Desktop Wallpaper + Calendar = Crazy delicious!

What have you got on your computer desktop? The default image that shipped with the computer? Bo-ring! Pictures of your kids at Lake Mazonga? Bo-ring! …to other people, at least. A mural of unicorns fighting the undead in a lake of fire? Bo—, wait, that actually sounds kind of neat.

In any event, while these examples may not all be that boring, how many of them are useful? Smashing Magazine has a passel of freely downloadable desktop wallpapers that are both incredibly not-boring and incredibly useful.

Okay, maybe “incredibly” is overstating it a bit, but they are cool designs/art, and they do feature monthly calendars.

Click over to Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: July 2008 to be not-bored.

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PDFs! For designers! Online!

Exclamation point! Okay, maybe that’s a bit more excitement than warranted for yet another ‘list’ post. But, Positive Space Blog’s “30 Essential PDF Documents Every Designer Should Download” is actually worthy of exclamation points.

Well, maybe just one.

Anyway, the 31 (!) PDFs are divided into 5 categories: Resources; Web Development & Programming; Presenations; Freelancing & Income; and PDF Collections.

Enjoy.

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Indiana Jones for Font Fanatics

I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last week. I liked it well enough, as I've liked all the Indiana Jones movies (except maybe for the one with Kate Capshaw). But, I did have some trouble making the shift from the first three movies being set in the late ’30s to Crystal Skull being in the late ’50s. Could my inability to accept Indy fighting Cold War-era Russians instead of Pre-WWII Nazis have anything to do with… fonts?

Probably not. But, Mark Simonson’s “Indiana Jones and the Fonts on the Maps” explores where the Indiana Jones series has broken with historical accuracy of… fonts.

If anything, the article proves that I’m not nearly the font freak that I thought I was. Whew.

via Daring Fireball

Beautiful Brochures and Booklets

Smashing Magazine brings us pretty pictures of brochure and booklet designs. Enjoy.

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