Randomness, vol. IX
~ 14 August 2009 ~
A compilation of resources, products, and inspiration spotted before, after, but not during knee surgery.
- Los Angeles Times gets a makeover
A rather nice overhaul of the latimes.com site. (Here’s what it looked like in February 2008.)
- Oliver Kavanagh
A rather audacious, springboard-style home page that leaves me wanting to try something similar.
- DIY ring light with LEDs
…and other DIY camera mods using LEDs.
- The 6 brand naming styles
Josh Levine:
The 6 naming styles add context so you can see the full landscape of choices. You can use this tool throughout the naming process: analyze the competition, organize your list, or develop more names in a style you hadn’t considered.
(via ISO50)
- Design Thinking at TED Global
IDEO’s Tim Brown reviews the design-focused talks given at last month’s TED Global conference in Oxford. Talks to be posted online soon.
- Daguia Tortas Finas
Not only is the site very well-designed, but the desserts look absolutely succulent.
- Typophile Type Battle: Design a better CAPTCHA font
Despite the accessibility flaws that accompany CAPTCHA, it’s enjoyable to peruse the proposed fonts from Typophile members “that humans can read and machines can’t.”
- Dwell Magazine reviews Never Use White Type on a Black Background
51 “ridiculous design rules” are scrutinized in Never Use White Type on a Black Background, reviewed by Miyoko Ohtake:
Though at first glance, the book appears a bit kitschy (in a way breaking Rule 29: Dress to Impress, aka make a good first impression), it proves a fun, occassionally thought-provoking read. Each rule is accompanied by a series of quotes from designers, architects, illustrators, authors, and their ilk.
- The Font-as-Service
Elliott Jay Stocks guest authors at i love typography and offers a thorough review of Typekit and its alternatives, as well the adoption (or lack thereof) of
@font-face.- OS X icon pillows
Geek out your couch with these OS X-inspired pillows.
- How to get that perfect shave
I’ve been using cartridge blades since I began shaving, and apparently I’ve been doing just about everything wrong.
[But] don’t worry—if you want to stick with your Mach3 or other cartridge razor, that’s okay. Just adding a shaving brush and quality cream to the mix will still give you a better shave, even if you use the same razor you were using before.
(via @jasonsantamaria)
- Ersinhan Ersin: Tapeography
Design Boom:
Turkish designer Ersinhan Ersin deconstructed old cassette tapes to create a series of images and typography he calls tapeography. The handmade font was originally created for a school project about music, but Ersin carried the concept to a variety of projects.
- Entertaining Adobe crash reports
A fun collection of crash reports I’m sure we all wished we would have (or will have) written. “I’ve got no time for today’s crash reports, I’ve got deadlines to miss!”
- Managing UI Complexity
A great write-up by Brandon Walkin with several examples and advice for managing the complexity. In particular, I appreciate that Brandon titled this “managing” rather than “eliminating”. It echoes something I espouse in my Good vs. Great Design presentations, that great hierarchy isn’t necessarily achieved by eliminating complexity, but by managing it. (via @dunstan)
9 Comments
Veer: Visual Elements for Creatives.Stock photography, type, and killer tees. Genuinely recommended by Authentic Boredom.
Thanks Sean, links fixed.
I think your front page (and possibly your feed) needs to be rebuilt, because it still has the wrong links.
Cheers.
Thanks for mentioning my site Cameron, I had a limited time frame to work on it and it will be a continuous experimentation and will keep changing and evolving as and when I get time. Some aspects of the design are not ideal for the web but I definitely did not want to be contained by typical web design issues ;)
I hope your recovery from knee surgery goes well as well. I know exactly what it feels like to be laid up after Knee reconstructive surgery…. not fun.
@ Jani: You’re right, I missed a couple other links. Corrected now. Thanks.
@ Ollie Kavanagh: Sending a chest pump your way for a fellow knee bro.
Here is the link for “Managing UI Complexity”: http://www.brandonwalkin.com/blog/2009/08/10/managing-ui-complexity/
Nice randomness, Cameron. Thanks for the nuggets (i.e. tips, ideas and inspiration).
Wow. I always new I had a lot to learn about design but I never knew how much I needed to learn about shaving.
@ Ollie: Awesome stuff, I don’t think I could ever pull off something so bold.
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1 Sean Foushee ~ 14 August 2009
Great post! Love the links, just FYI the OS X pillows and UI Complexity links are 404.
Get well soon!