A poster showing the amount of space it takes to transport the same number of people in cars, a bus, or on bicycles (via Core77).
cause/affect is a biennial graphic design competition which celebrates the work of designers and organizations who set out to positively impact our society. The deadline for entries is coming up soon (Nov 9th).
target fixation – avoid it.
Seth Godin gives his take on ten principles for creating a great web site.
A sampling of Gregg Shorthand – In theory, if you can become proficient in shorthand, you can take notes, and even dictate speech at up to 200 words per minute (that might just be even a little bit faster than Debra X. can type).
In the UK, a variation (Teeline Shorthand) is still considered a necessary and desirable skill for journalists. In the U.S. it seems that this beautiful and efficient writing system is being forgotten as technology is providing solutions which don’t require people to learn anything.
“The abnormality of our time, that which makes it contrary to nature, is its deliberate and stated determination to make the working life of men & the product of their working hours mechanically perfect, and to relegate all the humanities, all that is of its nature humane, to their spare time, to the time when they are not at work.”Eric Gill, in “An Essay on Typography (1936)”, describes the situation of the working man in the Industrial age. His description seems to paint a pretty good picture for where we are today (80 years later).
“We may not obscure the old truths: we must not despise the new.”Stanley Morison speaking on the importance of studying the past and how it relates to embracing the future – from his introduction to “Four Centuries of Fine Printing” 1949 edition.
FF Meta Serif —Designed with Kris Sowersby and Erik Spiekermann. Available starting in October 2007 from FontShop International. For those of us (this is for you, Chris) who couldn’t get enough of Meta Sans it in the late 90’s.
“...it doesn’t look like Mint is going anywhere anytime soon.”Shaun Inman gives a yearly review of his web site statistics package (incidentally used on this site as well).
“The accord of one thing with another is beautiful, therefore want of harmony is not beautiful. A real harmony linketh together things unlike.”Albrecht Dürer, speaking eloquenty of harmony and beauty long before peanuts and chocolate were even introduced to Europe.
Running out of things to read?
There are over 100 essays and articles on Typography available at Typotheque.
“Before long, many designers burn out by promising unrealistic turnaround on projects, working at levels that don’t accommodate a balanced life, and closing down any time for reflection on the work they’re doing and on the world around them.”Meredith Davis talks about the dangers of being caught up in The Cult of ASAP
“Take that, Darth Vader!” Cruz Fino, Jr., 14, pretends to be a starship commander as he shows how an arcade game of the future might look.” – This photo was published in the 1985 book Science, It’s Changing Your World (via Paleo-Future). 1985 was also the year that Nintendo released “Super Mario Brothers”, which currently holds that status of being the highest selling video game of all time , with over 40 million copies sold.
“...it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod…”Steve Jobs commenting on the sale of the 1 millionth iPhone in just 74 days
Water Me When I Tilt this vase uses a natural metaphor that lets you know when the water is low. (via Core 77)
In regards to the approach that Apple takes to typography and pixel rendering compared to the approach of Microsoft:
Apple generally believes that the goal of the algorithm should be to preserve the design of the typeface as much as possible, even at the cost of a little bit of blurriness.
Microsoft generally believes that the shape of each letter should be hammered into pixel boundaries to prevent blur and improve readability, even at the cost of not being true to the typeface.
It is interesting to me how philosophical approaches to design can make a difference in the minutiae of design details.
via Coding Horror
After seeing Stefano Faravelli’s moleskin sketchbook, I think I’m going to have to switch over to the Moleskin Japanese Book.