It’s sometimes amazing who steps up in times of needs or crisis. In this case, the Viking Boat company comes to the aid of first responders, putting their equipment to work for healthcare . . .
A History of Motivational Posters
Sylvester Jalnaiz from Canva wrote in and asked me to replace one of my pages links with his. Sort of rude, but he’s an outreach officer for a site that has exploited the amateur graphic design market. But then when attempting to get access to the site, it asked me to sign in using GOOGLE. OH NO!!! Big RED flag! Never, ever sign in to a web site using any other web site ID/Password! Bad, bad karma! (more…)
Requiem for Snapz… thank you Firefox!
Do you remember Snapz Pro? That wonderful screen utility for the Mac that would capture anything? Well, it died with El Capitan and OS Sierra! My favorite feature, screen section to clip board, is saved by Firefox! Thank you Firefox!
International Women’s Day
For nearly 20 years, the Design Center celebrated International Women’s Month in March, and then “Designing Women” in April.
Now we’re following those incredible photographers at UnSplash as they celebrate the visions of Women’s Day …
The Art of Saying What Can’t Be Said

I love reading about artists like Myrna Keliher — artists who care about the craft, and challenge themselves with the monumental task of visualizing words and messages through typography. (more…)
1893 : A Manual of Typography, by Thomas MacKellar
If you’re looking for something really special in the realm of Typography, look no further than the Project Gutenberg EBook of The American Printer: A Manual of Typography, by Thomas MacKellar … an extraordinary glimpse into the history of type! It’s part of the Gutenberb Project, and available in several different formats.
The preface says : Besides the matter relating to practical typography, the volume contains a sketch of the discovery of printing, and notices of type-founding, stereotyping, electrotyping, and lithography. The implements employed in typography are described and their uses explained; and complete schemes for imposition are laid down. Project Gutenberg: The American Printer
Come home to us, Barbara Kruger
In Kat Stoeffel’s recent article for ‘The Cut” we discover the Barbara Kruger, one of today’s most creative and talented opinion artists. She’s a mix of graphic design, editorial illustration and art, all mixed in with a little political savvy and a little grit mixed in.
Take a look and be as impressed as I was. Kat Stoeffel writes : (more…)
Why have captions? Who writes them?
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…)
Creative Tidbits #236: Web design, web type, web circles, cigar packaging and more!
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 …
DYI Clocks with typography
I stumbled across a listing for a wall clock called “TYPOGRAPHY” designed and marketed by Mariana Lisina. Looks nice! I started thinking about all the really cool stuff you might do with type and a clock. Remember that for hundreds of years, people have been oriented to analog clocks not necessarily to see what time it is, but how much time has passed, or how much time yet to go. (more…)
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