“Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.” — PAUL RAND
I love Quotes, and Quotes on Design are SO great! Visit: http://quotesondesign.com/ for some excellent, inspiring and funny quotes!
SmashingMagazine.com has an excellent article about the 5 main typeface styles.
So often, my students ask how to select an appropriate typeface for their projects. This article clearly explains the main groups from which you can choose, and helps you choose which are best to combine for your specific needs.
Sadly, I’m once again missing Photoshop World in Las Vegas, but that doesn’t stop me from checking announcements!
Adobe has is introducing a new service, named Adobe Carousel (http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshopdotcom/2011/09/introducing-adobe-carousel-your-photos-everywhere-you-are.html)
I’m excited about the idea that I can have all my images accessible to my desktop, laptop and iPhone (and iPad, maybe, someday), so I believe this is something to watch. Question is: will this be a handy, useful tool, or yet another Adobe or Cloud money-suck? Only time will tell…
Yesterday, Apple released a point update to the new Lion Operating System. The new OS designation is 10.7.1 (this is an UPDATE, and therefore free to MacOS 10.7 owners), and it covers:
As many of you know, I’m an advocate of holding off on any new product until at least a .1 or .2 update. If you read some of the comments on http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/39487/apple-os-x-lion – you’ll get an idea why that’s my position.
That being said – I visited the Apple Store to check out this new Operating System. Of course, as a long-time user of the Mac, I’m always skeptical of big changes to the way we work. I must say that, aside from the stupid layout of the Address Book, and some annoyances with iCal’s new layout, I didn’t hate Lion. Yeah, I don’t need better gestures on my MacPro with my favorite Might Mouse; I never used Exposé much, so the new Mission Control, while being cool, may not be something I use; Launchpad makes me feel like using my iPhone, for which I have an…. iPhone!; and I may dislike Autosave and versioning, because even I probably don’t have enough hard drive space for that! Also, being a tech, I HATED the fact that we can’t get to our own User Library, without bending over backwards. The redeeming feature for lots of this is that we can un-set some of these options, and make them work as we expect. Of course, then the question arises – do we need an upgrade if we’re going to make it work like the old OS?
For me, the BIGGEST issue holding me back from upgrading is the lack of Rosetta – the program that allowed Leopard and Snow Leopard run old PowerPC based programs. Until there’s a consistent, viable resolution to this, I won’t be upgrading my main system. I need to use those apps (some of my students still USE those apps), and the idea of dual-booting, and maintaining 2 systems and 2 drives is annoying.
Otherwise, for new users, this will be really simple to use, it certainly looks pretty, and there are some fun and cool features. And – now that there’s a .1 update, it’s something to consider!
A New Designer’s Salary survey indicates little to no salary growth in recent years, and a difficult time for graduating design students seeking regular employment. But then again, I’ve been saying all along that business is moving more and more towards contract and freelance workers (they have much less overhead). Disadvantage: less job stability (in an economy where stability is shaky at best anyway), no benefits, constant work search – Advantage: higher pay rates when you work, variety of jobs, you’re your own boss.
The article is referenced in a CreativeCow.com article:
http://www.creativepro.com/article/design-salary-survey-reflects-steady-volume-narrow-margins
An editor for CreativePro.com has written a great article about the much-debated lo-fi trend in today’s digital photography. I’ve always contested that, unless you’re shooting documentary photos, a lot of the artistry of good photography is to get an image that looks good, not necessarily that looks “real”. This article expands on that…
http://www.macworld.com/article/161514/2011/08/whywelovelofi.html
Lions are beautiful animals – smart, strong, powerful. However, I’m not feeling that great about upgrading to the new Mac OSX 10.7 Lion. From what I read, it seems that some features on which I depend are going to be either completely deprecated, or won’t function at all in the way I want them.
However, I am NOT an early adopter – I don’t install version 1 of ANYTHING, especially an operating system. It’s my hope that by the time I do install it (probably around the .2 update), Apple will have addressed my needs for Address Book, and iCal, and will have maybe found a way to sell Rosetta as an addition to Lion – or at least for Parallels to devise a way for me to use my Snow Leopard installation in emulation, and have resolved some issues I already see as being against my personal interests to upgrade.
However, many of my clients ARE early adopters, and I get the phone calls to help bring them back, when they’re sorry for what they did. That’s great – thanks – I love the work! But, as I’ve mentioned to ALL my clients and students in the past, it’s IMPERATIVE to have a reliable “Cloned Backup” of their original startup disk.
This article addresses how one may go about resurrecting your Snow Leopard installation, if they don’t like Lion. It emphasizes the “Cloned Backup” idea quite strongly. A good read:
http://gigaom.com/apple/how-to-downgrade-from-lion-to-snow-leopard/
Okay, I’ve actually been a fan of the Mac Mini, for a great many of my clients. It’s small, you can attach any monitor, it had good processor speed, and could handle a decent amount of RAM – and it was cheap for a Mac.
They’ve announced the new Mini – with NO OPTICAL DRIVE! Sounds like they may be touting it for an Apple TV replacement with more features? Bad idea, Apple… 🙁
Here’s a quick review:
http://dealmac.com/features/Dear-Steve-Jobs-The-Mac-mini-Is-Crap/482596.html
Another CreativeCow.com article – well-written. I’ve been saying for a while that Premiere is no longer the “red-headed stepchild” of editing software, and I’ve been teaching it for a while now. I’m finding quite a few people switching, and this article, by a long-time user of Final Cut Studio for some time, will help explain why.
Yeah – it’s not perfect – but with no access to FCP Studio 3 anymore – and having this come with the Adobe CS5.5 Suite – it sure can work! This also compares Premiere (in part) to Avid.
http://library.creativecow.net/kobler_helmut/FCP-vs-Premiere-Pro/1
A rare take on the new Final Cut Pro X, that actually makes it look appealing: