xBlog: The visual thinking weblog
24th July 2003

Adtunes.com > Find TV Commercial Ad Music

“Welcome to Adtunes.com! We hope this ad music weblog serves as a great source of information on songs and music used in television commercials, movie trailers, tv shows, and much more. If you’re looking for information on a song or ad, a great place to start is in our user forums.”

posted in Advertising | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

SnapBack - Secure Your Domain

“Search for soon-to-expire names available for back-order. The SnapBack back-ordering system helps you secure desired domain names and protect the names you already have, all for only $69 a year.”

posted in Domain names | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

Knowspam

“Enjoy email with Knowspam. Knowspam is an easy, effective spam-blocking service that eliminates 100% of spam. It works for anyone with a POP account.”

posted in Email/Spam | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

Designers: Time for Change

“Although design is one of the most profoundly powerful disciplines in our modern information culture, its identity as a profession is in a state of incoherent disarray verging on crisis. The economic slowdown and tenuous world situation provide us an opportunity to come together as designers to articulate and organize our professional culture, to enhance our recognition and prestige within the context of an increasingly design-reliant information economy and to wield our influence in ways that will benefit humanity and the planet.”

posted in Graphic design | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

GoodLogo!com - Top 250

“This site is dedicated to the artform of the logo and its accompanied corporate identity. We hope to serve you here with the finest selection of logos, selected and submitted by everyone from all over the world. With our voting and rating system and our classification in categories we would like to give you a multidimensional view on the best logos for different purposes.” (Note: Seems like a slow server.)

posted in Logos/Symbols | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

Adtunes.com > Find TV Commercial Ad Music

“Welcome to Adtunes.com! We hope this ad music weblog serves as a great source of information on songs and music used in television commercials, movie trailers, tv shows, and much more. If you’re looking for information on a song or ad, a great place to start is in our user forums.”

posted in Movies/TV | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

Adtunes.com > Find TV Commercial Ad Music

“Welcome to Adtunes.com! We hope this ad music weblog serves as a great source of information on songs and music used in television commercials, movie trailers, tv shows, and much more. If you’re looking for information on a song or ad, a great place to start is in our user forums.”

posted in Music | Permalink | Comments Off

24th July 2003

Helvetica vs. Arial

“Helvetica was developed by the Haas Foundry of Switzerland in the 1950s. Microsoft distributed a typeface called Arial, a very similar typeface, that comes bundled with every desktop computer. Thus Arial has now overtaken Helvetica as the standard font in practically everything done by those who don’t know better. Take the role of Helvetica nd let Arial know we don’t need its type around here.”

posted in Typography | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

International Information Architecture

“Connecting people from diverse disciplines, countries and cultures is a strategic imperative, not only for AIfIA but for the information architecture community as a whole. Our competitive advantage derives from our very ability to build bridges and span networks. This argument alone should provide ample incentive for us to nurture an international perspective within the practice, but there are all sorts of idiosyncratic reasons why information architects should reach across borders.”

posted in Information architecture | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

The Information Design approach to Web development

“Aside from people, information is the single most valuable asset for business. At every level, in every department, for every company, information is critical. The better the information, the more successful the company and the people within it can be. Improving products and services, understanding markets, improving internal process and communication — information is the catalyst that allows people to see the best course and to make substantive change, as well as often being the deliverable itself.”

posted in Information design | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

Early Voices: The Leap to Language

“Bower birds are artists, leaf-cutting ants practice agriculture, crows use tools, chimpanzees form coalitions against rivals. The only major talent unique to humans is language, the ability to transmit encoded thoughts from the mind of one individual to another. Because of language’s central role in human nature and sociality, its evolutionary origins have long been of interest to almost everyone, with the curious exception of linguists.”

posted in Language | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

The Information Design approach to Web development

“Aside from people, information is the single most valuable asset for business. At every level, in every department, for every company, information is critical. The better the information, the more successful the company and the people within it can be. Improving products and services, understanding markets, improving internal process and communication — information is the catalyst that allows people to see the best course and to make substantive change, as well as often being the deliverable itself.”

posted in Web development | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

The Sad Story of PNG Gamma “Correction”

“Browsers have supported the PNG bitmap format for quite some time. But still, even though PNG files can either be made smaller than GIFs or, alternatively, can contain more colors, lots of Web designers keep using JPEGs and GIFs. In fact, even designers who (for other reasons) don’t care about old browsers still often haven’t made the switch to PNG. Is it just about being stuck with the old ways or is there a good reason not to switch? Sadly, it turns out there is a reason not to switch: gamma ‘correction’ gone wrong.”

posted in Web graphics | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

Weblog Workshop by BloggingWorks

“Business blogs are taking off. Are you up to speed? Learn how your business can harness the power of weblogs to improve communication and efficiency at this hands-on workshop… Who’s behind it? 37signals and Coudal Partners — both pioneers in the corporate blogging world — will lead the full day discussion.”

posted in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments Off

21st July 2003

User Interface Library

“After years of creating paper prototypes and user interface schematics, Gabe began to assemble a library of commonly-used interface elements. This eliminates the need to re-create buttons, menus, windows, or fields from scratch. These interface elements mimic real, platform-specific interface standards in order to communicate a level of detail that most schematics lack. This, he found, made it easier for clients and test subjects alike to feel comfortable with designs in progress. Gabe has now made this library available here and encourages those who are software or web designers to download, use, and expand this set of interface controls and windows.”

posted in Interface design | Permalink | Comments Off