A Lesson in Letterpress

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Here is an article that gives a very good history of letterpress printing. Letterpress 101 offers a video demo of the letterpress printing process and an essay that reviews the history of printing—starting with the Gutenberg press. As you read the article you will definitely recognize a few familiar names. Are you surprised that a press as primitive as the letterpress is still used? Considering what we’ve learned so far, what type of projects would this press be best suited?

Using a Typeface to Improve a City’s Image

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Can a typeface really help to improve a city’s image? There are a few people in Chattanooga who think so. It’s a project of a few designers and brand specialists. The city has begin going through a comeback and the designers want the city to accentuate the city’s potential to become the “Silicon Valley of the East Coast.”

Excerpt from Can a Font Help a City Make a Comeback?

Known in the 1960s as one of the country’s filthiest cities, Chattanooga has managed to clean up its act and its image in recent years, with a redeveloped riverfront and an artist relocation project. But the city’s “brand” is out of date and doesn’t live up to the creative energy on the ground, according to the team members.

Take a moment to read the full article and tell me if you think a font can help a city rebrand itself. If New York City had it’s own font, what aspect of the city would the typeface design portray?

Western Typefaces—A Quick Look

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infographic of typeface history

I came across this really cool and informative infographic about the history of typefaces. I highly recommend checking it out. The design of this is great too. It’s easy to follow, and as I mentioned, it is full of information.

The infographic below presents a history of typefaces, incorporating fun tidbits from tech, pop culture and the web. Do you know what font the Google logo is? What about Facebook? Take a peek below to learn these and more.

Take a look at the full image, A History of Western Typefaces. Also observe the way the type in this design is used and the elements that lead you to follow information.

Code Academy and Code Year 2012

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If you are interested in learning to write code, here is a good introduction. Code Academy has a project to get as many people to learn coding during 2012 as possible. Once you sign up, you get a new lesson each week and you can go at your own pace. I’m way behind but the first few lessons proved to be refreshers for me. The first lessons deal with Java Script, which proves to be a bit fun.

Check it out when you get a chance… Code Academy

In the Cloud

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If  you’re looking for a way to keep your work with you, and not worry about losing your USB drive, try using services like Amazon Cloud Drive. You get 5GB of storage for free and the ability to access your files from any computer. Dropbox is another service and it offers 2GB of space for free. It allows your stored files to sync on your computer and other devices.

Anti – Photoshop Laws ?

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To me yes it’s a great idea, like the author said, to start a discussion about the sad things that are happening to women and girls because of all the ads in the magazines but at the same time its very controversial because you’re going to have huge celebrities on the cover of a magazine with a “Natural Beauty” header for example, and than on the bottom of the page you will have a statement saying that the picture has been photoshoped. This will create a lot of arguments. To me it’s more of a parents/guardians or any family members job to talk to the youngins about issues like that. Photo editing is someone else’s job and it should’t be restricted like that.

What do you think about this? Read the article and share!

Heres the link:

http://pdnpulse.com/2012/02/arizona-considers-anti-photoshop-law.html

Design Websites

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I enjoy looking at different design websites for inspiration & information.
Here is a look at some of the sites I enjoy. They cover a diverse range of topics, from web design to fashion, but maybe there’s something in here you will like.

http://www.coolhunting.com/
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog
http://design-milk.com/
http://nubbytwiglet.com/

Does anyone else have some websites that they use for design inspiration?