Someone was asking me when I first started Ideabook.com and I had to check the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to recall. Haha... return with us now to 1997...
Be well, Chuck
Is Washington ready for the digital age?
All politics aside (please), this is an interesting experiment. In August, Mikey Dickerson, formally the Site Reliability Manager for Google, went to work for the United States Government as the Administrator of the newly formed United States Digital Service.
"The team has one core mission:," explains the fact sheet announcing the service, "To improve and simplify the digital experience that people and businesses have with their government by:
Establishing standards to bring the government's digital services in line with the best private sector services;
Identifying common technology patterns that will help us scale services effectively;
Collaborating with agencies to identify and address gaps in their capacity to design, develop, deploy and operate excellent citizen-facing services; and
Providing accountability to ensure agencies see results.
Hopefully, almost a month in, the players are beyond all the references to the cliche that Dickerson doesn't wear a suit and tie (it makes the politcos and reporters sound like dinosaurs).
It will be interesting to read (a few months from now) how the bureaucracy has received its new experts. And whether the people that invited the changes are willing to implement them.
From a design and marketing standpoint, take a look at the playbook. It offers a thoughtful outline of the design and development of large-scale web development, some of which could be clearly be applied to smaller projects.
Thanks to Lee Garvey for pointing us to it.
A brief video about the rollout...
Here's a first take on the U.S. Digital Services Playbook...
The Fact Sheet: Improving and Simplifying Digital Services...
From The Washington Post: White House launches 'U.S. Digital Service,' with HealthCare.gov fixer at the helm...
Mikey Dickerson's LinkedIn account...
I learn something every day...
Sending bulk mail in the UK is referred to sending a "mailshot."
If you use InDesign (or QuarkXPress), you might find this useful
The idea is simple. Modifying a well-designed template is far easier than starting from scratch. My InDesign Ideabook includes 315 researched, designed, and meticulously formatted documents in a clean, simple style that it easy to build on.
The Ideabook lets you breeze through time-consuming document setup and get right to the important stuff. Instead of spending 15 minutes to create a simple layout, you'll spend 15 seconds. For complex projects-books, newsletters, catalogs, reports-you'll save HOURS.
"If you need to create winning design and your time is important to you, there is no better investment than Chuck Green's Idea Book. I write copy and create marketing materials for small business, and Chuck's world class layouts have me up and running in minutes instead of hours. I can't recommend this book enough!" Kory Basaraba, Copywriter and Consultant, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
For Adobe InDesign
For QuarkXPress
A continuing education model for typography design
This is an interesting idea. As explained in an AIGA Los Angeles interview, designer Michael Stinson started TypeEd because he thought there was a learning gap between design school and professional practice.
I point you to it (even if the courses it offers are not online) because I like the model (you might think of other applications) and I like the design of the website-the UI and the aesthetic.
Here's TypeEd...
Michael Stinson is the lead instructor at TypeEd...
That AIGA interview with Stinson...
Stinson is a partner at Ramp Creative-here are some examples of their work...
Some reviews of TypeEd from Yelp...
In case you have been following the story of photographer Vivian Maier and the discovery of here life's work...
Here's a followup...
Marketing/advertising self-regulation run amuck
Today I want to point you to the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) in the United Kingdom. They write and maintain advertising regulatory codes that are administered by a group called the Advertising Standards Authority. They explain their mission like this:
"The UK advertising industry is respected and emulated around the world, not only for its creativity and effectiveness, but also for the well-established system of self-imposed controls it has developed for advertising.
The advertising self-regulatory system is based on an agreement between advertisers, agencies and media owners that each will act in support of the highest standards in advertising, to ensure that all ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful. The Codes reflect requirements in law, but also contains many rules that are not required by law at all.
The advertising industry has chosen to exercise this self-restraint not only to make further legislation unnecessary, but also as a public demonstration of its commitment to high standards in advertising."
I point you to this labyrinth of regulations because I think it presents a rather frightening model of how a public/private organization, under the guise of good, can grow into what seems like a potential censor of free speech.
No, of course I don't want illegitimate organizations to be allowed to bamboozle the public. But, at the same time, I don't want well-meaning people to dictate what we can and can't design, and write, and publish within, what seems to me to be, such a nebulous framework.
For example, a few quotes from the materials these two organization provide:
"Advertisements must reflect the spirit, not merely the letter, of the Code."
"The ASA Council is the jury that decides whether advertisements have breached the Advertising Codes."
Under a publication titled, "Food, food supplements and associated health or nutrition claims... 13.12.1 Nothing in an advertisement may seem to encourage children to pester or make a nuisance of themselves."
Under a publication titled, "The BCAP Code: Faith, Religion and Equivalent Systems of Belief... 15.9 Advertisements must not refer to the alleged consequences of faith or lack of faith. They must not present the advertiser's beliefs as the "one" or "true" faith."
Under a publication titled, "Introduction and Dating Services... 27.3 Advertisements must not dwell excessively on loneliness or suggest that people without a partner are inadequate."
Is this the purview of a self-elected organization? Must designers, writers, and other creatives become lawyers forced to interpret and apply a catalog of requirements and regulations to every project? In a world where we are increasingly relegated to the status of an audience, this language seems dangerously vague and this organization's powers seem expressly presumptive.
You tell me. Read the BCAP Code for yourself...
"Making ads responsible: A guide to the ASA and CAP Legal, decent, honest and truthful" (3MB PDF)...
Advertising Standards Authority Committee of Advertising Practice Annual Report 2013 (1.9MB PDF)...
Ad from The Business Educator, December 1902...
A quote that applies to seemingly everything, including design:
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly..." -- Thomas Paine
Meet illustrator Christian Montenegro
Christian Montenegro is doing something different here. I love the bold colors, the flat shapes, and his insightful ideas.
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
Montenegro's website...
Is digital dead? Introducing Ikea's Bookbook
I love Ikea's Applesque approach to marketing its new catalog: The Bookbook. High definition, easy scrolling, multiple users, indefinite battery life, and so on. (I'm contemplating writing the "missing manual" for it titled, The Bookbook Book.)
Thanks to Karla Humphrey for pointing us to it.
Introducing the Ikea Bookbook...
Learn any software program, when you want, for only $25 per month.
How long will your printouts last?
Ever print out images for yourself or your clients that need to last for a long time? Here's EVERYTHING you need to know about the stability and preservation of traditional and digital color photographs (and motion pictures).
The Wilhelm Research Archives - Vol. 1 is a 1,487-page, free publication that addresses the permanence and preservation of photographs-a beast of a resource that includes years of research and information produced by one of the premiere concerns in the field, Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.
The publications are available here (for free)...
A while back, the principle of the firm, Henry Wilhelm endorsed Canon's Pro-1 Printer...
Does your marketing involve the selling of place? Show customer's what you've got through Google Business View...
There are times when I hesitate to enter a business because I'm not quite sure what I'm going to find.
Ever enter a store without display windows? If so, you know what I mean. For example, my wife Leslie and I were recently in Washington, D.C. and visited a store that had a big, very interesting selection of italian food products and wines. The catch was, it was situated within a row of nondescript warehouse offices with no clue as to what we would find behind the front door. Fortunately, Leslie had done some detective work beforehand and we had an idea it was worth visiting.
I have discussed this phenomenon with store owners. If the buying public can't see inside your shop, I tell them, there's a whole group of folks who won't travel out of their way, or even approach the front door if they think they might open the door and themselves in the middle of a place, for whatever reason, they don't want to be. (I'll never forget the time we went to a cheese maker in the middle of a small town. It was a tiny little room with a bunch of the folks who worked there sitting around drinking coffee. And they didn't seem happy to see us.)
Anyway, Google is hoping to spare us from that awkward moment with Google Business Views. A feature of Google Maps and Street View that allow you to virtually enter the place of business beforehand.
Now, if you have the type of place that people don't really appreciate until they get inside (in my experience, the vast majority of the most interesting shops) you can hire a photographer to create a Business View, 360 tour of your operations.
It's pretty cool idea.
A brief intro by one companies that specializes in producing Business View image captures...
Three examples of 360 Business Views: Brood- en Banketbakkerij Ben Vreman (Bakery) (you click and drag the image to look around the space)...
Kolenmolen de Zandhaas (Flour mill)...
Saint Patrick's College...
ExampleTours.com is a searchable selection of published Google Maps Business View tours...
An interview with a photographer who shoots Google Business Photos...
Explore Google Maps...
Behind the Scenes Street View...
