Goodbye, Speak Up

Ratings

4 of 5 stars
What’s this?

Founder Armin Vit decides to call it a day on this influential and long-running design blog:

“I always believed that the amount of time and energy that we — authors and commenters alike — were all investing in Speak Up would be impossible to maintain in the long run, it was bound to crash at some point. And it did… I also strongly believe that the kind of general-topic and long-form writing of Speak Up is just not as appealing as it used to be. With so many Web sites devoted to quick bursts of visuals and the proliferation of short-message communication enhanced by Twitter and Facebook, it becomes increasingly hard to hold the attention of anyone… And since the end of 2008 we have had this nagging feeling that its time had come.”

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Steve Heller: Take My Business Card…Please!

Ratings

1 of 5 stars
What’s this?

Hilariously over-the-top and aggressive advice on how not to wimp out on designing a business card.

“Life is not about being liked. It’s about being effective… My card is die-cut. My card is foil-stamped. My card is embossed. My card — instead of telling you that I’m a CEO, because who cares about my title? — tells you about the result I generate. I build crowds! Guaranteed. What do you do ‘guaranteed’?”

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Up for Air

Adobe Air LogoI was a skeptic of Adobe’s fledgling Air platform when I initially started hearing about it several years ago. At first, Air seemed more of the same of Adobe’s famously insurrectionist tendencies. I’ve long disliked the way the company tries to shoehorn in an entirely new platform onto my computer when I install or upgrade one of their marquee, indispensable software packages. Like most consumers, I see Photoshop, Acrobat, Flash etc. as applications that serve limited purposes — namely my own. But Adobe clearly regards them as beachheads through which they’re working to establish their own, Adobe-centric operating system. The result, invariably, has been bloated software. To put it mildly.

But the more exposure I get to Air, the more impressed I am. Granted, that exposure is somewhat limited, but I’m enjoying a handful of Air-based applications much more than I thought I would, even using some very regularly. Though Air apps are still conspicuously less than fully native to any of the major operating systems, they’re much closer to the ‘fit and finish’ of a true, dyed-in-the-wool Mac OS X application, say, than I had anticipated. Adobe has apparently gone to great lengths to provide a framework in which applications authored for this platform seem comfortable alongside truly native applications. Most casual users won’t be able to tell the difference.

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Dear Designer, You Suck

The CriticA friend of mine who happens to be a famous designer (this person shall remain nameless) said something not long ago about one of my projects that really pissed me off. At the time, I objected to this person’s tone and delivery, thinking it inappropriate. After all, we’re friends! But given some distance from the event, I realize now that, the formal qualities of the remarks aside, this person had a point. They weren’t necessarily right, mind you, but there was a legitimate criticism at the core, to which I should have paid attention. In retrospect I realize that getting hot and bothered about this person’s tone said something much less flattering about me than about the person.

Here’s why I’m saying this: almost by definition, design is a small community. If you’re a serious, dedicated practitioner of design in any of its flavors, you’re almost sure to meet a good number of your peers before too long — and then you’ll start to run into them over and over again, at conferences, at industry events, in trade publications, even when competing for business or interviewing for work. This is part of what makes design so terrific a vocation; its boundaries are reachable, its population so knowable.

Sometimes I wonder, then: given that everyone in design seems to more or less know everyone else, are we really having the kinds of meaningful, constructive, critical discourses that we really should be having? Are we too quick to take offense at the opinions of our peers? Or are we pulling our punches too much when discussing the merits of the work that our peers turn out? To put a finer point on it: are we being honest with one another?

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St. Petersburg Times: Tampa Bay Mug Shots

Ratings

3 of 5 stars
What’s this?

Online resource displaying police photographs and charges for people arrested within the last twenty-four hours in Pinellas, Hillsbourough and Pasco Counties in Florida.

“The information presented here as a public service is gathered from open county sheriff’s Web sites in the Tampa Bay area. The booking mug shots and related information are from arrest records in the order and at the time the data was collected. Those appearing here have not been convicted of the arrest charge and are presumed innocent.”

It’s very well done and makes for fascinating social information, though it raises a lot of questions, too. Also, note that statistical breakdowns are provided for gender, age, eye color, height, etc. But not for race.

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NYT: Virtual Leagues Fold, Forcing Gamers to Find Actual Jobs

Ratings

2 of 5 stars
What’s this?

This article tells the story of Emmanuel Rodriguez, a 23-year-old pro gaming champion who now works at a Sam’s Club in Dallas. “Video games may be as popular as ever — people in more than 65 percent of American households play, according to the Entertainment Software Association — but the professional sport of gaming has nearly collapsed. Major companies have pulled sponsorships and several tournaments have folded.”

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AIGA Voice: How the Web Made Me a Better Copywriter

Ratings

4 of 5 stars
What’s this?

In this must-read for anyone publishing online, Cathy Curtis, former staff writer at The Los Angeles Times and the principal of Los Angeles-based copywriting and communications company Textual, outlines the principles she’s learned for effective writing on the Web.

“This medium has led me to develop a different way of writing — tighter, simpler, more transparent. The results, I believe, are greater clarity and persuasiveness, and a speedier, more user-friendly read.”

It’s like I often say: usability is a quality of writing too.

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Horsey

This cover for the second record from Swedish chanteuse Frida Hyvönen really shouldn’t work. The comically wild typesetting for the word “wild,” the bland inset layout, the histrionic equine imagery, the leopard print… nearly everything about it offends my sensibilities. And yet I think it’s really something amazing, a piece of design that transcends pretension and slips into ‘art’ without fuss. I want it blown up big and framed on my wall. And the music is good, too.

Frida Hyvönen

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