Microlog
98 Microlog entries tagged with ‘design’
Entypo - 100+ carefully crafted pictograms
These are lovely — and free under CC licence. Arts & Culture ·
Cartographies of Time
“Selections from a captivating history of timelines—from time circles to time dragons, to a history of the world drawn on a single piece of paper.” Interesting ·
Reviewing DC Comics’ new brand identity
It’s slightly too clean and bland on its own, but I like its versatility, even if it is perpetuating the Gotham meme in marketing design. You know what else would help? Ben-Day dots. Just a thought. Interesting ·
Designing Google Maps
On Google’s design iteration process. Great for maps, especially when they add usefulness like public alerts; not so good for the Google UX, which seems to change on a whim every few weeks. Interesting ·
Figures of Involvement
An academic appreciation of the Minutemen. Like I need any excuse to post something about my favourite band. See also: An Econo History Of The Minutemen Sound & Screen ·
Lost Type Co-Op
Some beautiful fonts here, available on a pay-what-you-can basis. Arts & Culture ·
The Sketchbook of Susan Kare, the Artist Who Gave Computing a Human Face
Shame this piece doesn’t reflect on the devolution of icons in the iPhone/iPad age: there’s so little consideration of semantics anymore, how do you know what you’re clicking on or touching? Arts & Culture ·
“Sometimes the stories are the science…”
On the importance of video prototyping. They’re on to something here; people want/need to see how new things are used. Interesting ·
A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design
In even shorter terms, the tablet is a one-dimensional medium as far as our interaction with them goes. We need more tactile interfaces! Technobabble ·
When Sainsbury’s was out on its own
Own-brand packaging design from the 1960s. Very fashion forward for its time — hell, even for now. Arts & Culture ·
Evolution of NBA Team Logos
The best and worst aspects of design on one page [c/o MetaFilter]. Interesting ·
The UX of Learning
On designing for learnability: “Think of the last time you ordered a book, booked a flight, or bought a car. How did you choose which book to read, where to go for vacation, or which car was best for you? You may have searched online, read reviews, or asked others for advice to help you make an informed decision. In a word, you learned.” Arts & Culture ·
What 9,000 TV Channel Logos Looks Like
For all fans of the Look-in listings pages out there.
Interesting ·
Now and then: How film titles have evolved
The 1950s and ’60s are when things start getting awesome. But they’ve bland-ified in recent years, I feel. Sound & Screen ·
‘What’s the font?’ Chrome extension
For finding out the name of a font simply by selecting the text. Will come in handy as more and more sites use prettier web fonts. Interesting ·
Pictaculous
Upload and image and get an appropriate colour palette. Neat. Interesting ·
The Noun Project
“The Noun Project collects, organizes and adds to the highly recognizable symbols that form the world’s visual language, so we may share them in a fun and meaningful way.” See also: Iconic, “a minimal set of icons consisting of 136 marks in raster, vector and font formats — free for public use.” Arts & Culture ·
Inventables
Materials for artists, designers and inventors. And they’re surprisingly inexpensive. Interesting ·
3D printer kits - a great gift for the geek in your life
These exist now? For the same price as a laptop? We really are in the future (hoverboards aside). Interesting ·
Saul Bass, Richard Williams and the fascinating history of cinema’s opening credits
Is there a book about this? If there isn’t there should be. (And if there is, please let me know so I can add it to my wish list.) Sound & Screen ·
Pen and Pixel: A Retrospective
On the infamous rap album cover design house. The scary thing is, they’re actually not that bad till around 1997, when they start getting crazy with the Photoshop. Arts & Culture ·
Web Stencil Kit
I don’t know when I would ever need one of these (I’ve never designed a site on paper; just hard coding and lots of browser refreshes) but I want one. Interesting ·
The League of Moveable Type
High-quality open source fonts. Because we don’t all have the resources of a design house. Arts & Culture ·
Dunkie Drinks Dunkin’s Coffee
Sadly it’s only an April Fool’s prank. I wish it was real. Arts & Culture ·
Everything I Learned About Game Design I Learned From Disneyland
People can scoff about theme parks all they want, but there’s nothing like the attention to detail that imagineers bestow upon every element of the Disney experience. That’s the key to the whole shebang. Sports & Games ·
MUJI & LEGO
This is lovely. I can haz it now? Interesting ·
Why progress-bar traffic lights are long overdue
This is a great idea (more about it here) akin to the countdown timers for pedestrians on many traffic lights here in Dublin. Those certainly work for me — but then my mammy raised me right. Interesting ·
Is modern web design too like print design?
“If I was standing in 1995 and looking ahead to 2009 and was told how all of those technical restrictions would be lifted, of what would be technically possible, I’d imagine 2009’s web to look a lot more exciting than it does. I’d expect it to look less like a magazine or a newspaper and to look more like what the web could be.” Agreed. But I think that the fact that this question is even being asked is a sign that we might see a more exciting web in the near future. The last few years have mostly been about function, about what’s under the hood. But we’ve got that sorted, more or less; now’s the time to have some fun with the web again. Interesting ·
Foreward: A Book Design Blog
Filing this for future reference [c/o del.icio.us/cityofsound]. Arts & Culture ·
Independent infographic
They sure have a way with their front pages; a shame that their website isn’t up to the same standard. (See also: some more infographics on the Middle East conflict.) Arts & Culture ·
Paul Hammond’s notes on typography from @media 2006
Just to add my own note: Helvetica might be unfashionable, but it’s underappreciated. Same goes for Georgia, which actually looks just fine in print too (if you like your fonts with a little padding round the middle). The real problem as I see it is that the wrong typefaces are being used in the wrong contexts: I never, for instance, saw Comic Sans in a real world, ‘meatspace’ setting until computers exploded in popularity in the late 1990s — is it really as popular as it’s made out to be, or are people just lazy, with no conscious understanding of the message and/or sub-text that such a font conveys? Arts & Culture ·
Overlooked graphic design: European stamps
Neat. I was something of a philatelist in my youth, so these bring back some memories. Arts & Culture ·
The National Magazine Cover Archive
It’s not a big archive — but they’re about quality, not quantity. Arts & Culture ·
Record sleeves designed by Peter Saville
He did a lot more than just the Factory stuff, you know [c/o del.icio.us/jonhicks]. Arts & Culture ·
intensify.org
Yet another arresting design, but by someone who seems to have a redesign compulsion so it might not be around for long. Which would be a shame. Arts & Culture ·
Wilson Miner / Live
Another beautiful design. I love the solidness of the lines and boxes and blocks of colour. Arts & Culture ·
I Am Alert (but not alarmed)
Absolutely gorgeous site design. Arts & Culture ·
Lego Allianz
Remember the Allianz Arena link from a while ago? Well they’ve bloody well gone and made it out of Lego! Needless to say I want one. (There’s many more pics here.) Arts & Culture ·
John Updike on Chip Kidd
Kidd is the darling of book cover design, and with good reason. Arts & Culture ·
News Page Designer
Where designers of news pages get to show off their stuff. Arts & Culture ·
Design Engaged book list
I shouldn’t really post this. I have enough books to read as it is [c/o del.icio.us/thoughtwax]. Arts & Culture ·
Pitchfork presents The Worst Album Covers of All Time
And only one modern rap album cover? They could have filled the list with them. Sound & Screen ·
More typography resources
A supplement to this entry from a few days ago. Arts & Culture ·
Typography Crash Course Roundup
A good spot for jumping in. Arts & Culture ·
The Observer on the Muji phenomenon
This is a great article. I’m a fan; Muji just happens to manifest my preferred design aesthetic. And besides, their branch in Dublin is the only place where I could find a plain black pencil case. Arts & Culture ·
The Design Encyclopedia
A potentially invaluable resource. Arts & Culture ·
Books on adaptive design
If someone would be kind enough to buy me lots of these, I’d really appreciate it. Arts & Culture ·
Visual Editors
They could do with some help on their own page layout. Can you say ‘irony’? Arts & Culture ·
Whitespace
A weblog about design. Looks interesting. Arts & Culture ·
CSS Color Chart
Lots of colours. Lots. Arts & Culture ·
Crit: The SVA Graduate Student Design Blog [c/o Design Observer]
Might be good. Might be pretentious bollocks. I’ll give it some time. Arts & Culture ·
Papercraft 12-sided calendar [c/o Submit Response]
Handy. (Note to self: buy new ink for printer.) Arts & Culture ·
Logos by the Numbers [c/o del.icio.us/magnetbox]
I had no idea there was a classification system for logo designs. Wonders never cease. Arts & Culture ·
On Current TV’s on-air graphics
It all seems so impatient; always looking forward to the next item before you’ve even considered the one you’re watching. Watching the news shouldn’t be like using an iPod. (Douglas Rushkoff has a more detailed critique.) Arts & Culture ·
Try Before You Buy Fonts
Why didn’t anyone think of this before? Arts & Culture ·
Banksy at the West Bank Barrier
I’m amazed he wasn’t shot to pieces. Arts & Culture ·
Patent Room: The art of industrial design [c/o MetaFilter]
The proprietor also runs the interesting Adventure Lounge. Now, if only there were more hours in a day… Arts & Culture ·
PingMag [c/o MetaFilter]
A Tokyo-based magazine about design and making things. Not bad. Arts & Culture ·
Five simple steps to designing grid systems [c/o del.icio.us/merlinmann]
If you like that, Part 2 is here. Arts & Culture ·
information aesthetics
A weblog tracking things that look really fancy. Arts & Culture ·
Variations of the Letter M, and Other Metro Logos of the World [c/o kottke.org]
Oh boy! I love this! I’m such a closet transport geek. Arts & Culture ·
Why Bugs Don’t Belong on TV
I’m rarely bothered by on-screen idents. In fact, I quite like some of them (the BBC’s in particular) and am disappointed that other channels didn’t keep theirs (like Channel 4, who experimented with them for a while on late-night programming). But some are just eyesores. Like the National Geographic Channel (the yellow window should be enough!) and CNBC Europe (it takes up about 5% of the screen space, far too big). Thankfully we’re not plagued by the animated ones over here; only music stations and kids channels use them, to my knowledge. Arts & Culture ·
Is Not Magazine
What a novel idea: a magazine as a fly-poster. But why can’t they provide a PDF version? Arts & Culture ·
Underground typography [c/o Megnut]
You know what else has great typography? The London bus network. From the destination scrolls to the bus stands, the standard font is just superb. It’s something so simple, and yet so effective. Dublin Bus should take note (though I’m sure they won’t). Arts & Culture ·
Paper Forest: a papercraft blog [c/o Boing Boing]
Looks a little fey for my tastes right now, but the whole concept of paper craft impresses me. Arts & Culture ·
Acme Novelty Archive: The Chris Ware database [c/o LinkMachineGo]
I’m reading Jimmy Corrigan at the moment; it’s as much as I can do to keep the tears from flowing. Amazing stuff. Arts & Culture ·
Design In-Flight’s final takeoff
I recently purchased every issue for the princely sum of ten dollars. Arts & Culture ·
The Onion A.V. Club just got a redesign
If you haven’t already noticed. I’m diggin’ the new logo, the sidebar menu and the colours. But the main page is far too busy, and the emphases are all wrong. Arts & Culture ·
Arial or Helvetica? [c/o kottke.org]
I got 8 out of 10. Not bad for an amateur. (Here’s a tip: look out for the ‘a’.) Arts & Culture ·
Design Clichés [c/o del.icio.us/magnetbox]
Recipe for the ultimate logo: a lightbulb-embedded compass on a globe set over shaking hands. Arts & Culture ·
Colour Palette Generator [c/o del.icio.us/magnetbox]
Arts & Culture ·
Japanese space agency papercraft [c/o Boing Boing]
If only I had the time and the patience… and a really good printer. Arts & Culture ·
The Helvetica Meditations
This has been linked pretty much everywhere else. But I like it, so there. (On a related note, I would have used Helvetica as the sans-serif for Furnace but it wasn’t available, so Arial had to do. Not that you can tell the difference, really.) Arts & Culture ·
Graph paper PDFs in various formats [c/o Boing Boing]
Damn, if only I had a Battletech set to use these with! Arts & Culture ·
AIGA Design Archives
Great use of Flash, and some wonderful fodder for inspiration. Though I have pretty much locked down a good design for the class magazine. It’s classy (excuse the pun). Arts & Culture ·
icon magazine on architecture and design weblogs
Arts & Culture ·
ColorMatch Redux: Colour scheme generator [c/o Interconnected]
Arts & Culture ·
COLOURlovers
Good site. A little too heavy with the ‘love’, though. Arts & Culture ·
Pantone colors at del.icio.us [c/o Interconnected]
Arts & Culture ·
Devil’s Details [c/o Asterisk]
Early days yet, but could turn out to be a useful resource. Arts & Culture ·
Download the Bitstream Vera font family
If you don’t already have it, that is. Arts & Culture ·
The Next Big Thing in Online Type
They’re nice and all, but until they’re available for the Mac I don’t give a monkey’s. Arts & Culture ·
Where’d Ya Get That Color Scheme?
The ‘steel structure’ one is my personal favourite. You might well be seeing it around here very soon. Arts & Culture ·
Eye Magazine profiles type designers Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones [c/o kottke.org]
Arts & Culture ·
Essential Fonts for Designers [c/o del.icio.us/magnetbox]
Sshhhh, don’t tell anybody. Arts & Culture ·
Hyperlinks in Print: David Foster Wallace in The Atlantic Monthly
If you want a copy of the PDF mentioned, send me an e-mail at the usual address. Arts & Culture ·
Hyperlinks in Print: Examining the Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design Directory
Impressive. I like this trend towards microdetails that visualise and contextualise text. Arts & Culture ·
Fontsmith discusses the new Channel 4 brand typeface [c/o plasticbag.org]
What a coincidence. I was only last night when I was watching Channel 4 and thought to myself, “I wonder what that font is, it’s very nice.” Arts & Culture ·
Typographica’s Favourite Fonts of 2004 [c/o kottke.org]
I agree with Jason: Whitney is lovely. But I’m also quite partial to Klavika. Arts & Culture ·
Thinking With Type [c/o languagehat]
I want this. Will someone buy me this? Please? Arts & Culture ·
Impressive collection of Mike Watt gig posters
Arts & Culture ·
Massimo Vignelli’s subway map of 1972
Arts & Culture ·
MoCo Tokyo, a guide to contemporary design in Tokyo [c/o Antipixel]
Arts & Culture ·
Weblog Snapshots
Arts & Culture ·
Tokyo shop windows [c/o Boing Boing]
Arts & Culture ·
Sparklines: Intense, Simple, Word-Sized Graphics
Arts & Culture ·
The Art of Chindogu
Arts & Culture ·
Illustrated catalog of ACME consumer products [c/o Interconnected]
Arts & Culture ·
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page lists all Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy tagged with ‘design’. You will find many more entries sorted by month and by category in the Archives.
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