good for You

New Yorker and Irony

teh hilarity!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?ID=1792

Photoshop Disasters!

Boing Boing's coverage of the recent and purportedly authentic image of missile testing:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/10/iran-you-suck-at-pho.html

The grand archive of all sorts o' Photoshop disasters:
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

Fonts in module 2

I had a request for the fonts used in this document. First, I have to point out that two of the fonts--the one used for sun/pears, and the shining stars, didn't embed in the PDF file--I'm guessing they had some permissions that I wasn't aware of when I created this.

Anyway, the fonts:
The fairest thing I leave behind: Jellyka Castle's Queen
Sun/pear: Ayosmonika
Light/apple: Hyrule
Shining stars: Starstruck
Ripe cucumbers: Eight fifteen
"S" in Apple: Fontastic
Full Moon's Face: IsadoraCaps
conjunctions: Christopherhand

I think that's it. Ayosmonika and Starstruck won't PDF, but the rest seemed to be fine.

Baraka

Here's the IMDB link to the film Baraka. It has similar qualities to the film Koyaanisqatsi in that it is a visual narrative with no discernable verbalization or text. It's really a beautiful and painful film to watch--if you liked Koyaanisqatsi I recommend it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/

Identify a Font

Ever had that moment, when your staring at a font trying to figure out it's name. Or, maybe, your trying to track down a specific font to use for your project.  Identifont.com might be a solution for you. The self-proclaimed largest directory of typefaces on the internet. To determine a font face, you answer several questions like: What type of tail does the upper-case 'Q' have, and what type of style is the '$' sign.  The questions have several clickable responses accompanied by a graphic image.  After clicking answers indiscriminately, Indentifont correctly told me I had randomly described the characteristics of the font 'Plagwitz'. Indentifont will then give you the name of the designer, year and publisher, as well as a means to purchase the font. 

Identifont.com

Culture Jam

What if Facebook was used during the Civil War? This image cracked me up. I would love to see a project of Facebook pages for major historical events.

One of these things is not like the other...

...One of these things just doesn't belong.

Iran shot off some missiles. Or did they? The power of Photoshop fools American media:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/in-an-iranian-image-a-missile-too-many/index.html?hp

MagCloud dot com

I just received my invitation for a new online magazine publishing service called MagCloud. I have used other publishing services online like LuLu in the past with great success to create personal books and design portfolios for work. These micropublishing services that sprung up a couple years ago filled a much needed gap for people like me who wanted high quality printing without paying the ridiculous prices that Kinkos charges.  What makes MagCloud different is that they focus on magazines, something that Lulu does not.  I haven't used the service yet, but I am excited to see the results.  I think this is a great opportunity for small business on down to take control over their design.  Design is too important to be only for designers. Now, another piece of the production process is in the hands of non-elites. I still believe there is room for printed material in this computer networked age. It will be interesting to see what happens when anyone can make a physical magazine.

An interesting bumper sticker project

BumperActive is doing a project to create pro-Obama bumper stickers for every state in the US. It's interesting to see how the makers are representing each state visually and textually.

http://www.bumperactive.com/barack_obama_bumper_stickers.jsp

--Julie P.
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Now playing: The Album Leaf - Red-Eye
via FoxyTunes

Helvetica Bold Oblique Sweeps Fontys

Hilarious Onion article, for font dorks and Helvetica lovers: http://origin.theonion.com/content/node/28261

This Blog...

...is for us to share materials, links, images of interest, and other stuff related to our class conversations. A lot of you guys have been sending me interesting links, but unless I integrate them into class, no one else gets to see them (except you and I!). So let's share resources we find, cool stuff we stumble upon, interesting images, etc.