creer magazine issue01 - March 2010

creer for designers who blog

featured designer

Chris Spooner

the the illustration illustration of of

Anton Peck the the photography photography of of

akFAORO student student profile profile

Matt Jones

Welcome to creer

Our innauguration

Yin and Yang: What designers can learn from developers

Keir Whitaker

WTBWhat The Blog Top 10 blogs

#1 march 2010

creer for designers who blog

Featured Designer: Chris Spooner

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THEBE POINT LESS SYSTEM WOULD

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By Keir Whitaker

WTBp19 What The Blog

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theÊpointÊsystemÊwasÊdevelopedÊinÊtheÊ19thÊcenturyÊbyÊPierreÊFournierÊ andÊFrancesÊDidot.ÊtheÊpointÊsystemÊisÊusedÊtoÊexpressÊtheÊsizeÊofÊtype.Ê thereÊisÊnoÊrelationshipÊbetweenÊnominalÊandÊvisualÊsize.ÊallÊtypefacesÊ differÊ inÊ proportionÊ ofÊ theÊ bodyÊ sizeÊ (nominalÊ size)Ê thatsÊ allocatedÊ toÊ theÊx-heightÊ(visualÊsize).ÊaÊtypographicÊpointÊisÊtheÊdimensionÊusedÊtoÊ expressÊthis,ÊhoweverÊaÊtypographicÊpointÊhasÊnoÊrelationshipÊtoÊeitherÊ theÊinchÊorÊmillimetre.Ê

bodyÊsize

learn from developers

photography

Matt Jones baseline

Yin and Yang: p30 What designers can

p6

decenderÊline

illustration

akFAORO

FOR US

Anton Peck

DANGeROUS ALL student profile

Graphic Symmetryp54 An experiment in image

manipulation to form new intriguing se-metrical designs and intricate patterns

By Geoff Palin

2

I spend a lot of time online digging through hundreds of design blogs and communities, and there is a lot of great stuff out there, but it takes so long to go through it all…

So I started thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if there was some kind of monthly publication dedicated to showcasing all the great designers online. Who’s doing what, what they’re doing, and how they’re doing it?

I did my research and came across many great industry publications, but none of them really focused on designers who blog or online design communities.

I didn’t want to start another design community or blog, instead I wanted to publish an online magazine that would fill this need. That’s when créer magazine was born!

The name créer is French for create, why a French name? Why not, I live in Montreal, besides aren’t design magazines suppose to have French, Italian, or German name?

Put simply, créer is an online magazine dedicated to serving the design community, specifically those who blog or who are considering setting up a blog. It is my goal to educate and inspire individuals from all walks of design.

I have spent many years living as a designer/developer. I run multiple blogs, I freelance, I speak at various conferences, I run workshops, and I belong to more social networks than I can count. …but I have never designed, or even imagined, publishing a magazine.

I know what you’re thinking, how crazy is it to design and entire magazine on your own? Well the answer is simple- it’s INSANE! It has been a very long and hard road, but I am very excited about this new adventure and I hope you are as well.

I can’t take full credit. I owe a huge thanks to all the artists, designers, writers, and sponsors who have graciously contributed their time to be involved in this first issue. I could not have done it without them.

This is only the beginning. It is my hope that créer will become a resource the industry can benefit from. I hope you are inspired and as passionate as I am about building this new community together.

-Brendan Sera-Shriar

General Information

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http://www.flickr.com/groups/creer_magazine/pool/ Proudly Canadian - Made in Montréal

3

From graphics to web development, audio to video and more, get the skills you want from our family of tutorial and resource sites. Need more? We also offer a Plus program where you can access source files and bonus tutorials.

Enter to win a 1yr membership with the tuts+ network How to enter 1

Go to www.creermag.com/tutsplus-contest

2

Tells us what you think of our first issue

3

That’s it!

*This contest is open to all creer magazine readers

PHP Québec, Montréal-Python, Montréal on Rails, W3Qc and OWASP Montréal are proud to announce the first edition of the Confoo.ca Conference. From March 10th to 12th 2010, international experts in Java, .Net, PHP, Python and Ruby will present solutions for developers

and

project

managers

the

prestigious Hilton Bonaventure Hotel, located in downtown Montréal.

With events such as ConfooJobs and ConfooBeer Happy Hour, the Conference will provide an excellent opportunity to meet speekers, developers and decision-makers from various language and business communities.

akFAORO Photography by Alyssa Katherine Faoro

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7

Alyssa Katherine Faoro (akFAORO.com) is an up and coming photographer born and raised in Windsor, Ontario. Her passion for photography sparked at the modest age of 12, when she got her grubby little mitts on her first automatic film camera. At age 17, Alyssa found herself in Toronto, Ontario studying Digital Media Arts and pursuing a career in art and computers. Since then, Alyssa has freelanced for publications and organizations such as Eye Weekly, Worn Fashion Journal, and Canadian Film Center. These clients have exposed her to on location and in studio fashion portraiture, product photography, on set movie stills, and documenting live events, such as parties, red carpet award shows, concerts and the runway. All of this experience has substantially fueled her desire to always strive to be bigger

and

willing

to

continue never

8

better

than

always to

back

push

work down

the the

hard, in

last

shoot.

Readily

limits, Alyssa dream fear

big, of

will and

failure.

1

9

2

How did you get started? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

I wasn't ever really exposed to photography techniques in an academic atmosphere as of yet. I started on my own with an automatic film camera, then a cheap digital point and shoot, and eventually got a DSLR. Later, I started shooting for Eye Weekly (eyeweekly.com) and Worn Fashion Journal (http://www.wornjournal.com) in Toronto, Ontario and have been fortunate enough to make some awesome connections, which continues to lead to further freelance work and collaborations with some really great individuals.

Where do you go for inspiration?

I usually turn to books, magazines, movies, and music for a lot of my inspiration. Whenever I feel low on creativity I tend to research different eras and movements in pop culture that I admire, to see what has been done and the story behind it. I find it very inspiring to get away from the computer and appreciate the

10

ideas

and

energy

other

people

have

put

forth

in

the

past

in

varying

mediums.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a photographer to have/develop?

Creative thinking and being able to adapt in different lighting situations is essential know how, but I feel these skills will never stop developing. As long as a photographer is willing to grow, there will always be room to learn new techniques and unusual methods. That determination will keep work fresh and will get collaborators excited for future projects.

How has having a blog benefited you as a photographer?

Blogging has been beneficial to me in the sense that it motivates me to keep creating content, even if the content is just for the satisfactory notion of producing something for my own purposes. I enjoy being able to share my work online and I find it exciting to receive feedback about the subject matter I shoot. My blog allows

me

to

be

experimental

and

professional

at

the

same

time

without

repercussions.

3

11

Would you recommend that other photographers start a blog?

Absolutely! I always prefer to check out blogs that are heavy in visual content rather than copy. Especially for photographers, it’s apractical and accessible way to let others continuously track what projects you have been involved in without being outdated, as a lot of portfolio sites usually become.

What is your camera of choice?

My favourite camera to work with is a Nikon D80 with a Tamron f2.8/17-50mm lens.

Do you prefer digital or traditional photography?

Personally, my preference is working with digital methods. I am a big fan of Adobe Lightroom and I like to give all of my photos a stylized treatment. On the other end of the spectrum, I do love a good disposable camera session whenI can afford it. I find disposables are not as intimidating and it

brings

back

a

certain

type

of

fun

I

used

everything I did was candid.

Who are some of your favorite online designers/photographers?

Matt Barnes (http://www.thatsthespot.com) Dave Hill (http://www.davehillphoto.com) Shanghoon (http://www.shanghoon.com/) David Waldman (http://kid-with-camera.blogspot.com/)

.

12

to

have

when

4

13

5a

14

What are some of your favorite online design communities?

FFFFOUND! (http://ffffound.com) Polyvore (http://www.polyvore.com) LOOKBOOK.NU (http://lookbook.nu/) tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/directory/)

If you were going to photograph me, what would you make me do?

Photoshoots with me usually encompass a dangerous amount of alcohol consumption and a severe reduction in clothing, haha...

If you could photograph anyone in the world who would it be?

Jason Lee as Earl Hickey. I’ve got a sweet spot for a dirty moustache and El Caminos.

What’s next? Where do you hope to take your work?

What's next is where ever, whenever, and whatever. I plan to keep working away and continue to get involved in as many different projects as possible. I'm just always looking to work with talented people, have some good fun, and make things look good while doing it.

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5b

16

1 Christina Marie 2 Worn Fashion Journal Issue No. 9 3 Mike Rinaldi 4 Alice Glass of Crystal Castles 5a/b Pin-Ups for Farm Animals Calendar Shoot akFAORO www.akfaoro.com

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FITC Toronto brings together the brightest minds in interactive, technology,and creativity for three days of hands-on lectures, panels and workshops.

With some of the most unique and engaging presenters from around the globe, FITC Toronto is an information blitz of presentations, demonstrations, and panel discussions sandwiched between our legendary FITC parties and abundant networking opportunities.

It’s three days and nights that will leave you inspired, energized and awed. » Three full days and nights of events, plus one day of optional pre-festival workshops » Over 60 presentations and panels covering the Creative, Technical, and Business aspects of Flash and digital media » Over 1000 attendees from around the globe » Includes the annual FITC Awards Show » Includes three FITC evening events

Creer readers get 10% off with the code: creerdiscount

Who?

What?

John Underkoffler / USA United Visual Artists / UK Robert Lindström of North Kingdom / Sweden Jared Ficklin of Frog Design / Austin Dan LaCivita of FirstBorn / NYC Claus Wahlers / Brazil Big Spaceship / NYC Fuel Industries / Ottawa Scott Hansen (ISO50/Tycho) / San Fran MK12 / Kansas City James Paterson / Montreal Hoss Gifford / Glasgow Mario Klingemann / Germany Colin Moock / Toronto Grant Skinner / Edmonton André Michelle / Germany Brendan Dawes / UK Joa Ebert / Germany Lee Brimelow / Adobe / San Fran Ralph Hauwert / Netherlands ...plus many more

Flash CS5 Flash for the iPhone PureMVC Open source Flash 3D Creativity and Inspiration Flash Catalyst Unity Frameworks Marketing your Skills Augmented Reality Physics and Character Motion Scene.org Demos Hacking and Flash Flash on Devices Flash and After Effects From Solo to CEO Blending Analogue & Digital Storytelling Multiuser App Development Design Business Bootcamp ...plus many more

WTB

The top 10 best blogs of the month - chosen by our readers

What The Blog

1 2 3 4 5

Dirty Mouse www.dirtymouse.co.uk

SeptemberIndustry www.septemberindustry.co.uk

Aisle One www.aisleone.net

Doug Muise www.dougmuise.com

Christina Ung christinaung.blogspot.com

6 7 8 9 10

David Jonsson www.davidjonsson.com.au

poems out LOUD www.poemsoutloud.net

Paddy Donnely www.iampaddy.com

Elitist Snob www.elitistsnob.com

Think for a Living http://www.thinkingforaliving.org

How to submit a blog Send your submission to submit@creermag.com include WTB (What The Blog) as the subject line.

what are you waiting for?

In the email include the link(s) your name and original source (if required).

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“

“

Traine elite the cu

Chris

20

“

ed in the mysterious art of design I’m an master of graphical weaponry, skilled with ursor and deadly with the pixel.

s Spooner

21

How did you get started? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

I studied the subjects of Art and Design throughout school, college and university, so I do have a good educational background in the subject.

With that said, many of my techniques have been learnt through following articles and tutorials online.

What motivated you start blog.spoongraphics.co.uk?

I remember seeing design blogs springing up at the time, such as Smashing Magazine and Bittbox, so I decided to give it a go myself.

Mainly to experiment with the Wordpress application, and give myself a place to experiment and practice new techniques.

Where do you go for design inspiration?

Being sat at the computer all day I find a lot of inspiration online by browsing inspirational blog posts, design showcases and portfolios on sites such as Behance. Although when out and about in the 'real world' I'm forever picking up ideas from everything from packaging designs to magazine layouts.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

A thorough knowledge of their chosen application is a must. Whether this is Photoshop, Illustrator or something like Pixelmator. The more you learn your way around a software application, the easier it becomes to imagine how a certain element or style could be created.

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How has having a blog benefited you as a designer?

Basically every client and penny of income I've gained in the last 2-3 years has been a result of blogging. It really has given me a big boost in my career, and I can't imagine what I'd be doing without it.

Would you recommend that other designers start a blog?

I'd recommend it if the designer has a real passion for sharing information, keeping up to date with their industry and researching various topics. If you're looking for a short route to fame or fortune it's not for you, as it takes a huge investment of time before any real benefits are seen. If you're doing it out of passion and enjoyment, you're more likely to succeed. If you're doing something just because you enjoy it, you're more likely to stick with it. If you're doing it because bloggers travel the world and drive fast cars, then you're wasting your time. Within six months you'll be bored.

What made you decide to branch out with line25.com?

I wanted to start producing more articles and tutorials based around web design, but my blog had developed a name for general design and illustrator subjects. I didn't want to suddenly change the focus or oversaturate it with web design stuff, so I decided to start from fresh and set up a new blog. This also gave me the opportunity to put into practice all the things I'd learnt from growing Blog.SpoonGraphics.

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Why the love affair with monsters and robots?

What's cooler than a monster or a robot?! Nothing. (Maybe except Ninjas)

What are some of your favorite online design communities?

Twitter is by far my favourtie community, it's always great to chat with like-minded people, and Twitter probably has the largest collection of designers. I'm forever seeing new faces appear in my stream and meeting new people. There's friendsI have on Twitter that I probably wouldn't have crossed paths with otherwise.

24

Who are some of your favorite online designers?

I admire the work of James White, Nick La and Guilherme Marconi. All three of these guys produce amazing design and illustrative work that always inspires me to get back into the artsy side of design.

Other than design, if you could have a different career what would it be?

This is always a difficult one, because I've been interested in design from a really young age. Along the way I took an interest in 3D modeling, and had plans to become a Maya whiz and work on some Hollywood movie effects.

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Do you hate all cheese? Is there any particular reason why you hate cheese?

I keep trying to like cheese, but it's something about the taste that just kicks me. Even when eating pizza the taste manages to come through from all the other ingredients and ruin it.

How does one become an elite master of graphical weaponry?

It takes years of training. You must be able to break pixels with your bare hands and fight off five Yamabushi warriors with the Polygonal Lasso tool.

Finally, what advice would you give a young designer just starting out?

Submerge yourself in all things design. Follow design blogs and keep up to date with the industry. Keep practicing and experimenting with new techniques and styles until you find your comfort zone.

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27

1

28

2

1 Chemical Imbalance 2 Retro Grunge Chris Spooner www.spoongraphics.co.uk www.line25.com

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Yin and Yang: What designers can learn from developers

By Keir Whitaker

Web designers and developers, two different breeds of people destined to never get along - right? Well maybe, but that doesn’t mean one can’t learn from the other.

In this article I will recommend five common development tools and techniques and suggest ways in which web designers can incorporate them into their everyday workflow. The concepts below focus on saving you time and will allow you to focus on doing what you love most, designing beautiful and creative web sites.

1. Avoiding repetition

2. Embrace conventions

Unlike “design” a lot of development involves

Consider creating a common approach to

repeating similar tasks over and over again.

folder structure, naming conventions and the

Developers make their lives simpler by writing

way you layout your CSS selectors.This will

reusable code that they can drop into a new

make it much easier for colleagues to delve into

project. Write it once and reuse ad infinitum.

a project that’s already underway as they will

Designers can take this approach too. How many times have you written out a comment list or the HTML for a micro-formatted blog post?

Many applications include the facility for “snippets”, write once and reuse often. If you use Mac

OSX

take

a

look

instinctively know where files are placed and named. Document your conventions in a wiki, this will help get new collaborators up to speed and enable you to easily note changes and updates.

at TextExpander

I strongly recommend viewing Simon Collison’s,

(http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/)

of Erskine Design (http://erskinedesign.com/),

, it gives you the power of snippets regardless of

slide deck “Developing Your Ultimate Package”

application.

(http://www.slideshare.net/collylogic/developingyour-ultimate-package)

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for

further

ideas.

3. Master frameworks You may have heard of web development

It’s syntax is very straightforward and the

frameworks like “Ruby on Rails”, “Django” and

documentation will enable even non code

“CodeIgniter”. Regardless of the flavour of

savvy designers to add effects to their pages in a

language they are written in they all share a

matter of minutes.

common goal, to make developing web sites and applications easier. They do this by abstracting common tasks and giving developers simple ways to do complex things.

Sounds great I hear you say but how does this relate to web designers? Over the last few years

For common page elements such as pop-up calendars, dialog boxes and accordion effects have a look at jQuery UI (http://jqueryui.com/).

4. Master your tools

we have seen an increase in the number of

If you have ever sat watching a developer work-

“frameworks” available for front end developers

ing at speed you may have noticed that the

and designers.

mouse is a second class citizen. It’s all about the keyboard shortcuts for developers. Why waste

For example there’s really no need to ever write your own CSS reset file. Yahoo has already done

this

for

you

with

“YUI

Reset”

time reaching for the mouse when you can achieve

the

same

results

with

a

simple

keystroke?

(http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/). For an added bonus you can link directly to the minified

I

am

a

huge

fan

of

TextMate

versions on Yahoo’s servers.

(http://macromates.com/), a simple text editor for Mac OSX. It comes with a number of bundles.

If you are a fan of grid based layouts there are

plenty

of

options

such

(http://www.blueprintcss.org/)

as

Blueprint

and

960

(http://960.gs/). Both offer easy ways of getting your Most

gird websites

layouts today

moving include

quickly. interactive

Depending on what type of document you are working on bundles will give you keyboard access to a number of functions. For example if you working in a HTML document typing “head” followed by the tab key will insert the following into your document:

elements powered by JavaScript. Whilst there are many JavaScript libraries out there the leader in the field is jQuery (http://jquery.com/).

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<head> <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Page Title</title> </head>

This is just one example, there are literally hundreds of options covering all your HTML and CSS needs. Using keystrokes for your common coding needs will save you time

allowing

you

to

focus

on

the

details.

Other applications will allow keyboard access to most menu items. They may take a while to learn and remember but with constant use they will become second nature.

5. Incremental versioning Put simply if you don’t have a backup system in place today then you are running a huge risk.

Ask yourself this, if your computer dies what happens?

In addition to a solid disk based backup solution I strongly recommend learning and using a CVS

(concurrent

versioning

system).

Developers

swear

by

systems

such

as

Subversion

(http://subversion.apache.org/) and Git (http://git-scm.com/) and designers can reap similar benefits.

There are a number of reasons that you should adopt one of these systems for your design and web site files.

Firstly the files are stored on a system other than your own. At it’s simplest form this offers you abackup of your files should your computer fail, which at some point is inevitable. Secondly using a version control system will allow you to rollback to a previous version of a file if required regardless of when it was created.

Thirdly it will allow multiple users to work on the same project without overwriting each others work. Finally it will allow everyone involved in the project a simple way to keep up to date on changes. Learning these systems will take time but I believe it’s a worthwhile investment.

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A quicker but less robust solution is Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/). It’s available for Mac, Windows and Linux and allows you to sync a folder, up to 5GB for free, on your local computer with their service on the web.

That’s a simple backup solution straightaway, the added bonus is that the web site offers you access to previous

versions

of

your

files.

Folders

can

be

shared

with

other

Dropbox

users

too.

It’s worth investigating for a quick solution.

Here are just five ideas from the world of web development that can be adopted by web designers. There are plenty more but these should give you a good basis and will save you time, increase your efficiency and allow you to focus on the design and not the process.

About the Author Keir started his career as an IT support technician at the turn of the century and progressed to creating web sites for the National Health Service (NHS). After leaving the NHS in 2004 he worked as a freelance web developer specialising in both PHP and ASP.Net. More recently he has been delving into the world of Python and Django. Keir joined Carsonified in February 2008 and has worked across all areas of the company.

Currently

he

is

focused

on

editing

the

online magazine Think Vitamin (http://carsonified.com/blog/). You can follow

his

ramblings

on

Twitter

(http://twitter.com/keirwhitaker).

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34

Anton Peck illustrator

35

How did you get started? Did you study something in particular or are you self-taught?

For all intents and purposes, we can just go with the self-taught answer. Because when I was going to school, a great deal of what I learned, at least related to specific bits of technology, just doesn't seem to apply anymore on a practical level.

Learning how to evolve with my career and build knowledge up on a solid foundation of values was more valuable to me than anything else.

Where do you go for design inspiration?

Anywhere *but* the internet. I recommend against trying to find inspiration in materials that are similar in what you intend to create. Opening yourself up to what everyone else is doing tends to resolve into two solutions: frustration, from seeing work that's better than what you can produce, and imitation, because even subliminally you might find something that you like so much you end up copying it.

There's actually a ton of inspiration in places such as industrial design, architecture, and nature. Try going to a book store and looking at magazines in those sections. Or just get outside and walk around a bit. There's beautiful work all around you. Music and movies can also inspire you to create something - especially if you expose yourself to a genre that you don't normally listen/watch.

What do you feel are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

Problem solving, originality, structure/organization, humility, and the ability to communicate coherently. At least, these were the things that I wished I had learned earlier in my career. All the talent in the world would be wasted if not for these things.

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Creepy Plant

37

Mashroom 38

How has having a blog benefited you as a designer?

I consider a personal blog to be a great proving ground for trying out ideas. My entire site has been a sandbox for trying out things that I don't feel comfortable giving to others. It's also been a great place to have a conversation about topics that I'm sometimes a bit reflective on (even to myself, regardless of who's reading).

Would you recommend that other designers start a blog?

Without hesitation, yes. Starting a blog might feel awkward at first with the "I don't know what to write" stage that all people go through. But who cares, it's a personal thing. Don't do it for other people, do it for yourself. The amount of personal insight that can be gained is worth all the effort. Do it for the ideas. Do it for the exposure. Do it for the kittens!

What is Project 52 and motivated you to start it?

Project 52 is a personal goal to write at least 52 new blog posts this year. A way of getting some ideas out and published, to hopefully get out of this social-network rut that sites like Twitter and Facebook seemed to have helped cause. I started it out just for myself back in December, with an open invitation to anyone that felt like jumping onboard. Apparently I hit a nerve, because the amount of people that joined in the following weeks went far beyond anything I could have ever predicted.

Who are some of your favorite online designers?

First of all, I'm going to admit bias on this one, because a lot of the designers that are my favorites also happen to be people that I've become friends with, to some degree simply through common connections. I'll try and keep the list short...

Bryan Veloso - http://avalonstar.com Jonathan Snook - http://snook.ca Jeff Croft - http://jeffcroft.com Matt Brett - http://mattbrett.com Jina Bolton - http://sushiandrobots.com Nathan Smith - http://sonspring.com/ D. Keith Robinson - http://www.dkeithrobinson.com/a52/ I'm expecting angry emails from the dozen or so people I neglected to list in 3, 2, 1...

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Sir Frumpet 40

Snail 41

Mummy Dude 42

What are some of your favorite online design communities?

Some of the best communities so far have been the small, private mailing lists that I've been lucky enough to be a part of. That's how you do it: keep it small, personal, and closed.

One of the latest design community sites though (that still is in a private beta, ironically) that I'm lovign is Dribbble, by Dan Cederholm: http://dribbble.com It's where you upload a 400x300 screenshot of whatever you're working on *right now* and share it with whoever is following you.

I read somewhere that you are planning on publishing a book of illustration and/or a graphic novel? What can we expect and when?

I believe this was something I mentioned a briefly when talking about my goals for 2010 on my website. There might have been a few Twitter mentions here and there as well. Anyway, this is definitely something that I'd like to pursue this year, I just have to find the time and budget to make it happen.

If you had to choose, which one of your pieces is your favorite?

Probably my Mashroom. The angriest bit of fungus in my gallery: http://antonpeck.com/artwork/fullsize/mashroom/

Other than design, if you could have a different career what would it be?

Ummm.. Illustration? Like that's not obvious. After that it would be music. I like playing guitar to loosen up the cobwebs in my head.

Finally, what advice would you give a young designer just starting out?

First, grow a spine and learn how to listen to honest feedback. Your best lessons are going to come from your harshest critics. Compliments might be good for confidence, but do little to make you better at whatever it is you do. Practice the stuff you hate doing. You'll find more time left over for the things you love.

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Edge of the Web 44

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Matt Jones Student Profile

46

... is a 21 year old student currently in his second year studyingcommunication design at Northbrook college Sussex.

His

inspirations

include

Swiss

traditionalist

typographers

along with contemporary designers such as Jonathan Ellery.

http://warhead1.blogspot.com 47

kern

yes we

sometimes composition can effect readability. If you have an important piece of text situated badly in your work so that it canﾃ付 be read, then you only have yourself to blame. The negative space around letters is as equally important as the letters themselves. You can create a beautiful piece of work by just leaving empty spaces, but make sure they are compositionally sound, and arnﾃ付 randomly just thrown on the page. There are 3 main elements concerning composition of type. They are - Tracking, leading and kerning. Tracking refers to the amount of space that exists between letters. Leading introduces space into the text and allows the characters to be read comfortably and be easy on the eye. Kerning concerns the space between certain letters, some letters are closer to each other than other letters which can make the word hard or uncomfortable to read. composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition composition compo-

Kern

48

Readability is the measure of how easy that typeface design I L is to distinquish. ItÕs also to see the difference between one letter legibility and from another in a particular typeface. legibility and readability Readability is a gauge of how easily legibility and readability ability words, phrases and blocks of copy can be read. legibility and readability Lighter typefaces are usually more legible legibility and readability than heavier weights of type. Lighter typefaces offer open counters OHJLELOLW\ DQG UHDGDELOLW\ DQG XQPRGLÀHG FKDUDFWHU Vhapes. legibility and readability legibilit sometimes the absence of counters makes the OHJLELOLW\ DQG UHDGDEL OLW\ WH[W YHU\ GLIÀFXOW WR UHDG :KLFK LV LURQLF LQ WKe fact legibility and readability that posters and text are primarily used legibility an as a medium to inform or communicate . legibility Sometimes deminished readability can be used as a graphical device and can take a back seat when it comes to the aesthetics of individual letters.

not what helvetica can do for you

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Ask Not

.

legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability legibility and readability

but what you can do for Helvet ica

49

le gi ty1 Legibility101

50

ebi ili 101 51

Valley

even though i walk through the valley

indesign of valley the

eventhough i walk through the shadow of

is with helvetica

iwillfear nofont for me your

palette and your they

of the shadow of indesign i will fear no font

text box com fort

52

colour me

ascenderÊline

meanÊline

x-height

THEBE POINT LESS SYSTEM WOULD

AÊWORLD WITHOUT

STA BLE ANDÊMORE FOR US

DANGeROUS ALL bodyÊsize

baseline

decenderÊline

theÊpointÊsystemÊwasÊdevelopedÊinÊtheÊ19thÊcenturyÊbyÊPierreÊFournierÊ andÊFrancesÊDidot.ÊtheÊpointÊsystemÊisÊusedÊtoÊexpressÊtheÊsizeÊofÊtype.Ê thereÊisÊnoÊrelationshipÊbetweenÊnominalÊandÊvisualÊsize.ÊallÊtypefacesÊ differÊ inÊ proportionÊ ofÊ theÊ bodyÊ sizeÊ (nominalÊ size)Ê thatsÊ allocatedÊ toÊ theÊx-heightÊ(visualÊsize).ÊaÊtypographicÊpointÊisÊtheÊdimensionÊusedÊtoÊ expressÊthis,ÊhoweverÊaÊtypographicÊpointÊhasÊnoÊrelationshipÊtoÊeitherÊ theÊinchÊorÊmillimetre.Ê

The Point System

53

GG raphic Symmetry An experiment in image manipulation to form new intriguing se-metrical designs and intricate patterns.

By Geoff Palin

If your anything like me, you love to crack open your

At first my experimentation started out pretty basic, I

favorite design tools and experiment with new ideas,

would open up an image, any image really, but I tend to

when we are graced with the "total creative freedom" we

use photos. I would create layers segregating each and

work with no restrictions, it's an empowering feeling

every color or pattern I could find in the image, then I

and

gives

us

the

would

clone

the

opportunity to explore

layers, flip and skew

new tools, techniques

accordingly. As you

and ideas that just

could

aren't

wasn't long before I

feasible

necessary

in

or our

everyday designs.

would

end

it

up

with dozens of layers and

Over the past three

imagine

groupings

of

ideas.

years I have worked on designs for every-

54

I could spend hours

thing from the stand up and fly straight cooperate

experimenting with a photograph that starts out as a

websites to spit and fight punk band promotion, I feel

funky lampshade and transform it into a completely new

lucky to explore such a range of design styles, but still

piece of art. The experimentation would usually result in

there burns that urge in me to design something outside

highly intricate se-metric imagery, other times I would

of the realm of a clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request.

spin off into other directions, where the symmetry would

I think too often we fall into design patterns conditioned by a clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request to clone style ideas or layouts from an existing source. This experiment forced me to move away from those conventions and transcend into a purely experimental realm that was truly refreshing.

I have continued to work on variations of this 'graphic symmetry' concept for three years since my first escape. There's just something about the freedom to create and manipulate imagery with no boundaries that makes me appreciate the effort involved.

55

I would encourage anyone reading this article, especially designers, to take some time whenever your schedule permits you to get into that total creative freedom head space and experiment with ideas of your own. Take a break from conventions and who knows, you might end up with a 200 layer symmetrical masterpiece of your own.

56

About the Author Geoff Palin is a 22 year old designer/developer from Toronto.

Inspired by innovation and the open source initiative, Geoff is an active contributor to a number of different open source communities both online and offline. Geoff is currently doing his 9-5 tango as a systems integrator in the interactive department at the Jonah Group. In his spare time, when he is not working on freelance web or design projects, Geoff spends his time recording and making soundscape based music for short films and backing tracks

for

other

artists.

To

connect

with

Geoff

visit,

http://geoffpalin.info

57

creer for designers who blog

Thanks for Reading!