Off the Top: Typography Entries
Link Like Bin 6 December 2014
A week of clean-up on work and project front and prepping for a some personal projects and getting new work projects settled and sorted for the new year (you still have time to grab some time, you this is you reach out and say hello).
I am also in the midst of moving from the sofa as my work space and back to my desk. This summer the lighting was much better at the sofa and then had a stretch of work travel where my desk got buried when I dumped my bag on Friday returns and not really dealt with before Monday’s trip back out. While the sofa is comfortable and the natural light is still great, I miss having a good work space to have a few books open and working through things.
Links for the Week of 6 December 2014
- Getting Started with JavaScript for Automation on Yosemite
- Dan Saffer’s “My Favorite Design Articles 2014”"
- Chris Messina Google+ post - I forgot to add this one last week and may have spent more time thinking about it than any other thing I’ve read in a while
- Design Explosions: Issue #1: Mapping on iOS - a great in depth breakdown of visual and interaction design through comparison of Google Maps and Apple Maps on iOS devices. So much goodness in this one
- Cloud Typography: Webfonts by Hoefler - I have no idea how I just ran across this during the past week, but cloud font and Hoefler type at a great price. My design iterations just got a new twist thrown in them
- Typed - Always a sucker for good new text writing app with Markdown and this is a real gem that fits in the light and easy to use category
- Sixty Words - RadioLab - I finally gave this a focussed listen and it was well worth it
24 Ways: A Web Holiday Favorite
Nothing makes me happier than to see the winter holiday begin and 24 Ways start its annual release of web development and design goodness. Drew McLellan and the 24 Ways crew have done another great job and I look forward eagerly for every day’s gem that is released.
To make all of this better, 24 Ways is in its 10th year. Congratulations for all the great content and work, from the very first to the current offering of the day.
Zeldman and Jason Sanata Maria Hit on Design Truth
I have a small set of podcasts I really enjoy, but a couple weeks back Jeffrey Zeldman’s The Big Web Show, On Web Typography with Jason Santa Maria was a stand out. It was not only great on the subject of typography and reflected a lot of early web design, but got into the reputation of design.
Design doesn’t have a great reputation in the business world and it is seen as superficial, which is a reason I stay away from using design or user experience as a label. Jason and Jeffrey did a great job talking through this. This got huge head nods in agreement and wanted to shout to the world around (that I was driving through) “this is IT”. It was a real moment of truth and best explained by listening to their conversation.
Deep thanks Jeffrey for not only this podcast, but all your work. Keep it rocking!
Type design in Freehand
Macworld offers an article on type design in Macromedia Freehand MX
Inside the design process with Doug Bowman
Doug Bowman provides an insanely excellent essay on the design process behind his Zen Garden offering. This is an insanely wonderful description of the thought process that goes into wonderful design. Doug has all the proper steps, which is wonderful to see. If you want to become a graphic Web designer, it takes more than knowing PhotoShop, (X)HTML, CSS, Flash, etc. it takes understanding the process and how to approach each need to solve a problem or fill a need. This really illustrates the information design profession on for the Web.
Design versus communication
Zeldman explains the differences between differences between design and communication.