I found two tutorials for Omnigraffe software this week – this tutorial (put out by the publisher, The Omni Group) is free. Lynda.com, an online learning resource, also offers their Omnigraffe tutorial video gratis, in hopes that viewers will sign up.
Websites with Humor
From a public access TV website here in Fort Collins:
Text on the TV will look grainier than it did on your computer. It should be at least a 22 point font. If it is not big enough, people may think your organization is filled with uptight people who write small all the time.
Aahhh… I love it!
How to Choose a Font: the Crazy Method
I came upon this great flow chart on Geekologie.com, that shows another way to choose a font. It’s a large flow chart, where you start with your type of project, and answer questions along the way. Some of the humorous questions include:
The Netherlands are nice, right?
If I say science fiction films are my favorite (and then you answer good/bad), and
You cried when watching Terminator
This was created by Julian Hansen. Get your geek on, and view the font-choosing flow chart here.
When Holes Are Good: “Holey” Font Saves Businesses 50% Off Printer Ink
Most of us would become upset upon finding a hole in something: our favorite sweater, those broken-in jeans…But there is one case where holes turns out to be a plus:
The typeface Ecofont, 2010 Winner of the European Environmental Design Award, saves up to 50% printer ink simply by adding holes in printed type. Ecofont claims this is not noticeable in small type letters, usually up to 11 point (pt.). (Newsletter body text is often printed around 11-12 pt. type.)
Does It Work?
I printed out their test PDF page from the home version web page, and it looks really good. The note at the bottom says the printed version that it will look better than the PDF test. However, even the PDF looked really good. I can barely see the small holes if I look very closely, 6″ or closer. However, when viewed from 7″ or further away, your mind fills in the letters’ black, much like when viewing pointillist paintings (“Seurat the dot“), television’s three color system, or other vision tricks.
How It Works:
The ecofont software is downloaded and installed, and then you can choose any of your normal fonts in the eco-version. It seems to just change how your computer prints the letters. So 11pt and smaller text would be printed using the ecofont, and larger type sizes are printed in the normal font version (without holes).
There are small business (up to 100 computers), large business (100+ computers), and home versions for sale.
The home use price is $24.95 for lifetime use, including updates. It includes these fonts:
- Arial,
- Calibri,
- Verdana,
- Times New Roman,
- Trebuchet MS
Small businesses prices include up to 100 computers for $54.95, for lifetime use, including updates. Same fonts as above. Includes a 3-pack of fonts. This is mainly for PC writing and mail products (Word, Outlook). Available in these languages, with installation in English:
- English,
- Nederlands,
- Deutsch,
- Francais,
- Español,
- Português,
- Italiano,
- Türkçe
There is a large business version called the “Enterprise Edition”: Includes fonts for 30 or more computers, in Windows operating system. Contact them for a price:Ecofont pricing page.
To find out more, and print out a font sample online, visit the Ecofont website.
What a great idea, and so easy to implement! Its an easy way to help the environment, and save money on ink cartridges at the same time.
Fundraiser to Benefit Project Self-Sufficiency
The local Fort Collins MOMS Club-West chapter (of which I am a member) is excited to announce their May 22nd fundraiser for Project Self-Sufficiency (PS-S) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Moms Helping Moms: A Children’s Fashion Show and Silent Auction will take place on Saturday, May 22nd. The event will support single-parent families in transitioning from public assistance to independent living. Participants often receive housing and childcare while they complete education, refurbished computers, etc. Read the Facebook Fashion Show event page, and please come!
You may also read more about Project Self-Sufficiency at their website, and the non-profit Fort Collins MOMS Club-West chapter. The MOMS Club is part of MOMS International.
Update: Great news! The 2010 Spring fundraiser raised approximately $4400 for Project Self-Sufficiency in Fort Collins, Colorado. In addition, many boxes clothes were donated to The Dream Room, The Kids’ Closet and ABLEWomen. Food was donated to the Open Door Mission in Fort Collins. A big thank you to all of our volunteers, donating businesses and moms, silent auction donors, and attendees. Read the full list at our Facebook event page link above.
Martha Stewart Gains an iTunes App
Martha Stewart “Omnimedia” is living up to its name, adding a new iTunes application for to its lineup of magazines, television shows, satellite radio, tie-ins with Target stores and websites. (yes- websites plural) The application is entitled Martha’s Everyday Food: Fresh and Easy Recipes. A few reviews are negative, but most look positive. It garnered 3 stars out of five on average. One user commented that no nutrition info was yet included. It uses the internet to reach the website’s collection of recipes, so if you have an iPod Touch, you will need wifi. The app. retails for 99 cents.
Invitations to a Fashion Show, from Dries Van Noten
I have always been intrigued by imaginative invitations; not the flat paper kind, but the 3D, out of the box, make you cry out “wow!” kind. The kind of invites that make you feel special just receiving them.
Silke Stoddard at Martha Stewart.com wrote this article about fashion designer Dries Van Noten’s invitations. They included thick, printed homemade paper, tickets, candies, a montage with stencil lettering, and my favorite, a series of aged spherical tins. Read and see more about Dries Van Noten’s invites here.
View Online Poster Collection at Colorado State University Website
I recently came across a fun internet find: Colorado State University Libraries’ International Poster Collection (about). Created in 1991, these graphic posters may be viewed online, or seen in person at the campus library. The collection, which showcases artists worldwide, shows:
trends in graphic design and provide a far-ranging view of social, cultural, and political perspectives.
You could look up all the Japanese or German artists, for instance, or only look at posters from a certain year. They seem to be from every odd year from 1991 onwards.
One interesting poster shows a panda image with the message “Hope for Sichuan,” which had just had an earthquake. The design at first looks like random flower petals (chrysanthemum petals, which I believe mean grief), but these petals gather closer to create the panda image, a traditional symbol of China. This poster was created by German artist Gotz Gramlich.
The Japanese artist Shino Suefusa’s poster of a tree with roots that looked burnt at the edges, is quite remarkable. It reminds me of the craft with burnt paper edges, although this might be digital.
It’s wonderful that they are online, so you can see them day or night, without having to fly to Colorado. I hope you will enjoy browsing through them as much as I have.
Create Meaningful Website Links for Better Search Engine Optimization
When search engines like Google and Yahoo are indexing your website, it would help your website’s natural search engine results (ranking) to create meaningful website links. What do I mean by this? Simply use descriptive text or phrases in your website link text. And using SEO keyword-researched words and phrases would be even better.
As an example of website link text, you could just cite the word “plans” in an article. What kind of plans are these? The search engines have little clue. However, if you put the website link on several meaningful words in a row: “homemade spinning wheel plans” or “photos of custom motorcyles by X designer,” then the search engines know exactly the value of that text. Creating website links like this does makes the link a little more wordy, but is a greater help to your readers as well, who will know where the link “lands.” They will know exactly what to expect when they click on those words.
If you have links like these on other websites, that point to your website, the search engines will rank your web page better, too, which will help your “natural” (non-paid) search results. You can also use these to link to other pages within your website. If you are selling crepes in Fort Collins Colorado, examples of links to your website could include:
-
delicious crepes in Fort Collins, Colorado
the best crepes in Old Town, Fort Collins
best dinner date restaurant in Fort Collins, Le Creperie
Be sure to use keyword-researched words in that link. Don’t know how to do that? Just read the section about Wordtracker.com in our fantastic article about how to optimize your website for search engines (SEO). (You know exactly where this link will take you, right? To another article in this website. And we just told the search engines what is on that page.)
Now you understand how to create website links that include SEO information for search engines, increase your natural search engine results through internal and external website links, and finally how to help your readers know where each click leads. I hope this will help you in your business.
Playful Typography 101
How do you make your marketing stand out? Catch attention? Stay in that memory until your business’ product is needed? Using type in a really creative way makes your design memorable and fun, raising it above the rest. It will help your marketing get noticed.
Let’s look at a few great examples. The show title art for the television show “The Dollhouse,” (seen here from Hulu.com) really stands out to me. All of the letters are different sizes, lowercase, nestled in among each other. It looks similar to the Bauhaus font, and the simple black reinforces that. The woman with the gun is over the type, but its still very readable.
A similar type treatment is found on the Alice in Wonderland movie (released in 2010). Here the letters are mostly capitalized, but again, arranged artfully. The small “i” in Alice and the “a” in Wonderland are tucked in tightly. It sets the tone for the craziness of the story about to unfold.
A recent Martha Stewart living magazine featured the word “bloom” with a flower stem going through the “O” and blooming above one of the letters. And we’ve all seen people place over the magazine title, to make them pop out. This blog from Design Work Life shows many creative fonts that would work great on title pages. (One photo is a timelapse photo with people drawing with light-)
And you probably have already noticed this book title “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Glibert. Just seeing the cover makes me want to pick it up and hold it. This cover is definitely memorable.
Think about your marketing….Does it pop? Does it stand out, or does it sit there limply, hoping someone will stand still long enough to read it? Grab your audience’s attention with playful type.
Are You A “Somebody”? Homes and Locations Blurred By Google Earth Images
I thought this was an interesting article from the PocketMac Brothers’ Blog. Several strategic sites are blocked or blurred in Google Earth images. However, this blurring includes private people’s homes, and…actors. Apparently William Hurt’s Paris home is blurred out. Not exactly national security worthy. I was wondering about the process of having your house blocked from Google Earth satellite images and Street View. Read more yourself at this link.
Charming, Playful Type in Children’s Book “Princess and the Pea”
Too often children’s books have wonderful illustrations, but the type is left plain and undecorated. There might (might) be some type placed on a curved line. Wowee! Well, this is happily not the case in the children’s book “The Princess and the Pea” by Lauren Child (published in 2006). The author’s creativity encompassed the whole book, including the type faces for this highly imaginative story.
The beginning of each section begins with a large, ornamental drop cap (that large first letter that is often decorated in old books) in black ink over a scroll-work green background. Then important words are either all caps, a larger size and bolder font, or cursive italics (words like love, mesmerizing, fascinating, stars, etc.). Some pages begin with an old-looking hand-written calligraphy font. All of these are intermixed so well that different nuances of the words are emphasized. It really works to enhance the charm of this fairy tale. Here is a visual sample on Amazon.com. (Click the right arrow to see the “Once upon a time” page.)
The characters are hip-looking, hand drawn paper dolls in different poses. (The author/illustrator is also the creator of the Charlie and Lola books, which is also an animated series now.) The backgrounds are real staged rooms and sets, created from garden materials (log for a treehouse) and dollhouse furnishings. These were lit and photographed by Polly Borland.
Kudos to Lauren Child and the Hyperion Books for Children editor for including the typeface into the art and style of the book. It emphasizes the fairy-tale feel of the story, and greatly enhances the whole story-telling adventure.