Tactically, the cover sells the back cover, the back cover sells the flap and by then you've sold the book. If those steps end up selling a book that the purchaser doesn't like, game over. So you have to be consistent all the way through and end up creating a conversation after the purchase. Books are better at creating conversations than most products (when was the last time you talked about a pool cue), but there's lots of opportunity here, no matter what you make.
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.
I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down 'rewind' and releasing it randomly
Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn't is "shuffle", where the player selects random tracks to play. Its a function that, on the face of it, the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured.
I told my dad about my clever idea. His words of warning brought home the difference between the portable music players of today, which don't have moving parts, and the mechanical playback of old. In his words, "Walkmans eat tapes".
25 Questions [Public Relations for Creatives] Compiled + Answered by Pam Williams of Williams & House.
After a multitude of conversations and surveys, Pam has amassed the most pressing questions about public relations from individuals and firms at varying stages in their promotional efforts. She will share her responses and send us off with solid, proven P.R. strategies we can all start to use as early as Friday, June 26th.
Due to the impatience of the crew and pressure on the squeegee, each poster had differing amounts of ink coverage. As an introduction to screen printing and poster design, this project was perfect for my two kids. They were pretty much engaged throughout the process. Of course, they had nothing to do with the clean up. Based on this experience, they each designed and made another poster the very next weekend. Now, they are giving out these posters to friends and figuring out what their next compositions will be. Mission accomplished.
Inspired by vintage printing blocks, this beautifully finished chest of 26 drawers is made from solid oak - the perfect place to file everything from A-Z!
This is like setting the resolution of your screen to 6,000 pixels wide by 1,000 high. I can’t even imagine how someone arrives at a design solution like this. The shapes resulting from the strenuous horizontal scaling are simply too unflattering and unattractive. There is bad taste and then there is this. What was going through the designer’s mind? “I’ll scale it a little bit. Hmmm, maybe just a little more. More. More. I have so much power. I’m drunk in scaling power. More. More. Scale it more. Don’t stop. Do it. Okay, that’s enough.”
Behold the new breed of corporate logo — non-threatening, reassuring, playful, even child-like. Not emblems of distant behemoths, but faces of friends.
Beer has come a long way since breweries first had the idea of developing can packaging nearly 100 years ago. In the early 1900s, breweries had a problem producing a can that would withstand the pasteurization process and allow the beer to still taste good when it reached the consumer. In order to withstand the heat and pressure of the process, the first beer cans were constructed of tin and steel and were much more thick and sturdy than the ones we see today. By 1935, the first commercially produced beer in a can hit the market.
It seems to me that if you're a designer, a proper designer not someone who learnt Photoshop in between phone calls, then design runs through your veins like Pantone 7418. But more than that, it's there in every aspect of life. You can't stop looking at things through your designer eyes. Everything you do is clouded by this thing that lives inside you.
and it would annoy you, really annoy you, that it wasn't quite centred and it wasn't quite justified and it wasn't left aligned and it wasn't right aligned. You see sometimes the disease will stop you enjoying things...
...and wonder how on earth that can be allowed to happened. Who would space type like that?
Dear American Airlines,
I redesigned your website's front page, and I'd like to get your opinion.
I’m a user interface designer. I travel sometimes. Recently, I had the horrific displeasure of booking a flight on your website, aa.com. The experience was so bad that I vowed never to fly your airline again. But before we part ways, I have a couple questions and three suggestions for you.
How did this happen? If I was running a company with the distinction and history of American Airlines, I would be embarrassed -- no ashamed -- to have a website with a customer experience as terrible as the one you have now. How does your CEO, Gerard J. Arpey, justify treating customers this way? Why does your board of directors approve of this? Your website is abusive to your customers, it is limiting your revenue possibilities, and it is permanently destroying the brand and image of your company in the mind of every visitor.
When I wake up, when I check the time, when I brush my teeth, when I get dressed, when I have breakfast, when I cross the street, when I call to say I’ll be late again, when I work, when I have a break, when I get back home, when I relax and when I go to sleep I am surrounded by graphics and illustrations.
'One Day' takes a comprehensive look at how these graphics have entered our daily lives, and adorn everything from alarm clocks to skateboards. Not only do these graphics apply beauty, life and personality to our objects, but they also create a relationship with us, when they become part of the “visual soundtrack” to our lives.
FPO is a blog dedicated to both the visual stimulus and the detailing of the development and production of printed matter... The content of FPO will be gathered by submissions from our readers as well as by the findings we make online. We will do our best to show the most recent work produced, so that the blog doesn't feel like you have seen everything before. Whenever possible we will have the full scope of production details and project overview but we will also post projects where we are unable to gather all that information when we think they are worth sharing despite the lack of minutia.
What typeface do fish fear most? Gill Sans!
Yo mama’s so old, she refers to Century as Futura.
Bob: Why the long face, Helvetica Compressed?
Helvetica Compressed: Remember that Bembo from the club last night? She was the Open Type. She let me kiss her and I contracted Monotype!
Bob: Oh man, that sounds horrible! At least you're not your cousin, Helvetica STD.
In the late 1800s, the Brooklyn Bridge was built with no power tools, no heavy machinery, and only a basic, evolving understanding of how to make steel. It’s not these facts, but the stories surrounding the facts that inspire me when I take a good, long stare at a suspension bridge.
Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photography blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
It was illuminating to learn of the sheer volume of work CA receives, organizes and reviews. Out of the hundreds of thousands of submissions, there is such a small percentage of work that actually appears in their publication - only 2% of design competition entries make the cut! Patrick explained the status of inclusion into CA the best when he said - and I'm paraphrasing here - "If you are a musician, you know you have arrived if you appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. If you are a designer, it is when your work appears in Communication Arts."
If the U.S. average miles per gallon of all automobiles was brought to 35 mpg, it would reduce global warming pollution and save more than 1.1 million barrels of oil each day or half of what the U.S. currently imports from the Persian Gulf.
Honda was rated the cleanest automaker by the biennial Automaker Rankings report from the Union of Concerned Scientists as of 8/27/08.
Chrysler was rated the dirtiest by the same agency.
Recycling saves energy: Creating a new aluminum can from scratch takes 95% more energy than making a can from recycled aluminum.
Energy Star notes that in the average home, 40% of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Across the US, this equals the annual output of 17 power plants.
Swapping 16 incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) saves emissions equivalent to taking a car off the road for a year.
Americans use about 385 million gallons of gasoline every day, which means more than a gallon of gasoline every day for every man, woman and child.
If every household in the United States replaced just one package of virgin fiber napkins with 100% recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees. (NRDC)
Since 1980, the earth has experienced 19 of its 20 hottest years on record, with 2005 and 1998 tied for the hottest and 2002 and 2003 coming in second and third. (NRDC)
The polar ice cap is now melting at the alarming rate of 9% per decade. NASA has reported Arctic ice thickness has almost halved since the 1960s.
Paper products are bleached to make them whiter and brighter. The chlorine used in many bleaching processes contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish. (NRDC)
About one-sixth of the wood delivered to a construction site is never used. Instead, it's hauled to the landfill as wood waste scraps. (NRDC)
Half of the forests that originally covered 48% of the Earth's land surface are gone. Only 1/5th of the Earth's original forests remain pristine and undisturbed. (NRDC)
55% of our trash goes to landfills, 14% is burned, and 31% is recycled. (Energy Information Administration)
The U.S. uses nearly $1 million worth of energy every minute. (Energy Information Administration)
The removable roof rack on a car can reduce fuel economy by as much as 5%, states the EPA.
The National Recycling Coalition reports that recycling supports 1.1 million jobs in the U.S. (Energy Information Administration)
The average American generates 4.5 pounds of trash every day, which is almost twice the amount of trash the average American produced daily in 1960. (Energy Information Administration)
