Be Aware 20
Group A proudly serves up the twentieth installment of Be Aware. If you are new to the Be Aware posts, you we have them all archived for your convenience.
Drew Davies: Seen and Noted in the Design World
While this topic is more about the tools we use as designers than the mental process, I feel compelled to share a recent find with all of you. For those of you who are sick and tired of your font management software being more of a hindrance than a help, salvation may be near. Font foundry LinoType recently released a piece of software called FontExplorer X, and while it’s new, the rave reviews are already piling in. The interface is not unlike iTunes, including built-in tools to help you buy fonts you don’t have directly from LinoType (in a non-obtrusive interface no more pushy than the iTunes Music Store.) It’s the swiftest, easiest and most stable font management software I’ve ever used. And the best part? It’s FREE. Goodbye, suitcase.
Travis Gray: TypeWatch
The word “free” usually makes me think of cheap goods with company logos printed on them, but back in October Vitaly Friedman rounded up the best 25 free quality fonts available (down to about 21 or so since the time of its first writing). Unlike most of the other free fonts out there, the fonts on the list are surprisingly well designed. And if you’re a Flash designer – or like using small fonts in your Web designs – be sure to check out his post on the 15 best license-free pixel fonts. (If you have any other free fonts that you personally like, feel free to share them in the comments.)
Adrian Hanft: Alternative Photography
Yesterday (April 30) was Worldwid Pinhole Photography Day. The official pinhole website (www.pinhole.org has a gallery featuring a collection of pinhole photos taken during the holiday.
Stephanie Murg: Read This
Here’s an enjoyable and potentially educational exercise. First, procure a copy of Strunk and White (a.k.a. The Elements of Style) and a couple of hours. Read through the 105 pages of terse yet useful writing pointers codified by William Strunk, Jr. and subsequently revised by E.B. White. You’ll soon notice how the authors, in demonstrating eminently useful writing lessons, make use of a wealth of quirky, vivid examples that sound crafted by a smart person who has been up all night (e.g., “It was a unique eggbeater,‚Äù “Polly loves cake more than she loves me‚Äù).
As you read, ponder how you might approach a redesign of this trusty manual. Then check out how Maira Kalman (wife of Tibor) answered this question with her The Elements of Style Illustrated. While you’re at it, consider how some of Strunk and White’s advice directed to writers (e.g., “Be obscure clearly,‚Äù “Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.‚Äù) might be translated to designers, who also need to learn the rules before they can understand how best to break them.
Tom Nemitz: Awesomely Bad Website
Hi, this site is all about ninjas, REAL NINJAS. This site is awesomely bad. My name is Tom and I can’t stop thinking about how bad this site is. This site is cool; and by cool, I mean totally weak.
May 1st, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Drew, I agree completely. I was floored when you told me about FontExplorer a few weeks ago, and its been tough to keep a lid on it until now. After installing and using it for a couple of weeks, I can tell you that simply, this software is dominant. In fact, I would gladly pay Suitcase prices for it. (But don’t tell Linotype that!)
May 1st, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Yeah, Tom. Shut up. Or you will pay Suitcase pri.ces for it. And then I will have to flip out all the time
May 2nd, 2006 at 3:36 am
Just FYI. The Elements of Style was illustrated by Maira Kalman, but designed by Peter Buchanan-Smith.
May 3rd, 2006 at 6:58 am
Also, I believe that Strunk and White wrote the book together; White subsequently revised it on his own.
May 3rd, 2006 at 10:43 am
Has anyone had any difficulty with Linotype’s Font ExplorerX? I love it, for the most part, but I’m finding it to be somewhat slow these days. I’ve got A LOT of fonts (not all active at once, of course) and I assume that’s the drag, but I wanted to know others’ experiences. The slowness aside, it’s so much better than Suitcase ever was.
May 3rd, 2006 at 11:05 am
be aware of the Show with ZeFrank:
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/
in an episode last week Ze put out the call for sports racer logos.
and powermoves
May 5th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Debbie: Thanks for noting that Peter Buchanan-Smith designed Maira Kalman’s The Elements of Style.
Strunk and White did not collaborate on the book. Strunk wrote the book when teaching at Cornell (see his original 1918 version here: http://www.bartleby.com/141/). In 1957, White first wrote on the book in The New Yorker, and his revised version was published two years later. Strunk died in 1946.
May 5th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Just realized that my previous comment should have been addressed to Jonathon as well as to Debbie. Thanks to both of you for reading and commenting!
May 8th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
That Ninja webpage is hillarious.
The funniest thing about the site is, he just posts his hate mail with almost no comments. No witty responses dispelling them, he just posts them for all to see.
I wonder what you were Googling when you found that site in the first place…
May 11th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Wow. Realultimatepower has been around for ages. The design actually hasn’t changed one bit since I first found it as a college freshman over 5 years ago. Luckily it’s still just as funny as when I first found it.
May 15th, 2006 at 9:40 am
FontExplorerX can fail just like any other font manager, but it’s really easy to deal with it.
If you find it behaving bad, File > Configuration > Save… your sets, Quit FEX and then go to ~/Library/Application Support/Linotype/FontExplorer X and dump the fontdata.db. Now start FEX again and File > Configuration > Load… your sets again. Everything will be back. If you however are still having problems, consider to run Font Doctor on your fonts. Damaged fonts will make any font manager suffer – and you too.
Admins: Why are only comments here with dates, but not the articles?