I found this thoughtful and entertaining video on designer Janden Richards’ Facebook page. Since our poster design project in Design I is about creating an emotional response, I’d like my student to watch this video so we can discuss it. The design Don Norman’s discussion focuses on 3D design. How do his comments apply to 2D design?
The other day I ran across a newish link on Elllen Lupton’s Thinking With Type, and thought I would check it out. Fontstruct is a free tool by FontShop for designing modular typefaces set in in a social network-ish type geek community. I’m assigning my typography students to design a typeface in Fontstruct, and I’d recommend it to any designer or design student who wants to try designing a typeface. It uses a simple grid and geometric “bricks” to build each letter. You can copy, paste, and edit to make a Q from an O, and the results can be shared or downloaded in TrueType format. Try it out—you know you want to!
February 25 & 26 will be this year’s Dish Conference in Nashville. Jim Bryant, design professor at Murray State, sent an update:
Just like you, AIGA Nashville has been hard at work planning some exciting events for the spring. Our big event for students is the DISH student conference taking place on February 25 & 26 on the campus of Lipscomb University. This year our keynote speaker is Stanley Hainsworth of Tether Inc., former Global Creative Director of Starbuck’s, Lego, and Nike.
In addition to Stanley Hainsworth, you can expect discussions from the very interesting traveling design agency, Drifting Creatives a discussion about creative paper from Mohawk Paper Company, a panel presentation by recent college graduates currently working in the Nashville area, an explanation of the value of portfolio school by Creative Circus, and a completely redesigned and reimagined portfolio review.
We’ve already got great sponsors on board—like Mohawk paper, Lithographics Printing and Shutterstock images—there will be plenty of great prizes and swag for all those in attendance.
Look for more information from AIGA Nashville as we confirm more events. And stay up-to-the-minute, follow @AIGA_DISH on Twitter!
Mark your calendars for February 25 & 26 and get those portfolios updated for the big review!
When: Exhibition runs through January 28, 2010, Monday-Friday, 9am – 5pm
Where: In the Balcony at the Emporium Center, Knoxville
AIGA’s suite of competitions is widely recognized as the most discerning statement on design excellence today, extending a legacy that began more than 90 years ago. By means of the competitions, AIGA creates an authoritative chronicle of outstanding design solutions, each demonstrating the process of designing, the role of the designer and the value of design.
The selections in AIGA’s annual competition represent the best work across all disciplines of communication design and strategy, as chosen by a distinguished jury of design peers. As such, they become part of the AIGA Design Archives, a searchable visual database of exemplary design, they are exhibited at the National Design Center in New York and offered as a traveling exhibition for display across the country. The physical artifacts comprise the AIGA Design Archives at the Denver Art Museum.
AIGA Knoxville is proud to be hosting this exhibit in the Balcony at the Emporium Center in downtown Knoxville, 100 S. Gay Street, and invites to check it out before the show closes on the 28th.
Admission is free.
This poster competition is perfect for the poster project my Design I students are working on. This one is all digital, and to enter you need a lo-res JPG and a high-res PDF, and a place to put them like Dropbox, recommended by Audrey Williams. Entry fees are just $5 a throw for students, and the deadline is Feb 24th. Jump on it. Here’s the entry form.
Most of my students know about dafont.com, but MyFonts.com also has a number of free fonts as well. The trouble for me was always finding the free promotional fonts hidden among the paid fonts. Josh Buchanan has shown me how to use the search feature in the much more attractive Beta version of the site. Just set the search feature to search for a price of zero to see all the font families that contain free fonts. Then you have to dig down a bit further and click on the individual fonts to ind the free ones. Jos Buivenga’s Museo is my favorite.
The Design II students have been hard at work developing print ads, direct marketing pieces, and other items to serve as the first part of a complete branding campaign. This blog will be the forum for choosing the campaigns to roll out at the end of the semester, so take a look at the work and help us choose the strongest concepts and designs. Click on a thumbnail below to see a larger version, then leave comments on your three favorites.
Sure, I admit it. I am a type geek and I don’t care who knows it. I get turned on by the angle of a nice italic, or the graceful curve of a well-drawn serif.
If you’re a geek too, or even a geek-in-training, you should Fonts.com and its great articles on typography. There are articles on geeky topics like small caps, arabesques, and discretionary ligatures. It’s run by Monotype Imaging, the brand that started with hot metal back in 1887.
Besides technical articles, you can find typefaces from many foundries organized by category or designer. There’s even a series of questions that will help you identify a font by sight.
The last day included some informative Affinity Sessions, a trip to the Civil Rights Museum, and some dramatic presentations in the closing General Session. Here’s what I thought about what I saw.
Affinity Session
From Shepherd Fairey to Fair Use: What’s Law Got to Do with Us? Linda Joy Katthwikwel. What it was: a copyright attorney and design educator explain the complexities of intellectual property law. What I thought: This was one of the most informative sessions I attended. Read More…
