Monthly archives: October 2008

The Best Type Book with No Typesetting

October 28 08
Link: 

http://www.creativepro.com/blog/scanning-around-with-gene-the-best-type-book-with-no-typesetting?page=0%2C1

“The 1927 edition of Studio Handbook by Samuel Welo is 233 pages of beautiful type and timeless design advice. Only this book comes with a twist – every page was hand-lettered by Welo.”

By Bill Posted in Advertising, Books, Graphic design, Typography CommentsComments Off

Relative readability

October 28 08
Link: 

http://www.wilsonminer.com/posts/2008/oct/20/relative-readability/

“Why go so big on type? There’s a short answer and a long answer.”

By Bill Posted in Typography, Web design CommentsComments Off

4 Dead Celebrities Font Art Pieces

October 17 08
Link: 

http://www.walyou.com/blog/2008/10/05/4-dead-celebrities-font-art-pieces/

“Dead Celebrities are always a fascinating subject to many, and this celebrity art created using actual fonts deserves praise. These four posters of Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Marlon Brando and James Dean in some of their most famous poses is nothing short of spectacular. They provide another tribute to the dead actors (and actress) in a way we do not pass by often. Besides small facial drawings, the entire figure of these celebrities is created using actual fonts.”

By Bill Posted in Advertising, Illustration, Typography CommentsComments Off

The eyeballing game

October 17 08
Link: 

http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/

“Some people are bothered by pictures on the wall hanging slightly crooked. Others may not even be aware that something may be amiss. If you are somebody who is into woodworking or construction, its good to be one of the people who notice when things are crooked. But I suspect the ability to notice that things might be just a little off square, off centre, or not quite straight, varies greatly. I thought it would be fun for people to try to test their abilities to see if things are straight or crooked in a little game.” (Thanks kottke.org!)

By Bill Posted in Games, Graphic design, Visual thinking CommentsComments Off

Graphs that lie

October 13 08
Link: 

http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2008/10/11/graphs_that_lie.php

“Here’s one thing that’s making me angry at the moment. In fact there are several things making me angry at the moment: McCain’s supporters; the greed that lead us into these financial end-times… and by comparison this particular matter is trivial. But at least it’s easier to solve than the others.

This particular annoyance is the graphs of share prices in the press and on TV. It is standard practice to start the y-axis at a number much higher than zero, in order to magnify the ups and downs of the market. Here’s one from today’s Guardian, showing the FTSE 100 over the course of Friday…”

By Bill Posted in Data visualization, Information graphics CommentsComments Off

Savings & (mis)Trust: A Credit Crisis XPLANATiON

October 10 08
Link: 

http://www.xplane.com/subprime/

The subprime mortgage crisis XPLANEd: The United States economy is suffering one of the worst financial crises in history, due to seriously flawed subprime mortgage lending practices over the past eight years. The repercussions have already been severe and continue to unravel. American people are fearful and unsure of what the future holds. How did we get to this point? Clearly understand the roles that borrowers, mortgage lenders, banks, financial institutions and asset backed securities played in creating this financial meltdown of historic proportion.

This four minute animated movie takes viewers through the process starting in 2000 and ending in current day. It details the role that home buyers, mortgage lenders, banks, financial institutions and ultimately asset backed securities played in this financial mess.

By Bill Posted in Visual thinking, XPLANE CommentsComments Off

It’s back: ADNOTW

October 6 08
Link: 

http://splorp.com/domain/

You may remember this from the old days. After a two-year hiatus, Grant is back with splorps’ available domain name of the week:

Welcome to your source for hand-picked, inspiring, and occasionally useful interweb addresses. The only criteria for a domain name to be featured is that it be available for registration according to the public whois database at the time of posting.

By Bill Posted in Domain names CommentsComments Off

Excentro: Guilloches made on a Mac

October 6 08
Link: 

http://www.excourse.com/excentro/

“Excentro is a simple but advanced tool that can create guilloche designs like backgrounds, borders or rosettes.

The guilloches are vintage design elements that were frequently used for anti-counterfeiting security purposes on banknotes, passports, checks and certificates during the past two hundred years. As the times changed and digital copy and printing technologies perfected, guilloches no longer presented sufficient security measures that could prevent forging and counterfeiting of valuable papers. Today the main part of security technology lies in the special paper or tricky inks the designs are printed upon or with.” (Thanks Chris Glass!)

By Bill Posted in Art, Illustration, Software/Hardware CommentsComments Off