Jan 9
Illustration
How do you make a better map? Ask cartographer David Imus. Mapmaking is not only about measurements and data, a great map is a feat of graphic design.
David Imus recently won the Cartography and Geographic Information Society's (CaGIS) annual Map Design Competition, Best of Show designation for his acclaimed new map: The Essential Geography of the United States of America.
Seth Stevenson takes a look the making of the map and explains what makes it significant in a piece he wrote for Slate.com.
Many thanks to Wendy Hersh for pointing us to it.
The Essential Geography of the United States of America...
An insightful piece about the map by Seth Stevenson for Slate.com...
The Imus Geographics website...
The Cartography and Geographic Information Society's (CaGIS) website...
About David Imus...
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Jan 2
Marketing PR
I have run into a couple of colleagues lately who, after they were interviewed for a position, did not hear back from the potential employer (no less hear back from them in a timely manner). I believe the folks who told me, but I find such treatment unimaginable.
If you're guilty of this offense, give me a moment (I can tell you the truth because I'm not in the market).
What I want to say is this: No matter who you interview, if someone has gone to the trouble of coming to shake your hand and tell you about themselves with the understanding that you might hire them, you are REQUIRED by any measurement of human decency to contact them in a timely manner and to give them a status of the process.
Maybe you're still considering them, maybe you've decided not to hire anyone, maybe you hired someone else, or maybe you haven't made a decision in the days since you spoke with them — the point is you OWE that person a thank you and an update — in writing or by phone. Period.
It doesn't matter if you're the CEO of a publicly traded corporation or the manager of a small business, you need to build a timely, meaningful response into your hiring process. If you delegate the responsibility to others and you're not clear if and how they follow up, you are equally at fault if it's not getting done. (It is not surprising that many of the most powerful people I've dealt in my career are also some of the most cognizant of other people's feelings — that's one reason they got to where they are.)
Disagree? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I just hate to think that anyone who has the wherewithal to hire someone else needs to be reminded to "do as you would be done by".
Sep 2
Reference
Luc Devroye is a Belgian born professor of computer science and mathematics and a self-confessed type nut. I've been a fan of his site for many years.
As he describes it, he joined the McGill University in Montreal "...in 1977 as a young snotnose, and found academic freedom and cybercover from conservative forces in 2006 at the Computational Geometry Lab of Carleton University, Ottawa." I assume that explains the title of his page, "On Snot and Fonts."
He strikes me as the type of person who prefers others don't attempt to interpret his motives or speculate about what he thinks, so I'll leave it at this: Devroye's pages constitute the wild west of the type world — "wild west" because he is neither a respecter of rules or status. The resulting collection of type-related articles, resource descriptions, and its vast collection of links is like no other.
If you're a typophile you already know Luc Deveroye's extraordinary resource — if you're not, you may end up as one.
Luc Devroye wild west of typography...
An interview from planet-typography.com...
Once you think you've got your arms wrapped around his font resource, you'll want to visit his home page. Haha... what you've seen is just the beginning...
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Jun 17
Reference
I love to discover new names for organizations, products, services, and domains. In a world where everyone is looking for a distinctive, descriptive, mind-catching name, it is not a process for those who are short on time and energy.
Recently I invested a few hours tracking down some better tools. Here is the beginning of a list of resources that will, eventually, be added to the reference section of Jumpola.com.
My Jumpola.com links page...
Acronym Finder: A dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms...
Etymology Dictionary: Explanations of the original meanings of various words...
Glossarist: A searchable directory of glossaries and topical dictionaries...
Hutchinson Dictionary of Difficult Words: Difficult words and their definitions...
Naming Online: Generates names from words and varying formuli...
Nameboy: Generates domain names from terms entered...
NetLingo.com: Definitions of words from the online world...
OneLook meta Dictionary: Search 1000-plus dictionaries simultaneously...
Rhyming Dictionary: Add a word and choose from types of rhymes..
WordConstructor: Generates new or changes existing words...
WordNet: A database of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs grouped as concepts...
WordSpy: Word lover's guide to new words......
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Feb 7
Reference
Wordnik's co-founder, Erin McKean, explains (about words) that, "Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction". She wants us to understand that the number of words in the English language and the number of meanings associated with each word is simply too big for a book.
The solution? Wordnik. The next step in word access. It shows you words and examples of how they are used in context. At this writing it includes 6,475,698 unique words and 889,159,815 example sentences.
An example of a definition: "design"..
Wordnik Zeitgeist...
An example of a list created by a user: one word exclamations...yikes!
Erin McKean, "lexicographer to the stars," explains the idea behind Worknik...
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Jan 24
Ideas 101
Before I can design something — a website, a logo, a brochure, whatever — I've got to understand what needs to happen. What my client's purpose and motive is, and the action they want their audience to take.
Once I understand what I am being asked to accomplish, I can design with purpose. I'm not a decorator, I'm a designer — my job is to determine the combination of elements — the images, typefaces, and user interface — necessary to communicate messages in a way that makes them interesting and accessible.
Teaching that process is what John McWade is so expert at. Through the pages of Before & After Magazine, he has been teaching what others don't, in ways that others can't, since the days when the first version of Aldus PageMaker was in beta testing. He parses, deconstructs, and studies a design problem, then packages a solution in a form that is easy to understand, digest, and reproduce.
I've written for B&A and I can testify that there's nothing easy about making things simple. I have pointed you to John in the past, but there is some new news worth sharing: John McWade has begun a series of wonderful short stories about design — video snippets that once again have me thinking about what is possible.
One in the series, How to design without graphics...
The beginnings of the new collection...
Plus, for the first time, the entire Before & After collection goes digital...
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Dec 8
Reference
You would think that the famous Twitter bird is Twitter's logo — it isn't. Truth-be-told, Illustrator Simon Oxley sold the bird to them via iStockPhoto for less than $20.
The catch is, iStockphoto's license prohibits the use of any licensed images for "Use in any logo or trademark". In a Washington Post article from 2009, Oxley explains, "Twitter has used my bird image as a decorative element on their site — it is not officially the logo, and they do not sell products carrying the image, so they are totally free to carry on using it."
It's an interesting story (and lesson).
The original Twitter blue bird...
The article from the Washington Post...
Simon Oxley's website...
Simonox's complete portfolio on iStockphoto (as of today, jsut over 5000 images...
Is there a blue bird in your future? Here's how iStockphoto's system works...
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Nov 22
Web Design
A List Apart offers their annual look at the "source code" of the web designer — what they characterize as, "...the first true picture of the profession of web design as it is practiced by men and women of all ages, across all continents, in corporations, agencies, non-profits, and freelance configurations."
In it you will find everything from from the salaries they command to the number of paid holidays they get. The A List Apart staff set a high standard, but they deliver the goods. The survey is interesting and filled with insights that I've seen nowhere else.
On the occasion of the 2010 survey, the results of the 2009 List Apart Survey...
Findings from The Survey For People Who Make Websites 2009 (full table of contents in the left column)...
Take the 2010 survey...
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Aug 18
Basic design
In the introduction to her book The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe, Sarah Lowengard writes, "Throughout the eighteenth century, people from all social and economic backgrounds thought about color, experimented with color, and offered their own notions of how to explain it, how to use it, and how to improve it. In this book, I will discuss those interests, explorations, expectations, and outcomes."
What I want to point you to is, first, the text of Lowengard's book, and second, a two-part article on the color wheel by Jude Stewart that was inspired by the book.
The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe by Sarah Lowengard...
The Wonderful Color Wheel: Part 1...
The Wonderful Color Wheel: Part 2...
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Jun 30
Web Design
The great gift of the digital age is shared knowledge. Technology makes it possible to document levels of information that, until recently, were just too costly and difficult to capture and maintain. In the case of writing and design there is a repository of information, much of it freely available, that provides us with an extraordinary opportunity to dramatically improve the quality and effectiveness of communication.
It provides a foundation of ideas, expression, and practical information on which to build the next, better solutions. Want to write better documentation? Create a better web menu? Understand why people interact with messages the way they do? It's all there for the taking. Here's a taste...
Introduction to Apple Human Interface Guidelines...
Example: Menus...
Apple Publications Style Guide (1.14MB PDF)...
Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines...
Example: Visual Index...
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Jun 14
Print Design
I was looking for a simple, comprehensive list of current desktop publishing software and could not find one. Here's mine. If I'm missing something, please comment here and I'll add it.
A note to the purists: Don't freak on me--this is merely a reference list, I'm not making any judgement of quality or suitability for any purpose.
Adobe FrameMaker...
Adobe InDesign...
Adobe PageMaker...
Apple iWork Pages...
Broderbund Print Shop...
Corel Ventura...
InPage...
iStudio Publisher...
Laidout...
Microsoft Office Publisher...
PageFocus Pro...
PageStream...
QuarkXPress...
Ragtime...
Scribus...
Serif PagePlus X4...
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May 19
Web Design
Pattern Tap is an invention of Matthew Smith at Squared Eye. It is (loosely) similar to other pattern libraries (Yahoo has a notable one) in that it presents the what, how, and why of user interface. The value is, instead of searching through a thousand sites for interesting and innovative UI ideas, you can discover designs someone else has found to be particularly notable.
I think you will find that Matthew Smith know of what he speaks. His company site, Squared Eye, is nice to look at AND easy to use—I have long admired it.
Pattern Tap...
The Pattern Tap Twitter page...
Matthew Smith's Squared Eye...
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May 14
Copywriting
In high school, my objective in English class was to get the biggest laugh, not to actually learn anything. Onlinestylebooks.com, as I image it, was created by the girl in class who listened attentively and chuckled when someone said "chomping at the bit" instead of "champing at the bit".
For the record, a style manual is a set of style, usage, procedural, and technological standards adopted by a particular organization for the writing, design, and production of documents. Mary Beth Protomastro, the founder of Copyediting newsletter, owns and operates OnlineStylebooks.com—a search engine for 50-plus online stylebooks.
(To the best of my knowledge, she did not attend my high school.)
The search tool...
The stylebooks referenced, by subject...
The Copyediting newsletter web site...
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Apr 30
Print Design
Graphic design is a quirky business. You can explain what you do to relatives and friends, but no matter how hard you try, only about 10 percent seem to get it. The say, "Yeah, ____ is a graphic designer. We're, uh, real proud...real proud."
So when I meet someone who speaks my language I appreciate it. Jeff Gamet and Jay Nelson do a podcast hosted by CreativePro called Design Tools Weekly--they speak my language. It's nice to sit down once a week and hear a discussion about the hardware, software, and the general state of our business. I recommend it highly.
The Design Tools Weekly Podcast...
AND, as always, you can checkout a free sample issue of Design Tools Monthly here(1.9MB PDF)...
Jay's Twitter page...
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Mar 8
Reference
As every graphic designer knows, you are not free to simply add an illustration or photograph to a brochure or web site without first knowing who owns it and what rights they have to it. Some images are copyrighted—which means the owner dictates how it can be used. Others are copyright-free or their copyrights have expired (generally referred to as being in the public domain)—which means (in most cases) you are free to use it without permission.
The good news is there are millions of public domain images available for use&mdashthe bad news is it isn't always easy to distinguish what is protected and what isn't.
All that said, I have compiled a few pages that point to the issues and one that will get you started finding what you're looking for.
This recent article by John Mark Ockerbloom of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries—Shedding light on images in the public domain—offers a good introduction...
Peter B. Hirtle of Cornell University provides a useful overview of the current laws: Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States...
With that information in mind, you should be sufficiently armed to wander around Wikipedia's "wild west" of public domain image resources—there's lots of opportunity there but travel the territory with caution. (Just because it's listed doesn't mean it's safe to use.)...
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Feb 26
Reference
Occasionally I contribute a review over at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools--just a little something to add to his wonderful list of tools, machines, books, software, gadgets, websites, maps, and ideas housed there. I think of it as a kind of "Consumer Reports" for interesting stuff.
I've pointed you to it before but I wrote a review that they posted today--which gives me cause to point you to it again.
Me and my chair--okay, not a spellbinding subject...
Cool Tools is now being edited by Elon Schoenholz...
Spend the afternoon...
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Dec 11
Print Design
If you've ever designed a book you know there are many parts and pieces--they run the gamut from the purely aesthetic to the legally mandatory. The trick is to understand the differences and to use them to your advantage. Here is a terrific source I came across recently produced by a guy who has a proven track record. Meet book designer Joel Friedlander...
An example: The copyright page...
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Oct 26
Illustration
Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities is a book compiled by John M. Carrera. It features over 1,500 engravings that originally graced the pages of Webster's dictionaries in the 19th century. Here is a fascinating look at the production of the book and the story behind it.
An overview of the project via video. Pictorial Webster's: Inspiration to Completion...
A discussion of the project at Quercus Press...
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Sep 4
Marketing PR
We all know that sound research can help us avoid many of the mistakes typically necessary to arrive at good solutions to common graphic design and marketing problems.
One source of such research is the Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL) at Wichita State University. This group specializes in software/website user interface design, usability testing, and research in human-computer interaction.
I'd like to hear of other sources of graphic design and marketing research--all types. Do you have a source to recommend? A favorite study? A particular statistic that had a significant effect on your work?
SURL...
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Jul 31
Basic design
Everyone involved with designing web sites and creating illustrations needs to understand copyright and fair use. Even if you think you have a good grasp of the subject, you need to periodically refresh your view because it is ever-changing.
Here is a great, new-to-me source of excellent information by (what I assume are) legal experts.
I also include a link to The Center for Internet and Society (CIS)--a public interest technology law and policy program at Stanford Law School--that "brings together scholars, academics, legislators, students, programmers, security researchers, and scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the law."
Stanford Copyright & Fair Use website Overview and Resources section...
An interview with Attorney Richard Stim, author of Getting Permission How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off...
The Center for Internet and Society (CIS)...
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Oct 6
Reference
Jott.com allows you to do just that. You call a toll free number and speak up to 15 seconds. Jott then translates your voice into text and emails you a notification. (Thus far I have found the voice recognition to be surprisingly accurate.) And, the basic service is free! Thanks to my good friend Daniel Will-Harris for introducing me to Jott.
Take a look at Jott...
Daniel Will-Harris introduced me to Jott. Visit his site...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Brenner Pricing Tables...
Aug 25
Reference
I recently was asked if "mining" ideas, color schemes, layouts, and so on is intellectual piracy. My effort to provide a lucid answer led me to, among others, a series of articles written by Linda Joy Kattwinkel, an artist and attorney for Oliver, Kattwinkel & Sabec. I particularly appreciate her perspective because she sees things from a graphic design perspective.
Is it intellectual piracy? Maybe, never, and always...
More excellent insight...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Creative Business CD-ROM...
Jul 21
Reference
This link leads to the AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services—a model for establishing a fairly rigorous set of terms and conditions with clients. If you are a designer I'd like to know if you ask your clients to sign a similar agreement and the extent of it. And if you are a client, I'd like to know if you have been asked to sign such an agreement and the extent of it.
AIGA Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services (450KB PDF) ...
While you're here: another series from the AIGA that speaks to the design business and ethics...
Considering joining the AIGA? Here's an interesting conversation...
NEW in the Ideabook Design Store: Tintbook CMYK Process Color Selector...
Jul 11
Reference
Need details about the 22 possible elements of a copyright page? How to punctuate an indirect one-word question? Under what circumstance to abbreviate the books of the Bible? It's all in the The Chicago Manual of Style: “One essential reference for all who work with words—writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers.”
A searchable version of the fifteenth edition is now available online (it started as a pamphlet in 1906 and is now 984-pages). An individual, one-year subscription us $30 and they offer a 30 day free trial.
The Chicago Manual of Style Online...
A list of proofreader's marks...
For those into the nitty-gritty: The University of Chicago Press Art Submission Requirements (570KB PDF)...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Creative Business CD-ROM...
Jun 18
Reference
Curious about what other designers make? Here are the results of the annual salary survey commissioned by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). Don't miss the calculator, it allows you to search by the type and size of organization, the client base, and the location.
The AIGA/Aquent Survey of Design Salaries...
The Salary Calculator...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Becoming a Graphic Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design, 3rd Edition...
May 16
Reference
In January of this year the U.S. Census Bureau announced the publication of the Census Atlas of the United States—the first comprehensive atlas of population and housing produced by the Census Bureau since the 1920s. It is 300 pages long and contains almost 800 maps.
There are two reasons to take a look at this PDF version of the atlas. First, it contains an amazing amount of fascinating information. And second, it is a fine example of clear, insightful information design.
Census Atlas of the United States...
Another extensive government resource: The National Atlas of the United States...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Becoming a Graphic Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design, 3rd Edition...
May 7
Reference
Every designer should be a student of copyright and trademark laws. These laws not only protect your work and mine, they protect the work of others—everyone from artists and designers to corporations and public institutions. Part of our job is to be certain that the illustrations and photographs we incorporate into our work do not infringe on existing copyrights or trademarks. Or, if they do, that they are properly recognized and documented.
It is not as simple as it looks. Here, for example, is a technical wiki for the royalty-free illustration and photography site istockphoto.com. It is designed to help the those who submit work for sale to understand what can and cannot be distributed under royalty-free guidelines. You might be surprised at the scope of the imagery that cannot be used without the permission of its owners.
The istockphoto wiki on copyright and trademark issues ...
Copyright basics...
Trademark basics...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Design-It-Yourself: Graphic Workshopa...
Apr 14
Reference
Guy Kawasaki makes it look easy. This time he, Will Mayall, and Kathryn Henkens (all principles of Nononia, Inc.) have birthed Alltop—a table of contents to “all the top” stories on the web.
What type of semantic computational algorithm could possibly make such a subjective judgment? The human brain. Yup, these industry innovators propose that what we need is not another regurgitation of every other machine-picked list, but a lineup selected by people.
“The bottom line,'” as they describe it, “is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In this way, our goal is the 'cessation of Internet stagnation.'”
We are honored to be included on the Design page.
The home page with all the categories...
The Alltop.com Design Category—LOOK, there's pageplane.com next to the kid with the circle on his shirt...
In the Ideabook Design Store: FontHead Typefaces...
Feb 11
Reference
Designers Toolbox is a collection of resources worth a look. It provides quick reference to topics such as envelope, pocket folder, and DVD/CD cover and label dimensions, standard stock sizes, lists of HTML characters, proof reading marks, and so on. They also offer a variety of paid products and services. All nicely designed.
Designers Toolbox...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Templates for InDesign, QuarkXpress, or PageMaker...
Jun 4
Reference
None of us lives in a vacuum; we are all influenced by the sparks of concepts, imagery, color, configuration, and typography we see in the world around us. Early books on advertising and design are an excellent source of inspiration—they show the seeds of today's crop.
Optos Books is a rare and out-of-print bookstore that specializes in books on design and the decorative arts. Find something interesting? You'll also find a fair number of these titles on amazon.com—some reprints and some from other resellers under the “Used & new” option.
Here is the graphic design and typography category...
An example of a title on early 20th century signage (click to maximize the illustration)...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Moleskine Notebooks...
May 14
Reference
This site offers a free tool for mapping all the pages of a Web site (up to 500) and for exporting the map/list in several different formats. Why map a Web? It is another way to see how it is structured and to capture the URL of each page. It is also plays a role in optimizing a site for search engines.
Start mapping with XML-Sitemaps.com...
Nov 27
Reference
Every client, designer, photographer, illustrator, and writer should know the basics of copyright. If you're new to the subject, this is a good place to begin:
www.copyright.gov
Nov 22
Reference
Here's another amazing leap toward the virtual. Microsoft Live Local offers a bird's eye view of a the planet. What makes it so different is the growing number of areas photographed from low-flying airplanes in high-resolution. For example: a lighthouse on Gasparilla Island, in Florida:
local.live.com (Florida)
The home page...
And a companion site that points to many interesting destinations—www.birdseyetourist.com
Nov 8
Reference
The gethuman database offers toll-free phone numbers and keys to connecting with a human being at some of the world's largest organizations.
gethuman.com
Aug 7
Reference
Bartleby.com publishes the classics of literature, nonfiction, and reference free of charge. It began as a personal research experiment in 1993 and since its incorporation in 1999 has become the most comprehensive reference publisher on the Web.
The cover page.
http://www.bartleby.com/
Jul 10
Reference
I saved this for last because, if you're anything like me, you could spend half a day searching Google's groundbreaking new map application. Check this out:
Here's a map showing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco...
Click on “Satellite” (upper right) and you get the same image in photographic detail!
Cross country
Then, try clicking on the page above and drag your mouse to move right. Unbelievable! You can actually travel across the United States (by map or satellite image) to the east coast!
Jun 23
Reference
If you are reading this (and I'm writing it), neither of us is attending TED this week in Monterey, California (we'll just have to ride it out). TED, an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, is an invitation only, four-day conference that presents an impressive roster of speakers including some of the most renowned creatives, innovators, entertainers, and provocateurs on the planet—everyone from Bill Gates to Billy Graham. Looks interesting. To get a taste, go...
http://ted.com/about/introduction/flash_page.cfm
Then select “Highlights.”
May 3
Reference
Postal Explorer is a virtual library of postal information designed for business mailers. Everything you ever need to know about designing mail pieces. For example, w Wondering exactly where to place the mailing indicia? Search “permit imprints.” Want to know what postcard dimensions qualify for first class card rate? Search “postcard dimensions.”
http://pe.usps.gov
Feb 15
Reference
Looking for a source of CD-ROM packaging? Paper coasters? Clear mailing tubes? Tin paint cans? Thomas Register is online (you've probably seen its big green books in the reference section of the library). It catalogs the names and contact information for over one hundred and fifty thousand manufacturers in the United States and Canada.
http://www.thomasregister.com/
Jan 13
Reference
One of my favorite things: every morning, more than 100 newspapers from around the world submit their front pages to newseum.org via the Internet. It is not only a great way to get the news, but a great source of newspaper design inspiration.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
