Blogdini

Build it & they will come?

2011-07-01T10:54:00.000+12:00

Not quite that easy.

Everyone wants to be on page 1 of Google. If it was easy -- everyone would be there.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) requires expertise, time, commitment (ongoing) and doesn't come cheap. Therefore, once you attract visitors to your site, it makes sense to make the most of those visits.

Read on to see what SEO Book has to say about turning traffic into visitors . . .

"We expend time and energy getting a site to rank a few places higher, or for a wider range of keywords, but it also pays to focus our attention on what happens after visitors arrive. If visitors arrive, but click-back because a site isn't what they expected to see, then the effort we've put into ranking is wasted". More

Support Japan and New Zealand with the first Threadless Causes tees

2011-03-25T11:17:00.001+13:00

Support a good cause at Threadless

And the winner is . . .

2011-03-14T10:38:00.002+13:00

Excellecico — the Winner of the worst logo contest.

"The spirit of Excellencico is in their hard, penetrating strategic model. Their exploding success leaves the competition limp, tired and wanting a smoke."

via Liquid Treat

(Note use of classy typeface)

22.2.2011

2011-03-01T13:10:00.006+13:00

Our Darkest Day, always remembered

Dom Post via Kiwiblog

Honeysuckle — the new turquoise

2011-02-11T13:55:00.003+13:00

More cool stuff using the Pantone colour of the year — "Year of Honeysuckle" at istock.

Workin' on a Building

2011-02-08T15:22:00.012+13:00

It's always the way. Like a builder never gets their own house finished, I haven't sorted the Blondini Gang website since we set up biz some years ago. Needless to say, it's pretty much crap.

But the good news is a revamped site will be up in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1. . . Well soonish.

In other news, I have cool new business cards which feature the Pantone colour of the year.

"This card features the Pantone colour
of the year for 2011.
PANTONE® 18-2120 Honeysuckle
“A brave new color, for a brave new world.
Let the bold spirit of Honeysuckle infuse you, lift you and carry you through the year. It’s a color for every day — with nothing ‘everyday’ about it.”
www.pantone.com

Damn you Comic Sans!

2011-01-25T10:33:00.007+13:00

"Better Learning through Comic Sans?

Toss out your elegant Helvetica flashcards and start typing those lecture notes and study guides in Mistral, Freestyle Script, and, yes, Comic Sans. Findings published this month in the journal Cognition suggest that people learn better when the information is written in fonts that are difficult to read. Researchers at Princeton asked volunteers to memorize novel information typed in either Arial or more challenging ('disfluent') fonts, Comic Sans MS or Bodini MT.
When later asked to recall the information, the group who had studied the 'funkier' fonts scored an average of 14 percent higher than those who had read the information in Arial.
Asecond study confirmed the results in a group of high school students (this time faced with Hattenschweiller, Monotype Corsiva, and Comic Sans Italicized). "If a simple change of font can significantly increase student performance," conclude the authors, "one can only imagine the number of beneficial cognitive interventions waiting to be discovered.""

From ScienceDirect via MediaBistro

That's the first time I've heard Comic Sans being described as funky! 'Disfluent' sounds more like it.

Obsessed with Facebook? Much?

2011-01-17T10:20:00.002+13:00

Cool infographic!

Via: Online Schools

2011 a space oddity

2011-01-10T11:14:00.002+13:00

Not a lot of action on Blogdini in 2010. Must do better in 2011. Not to mention must revamp website.

Mildly disturbing, though, to see via my Google places account that some of the most used search terms to arrive there are: gang, gangs and gangs in new zealand! Bet they didn't find what they were looking for . . .

'Tis the season to be jolly

2010-12-09T10:12:00.000+13:00

Festive forklift. "I do it every year," says operator.

You're doin' it wrong!

2010-10-01T10:38:00.005+13:00

The Ten Worst Tech Ads For Women (at Jezebel)

Ladies, did you know you can do more than email and shop on computers? Been looking for that on-the-move bra-size converter? If you've been laboring under the delusion that gadgets are just for boys, then here's some great news!

Read more (and weep laydeez).

Rant

2010-09-23T13:56:00.003+12:00

What is it with sigwriters? Are they all born without any idea about design or typography (or colour, for that matter?) Do they train at all, or do they just buy a machine & decide to be a signwriter in the manner of those who think they are designers because they can use InDesign, or (God help me), Microsoft Publisher?

Viewing signwriting sites is causing me to lose will to live. Only one so far with any design merit. Will choose them for price to produce signs.

My Hero(ine)

2010-09-21T09:44:00.005+12:00

Vivienne Westwood at London Fashion Week

"As sprightly as a sixth former, the high priestess of punk showed she has lost none of her irreverence, even at the ripe old age of 68." London Telegraph

Vivienne Westwood Red Label SS11 catwalk show

International Freelancers Day

2010-09-16T10:24:00.005+12:00

Am signing up for the International Freelancers Day online conference (September 24 and 25).

Some cool speakers. Two of my faves: Pamela Slim and Michael Huggins (from For Graphic Designers Only (FGDO)).

Create Your Own QR Codes

2010-08-21T12:34:00.006+12:00

"A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobiles phones with camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the initialism of Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. "(from Wikipedia)

Plus they look cool!

Here's mine

Generate yours here

Then download a QR reader from the itunes app store to read it.

Buying design

2010-08-13T12:29:00.003+12:00

Mule Design has some great tips on buying design.

See me if you want to buy some after reading!

Cool space available

2010-08-13T11:38:00.003+12:00

We have a space available for creative or geeky type. Close to Cuba St and Courtenay Place.

Surrounded by cafes!!! and 5 mins to Moore Wilsons. To share with three other (V cool) creative companies in a spacious and light space.

More info here

Secret Women's (Ad) Business

2010-07-28T10:41:00.004+12:00

Check this out at Jezebel

"The Best Mad Men Infomercial Pitches

We asked you to create a Mad Men-style ad for popular infomercial products, and the response was highly impressive."

Very impressive — and convincing — and scary . . .

Logo trends 2010

2010-06-22T10:48:00.004+12:00

Check out 2010 logo design trends at Logolounge.com.

The new Telecom looks like a 'spore'.

"Microbial hitchhikers with all the tact of a sticker or cockle burr, these logos are a scaled-back version of a radiant star, and they typically start to take on three-dimensional qualities. They tend to be suspended in space or give the appearance of an underwater mine placidly floating in wait. (In fact, any of these logos could be a perfect candidate for animation.) Despite such dire comparisons, these logos still maintain an attractive, mathematical and mysterious quality that allows them to work well."

True confessions from print designers

2010-05-25T10:31:00.007+12:00

The Graphics.com Newsletter always contains heaps of good info & tips.

Here's a good one from the latest newsletter: "Top Mistakes Designers Make When Sending to Printers — True confessions from print designers".

Worth a read if you send stuff to printers (and who doesn't)?

I think feedback from printers if something's not right with a file is a GOOD thing. We all have blonde moments!

Sad news and hard news

2010-05-24T16:58:00.004+12:00

Hard News reports: "Paul Reynolds, internet developer, commentator and catalyst, died suddenly yesterday morning. He would have understood and approved of the way the sad news spread – via Twitter, Facebook and old-fashioned email".

I heard the news via Twitter last night. A terrible shock. My thoughts are with Helen.

HTML5 vs Flash

2010-05-19T09:45:00.007+12:00

A succinct summary of the perceived roles of each at Smashing Magazine. "HTML5 And Flash: Why It’s Not A War, And Why Flash Won’t Die"

CS5

2010-05-19T09:45:00.005+12:00

I wants it.

Upgrade, Shmupgrade

2010-05-10T11:39:00.002+12:00

Off to the Adobe Roadshow today to hear all about CS5. Crikey, doesn't seem long since I got CS4!

Moving

2010-05-03T15:13:00.001+12:00

Well moved, actually. To The Space at 1 Wakefield Street.

Infographics

2010-04-29T10:40:00.002+12:00

How to choose a typeface and other cool examples of presenting information graphically at Design Reviver.

"How a web design goes straight to hell"

2010-04-19T15:51:00.006+12:00

Lis reminds us of the joys of webdesign with this gem from the oatmeal.com.

We all know someone who has a "nephew that can do web pages".

Back on the case

2010-04-12T11:38:00.005+12:00

Well after a rark-up by Lis, back on the job with Blogdini.

Some useful hints here about what NOT to do when using stock photography (from Design Shack).

For example: where possible, DIY.

New Zealand pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale a success

2010-01-26T08:42:00.005+13:00

Creative New Zealand reports: "New Zealand’s participation at the art world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition – the Venice Biennale – was a critical and popular success with an unprecedented number of visitors passing through the 2009 exhibitions."
More

Happy New Year

2010-01-05T09:04:00.003+13:00

New Year's resolution. Keep Blogdini posted!

Separated at birth?

2009-10-27T10:51:00.008+13:00

I wonder if by chance these two are related?

NBR article: "New Telecom logo divides customers"
Stuff: "Take Telecom's new logo as you like"

Bit wait. . . there's more. . .

Back to Surreality

2009-09-17T10:33:00.006+12:00

Just returned from a week in Melbourne. The Dali show (Liquid Desire) at NGV is absolutely brilliant. It's on till beginning of October. Definitely worth a look if you are in Melbourne. Amazing to see the fine detail and use of light in his work when you see the originals.

My favourites were the beautiful etchings & jewellery.

Next stop, the Dali museum in Figueres to see the beating ruby heart in real life.

So much cool stuff to see besides melting clocks.

Anyway, back into it here at Blondini Gang. Need to upgrade website & logo. . . . AND do real work.

Exhibition Open!

2009-08-06T15:14:00.005+12:00

We had a very successful opening for the Sunday Printmakers exhibition last night at the Odlin Gallery in Lower Hutt. A big crowd attended and enjoyed the work and the wine & the nibbles provided by Sarah.

Hutt City Councillor, Barbara Branch officially opened the exhibition and spoke about the important place facilities such as the Hutt Art Society hold in the community. She thought that these sorts of facilities will become even more valuable in times when funds for Community Education are being cut.

The work looks good — well framed and well displayed. Some sales were made, which is great.
Check out the show when you get a chance — it is open 10 am til 4pm until the 16th August at the Odlin Gallery in Lower Hutt.

Sunday Printmakers Exhibition

2009-08-03T15:34:00.006+12:00

The Sunday Printmakers Exhibition opens at the Odlin Gallery, Hutt Art Society in Lower Hutt this Wednesday (5th August) at 6.30pm. It runs till the 16th of August, 10.00am to 4.00pm.

It is an exhibition of woodcuts, linocuts, etchings and screen prints by a small group of us (printmakers) who work out of the print studio at the Hutt Art Society. We meet on the first Sunday of every month.

E-learning webinars coralled

2009-07-28T08:35:00.004+12:00

eLearning Technology has brought together in one place, a list of free webinars for learning professionals.

Colour in Venice

2009-07-02T10:26:00.003+12:00

Colourlovers.com have a cool posting: Color From The Venice Biennale which features Francis Upritchard’s installation.

Venice Biennale 2009

2009-06-17T14:10:00.009+12:00

The 2009 Venice Biennale is on. It officially opened on June 7th. New Zealand is represented by two artists : Judy Millar and Francis Upritchard.

There is a list of published articles about the Biennale here at Creative New Zealand’s New Zealand at the Venice Biennale 2009 site.

The Press has Chris Moore reporting from Venice.

Also you can read the NZ at Venice blog which has a lot of cool images from the Biennale.

The main Biennale site is here.

DINZ Designers Speak PLURALS Series: Design Teams — Collaborative Projects

2009-06-16T15:40:00.005+12:00

Looks like an interesting session.
Wednesday 24th June in Wellington.

Presentation ONE
Design Team: Dean Poole, Alt Group and Ed Burak, Formway Furniture
Collaborative Project: HUM - Minds at Work

Presentation TWO
Design Team: Hayden Vink, DNA and Simon Coley, Powershop
Collaborative Project: Power to the People

Presentation THREE
Design Team: Arch McDonnell, Inhouse Design and Andy Pickering, Pilot Magazine
Collaborative Project: Pilot

Presentation FOUR
Design Team: Peter Mitchell from SPA and Dan Males from Isthmus, with client: Wellington Waterfront, Andrew Howie
Collaborative Project: Kumutoto
More info

To Whom It May Concern

2009-06-16T14:43:00.000+12:00

I'm a City Girrl now!

2009-06-02T10:09:00.005+12:00

Blondini Gang Design has been here now for 3 weeks. It's cool.

View My Saved Places in a larger map

The Big Move

2009-05-07T11:27:00.013+12:00

Well Blondini Gang is moving from Petone to the Big Smoke.

We are moving into Wellington this weekend and will be open for business in Wakefield Street from Monday, May 11th.

It's exciting, but a bit scary to be moving into the big city — even the trees are dangerous!

It wasn't us occifer!

2009-04-20T13:06:00.002+12:00

(We were in LA)

The Blondini Gang tore through Invercargill's Eastern Cemetery yesterday, 28 years after their first visit . . . more

LOL

2009-03-17T11:37:00.002+13:00

Today's JOT (Joy of Tech)
(Should have really blogged this on Purrgatory. . .)

DIY Website

2009-03-17T11:08:00.002+13:00

Find out how here: Build your own website for free: A comedy in 5 easy steps.

Bushfire Appeal

2009-02-11T10:16:00.003+13:00

Help Sitepoint help the Australian bushfire appeal. Buy 5 of their books for only $US29.00.

Titles include:

The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
The Ultimate CSS Reference

A Mighty Wind

2009-02-11T10:15:00.000+13:00

Unbelievable! Link

Found Art

2009-02-11T09:50:00.003+13:00

Look at this cool thing found & photographed by Art is My Life.

Godzone on the footpath!

TwitterFry

2009-01-30T10:53:00.003+13:00

Stephen Fry's Twitter suggestions. He has 100,000 followers! I have 54 . . . a fair percentage of whom appear to be 14 year old boys . . .

Cool Tees on sale

2009-01-29T10:34:00.001+13:00

Last day for Threadless sale!

Warning -- Will Robinson!

2009-01-29T09:15:00.004+13:00

Creative Tech has Twittered this Font Haiku (at Boing Boing).

Papyarus or Comic Sans, anyone?

So TODAY!

2009-01-28T10:53:00.006+13:00

Web design trends and more web design trends at Smashing Magazine.
Lots of inspiration & cool ideas.

The Man with the Golden Voice

2009-01-22T09:50:00.008+13:00

The Leonard Cohen concert was just so good.

And did I mention I was sitting in the front row?

If he's playing anywhere you — just go.

As Simon Sweetman (DomPost critic) says here: "It is hard work having to put this concert in to words so I'll just say something I have never said in a review before and will never say again: this was the best show I have ever seen."

We also quote this LC poem:

"I heard of a man
who says words so beautifully
that if he only speaks their name
women give themselves to him.

If I am dumb beside your body
while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips
it is because I hear a man climb stairs
and clear his throat outside our door."

I took a photo & a v short video before my camera got shut down. Will post anon.

Turning Green

2009-01-15T10:14:00.004+13:00

Ecofont. Uses less ink! Free to download.

Styley Typography

2009-01-14T10:52:00.004+13:00

Some interesting examples of print-based typography here at Spoonfed Design (11 Essential Tips for Good Print Typography).

All I want for Christmas. . .

2009-01-13T13:20:00.004+13:00

Well it's too late for this Xmas — but next. . .

Season's Greetings

2008-12-12T15:24:00.005+13:00

Instant colour schemes!

2008-11-05T11:04:00.005+13:00

Save time (well mess about & have a bit of fun) with instant colour schemes.
Hat tip to Creatica Daily.

Hallelujah!

2008-10-30T14:34:00.006+13:00

Came back from Noumea to the best news! Leonard Cohen is playing TSB Arena on 20th Jan. Can't wait.
UPDATE: Have got ticket.

Concert details here and here

Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen's coming (Dom Post)

“The acrid, dystopian humour … is a reminder that the only people who dub Cohen depressing are those that don’t get the jokes.” THE GUARDIAN [UK]

Politics, shmolotics

2008-10-02T11:21:00.003+13:00

Roarprawn has new logo & a link to Blondini Gang & the Titi T-shirt (get 'em here).

Go the BB!

Keep Up!

2008-10-02T10:29:00.006+13:00

Adobe Creative Suite 4 is here! Crikey — feels like I just got Creative Suite 3.
The best thing, though is that you can now have multiple pages (artboards) in Illustrator 4.

You can register for the Adobe Online Creative Festival for all the info. It's on Wednesday 22 October.

The Style Queen out & about

2008-09-19T11:23:00.006+12:00

I don't get out much, but 2 fashion shows in one week! It's NZ Fashion Week in Auckland, but this in right here in Wellington. & Goody Bags!

Ashley Fogel at Kirkaldies & lots of cool labels at The Old Bank Arcade.

Off Topic-ish — But Fruity

2008-09-11T12:33:00.004+12:00

How cool is this? Banana Chandelier

World famous in Petone

2008-09-05T13:20:00.006+12:00

"I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo
has been selected for inclusion in the newly released fifth
edition of our Schmap Wellington Guide:"

Cook Strait Crossing

Logo Trends for 2008

2008-09-02T11:14:00.002+12:00

Here at Logo Lounge

(Note to self: Read carefully as have 2 logos to design at mo)

Road Age

2008-09-01T11:06:00.005+12:00

What is it with male drivers of a certain who wear hats? And women drivers of a certain (or any) age driving metallic turquoisey powder-blue cars?

Back in Black

2008-09-01T10:49:00.007+12:00

Melbourne > State of Design Festival > Stencil Art (@ Back to Basics) > Design Made Trade > Flu > Lose will to live > Can out of printmaking workshop > Art Deco @ National Gallery > NZ > Slowly regain will to live > Back to Blondini Gang

On tablets of stone

2008-07-16T10:47:00.005+12:00

The 10 Commandments of Web Design

1. Thou shalt not abuse Flash.
2. Thou shalt not hide content.
3. Thou shalt not clutter.
4. Thou shalt not overuse glassy reflections.
5. Thou shalt not name your Web 2.0 company with an unnecessary surplus or dearth of vowels.
6. Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography.
7. Thou shalt create immersive experiences.
8. Thou shalt be social.
9. Thou shalt embrace proven technologies.
10. Thou shalt make content king.

(From Creative Bits)

Bembo's Zoo

2008-07-09T12:27:00.004+12:00

Animated animals from type for all you font freaks (You know who you are).
Link

In a Former Life 2

2008-07-05T11:15:00.004+12:00

Eek. I Might be turning back into scary printmaker. Am off to another printworkshop at Hutt Art Society on July 12th.

And am getting the Press Gang etching press shipped up from Invercargill when our garage is (re)built.

Content is queen

2008-07-04T10:29:00.003+12:00

“Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.”
-Jeffrey Zeldman (link)

(From a list of quotes on Signal vs. Noise today)

iphone plan?

2008-07-01T12:27:00.005+12:00

Hmmm... Hope Vodafone are not going to require a specific plan for iphone. I just signed up on a new 2 year plan on the understanding it would transfer to iphone!

Update
International iPhone pricing guide
(No info for NZ as yet)

I can haz iphone?

2008-06-10T12:10:00.005+12:00

Yay. 3G iphone July 11. Still nothing on Vodafone site about it yet, though.

And MobileMe. Maybe it was worth renewing my .mac account after all!

Blow by blow account of devts here

Anarchy in the E.D.U

2008-06-05T11:41:00.003+12:00

Martin Weller at The Ed Techie has made a vid: One for the Edupunkers.
Check it out.

More on Edupunk: DIY Edtech?

2008-06-03T11:20:00.008+12:00

Stephen Downs says: " The concept of Edupunk has totally caught wind, spreading through the blogosphere like wildfire."

The Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus on Edupunk. "Frustrated With Corporate Course-Management Systems, Some Professors Go 'Edupunk".

Blogher 'introduces' edupunk.

Links to Edupunk articles:
http://edupunk.org/

In a Former Life

2008-05-29T11:18:00.004+12:00

Meet Your Printmaker today featured Studio Camnitzer.

Studio Camnitzer is a studio residence for artists located in the small village of Valdottavo in Tuscany, Italy; eight miles from the city of Lucca, in an 18th century farmhouse. In 2000 the studio became a centre for artist residencies after providing courses in art for nearly 25 years.

I attended one of the Studio's photoetching courses some years ago. It was a great experience. I would like to go back there one day.

Edupunk

2008-05-28T14:52:00.005+12:00

"Enter stage left: EDUPUNK!

My next series of posts will be about what I think EDUPUNK is and the necessity for a communal vision of EdTech to fight capital’s will to power at the expense of community. I hope others will join me." Jim Groom Link

edupunk @ Mike Caulfields blog

Education as the Antichrist in bondage trousers & safety pins, or what?

Pecha Kucha in Lower Hutt

2008-05-23T12:26:00.005+12:00

Pecha Kucha night at the New Dowse.

Featuring:

Kris Sowersby – KLIM Type Foundry on creating typefaces, and
Michel Tuffery — artist about his work

The End of the Golden Weather

2008-05-22T11:06:00.001+12:00

Get out the merinos!

Girl Geek DInners

2008-05-21T12:02:00.004+12:00

The next one is in Auckland for all you JAFA Girl Geeks (You know who you are).
Wednesday 28th May at Microsoft House in Auckland. More info.

The State of The New

2008-05-08T13:37:00.007+12:00

My new 24" imac is great. Faster, better & cooler (and quieter) than the old G4. A few teething probs — a couple of apps won't run; scanner driver needs updated, etc, etc. But overall, great. And — getting used to Leopard.

But of course, about a day after I'd got the ram upgraded & set up the new machine — Apple announces a bigger, better imac!!!!

hmph. . .

Coming up in July

2008-04-22T12:01:00.003+12:00

Am booking in for the State of Design Festival in Melbourne.

"The State of Design Festival is Victoria’s peak design event. The Festival will cover many cross-disciplinary design agendas relating to the profession of design and the marketplace that it provides to.

The Festival offers both local and international conversations on design, with a focus on design from across Victoria."

Check it out.

DEANZ Keynote Speakers

2008-04-22T11:12:00.005+12:00

The DEANZ Keynote Speakers have been announced. They are:

Nancy White (Full Circle Associates)

Nancy White — an international expert in understanding and practicing online group facilitation of distributed work, learning and community groups (presenter, writer, teacher, coach, facilitator, rapporteur).

and

Michael Barbour

Michael Barbour — currently an Assistant Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit,
Michigan.

Mark your diaries!

2008-04-11T13:47:00.005+12:00

The DEANZ (Distance Education Association of NewZealand's) 2008 conference is coming up:

My Place, My Space, My Learning —
Distance and Virtual Education
Sunday 17 August — Wednesday 20 August
Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand.

Keynote speakers are about to be announced.
Check out the conference site for the latest info.

The Book of Longing

2008-03-17T13:09:00.010+13:00

The Book of Longing (Phillip Glass) was the only thing I attended at this year's International Arts Festival.

Interesting
Different
as they say.

You can here more about it at the iTunes Store (iTunes U/Stanford/Fine Arts/An Evening with Leonard Cohen and Philip Glass).

But you can't beat the real thing.

Event Planning

2008-03-14T10:55:00.003+13:00

I want to do this
Typeshed11
and
this
SXSW
in 2009

Off Topic

2008-03-14T10:42:00.003+13:00

Biked to Pencarrow lighthouse after work yesterday.

First time for AGES. And it took me about the longest time ever (without handicaps of stiff Northerly on way back, or husband). I have to please a slight headwind on way out & flat front tyre in my defense).

Saw lots of sheep, goats, a few fishermen, a couple of joggers & a few other cyclists.

I brought back a sheep skull for the WoWo project (of which more later, hopefully).

Anyway, need to do it a few more times to get up to speed for Wheels Beside the Water on 30 March.

E-Learning in the New Year

2008-01-25T09:46:00.000+13:00

eLearn Magazine's predictions for 2008 are here

Webstock News

2008-01-25T09:33:00.000+13:00

WebStock has also got CraftStock

Downtime — please!

2008-01-25T09:23:00.000+13:00

A whole list of stuff to do in downtime is here at Freelance News.

Extra list item:

Watch Helvetica, The Movie

Bembo, Bembo, where you going to go-e-o?

2008-01-23T11:31:00.000+13:00

Kris Sowersby, a professional type designer from New Zealand has written about the dominance of Bembo as a typeface in New Zealand book design & some of the shortfalls of digital typography.

He talks about the difference between hand cut type for letterpress and how each font size had specific proportions and subtle variations and contrasts this to digital typography where 'one size fits all' and fonts are just enlarged to suit. He discusses how this affects especially Old Style fonts such as Bembo.
Why Bembo Sucks.

2008

2008-01-18T11:18:00.000+13:00

A belated Happy New Year.

Back from holiday in Oz. Spent in Melbourne & the Barossa Valley & featuring a photographic 'study' of Aussie wildlife road signs. A selection of which here.

Season's Greetings

2007-12-19T10:41:00.001+13:00

Skitch

2007-11-23T12:14:00.000+13:00

I've been Skitching. It's cool! And useful!

It's great just for doodling or for doing serious stuff like anotating screen captures to send to fellow gang members (I mean, colleagues) who are working remotely.

Blog, beautiful blog

2007-11-23T12:01:00.000+13:00

I need to pretty-up Blogdini!

Smashing Magazine has selected over 30 excellent weblog designs with unusual design approaches.

Most of these designs make the Blogger templates look pretty ho-hum. (Note to self -- must sort out look of Blogdini. . . one day, Roger Phipps.)

Conference notes with pictures

2007-10-31T10:58:00.000+13:00

So cool. Link

I can't has old apps!?

2007-10-30T10:30:00.000+13:00

Eek! Leopard is starting to sound a bit scarey. Stuff isn't running on it: Acrobat Pro & for some people, InDesign CS3. There should be patches to fix this in New Year. But it looks like CS2 & Freehand won't ever run on Leopard. Better get those Illustrator skills up to scratch!

Here's some stuff. . .
"Products that will require updates for full Leopard compatibility include Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and the company’s professional video applications, including Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects CS3 Professional, Encore CS3 and Soundbooth CS3." Link

And here are some user's comment from that site (Macworld):
"The details of Acrobat incompatibility are horrifying! So far there have been no posts from anyone who can produce an Acrobat file under Leopard. This makes Leopard COMPLETELY unusable for a large percentage of Mac users! Why was there no discussion of this before the release! How could Apple and Adobe not see this coming?"

"OSX has the ability create a PDF from any document natively in the OS. You will still be able to create PDFs (distill) but some of the more advanced functions of control in manipulating those PDFs will be unstable when using ACROBAT PRO."

"According to Adobe's web site all their CS3 graphics programs including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc. are currently compatible with OSX Leopard.
By not having Acrobat 8.1.1 Professional immediately compatible, the other programs are essentially unusable to any practicing graphic designer since today's printing workflows depend on making valid PDF files."

And other comments from TUAW

"if you read the acrobat pdf carefully, you learn that acrobat runs well, except some small bugs. these minibugs will not break the main functions of acrobat. i can confirm that. so run it!"

Check out the statement (pdf) from the Adobe site.
If you are going to let Leopard loose, here are installation hints from MacWorld.
Creative Guy tells us what's working and not working on his MacPro.

The Big Idea

2007-10-25T16:35:00.000+13:00

The Big Idea is a great resource for all arts & design related stuff in New Zealand. They list events, job opportunities, workspaces, exhibitions . . .

More than 14,000 people have registered as members of The Big Idea since they launched five years ago.

OMG,YES!!

2007-10-19T11:11:00.000+13:00

Yay, Kathy Sierra is speaking at Webstock 08!

Kathy's workshop at Webstock 06

She was such good value at the last Webstock.

Is it or isn't it?

2007-10-17T13:26:00.000+13:00

Seraphim, in the Users' Forum at Creative Bits gives some fairly basic guidelines on what is & what isn't a logo.

Basically; keep it simple & keep it vector.

Worth a read for those of you who aren't sure -- you know who you are!

Colour my world

2007-10-08T10:53:00.000+13:00

There are some really useful and interesting comments regarding colour (rgb & cmyk) for those of us involved in design for print. They are at Creative Bits and are in response to this question regarding rgb & cmyk conversion.

There is also a review of Skitch, which looks like its going to be a pretty useful & cool app, especially for anyone working with images. I've received an invitation and downloaded it, but have only had a very cursory go with it so far. More anon.