November 24th, 2009
Lessons From A Type Geek: Part I
Before I had my first typography class in college, I was totally oblivious to anything relating to the subject. I remember skeptically thinking, “Really? A whole semester-long class on fonts?” (for the record, I would never refer to them as fonts now, they are typefaces). To my surprise, I found the class fascinating and became intrigued with typography. I was lucky enough to have a professor who was extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and expected us to know an absurd amount of information for our exams. After my initial typography course, I went on to take Typography II, do an independent study, and was the Typography I TA my senior year. Then, during my first few months (and I literally mean, it took me months) at Hero, I was tasked with reorganized the font library into classifications
to make searching through the thousands of typefaces easier for everyone in the studio. Oddly enough,
I actually enjoyed this task. I’m a type geek.
As much as I enjoy typography, every once in a while as I drive by a storefront with awful kerning (the space between two letters) in their signage, I like to daydream about what it would be like to be type-naive again. Along with a knowledge of typography comes the ability to notice the little mistakes that the untrained eye wouldn’t look twice at, like bad kerning or a match-up of two unflattering typefaces or a font that historically doesn’t fit with the design it’s being used in. Typography is a lot more than just letters and words and something that looks pretty. It has history and meaning and when used correctly, can add something wonderful to a business card or direct mail piece or company signage. That’s why, while I like daydreaming about being naive again, I know that there is something much more powerful to knowing. Understanding typography gives you the ability to use it correctly and effectively.
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November 21st, 2009
Information Design For All.
The idea of “design for all” continues to work its way into our lives. Especially our business lives. Magazines like Fast Company and Good are bringing smart design to the forefront of business thinking. In fact, I’m not sure that either are actually business titles anymore. They both seem like some new version of CommArts that connects the dots between creative ideas and business results. In our head long rush towards measurable ROI, maybe this is what designers will be taking into the bathroom instead of the Print’s regional design annual. Read the rest of this entry »
November 20th, 2009
Larimer Square Gift Guide Launches
Today we launched a new project with our friends at NetNewsdesk, The Larimer Square Gift Guide. Hero provided design and web development within NetNewsdesk’s (NND) online publishing system. Larimer Square is a long-time client of NND and Hero is happy to be part of the project.
The Gift Guide is an online catalog offering selections from 20 different merchants located in Larimer Square, Denver, Colorado. Today’s launch is the first of six issues that will be published throughout the holiday season. Take a look and find a gift for someone on your list. You can sign up to receive a free day-parking pass and a chance to win a $200 gift certificate.
Larimer Square Gift Guide – Issue 1
November 19th, 2009
Hand Done Type-tastic Thursday
This week I’ve been really into Nate Williams’ Letter Playground website. Users upload funky hand done or non traditional letter forms. The website is a celebration of type as illustration and there is a lot of funky goodness and inspiration to be found while poking around. Letter Playground has nifty features allowing users to upload their own found or drawn letters, the ability to “favorite” letters, sort by letter and to comment on other’s letters. Some of my favorites include this robot-tastic set by the user Banu:
and also this angry looking stegosaurs ‘D’ by Heath:
Letter Playground…
November 17th, 2009
SEO – From 10,000 ft.
SEO. What is it?
Search engine optimization is, quite simply, optimizing your website to be more searchable by search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Here’s a pretty good definition of SEO:
Search Engine Optimization is the process of building, designing, creating, or updating a website, or its contents, in order to increase visibility within search engines, and improve placement on search engine results pages, for a desired set of keywords terms or market segment.
What does it do?
Search Engine Optimization increases your chance of attracting new visitors to your website by placing it higher in search results. The search results we’re talking about could be “sponsored links”, which are paid advertisements, or “organic links”, which are everything else you see on the results page. Read the rest of this entry »
November 10th, 2009
You Had Me at “Curiosities”
This week I’m swooning over Pictorial Webster’s A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities by John M. Carrera, published by Chronicle Books. The title alone is enough to make
me want it and after perusing the interior pages it is clear that the title is fitting. This book is awesome. It features over 1,500 original engravings from 19th century Webster’s dictionaries. Images range from “the entirely mysterious to the classically iconic.” It is the perfect balance of art, history, and science with an added bonus of oddity (which might be my favorite part). Right up there with the visual dictionary are Pictorial Webster’s Wall Cards and Stamp Set. I could spend hours looking at all three, and I might do just that.
November 5th, 2009
How clients can get better design.
If you’ve ever hired a plumber, the experience probably went something like this: you called, he showed up, you showed him the leaky sink, had a brief discussion and then left him alone to do the job. Some time later, he came to you, said the job was done, handed you a bill and left. No muss, no fuss — and little required from you except a phone call at the beginning and a check at the end.
It’s not uncommon for clients to think they can approach professional graphic designers as they would a plumber. Meaning, they view the relationship as a purchase of a turn-key solution that, once in place, will take care of itself.
We call this the “Buy-a-Logo-Get-a-Logo” mindset. It’s the shortest path to design that provides little, if any, real value. Read the rest of this entry »
