Is there value in sharing what you know?
I was reading one of Tim Girvin's blog posts this evening (the well-respected calligrapher, writer, and designer) in which he mentions that his mentor was Lloyd J. Reynolds. That made me curious--who was Lloyd Reynolds?
A little detective work turned up this progression: In 1896 William Richard Lethaby (1857-1931) founded the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, England. In 1899 Lethaby encouraged a colleague, Edward Johnston (1872-1944), to start a class on illumination. One of his students was Alfred J. Fairbank (1896-1982) who later referred to himself as a "disciple" of Johnston. Fairbank was Reynolds' (1902-1978) mentor. And, as I explained, Girvin (1953- ) now names Reynolds as his mentor.
Why should you care? Because I think it is a good reminder of the importance of sharing what we know. This simple progression--Lethaby, Johnston, Fairbank, Reynolds, and Girvin--demonstrates a clear, distinct path of ideas and encouragement that was passed from teacher to student. Read their history and look at their work and you will see how profoundly one influenced the next.
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Graphic design and ephemera
Dick Sheaff is, among other things, is a collector of ephemera [i-fem-er-uh]--materials that were designed to be disposed of after they served their purpose: advertisements, pamphlets, posters, programs, labels, and so on. Sheaff is now sharing some of the best of his collection online. It is wonderful, inspirational stuff--a must see.
Sheaff is also a designer of postage stamps. Search Arago (a resource of the Smithsonian's National Postage Museum) and you will find Sheaff listed as the designer of over 300 stamps.
Need some inspiration? See this profile of Design Army
Here's a ten-page feature from the most recent issue of Communication Arts Magazine showcasing the story and portfolio of Design Army.
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Meet Lorenzo Petrantoni (and his design influences)
While we're on the subject of ephemera (my post on Monday). How would you use it? Well, one way certainly is to choose parts and pieces as influence and inspiration. Another way is to recast it in a new light. That is what Lorenzo Petrantoni does. In fact, in a profile on his philosophy in Communication Arts, he says, "I love old books. I want to bring them back to life, discover their stories and tell the present through the past."
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Useful guide for graphic designers (and others) producing music CD packaging (2.8MB PDF)
http://ow.ly/iCXE
What makes a shiny surface shine? Nice little one-page Photoshop tutorial from Before & After magazine (750KB PDF)
http://ow.ly/hRbA
A must read for graphic designers from Terri Stone at CreativePro > Safely Find and Use Images Via Google
http://ow.ly/hgFj
Time to retire this tired cliche: "award winning." It means absolutely nothing.
Creating National Geographic Magazine in Adobe InDesign
File this under "curiosity" (I have absolutely no connection with any of the players here). I happened on this case study and thought it was of enough interest to share (I know many pageplane.com and ideabook.com readers use InDesign--as I do). I found it interesting to learn a little about how a publication that has over 120 people working on it is put together using a version of InDesign that operates within a larger, more complex framework--in this case a publishing platform called K4.
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Amazing virtual city illustrations
Can't believe I missed this before now. As the developers of these unbelievable maps explain, "In the future, every city will have a corresponding 3-D virtual city (E-city), where the population, geography, and commerce will be extended from the real city." Here is what they have in mind.
What every graphic designer needs to know about "fair use"
Everyone involved with designing web sites and creating illustrations needs to understand copyright and fair use. Even if you think you have a good grasp of the subject, you need to periodically refresh your view because it is ever-changing.
Here is a great, new-to-me source of excellent information by (what I assume are) legal experts.
I also include a link to The Center for Internet and Society (CIS)--a public interest technology law and policy program at Stanford Law School--that "brings together scholars, academics, legislators, students, programmers, security researchers, and scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the law."
I try to remain as objective as possible about the information I share here. Unless otherwise stated, I receive no compensation from the organizations and people mentioned except for occasional product samples.
