Archive for September, 2008


Take a vacation from design? No, Thanks

September 22nd, 2008 by Pixel Pixie

Late last night as I flew back to NH from San Diego, I got to thinking: What can I blog about from my vacation?
Throughout the trip I found myself examining business cards, commenting on font selections, identifying process v. digital printing, hoarding paper bags and napkins with interesting illustrations or copywriting – all while my friends looked on with confusion. One encounter sticks in my mind, while attending a craft fair imagine the utter shock and disbelief I met when I overheard an artist say he did not have business cards – I had to turn and leave in order to stop myself from keeling over.  Overall I accrued a nice little collection of business cards, brochures, and about a million other little items, perfect for my inspiration folder.

I think I speak not only for myself but most other designers out there, you may be on vacation but in the end you’re still a designer. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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The News Keeps Getting Worse

September 17th, 2008 by Chief Nut

ClickZ Network’s Kate Kaye reports some pretty dismal data about the woes of traditional newspaper media.  Interestingly, a quote from the article:

“Additionally, nearly one-third of their Web clients are local real estate companies and automobile dealerships, two categories of retailers that are cutting back their overall advertising outlays.”

… showing a reliance of the media on two OTHER industries that are being hit heavily by Internet technologies and the slow economy.

Really, the gist of the report is that pure online advertising plays (e.g. Google, AOL, Yahoo) will consistantly have a leg up, unless newspapers can effectively detach their online operations from their traditional brick and mortar operations … a complete paradigm shift.

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Inspiration for Designers

September 12th, 2008 by Design Diva

Today marks the day of my first blog post. I have many excuses why I haven’t started blogging yet – but today is different because I don’t have an excuse to not write one. Instead my excuse is just the opposite… you know how it goes, everyone has been there… You get into the office, turn on your computer and you’re just not “feeling it”. Well, that’s what happened to me on this Friday morning. And that is why I have dedicated my first blog post to my sources of inspiration. People think that designers always have ideas coming out the wazoo, but that’s not always true. “Designers-block” can get the best of us at times. So where do we so-called “creative people” go, when we are feeling, well, er… not so creative.

One of my favorite places to go is Smashing Magazine. It is a great resource for developers and designers. Daily posts include featured photographs, contests, freebies, design showcases, latest trends, and tutorials.

Done – Daily Design Workout is the personal blog of Jonas Buntenbruch. Each day his blog features a new workout – don’t start sweating yet – this is not the kind of workout that you might expect. His daily work out is “mini-design” that is created in 30 to 60 minutes as a challenge as a test to his design skills. This is by far one of my favorite places to visit, plus anyone can rise to the challenge of this workout – all you need is a fountain soda and deep bowl of buttery popcorn and your computer in order to participate.

Another web site that is a recent discovery of mine is Just Creative Design, which is a personal blog site written by Australian designer Jacob Cass.

Twitter is one of the latest trends in online communication – you can communicate and connect with people through the exchange of short messages. I like to check out web links that are posted by the people I am following. Inspiration comes in all forms.

Sometimes visiting blogs or web sites that have nothing to do with graphic design are helpful way to get new ideas, so long as they are visually interesting, that is. Two that I enjoy in particular are: Hostess with the Mostess and Design Sponge Online.

Of course there are millions and millions of sources for inspiration. This is a just a small sampling of sites that are old stand-bys for me. Good luck and get inspired!

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A radio station I choose the songs for? What!

September 12th, 2008 by Pixel Pixie

Maybe this is admitting to being painfully out of style or behind the times but I’ve just found out about Pandora.com and feel the unmistakable need to pass it on in to everyone I’ve ever met! Here’s what Pandora is in a nutshell - you create “radio stations” based on one specific song or band you love, and Pandora takes that choice and plays similar songs and bands it thinks you may like. You then rate the songs (thumbs up or down) and it gradually refines the station to play only songs you love. If you want to read it for yourself, here ya go: http://pandora.com/corporate . You’ll never go back to the regular radio.

P.S. there’s an application for iphones so you can listen wherever you have an Internet connection. Rock on!

Posted in The Web | No Comments »

10 websites that spark creativity in designers but may or may not have anything to do with Graphic Design

September 4th, 2008 by Pixel Pixie

1. Mornings with NPR: A daily illustration for an NPR news story

2. Found Magazine: A daily dose of weirdness. A different “found” note, photograph, or letter usually quite bizarre but equally as funny.

http://www.foundmagazine.com/

3. Cassette from my Ex: Postings from regular people describing old mixtapes and the stories behind them. A nice step out of reality and back to 7th grade.

4. Hostess with the Mostess Blog: Frequent updates and always some interesting, cute, or just kitschy idea for your home or for entertaining.

5. Design Sponge: Most of you have probably seen this frequently updated blog, but it continues to provide quirky, smart design ideas.

6. Sketch Swap: A nice creative break during the day, submit your drawing to receive another artist’s while they receive yours.

7. Shop Modi: Funky pieces for the home that just make you smile.

8. Jonathan Adler: Another great online shop, seeing pieces others have created, makes you want to jump right in and make something just as cool.

9. Graphic Design Blog: Shares information about all things graphic design.

10. Twitter: Goes without saying, I always find someone tweeting about an interesting link or thought I can steal, plus I post my own, so they can steal http://www.Twitter.com/karina723.

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How Does Your Favorite Mag Do It?

September 4th, 2008 by Chief Nut

I’ve been writing a lot about the woes of several industries, caused by the impact of the Internet and, specifically, social media.  What I haven’t talked about (yet) is how these ailing business models might realize real change or any actual examples of new ways of thinking.

Here’s one …

Joe Falls, Director of Social Media at Doe Anderson posts a review of I Am Modern magazine. The mag takes a completely different approach from traditional magazine production.  Specifically, the content is pulled from an online social network dedicated to Washington D.C./Northern Virginia Moms. This out-of-the-box approach will likely result in a broader, more relevant (hyper-local) content base than if the word-smithing were done by a small staff of professional writers.  “But what about quality?”, you may ask.  Good point.  I would guess they’re not doing away with the editorial staff.

Think about your favorite traditional magazine.  What would it look like if it were cheaper, fresher, more niche (targeted) and covered a much broader range of ideas, opinions and topics?  Even if the quality of writing was slightly diminished, would it be better? I vote “yes.”

Kudos to Hulya Aksu for finding a new paradigm and trying it on for size. Hey Wired, or Fast Company, I want to write for YOU!

Posted in Einstein-esque | 1 Comment »

Another Polished Product From Google?

September 1st, 2008 by Chief Nut

A little over an hour ago, Matt Cutts posted on his blog that Google has officially announced the soon-to-be released “Google Chrome” … an Open Source Browser.  I read one of Matt’s comments (”… I can’t wait to talk more about Google Chrome”), and I actually felt the upcoming buzz about this one.

If you’re thinking this might just be another browser (same ol’, same ol’), consider the perspective Google gives us about the product on their official blog;

… We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends — all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there….

Exciting stuff! Browsers do indeed touch our online lives in soooo many ways. Look for a change with this new open source app tomorrow.

I know I’ll be getting the beta just to take it for a test drive.  If I find myself with wind screaming through my hair out on the Information Superhighway, I’ll be sure to pull over once to blog about it.

[UPDATE] Right after posting this, I read Robert Scoble’s most recent post on the same subject.  He poses an important question … “What will happen to Mozilla Firefox?”  John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla, says the company isn’t worried.  Hmmmm.

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