November 2009
Typography matters: 25 great print examples
by Lenny Vella // 11.29.2009We love typography!. It's the difference between good design and great design. It gets short shrift because, like all great design, it goes unnoticed by the vast majrity of people. This includes design students. This is why our designer interview process includes a hands-on typography project. The following are a few designs captured from ads of the world that contain interesting and well executed typography. I hope you enjoy them:
Trendspotting with our list of real-time search tools
by David Sutula // 11.28.2009The internet is the ultimate trendspotting tool. It allows marketers to take the pulse of the globe on a minute-by-minute basis. Feel the pulse by taking your pick from the following random list of real-time search engines, content aggregators, alerting services, friend finders and so on:
Regardless of the medium, Typography is still the difference beeen good communicative power and great communicative power.
by Lenny Vella // 11.22.2009Good typography is just as important on a Web page as it is in any other medium. The fact that it appears on a computer screen and not on a piece of paper is immaterial; it should still be pleasing to look at and easy to read.
In every situation where type is used — in publishing, signage, packaging, television, etc. — designers have to adapt their techniques to suit the medium.
FB apps will soon go bye-bye FBconnect means no more line between social and digital strategy
by Jordan Starcher // 11.19.2009That’s my twitteresque,140 character take on the future of facebook and other social networking apps. I’m betting that they’ve alredy started the long, slow Myspace-like crawl into oblivion because platforms like Facebook Connect, Google’ Friend Connect, Google Wave and even MySpace ID (what I was going to term ‘social media 2.0’ but have settled instead on ‘connective platforms’) are and will continue to offer marketers more flexibility to develop more immersive experiences.
The Future of Web Typography
by Phong Nguyen // 11.11.2009Web design has certainly come a long way since the first HTML files were published, and Cascading Style Sheets have given designers lots of freedom to specify typefaces, sizes, and styles for text. But most type on the Web is still limited to the 10 common "Web fonts" commissioned and distributed by Microsoft in the late 90s. Web designers and developers have done their best to work within these constraints, and even developed clever workarounds using images, Flash, and/or JavaScript.
Digital Agencies Are Ready to Lead
by Xing // 11.09.2009Over the past 18 months, a great debate has consumed our industry: Are digital agencies poised to sit at the head of the advertising table? Depending on whom you ask and what you read, the answer seems to flip flop -- with a majority of people still having reservations and making claims that digital agencies aren't ready to lead.
Build Your Brand Online or Don’t Build Your Brand At All. Your Choice.
by Leslie Sutula // 11.05.2009Brand Marketers have not really thought much of building their brand in the online space, but if they are aiming to stay relevant in the digital age, they have to change their way of thinking.
2010 Macro-Trend 'Sense of Urgency'
by David Sutula // 11.02.2009In 2010, the macro-trend will be a ‘sense of urgency’. For the first time, there’s a global understanding, if not a feeling of urgency that sustainability, design and citizenship in every possible meaning of these words, is the only path toward long-term viability.
Infolust
by Xing // 11.01.2009Show us one experienced, switched-on consumer in a mature consumer society who does NOT google once a day. Or even once an hour. One consumer who has NOT researched the cheapest available fare, price, charge before buying a big ticket item. Who has NOT invested some time reading reviews, recommendations and suggestions from experts and fellow consumers on anything from hotels in Paris and designer vacuum cleaners to which specific seat to request on flight SQ220 from Sydney to Singapore.