Monthly Archive for March, 2009

Book Review: Thinking With Type

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 30, 2009
in Books and design
. Comments

If you’ve been reading the blog, or following my tweets, you probably know that I’ve been on a design kick lately. One of the specific areas of design that’s really got me interested is typography. I’ve started reading a few typography blogs (that will be listed after the review) and am beginning to realize how vast a field it really is. Naturally the next step was to go out to the book store and do some damage!

What I came back with was Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton. It looked like it covered most of the bases, and I decided it was going to be a great place to start. Keep in mind that the following short review is from the perspective of a complete beginner. If you’re a graphic designer, creative director, type aficionado, etc. then you might not feel the same way. But if this is your first crack at really understanding typography, then we’re probably on the same page.

To start off, I think it’s worth mentioning that I blew through this book in about two days. It’s not overly long (176 pages), but I still got through it pretty quickly. It wasn’t the “can’t put it down!” type of feeling that you get with suspense thrillers, but I felt like I was continually learning things (ask me about x-heights!), and was eager to see what the next page held. Lupton has a great, easy style that manages to simultaneously be simple enough for beginners and in-depth enough for more experienced readers.

From a structural standpoint, the book is broken into three sections: Letter, Text, and Grid. Letter focuses on the history, theory, and construction of individual font faces. This was my favorite section of the book, because as a complete beginner I had no idea how much there was to learn. Text talks about spacing, alignment and organization. I found this section really helpful from an overall perspective, and am now working hard to eliminate “type crimes” from my written work. The last section, Grid, covered the arrangement and presentation of bodies of text in a given field, and could be considered the most conceptual.

All in all, I really enjoyed Thinking With Type. It made a great starting place for my new interest in typography, but I also feel like there’s a lot of good stuff for someone with more experience. So if you’re a beginner looking to get rocking, or a pro looking for a little clarity, check out this book.

Some cool typography blogs:
I love Typography
Font Feed
Typies

Thoughts On: The Future of Newspapers

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 26, 2009
in ideas
. Comments

I just read this really great piece from Clay Shirky about newspapers and “the unthinkable”. It’s a little on the longer side, but if you haven’t read it yet, you definitely should.

His post got me thinking:

  • I have to say that right now I don’t think newspapers will continue to exist. At least not in their current form. Whereas the transition from LPs, to 8-tracks, to cassette tapes, to CDs, to MP3s went somewhat smoothly, I don’t think newspapers will share the same ease. In the case of the audio mediums, the changes represented an evolution. Better quality, improved portability, etc.. However it didn’t really mark a seachange in the way we consumed audio media or the “purpose” that it served. But as Shirky mentions, the internet more-or-less breaks the model of most publishing. It’s not a matter of evolution, it’s a matter or revolution.
  • I don’t read hard copies of newspapers and I don’t think anyone in my immediate circle of friends does either. I’m not suggesting that this is representative of Gen-Y, but I also don’t think it’s an uncommon scenario. By contrast, I know that the parents of many of my peers are still reading the papers. Is this a trend that’s going out with the changing of the guard? And why do our parents still read hard copies? Is it because it’s what they’ve always done?
  • As a society, I don’t think we “owe” anything to newspapers. I can understand the government backing banks and carmakers because they’re a backbone of our economy, but I don’t think newspapers fit into that category. I’m not sure they deserve any special help. If the question of “Where will we get our news?!” is so relevant, then why are we having this discussion about newspapers dying anyway?

Steal This Idea!
That being said, I think there will be a short term business opportunity that will come about as a result of all this. As more and more newspapers shift their content to online-only, a market will be created to provide hard copies to people still interested. This might provide an opportunity to a small 3rd party printer that can efficiently make small runs of several different publications. They would be able to contract with the subscribers individually to get their hard copies, maybe even customized versions, after the papers go digital. However, this wouldn’t last forever, as eventually the demand for a paper copy will probably decline to the point of not being profitable anymore.

The End Is Nigh

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 23, 2009
in ideas
. Comments

And no, I’m not talking about anything related to Watchmen.

I’m talking about The End in a grow, seize the day, adapt, change, move, “Now is Gone”, type of way. Because, if we’re being honest, The End is always nigh.

The End of Twitter being for early adopters. The End of your Mom not being on Facebook. The End of “Social Media Expert” being a good thing. The End of Technorati being important. The End of a digital sin going unpunished. The End of Auto-DMs (well I can wish, can’t I?), The End of thinking that creating content for someone is a good idea.

But with each end, comes a new beginning. So really…

The Beginning is Nigh. Tell your friends.

You Think [Marketing] Is About Feeling Good?

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 20, 2009
in Advertising
. Comments

I love the Phillies, Jimmy Rollins, and everything about this.

When Your Homepage Is Useless

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 11, 2009
in design
. Comments

Quick thought today. There’s a lot of sites out there, ones that I visit regularly, that I don’t think I ever hit the home page. When Google tells us where to go, and bookmarks take us back there, is the homepage really what it used to be? What do you think?

sitenavigation


Are You Really More Important?

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 11, 2009
in Blogging
. Comments

I was reading Noah Brier’s blog on his site the other day (usually read it through RSS) and I realized something different/very cool about his theme.

While almost every other blog in the world (including mine) has the author’s post first followed by the comments underneath, Noah has them side by side. It’s a really interesting idea that raises the question: which is more important? The post or it’s discussion that follows? I guess Noah thinks it’s both.

I might be inclined to agree.

noahbrier

Some Blogging Tips

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 9, 2009
in Blogging
. Comments

So I’ve been blogging for a little bit now. Here’s some of my favorite tips, in the order that I thought of them:

  • If you don’t love it. Don’t do it. Or quit now and save yourself the trouble.
  • Go outside your comfort zone once in a while. Put up some visuals or a video post. Go way off topic.
  • Just because you think someone else has “said it better” doesn’t mean you can’t add your take on things.
  • There is absolutely nothing wrong with a link-baitey post every once in a while.
  • Someone will always say it better. But someone will also always say it worse.
  • It takes a long, long time to get a decent sized audience. Those people who have 10k readers in a week are like people that lose 100lbs on diet pills.
  • Decide why you want to blog before you start, but keep in mind that it’s a fluid concept.
  • Don’t be afraid to talk about whatever the hell you want sometimes.
  • Put a picture of yourself on your front page.
  • Use bold, headlines, bullets, etc. to make your stuff more scannable.
  • Don’t get caught trying to perfect an idea before you start writing. The inertia will kill you.
  • Do your best not to take yourself to seriously, get self-righteous or self-important.
  • If you want people to give you their time and attention, they have to get something back in return.

Obligatory Skittles Post

Published
by
Matt
on Mar 4, 2009
in Uncategorized
. Comments

Q: Will anyone ever be able to sell more candy using social media?

A: (what do you think?)