Archive for the ‘design’ Category
I’ve been doing some work with email newsletters of late. It is, of course, a bit of a challenge, given how email is even less reliable at properly interpreting standards-compliant CSS code and the like. (Seriously, one of these days, all these companies will get together and start implementing code consistently, across the board, and web designers across the world will suddenly find that what used to take ten hours now only takes one. Companies like the fabulous BrowserCam will go out of business. Why is so much of our economy built on busy-work? Screw the unemployment rate, I want efficiency!)
Anyway. Two things I’ve learned:
- Gmail doesn’t care about your CSS text-formatting. That’s right, that means you’ll need to use <FONT> tags. Gross. I haven’t used those in at least five years!
- Outlook 2007 will make things look ugliest. Apparently, this is because it uses the MS Word rendering engine. Now, seriously? Why? If you’ve ever tried to design anything in Word, well, you know how impossible it is. They do, however, provide this handy little “validator” to check to see how/if your code is going to work, which is nice for those of us who get the shakes just opening Outlook. And it’ll plug into Dreamweaver!
On a vaguely related, but mostly unrelated, note: remember to vote, kids! This is the first year in a while I haven’t been directly involved in doing design work for a campaign, and as a result I’m less jazzed about the election than I usually am, but it’s starting to get to me as the day goes on. Go! Vote! (Or at least spoil your ballot (though it’s illegal to do so). Or vote Libertarian, if you can! Efficiency 2008! Down with Busy-Work! Alright, now I’m excited.)
Tags: business, css, design, email, politics, resources, typography, websites
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I usually use Scriptalicious for my AJAX needs, but I’m working on a set of AJAX-ified forms on a website that’s already using jQuery, so I figure hey, it can’t be that hard to change over! Twenty minutes later, cue the loud cursing and growling. I mean, the whole thing seems far more powerful, but every time I’ve wanted to start implementing it, I’ve been turned off by how complex it seems to do simple things. (Like slide down a div window, which I hope to have accomplished before I turn 30. On a side note, I’ve been feeling old because I turned 25 today, until my little sister sent me a message saying that I’m “plenty young, for a president!” Which I suppose is technically true, so I don’t feel quite so washed up anymore.)
Anyway, back to my jQuery-induced headache: this very helpful thing to the rescue! If I can stop being distracted by the gorgeous site design, I might be able to figure this stuff out, after all, without having to spend all day teaching my brain new methods of programming. I do so love programming tutorials written for designers. Thank you, pretty colourful website!
Tags: design, pretty, process, resources, tutorial, websites
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Because I’m sure that those of you who know me well don’t hear enough of my thoughts on design. This is a questionnaire I filled out in response to a freelance job posting. It was quite an exhaustive process, actually, and I only had a short timeframe in which to complete it, but I gave it my best shot. (I’ve edited out the “technical” portion and the examples & attachments, as that sounded a little too much like a high school test for even me to be interested in it!) (continue »)
Tags: books, design, interview, process, projects, style, trends, typography, websites
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I really enjoyed this little storybook. Something about childish/60’s-esque illustration (especially when paired with more adult subject matter) really appeals to me. I like that the illustrator managed to use a techy “cold” object like a MacBook and still have it work with the more textured & natural style (the screen static was an especially nice touch).
Tags: design, illustration, pretty, style
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I was recently contacted by a design student at Loyalist College looking to interview a designer for an essay she’s writing. Ego-bloat aside, I do really like it when young(er), just-starting-out designers ask me for a “worldly” view of the industry. (Amazingly, it’s happened more than once!) (continue »)
Tags: business, design, education, illustration, industry, interview, life, websites
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Dear God, I wish I’d made this website: Butter London. It’s pretty much my holy grail of website design. I love the typography, I love the way they actually found a “butter” colour that’d work in the background, I love the varied textures and the scrollwork and the slightly old-wallpaper feel of the whole thing. The subtle animation effects are great (that’s how Flash ought to be used, if you ask me, and I love that there’s a little skull and crossbones used to offset the foliage. (continue »)
Tags: design, pretty, typography, websites
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I feel like I’m somehow failing as a self-professed typophile when I admit that I only managed to net a 30 score on this test. Note to self: time to start studying up on my fonts.
Tags: design, typography
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…for a girl goes on and on about how “you should make sure to update your website on a regular basis, or else!”, I’m pretty terrible at doing it myself. I’ve been trying to get into the blogging thing, but I’m having trouble motivating myself to post at least once a week! For shame.
(continue »)
Tags: design, pretty, projects, websites
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Damn, you look fine.
Where’ve you been all my life? Or, more accurately, where’ve you been the last four years of my life, during which I never once worried about properly citing an essay penned by three authors quoting a stage play by an unknown playwright? I mean, the Virgo-perfectionist in me really loves style manuals. And I really need to work on my typographic correctness. I’m a little ashamed to say that I’ve only VERY recently come to learn about using my proper em-dashes (I’m still a little unclear on en-dashes). Clients who didn’t automatically smart-quote their own HTML (read: all of them) for a while were the bane of my existence, until I cajoled a programmer friend into writing me a block of regular expressions that does it automatically. I’m making progress.
Anyway, I know it’s been a while, but boy, have you ever kept yourself in shape. What a typographically pretty website.
Tags: design, life, pretty, pretty website, style, typography, websites
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My job is not stress-free!
I am pretty much a constant bundle of stress. And while I realize your article is more of an advertorial than anything, I still have to disagree. (continue »)
Tags: business, design, education, life, pretty, projects, zen
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