60 Seconds Exploring Design & Technology since 1988

ArchiveFebruary 2018

Federal Judge Says Embedding a Tweet Can Be Copyright Infringement

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Court rulings on use of images

My article “I’ve been stung by the Copyright bee. Believe me, that bee sting hurts!” back in June ’17, is a good example of Daniel Nazer’s new article at EFI.com. This is a sober reminder that if you display images, or link to them without the owner’s permission you may be in for a law suit. I can once again caution you that this is going to get a lot worse before it breaks — any time the ambulance chasers catch a whiff of big money, they’ll be circling like a bunch of hungry sharks! (more…)

Why have captions? Who writes them?

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After reviewing the Alex White book on publishing, I had a reader ask questions all about captions in presenting information on the web or social media.

 > I would like help on textbook captions  
 > 1) Who does the captioning of photos,
 > charts, maps, tables, side bars, 
 > marginal notes, etc?  
 > Is it the author or the editor?

All of the above…
Generally the author will write the captions based on art or photos supplied with the article or essay. However the editor will have a turn at wordsmithing and refining the text supplied by the author. (Did you ever meet an editor who didn’t have something to say about everything in the piece??) Then, the designer takes a stab at it, and in many cases will voice an opinion too. (I’ve never met a caption I couldn’t edit!) (more…)

Ethics in Digital Photography

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Designer responsibilityDo you modify images you plan to publish as real, or actual?

Yesterday’s post about Steven Heller’s new typography book reminded me of another book, and the issues surrounding digital ethics.  I dug up the 2004 post in 60-seconds to discover it’s even more true today!

This is required reading for anyone who uses Photoshop, or a camera to create digital images.  (more…)

Freehand: New Typography Sketchbooks

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New book from Steven HellerI always enjoy seeing the latest books from Steven Heller!  This time he has teamed up with Lita Talarico to bring you a killer compendium of typographic ideas. One of the themes of this collection is the changing and evolving reading habits of today’s over-saturated society. I think you’re gonna like this one — here, follow along for a sneak peek and more detail! (more…)

Vintage Copyright-Free Clip Art and graphic design cuts from the 30s, 40s, and 50s

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copyright free clip and cuts

copyright free clip and cuts If you’re old enough to remember clip art, you may have invested in some of these too! I’ve got an entire bookshelf full of copyright-free reference archive books. As I divest myself of my worldly junk, I wonder what to do with such book collections! But they are entertaining and interesting to flip through, and the art is highly usable for anyone still in the design or marketing fields. Some of these pieces are beautiful — far more beautiful than you could develop at today’s rates! They also make excellent idea starters! Enjoy!

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Creative Tidbits #236: Web design, web type, web circles, cigar packaging and more!

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Fred Showker's Creative tidbits

Creative tidbits is a column in DTG Magazine featuring creative inspiration Okay, we’ve been neglecting web design, so this time we’ll look at typography on the web, business web sites and even a little fun with circles. My favorite though is the piece on cigar packaging! I was inspired to look a little deeper and I uncovered a treasure trove of art from modern graphic to vintage antique! Something for everyone in this issue …

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60 Seconds Exploring Design & Technology since 1988
Fred Showker explores design, graphics, computing, social media, marketing, and the online world with an eye to entertaining, amazing information that will possibly make you think!

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