“Planes are shifted off the orthogonal…”
Because it’s Thursday, I bring you Couch Cushion Architecture: A Critical Analysis.
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 29, 2010
Print Is Dead! (Or…is it?)
All of us in the design profession have heard about the eventual, slow death of print. It began in earnest in the 1990s, and, according to some folks, it already has a tombstone. This is what keeps printers up at night.
So I was pleasantly surprised as my oldest daughter—a senior in high school—began searching for a university to attend a little over a year ago. Upon visiting several colleges, our mailbox has been inundated with print promotions, one after the other, not only from the schools we visited but also from unknown colleges around the country.
Having worked with college admissions departments, I can attest to the fact that these groups are typically very sophisticated in their approach to recruiting high school students (and their parents). So it must work very well to mail nicely designed brochures, post cards, and letters. Given that print still has far fewer restrictions than online design, higher-ed print pieces are often more visually pleasing that their websites. And in the case of my daughter, even after she committed to a university, they’ve kept sending her beautiful print pieces.
Print may be slower that it use to be, but it’s far from being on life support. In fact, I’d suggest that, given society’s appetite for all things online, print has become even more relevant: as a tangible, tactile, near-novelty that communicates emotions distinct from any click of the mouse.
posted by CK Anderson
April 28, 2010
3.5″ Floppy, RIP
Something tells me that approximately 93 percent of those who read this story will be shocked to learn that someone—anyone—is still manufacturing these things. (And will continue to do so until 2011!)
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 27, 2010
Lowest Prices EVER on Embarrassing Musical Genres
It’s one thing when you see a misplaced comma or apostrophe in a hand-lettered sign. But this cryptic announcement is something else entirely. The missus found it in the frozen foods section at Super 1 Foods on 29th.
Imagine, if you will, a giant icebox with the likes of Donna Summer, Rick James, and every member of the Love Unlimited Orchestra slumbering away in cryostasis, their prices slashed on accounta their sell-by dates have long since passed, and you have a pretty good idea of how my mind works when I see this sort of thing.
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 26, 2010
Fonts and Money
Recently, our very own Spokesman-Review ran an AP article on how fonts can actually save you money.
Yes, it’s true. As the article suggests, “because different fonts require different amounts of ink to print, you could be buying new printer cartridges less often if you wrote in, say, Century Gothic rather than Arial. Schools and businesses could save thousands of dollars with font changes.”
The article goes on to list the fonts that use “different volumes of ink to print”. Does this mean that even a dull, plain-vanilla font like Times New Roman actually has an advantage over say, the more classic sans serif font, Franklin Gothic Medium?
Now, no doubt the printing savings is real. But in these recessionary times, when every marketing dollar is being scrutinized—if not reduced or removed—do we designers now have to contend with clients expecting to squeeze a little more out of our font choices? Let’s hope not.
I suppose the good news is that nobody is reading newspapers these days anyway (which, coincidentally, use quite a lot of that dull, plain-vanilla font). So until then, I’ll continue to select fonts that provide the personality required, rather than less volume.
posted by CK Anderson
April 23, 2010
That’s One Ugly Benjamin
Next February, the Treasury Department will put the new $100 bill into circulation. It purportedly has a bevy of high-tech security features built into its design; I’m guessing it has more to do with counterfeiters being ashamed and embarrassed at the prospect of having to reproduce these things. Sort of like how you’d feel if, after four years of art school, you ended up working in Thomas Kinkade’s shop.
Not that it matters much. What with the confiscatory wages imposed on me by the suits here at AMD, it’s not like I’ll ever have the opportunity to see one up close.
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 22, 2010
Proofers of the World, Untie!
Proofreading is one of those under-appreciated skills that people too often dismiss as mere pedantry. But it’s not easy. Evelyn Waugh, in fact, wryly noted that “now that they no longer defrock priests for sexual perversities, one can no longer get any decent proofreading.”
Waugh’s quote came to mind when I read this story about “freshly ground black people.”
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 20, 2010
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
I took part in a presentation today, and…I wore a tie. Not exactly blog-worthy news for most folks, granted, but anyone who knows me understands that they’re far more likely to catch a glimpse of Bigfoot than they are to see me in a tie. Or a button-down shirt, for that matter.
So there were a dozen people in the room, nearly two-thirds of whom were men, and I was the only one wearing a tie.
@#$%&!
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 19, 2010
Stop What You’re Doing and Watch This Movie. Right Now.
Finally got around to seeing the 2006 German film The Lives of Others. It’s a beautiful movie—engaging in a way that, for me anyway, has been replicated precisely two other times over the last ten years or so: Into the Wild and The Wrestler.
Just…wow.
posted by Aaron Bragg
April 16, 2010