Chuck Green's Design Likes
Greetings

Thank you for subscribing.

If you love detail (most designers I know do), I urge you to read The graphic designer's secret weapon: shared knowledge. To me, it is the great gift of the digital age.
 
Be well, 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
 
 
Do you have a Facebook account?

If so, I welcome you to join me. It has become a great place to trade ideas and continue the conversation.

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

  
A dramatic example of photographic slight-of-hand: a tilt-shift movie

Whether you call the technique "miniature faking" or "tilt-shift" the idea is to selectively blur sections of an image to simulate the shallow depth of field you'd see in a close-up photograph. In this case, the image is in motion.

When you adjust the focus and speed up the film, the effect is mesmerizing.

Here > The Sandpit by Sam O'Hare...

Here > About the film...

Here > About the director...

Here > My post about tilt-shift from 2008...

  
New and old French ephemera

Two recent finds from France. First, a store that sells vintage-looking designs imprinted on pillows, bags, and such. I point you to it as much for the design of the site as the design of the products. I particularly like the combination of typefaces and sizes the designer uses.

Second is a collection of 20,000-plus vintage advertising and design pieces being archived by a French woman who goes by Pillpat, Patricia, and pita ou franck--it is a real service to the world community of graphic designers.

Here > Bonjour mon coussin...

Here > Pillpat's wonderful collection of ephemera...

Here > An earlier post on Graphic design and ephemera...


What is a creative brief?

I think of a creative brief or design brief as diagram of a project. It establishes the scope of the problem and the what, why, and who of the solution. Here are some examples of the documents used to gather information for a creative brief and a couple of examples of finished briefs.

Have an example we should see? Point us to it by adding a comment and a link.

An advertising model from AdHack (158KB PDF)...

An example of a design brief questionnaire from Chad Scroggins (450KB PDF)...

An example of a questionnaire from Glitschka Studios via HOW magazine (248KB PDF)...

An example of a brand design brief from DuPuis (444KB PDF) (thanks Sabu)...

An example of a creative brief for a web site from realwebprojects.com (96KB PDF)...

A design brief for the Pepsi logo makeover (one of my least favorite logos ever) (6.2MB PDF)...

An excerpt from Creating the Perfect Design Brief by Peter L. Phillips...

Direct links to the pages above...

AdHack.com...

ChadScroggins.com...

HOWDesign.com...

RealWebProjects.com...

FastCompany.com...

 
 

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

Much of what we learn today will be obsolete in less time than we'd like. How do we make the best of it?
 
Interesting pitch by Ogilvy about marketing in a recession http://ht.ly/22hhO

Graphic design trick #1: Reveal the structure of a layout by squinting at the page.
 
The world would be a better place if we marketers focused more on value and less on hype...and our clients would be better served.
 
Parachute recently released a "Pro" version of Din Display http://ht.ly/21u8r designed by Panos Vassiliou http://ht.ly/21ubT Beautiful...

Wonderful type collage http://ht.ly/21u0k

Fascinating use of typography in architecture http://ht.ly/21bPO

Nice letterpress work http://ht.ly/21b9B
 
Ran into my old friend, lettering artist Michael Clark yesterday... some of his work http://ht.ly/20ROo


Illustrations in needle and thread by Miyuki Sakai

Don't you love these illustrations? Miyuki Sakai uses a sewing machine to craft these unusual, organic-like images. In a new series for Martha Stewart Living the effect is multiplied by juxtaposing actual prepared food with the illustrated plates. They are, to me, fascinating to look at.

Kudos too to Design Director James Dunlinson and photographer Johnny Miller.
 
From the Ideabook.com Design Store



How to identify a typeface

What's that font?

It's a common question but with ten's of thousands of typeface designs in use, finding an answer can be a challenge. (My terminology rant: A "typeface" is a design and a "font" is the vehicle for delivering it. If you want to identify a particular design, you want to identify a "typeface" not a "font". The feature-length rant by Allen Haley: They're not fonts! here...)

My first step to identifying a typeface design name is to attempt to find it myself. I don't like asking directions and I prefer to wander through a store and find what I'm looking for myself-yes, it's some sort of stupid macho thing. (Could be a trifecta for A&E: Intervention, Obsessed, now Directions?!)

Step 1 > Identify the category. Finding a particular typeface is a simple process of narrowing and the first way to narrow the search is to identify the typeface category and to do a quick scan of the associated faces to see if you can pick it out...

Here > FontHaus

Step 2 > Capture an image and upload it to WhatTheFont. Take a photo, grab a screenshot, or find a URL for a sample of the typeface and feed it into the WhatTheFont database. It show you some suspects. (There's even an app that allows you to shoot and send samples from your iPhone)...

Here > WhatTheFont

Step 3 > Narrow the possibilities Using Identifont. If that doesn't do it, try another do-it-yourself strategy-Identifont. It asks you a series of questions about various features of the typeface and narrows the search as you go...

Here > Identifont

Step 4 > Ask the experts. Still can't find it? Time to ask for help. Try the typophile Type ID Board...

Here > typophile Type ID Board

OR more experts... at the WhatTheFont Forum on MyFonts.com...

Here > WhatTheFont Forum

Still can't find it? It might be a design by a somewhat obscure designer or foundry, a custom design, or perhaps a typeface that is not yet available in digital form.


The graphic designer's secret weapon: shared knowledge
 
The great gift of the digital age is shared knowledge. Technology makes it possible to document levels of information that, until recently, were just too costly and difficult to capture and maintain. In the case of writing and design there is a repository of information, much of it freely available, that provides us with an extraordinary opportunity to dramatically improve the quality and effectiveness of communication.

It provides a foundation of ideas, expression, and practical information on which to build the next, better solutions. Want to write better documentation? Create a better web menu? Understand why people interact with messages the way they do? It's all there for the taking. Here's a taste...

 
  
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