Thursday, April 26, 2007

Two exhibits you should see

via e-mail from Roland
There are two exhibits in San Francisco which we should all be aware of. Both Ron and I have seen these shows and recommend them for their richness and innovation. They can serve as inspiration to us all.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
California College of the Arts at 100: Innovation by Design
March 23–August 26, 2007
Encompassing some of the most mesmerizing design objects from the Museum’s collection and beyond, this exhibition showcases the innovation and boundless creativity manifested by faculty and alumni of CCA on the occasion of the Bay Area college’s 100th anniversary.

M.H. De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park
Vivienne Westwood: 36 Years in Fashion
March 3–June 10, 2007
Vivienne Westwood is both iconoclast and global icon. This exhibition, which was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and which makes the de Young its only U.S. stop on an international tour, celebrates Westwood's extraordinary, nearly 40-year-long career.

Upcoming local courses by Edward Tufte

via Edward Tufte's web site:

Experimental Two-Day Course
with Edward Tufte

Palo Alto, CA
July 12-13, 2007

Presenting Data and Information:
A One-Day Course Taught by Edward Tufte

San Francisco, CA
July 17, 2007; July 18, 2007; July 19, 2007; July 20, 2007

Edward Tufte has written seven books, including Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. He writes, designs, and self-publishes his books on analytical design, which have received more than 40 awards for content and design. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. His current work includes landscape sculpture, printmaking, video and a new book.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Adobe InDesign CS3 Review

Just when you thought all I ever post is links to software reviews… here’s a link to Macworld’s InDesign CS3 software review. This goes along with my links to Macworld’s reviews of Photoshop CS3 and Bridge CS3.

Yup, blog-linking, that’s really what it’s all about.

Take the web design survey

via A List Apart:

The Web Design Survey, 2007
Designers, developers, project managers. Writers and editors. Information architects and usability specialists. People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Who are we? Where do we live? What are our titles, our skills, our educational backgrounds? Where and with whom do we work? What do we earn? What do we value?

It’s time we learned the answers to these and other questions about web design. And nobody is better qualified than the readers of A List Apart to provide the answers. Participate in our first annual survey to increase knowledge of web design and boost respect for the profession. Selected participants, chosen by random drawing, will win one free ticket to An Event Apart event held in the continental U.S.; an Apple 30GB video iPod, an Event Apart jump drive, or a funky A List Apart T-shirt... more>

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Is it sustainable design?

via AIGA Center for Sustainable Design:

Eleven questions to ask before you design, specify, or buy anything:
  1. Do we need it? Can we live without it?

  2. Is the project designed to minimize waste?

  3. Can it be smaller, lighter, or made from fewer materials?

  4. Is it designed to be durable or multi-functional?

  5. Does it use renewable resources?

  6. Is reuse practical and encouraged?

  7. Are the product and packaging refillable, recyclable, or repairable?

  8. Is it made with post-consumer recycled or reclaimed materials and how much?

  9. Are the materials available in a less toxic form? Can it be made with less toxic materials?

  10. Is it available from a socially and environmentally responsible company?

  11. Is it made locally?

Monday, April 23, 2007

Free symbol signs for download

via the AIGA web site:

The complete set of 50 passenger/pedestrian symbols developed by AIGA is now available on the web, free of charge. Signs are available in EPS and GIF formats.

About the symbol signs
This system of 50 symbol signs was designed for use at the crossroads of modern life: in airports and other transportation hubs and at large international events. Produced through a collaboration between the AIGA and the U.S. Department of Transportation, they are an example of how public-minded designers can address a universal communication need.

Prior to this effort, numerous international, national and local organizations had devised symbols to guide passengers and pedestrians through transportation facilities and other sites of international exchange. While effective individual symbols had been designed, there was no system of signs that communicated the required range of complex messages, addressed people of different ages and cultures and were clearly legible at a distance.

To develop such a system, AIGA and D.O.T. compiled an inventory of symbol systems that had been used in various locations worldwide, from airports and train stations to the Olympic Games. AIGA appointed a committee of five leading designers of environmental graphics, who evaluated the symbols and made recommendations for adapting or redesigning them. Based on their conclusions, a team of AIGA member designers produced the symbols.

A first set of 34 symbols was published in 1974, and received one of the first Presidential Design Awards; 16 more symbols were added in 1979. These copyright-free symbols have become the standard for off-the-shelf symbols in the catalogues of U.S. sign companies. They are now available on the web for the first time.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Adobe CS3 Reviews

For those of you with the wherewithal to keep up with the pace of technology (in this case Adobe Creative Suite 3), Macworld has reviews on Photoshop CS3 and Bridge CS3. It’ll be a while before I personally get a hand on either one (I’m saving my pfennings for an Intel-based Mac) so reading about the new products’ ins-and-outs is as close as I’m going to get.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Calling all campus Drupal users, hackers, and fans!

via email from Tao Starbow, Webnet

The first meeting of the Berkeley Drupal Group will meet on Tuesday, April 24th, 7-8:30pm, on the UC Berkeley campus, 290 Hearst Mining Building. (We have the room reserved ongoing on the 4th Tuesday of the month, so please help us spread the word.)

Agenda: This is the first meeting, so it will be mostly about introducing ourselves and the projects we are working on, and finding out what people want to get out of the group. If we have time, we could also do a round of show-your-favorite-module.

Who? This group is open to all: UCB students, UCB staff, and people in the area. In particular, I would love any advice/suggestions on getting the word out to students.

What is Drupal? It is an open source, web content management system. It is a step up in power from blog systems like WordPress or Moveable Type, and a direct competitor to Joomla and Plone. It is currently being used to manage the web sites for campus entities like CITRIS and the iSchool, and probably lots of others I don't know about yet. Worldwide it is used by The Onion, MTV, Amnesty International, and at least tens of thousands of lower profile sites. Lots more info about Drupal at www.drupal.org.

More info about this group here.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Social design: designing for the social lives of users

Public Affairs invites you to a group viewing of the next UIE Virtual Seminar:

Social Design: Designing for the Social Lives of Users

For more information, please see program details here.

Wednesday, April 11, 10-11:30 a.m.
300C, 2195 Hearst (see directions below)
R.S.V.P. to Allison Bloodworth

Directions:
The seminar will be held at room 300C in 2195 Hearst, on the corner of Hearst and Oxford streets. As this is a secure building, all visitors must be signed in and escorted to and from the third floor. Because the seminar starts at 10am, please plan to arrive at the building by 9:50 to allow time to sign in. You will need to call the second floor IST receptionist from the phone in the first floor lobby, who will bring you the second floor to sign in. You will then wait as a group in the lobby to be escorted to the third floor conference room at 9:55. If you are late someone will have to leave the seminar to bring you up, so we really encourage you to be on time. However, if it is urgent, you can call Allison Bloodworth at 415-377-8243 to be escorted up.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Use del.icio.us to save bookmarks

If you're not familiar with del.icio.us, browse to their site and check it out. It's a nifty way to save and access your bookmarks from any computer, anywhere. I find it to be incredibly useful. And if you're curious about what other pages are being stored you can view popular and recent bookmarks saved by everyone else.

Max out your Mac — Apple announces 8-core Mac Pros

If you’ve got money burning a hole in your pocket and you’re in the market for a new Mac Pro then wait no more. You can now order an 8-core Mac Pro workstation. That’s two Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Clovertown” processors running at 3.0GHz.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

You can still get measly quad-core Mac Pros, but why bother—you’ll have to suffer the jeers and taunts of those rich 8-core (oct-core?) bullies.

Read more from Apple, Macworld, and MacUser.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Helvetica—The Movie

This makes me smile (first time all week). —Roland

"Helvetica is a club." Neville Brody
____________________________________

Love it or hate it, Helvetica looms large in visual culture. Helvetica is a feature-length film exploring the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. Featuring a who's who of graphic and type designers, including Massimo Vignelli, Matthew Carter, and Erik Spiekermann.

Helvetica was co-produced by Swiss Dots and Veer and directed by Gary Hustwit. Read the director's film blog at helveticafilm.com.

Adobe announces Creative Suite 3

Have you just gotten used to Creative Suite 2 (maybe even 2.3)? Well, Adobe recently released Creative Suite 3 (CS3) which should be available in a bewildering array of configurations this April. You can find out more info at the Adobe web site or this story at Macworld.com.

No sign of the updated software (or educational pricing) yet at The Scholar's Workstation, but we'll keep an eye peeled for it.