Recently in Graphic Design Category
Until recently, to be a graphic designer was to engage in an endless love affair with paper. How many hours were spent flipping through swatch books in a kind of tracelike state, waiting for the click that signalled "this is it!" Then there was that anxious moment when the finished job came back from the printer and you held it in your hands—was the alchemy of paper, ink and inspiration such that something worthy and true had been born? Sometimes, yes, sometimes no. Many thoughts and emotions would arise in that moment, such as "Oh my god, the trapping! The TRAPPING!"
When complete strangers ask you to lend your voice to their cause, history has shown that it's wise to reflect before taking up the banner. Because sometimes outwardly worthy causes can mask an unsuspected agenda. I guess I've been around long enough that a big red light starts flashing when I bump up against these. So it was when I recently received an email entitled Artists Ask Obama Administration to Protect Copyright.
I'm sure you meticulously scroll through the entire End User Licence Agreement (EULA) before installing new software. Ditto when downloading stock images purchased online. No? Frankly, I'm shocked. Well, in that case there's little chance that you're familiar with the license terms of the last font you purchased. You didn't know fonts also had EULAs? Fonts are just software, after all, and commercial software simply grants the purchaser a limited ability to use it. Same with fonts. So for designers, knowing what they legally can and can't do with their fonts is not insignificant.
That's right, ATT is back with its take on what's new in the world of fonts, font applications, notable font usage and general fontiness. This time out I'll focus on recent font releases from Fountain, Gestalten, Kapitza, Linotype and Mårten Nettelblad.
The economic crunch, combined with a growing aversion to the excesses of our disposable culture, is generating a very real aversion to upgrading just about anything. Take a look around. Odds are that you can spot something within sight that you (or the powers that be) have decided to hang on to, which in another era (not that long ago) would have been replaced by now with the latest and greatest. If you're a designer, that something probably includes tools of the trade, both digital and analog.
Your day began by learning that one or more hackers had compromised your site's servers, gaining access to customer account information and possibly credit card details. The trust customers place in you, essential for your survival, is at stake. Luckily, you have prepared for such an eventuality by putting in place a disaster plan that can quickly lock out the hackers, assess the full extent of the intrusion, restore any missing data, and ensure your customers know exactly what happened, what your response is and what impact this has on them. You don't have such a plan in place? Then take notes from a firm that recently found itself in this position.
Readers with elephantine memories will have no trouble recalling that last summer in this space I launched a jeremiad against the freshly-minted graphical identity for the French Government Tourist Office. Those just arriving, or regulars now scratching their heads, are encouraged to wade through the gory details. Note that there will be a short quiz at the end of this post to ensure you soaked up all the historical bits.
It was about half way through the tour of the Château of Germolles that our aimiable and erudite guide—who it turned out was one of the current owners—ushered our little group into a darkened room. The shutters on the large windows were almost closed, allowing just a few rays to penetrate what seemed to be a high-ceilinged chamber. There was just the hint of a smile on our guide's lips as he admonished us to not bump into the walls.
One of the first things you learn when creating an HTML newsletter is that it isn't a Web page. It sorta, kinda, almost is. You'd like to pretend it is. But it just isn't. The bastard child of graphic design, the email newsletter remains one of the last bastions of Web standards run amok.
There are some applications that I just can't get excited about upgrading. My copy of Word, for example, is antediluvian, and yet it still provides all the functionality I need. Given that there are now open source and online alternatives, there's probably nothing Microsoft could do to induce me to upgrade, short of giving it away. I imagine I'm not the only one with this attitude. The situation is different, however, when it comes to graphics and publishing applications. Or is it?
