checkin sites

can anyone remind me how we check our sites through the web to make sure everything is in order?

flash sweetness...

i came across this guy's flash portfolio today.  it's pretty amusing...

http://www.andyfoulds.co.uk/flash_design.html

have fun!  i wish i was good at flash.

p.s. for all the bubble wrap popping fans out there, try "therapy"

Font Management

Does anybody know of a good font management system? Is anyone else old enough to remember "Suitcase?" I've got oodles of fonts, and I wish that instead of looking through the whole list I could just looks at the "sans-serifs" or "Moderns" or whatever.

Oh the irony

Does anyone else find it slightly ironic that a camp made to be accessible to persons with disabilities left out the alternative text information for pictures on their Web site?

I wanted to use the same ones they had and when I went to copy it found that it did not exist.

Evolving Web sites

This article comes from the UK newspaper site www.Telegraph.co.uk. I'm sure there must be other articles about this too since the sources are guys from the U.S.--there's even a UW professor cited.

Anyway. The article, Web pages have 'come alive and started breeding,' reports that for a while, Web pages have been changing or evolving to keep them up-to-date with user preferences.

What scientists have now created, is software that, once a site is set up, treats the features of the page like genes. So every time the page gets refreshed, the software randomly changes or mutates the page. Thought that was kind of cool.

Illustrator question

Does anybody know how to put a border around a photo in Illustrator without having to draw a separate box around the photo?

Interesting design column

Ed Henninger writes a column addressing design issues and giving tips to work around them. Some of his insight is pretty interesting. I was reading through it today and found myself guilty of some of the aspects he brings up such as Cuzicans.

http://www.henningerconsulting.com/columns.html

more on ads

Thought this article was an interesting extension to the conversation we started in class on fashion ads. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/fashion/10TELLER.html

Ideas for Revamps?

If you ever thought that there weren't that many creative things you could do with a business card, check out this website. It's amazing what can be accomplished in such a teeny-tiny space. Some of them are a little over the top, namely the one printed on a clothespin, but some are pretty cool.

My favorite is the address sticker placed on used metro cards. Funny AND environmentally friendly.

Final project?

In light of the several time intensive projects due in the upcoming weeks, I was looking through the syllabus and noticed that we also have a final project due not too long after some of our other projects are due. Does anyone know what this entails?

PS Express

a good review of the new, free photoshop express

Dreamweaver Question

In my identity website, I have a table nestled within a table (the big table is for main page layout and then within one cell I nestled another table for navigation buttons). The trouble is that I can't get the border to disappear. These ugly, think, almost beveled edged appear and the properties palette below will not let me select border (Brdr) as transparent. Any ideas? I would most appreciate it as the Dreamweaver book I've looked through haven't mentioned this as a problem.

money, money, money...MONEY

http://www.coroflot.com/community/salary_survey.asp?gclid=CIu4se3kupICFQJLxwodpU3Ebw

this website surveyed designers (of all kinds) in 2007 to determine salaries... pretty interesting to see what you're going to be making in this field starting off. It also compares the salaries between corporate agencies, freelance and consultants (who make the most...). Plus everything is in info graphics!

good news is that graphic design salaries rose in 2007, and the US is 3rd when it comes to paying their designers. Bad news is that we're located in the least lucrative part of the country.

NY Times Interactive piece

I am absolutely in love with this interactive slide show about Mad Magazine's fold-ins from the New York Times -- I love the idea, the execution -- it's awesome.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/28/arts/20080330_FOLD_IN_FEATURE.html



Edited: I had an extra quote at the end (from trying unsuccessfully to link the article in the proper way). But it should be fixed now.