Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

Periodic Table of Type

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Type is an elemental part of pretty much any design project, so us font junkies rely on tools like sample books, font managers and our own good taste to pick the right typefaces for our layouts. Since we also tend to be creative types, I just love it when I come across a cool new way to do the same old thing — like viewing fonts as a periodic table of the elements.

typetable.png

(more…)

Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

When a book like Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider King comes along, you just know I’m chomping at the bit to review it. But through the interesting chain of events that is my life I ended up far more involved in helping out with getting this book out the door than I ever imagined would happen, which means that I’d feel just a wee-tad unethical offering up a review at The Mac Observer, or any of the other places my name crops up, including Design Tools Monthly.

Instead, I’ll give the book an endorsement right here. Hey, this is my blog. I can do whatever I want. (more…)

Target’s Big Ol’ Girl Bullseye

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

I’ve been mulling over this whole controversy over the Target ad showing a girl on a bullseye for several weeks, and I’m just not seeing the sexual exploitation thing other people are picking up on. Maybe she’s making a snow angel, like many people have suggested, or maybe she’s jumping in the air. But assuming the position for a big old sexing up? I’m just not seeing it.

I totally get and appreciate the importance of protecting people — and not just women or girls — from exploitation. No one deserves to be taken advantage of, and it’s up to all of us to protect those that can’t protect themselves. That’s all just part of being a community.

(more…)

The Real News in Quark’s DPS Announcement

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

When Quark announced its Quark Dynamic Publishing Solution this week, the big news was that the company is moving deeper into the enterprise market, right? Wrong. Quark has been on this path for some time, and the whole Quark DPS thing is just another logical extension of that business plan. The real news for me was several paragraphs deep in Quark’s press release where they make a very clear statement about the future of QuarkXPress, the company’s flagship desktop publishing application.

Here’s what Quark CEO Ray Schiavone had to say:

(more…)

I Am Your Plaything. Really.

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Not everyone can brag that there is a paper cut out doll version of themselves, and technically there isn’t one of me. But there really kind of is. Through some weird twist in the parallel universe cross-over nexus point thingy, Geek Culture’s Nitrozac created a paper doll me. OK, it’s actually one of the After Y2K characters, but it sure looks like me.

dressupjeff_sw.png

(more…)