Chuck Green's Design Likes
Greetings

Thank you for subscribing.

Hope you find these resources and ideas as interesting as I did. It's tough to prioritize what to look for if you only have five or ten minutes to look--but, for sure, don't miss Bryan Christie's masterful "explanatory" illustrations.
 
Enjoy, Chuck
 
P.S. Don't forget to checkout my design template collections--ideabooks and 300-plus templates on a dual format (Mac/PC) CD-ROM...

For Adobe InDesign > For Adobe PageMaker > For QuarkXPress
 
 
Join the conversation on IdeabookFB (Facebook)

We are having some excellent discussions via the new Facebook page. Please join us...

Here >
http://www.facebook.com/ideabookfb

  
Print isn't dead, it's going digital

Surely printing on paper and systems for delivery of print have and are changing dramatically, but we are FAR from the disappearance of the print model.

There is a tendency for the web dog to bark at the print dog-as if the web dog is somehow smarter, more capable, better. But the web dog needs to remember where he came from. The web is awash in print metaphors-menus, file folders, pages, indexes, and so on-all foundational structures of the printed page.

It's exciting, to me, to discover people who are more interested in the next step than they are in the argument-in combining the strengths of both worlds to craft new solutions.

This is one of those cases. It is a new take on the conversion of the magazine from print to pixel. The producer is BERG, a design consultancy that works "with companies to research and develop their technologies and strategy, primarily by finding opportunities in networks and physical things."

Here > A concept video on the future of digital magazines...
 
 
   
How to explain your idea with an illustration
 
Bryan Christie produces masterful "explanatory" illustrations. He does it by manipulating color and transparency, through the construction of cutaways and proportional scales, and through a myriad of other visual devices such as dropping an element into an illustration for the purpose of clarification. The enormous size of an ocean oil rig, for example, is instantly understood when you put a ship in the water next to it.

A pretty amazing body of work here for someone who appears to be fairly young.
 
 
 

Recent Tweets http://www.twitter.com/ideabook

New release from Font Bureau: Richard Lipton's Tangier (60KB PDF) http://ht.ly/1EVoX

Another one of Michael Doret's wonderful typeface manuals (950KB PDF) http://ht.ly/1EiDG

Interesting design idea, move your mouse pointer over the red bar at the top of the screen... http://ht.ly/1DNwh

Advantages of being a small firm (PDFs) http://ow.ly/1BRkx ...a large firm http://ow.ly/1BRnh

This applies to design as well--"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. " Stephen Sondheim

Another excellent piece from Tim Girvin--Seeking the heart of the brand experience http://ow.ly/1AXVj


Organizing information (and everything else)

I was once told by the editor of a magazine that the rarest type of writer was one who can produce good design and then describe how and why they produced it. If that was once true, I don't know if it is true anymore. I am seeing more and more examples of amazingly well-rounded individuals and organizations that produce lots of good work and demonstrate a real talent for showing and telling how they did it.

Unit Interactive is one of those organizations.

Here > The Unit Interactive blog...

Here > Example of one of their project case studies...

Here > UI also does some inventing-one of them is an web content editor called Unify...

Here > UIs owner is designer and author Andy Rutledge...


Lots of ideas but few results? Read this...

Scott Belsky, the founder of the Behance Network, poses that What the Creative World Needs Now Is Organization. I think he has a point.

"The sad truth is that most of our ideas will never see the light of day." Why? Because, "Creativity, it seems, is not only the catalyst for new ideas. Creativity is also the greatest obstacle to seeing our ideas through to the finish."

Why do we need organization? "Organization," Belsky theorizes, "is a major force for making ideas happen."

Enough said. If that intrigues you as much as it did me, read these 12 brief pages from ChangeThis.

Here > What the Creative World Needs Now Is Organization...

Here > Looks as if there is more to come next week...

Here > Belsky's Behance Network...

Here > Follow Scott Belsky on Twitter...

 
From the Ideabook.com Design Store
 
Meet type designer and illustrator Seb Lester

Seb Lester has created typefaces and type illustrations for, among others, Apple, Intel, and The New York Times> He recently had the distinction of being chosen to re-design the covers of JD Salinger's books for Penguin Books. Here's why...

Here > Seb Lester's "Hellfire"...

Here > "Blazing"...

Here > "The Catcher in the Rye"...

Here > Lester's web site...

Here > Seb's found type collection...

Here > A recent interview...

Here > Seb Lester on Twitter...


Thinking from different angles

Jack Schulze, the Director of New Product Development at BERG, offers yet another example of how it is possible to re-invent things--even something as literal as a map. This map puts the viewer simultaneously above the city and in it--both looking down and looking forward.

Here > Then & There...

Here > A more complete explanation...

Here > An earlier post about BERG...

 
  
About the briefing

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. Comments? Suggestions? Write me at [email protected]

Chuck Green