Delicious Redesign
Posted on July 31, 2008 by C Lin
Design, Industry | 1 Comment
‘Change is good.’ So they say. Delicious, the number one most popular bookmarking site has a new design which launched today. Luckily, I got a chance to screen capture the old design so I could compare the two. Overall, I like the organization of the new site. You can find things more readily. The links that your friends send are no longer buried. Navigation is much better on the new site. I also like that the bookmark page lumps your links by the date you posted them. I do have a few complaints, however. First of all, why does the new Delicious have to look so Web 2.0? Don’t we have enough of that style of design already? Secondly, I don’t like that the Save a new bookmark link is on the upper right corner away from your bookmarks. After hitting save, you also have to go through a useless screen, that makes you hit ‘next’ in order to label your bookmark. Thirdly, I’m missing the more obvious color delineation from the links you’ve clicked and one’s you haven’t yet. In the new version, it’s so subtle you can’t tell the difference.
Review of VECTORTUTS
Posted on July 21, 2008 by C Lin
Industry, Process | Leave a Comment
VECTORTUTS brought to you by PSDTUTS is a great resource for those of you who are in need of Illustrator help. Much like PSDTUTS, the site has tried and true tutorials with loads of tips and tricks that even the savviest user could benefit from. When I personally tested out one of the tutorials, I was amazed at how it broke down complex illustrations into steps that I could understand and grasp quickly. It gave me the tools to be able to create illustrations with simple shapes and shading techniques. Even if you’re not a talented illustrator, you could pull off realistic Illustrator drawings by knowing how to implement these techniques. There were a couple of points I felt needed improvement. For example, the tutorial asked the user to choose a few different shades of yellow without citing the exact Hex number. Missing crucial color information can really change an illustration!
Regardless of your skill level, I highly recommend trying out one of the tutorials, even if it’s just to practice your Illustrator ninja skills!
Feeds: Friend or Foe?
Posted on July 1, 2008 by C Lin
Culture, Design | Leave a Comment
For those of you who are living under a rock, an RSS or Atom feed is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content from for example a blog, news site etc. in a standardized format. You have seen the little orange icon on blogs or the blue icon in the new Firefox window. Let’s say you have a favorite blog that you read everyday. You can subscribe to its feeds by clicking on the icon and then selecting a type of reader that you want all of your content to appear on. This gives people quick and at a glance access to updated content.
Why Creative Commons is a Good Idea
Posted on June 12, 2008 by C Lin
Culture, Industry, Tech | Leave a Comment
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization which provides free licenses to copyright holders to use when releasing their works on the web. The idea is to avoid current copyright law issues when dealing with the sharing of information. CC sort of clears the clutter and confusion of copyright infringement for web users and creators. They are also really good at visually organizing these complex copyright laws in a very digestible way. Besides, the group has a nicely designed website and their free licensing icons are beautiful. The free software and open-source web world is in need of these guidelines! “We work to offer creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them – to declare ‘some rights reserved.’” – Creative Commons
Music is My Boyfriend
Posted on May 29, 2008 by C Lin
Design | Leave a Comment
I was reading a blog post about the relationship designers have with music on Design Observer. Adrian Shaughnessy writes: “I’ve never worked in a design studio where music wasn’t being played pretty much constantly… What is it with graphic designers and music?” Adrian has a good point. The image of a room full of designers with headphones on while staring at the computer screen is almost becoming cliché.
The New Zoo
Posted on February 27, 2008 by C Lin
Culture, Design | Leave a Comment
Plans for a new zoological park in Vincennes, France show the use of what BLDG BLOG calls a simulated geology. Designed by Paris architects Beckmann N’Thepe, these beautiful renderings illustrate a massive artificial and simulated habitat for animals. Approximately 37 acres of the location will be comprised of six biozones employing partial solar power.
BLDG Blog asks the question: why not make college campuses or suburbs like this? Furthermore, why not bring the outdoor experience inside the workplace?
The possibilities could be really interesting … dare we say … endless …
Bad Web Layout Conventions
Posted on December 11, 2007 by C Lin
Design, Tech | Leave a Comment
‘Design View,’ a blog by Andy Rutledge of Unit Interactive, offers up his opinions on poor web layout conventions which are still being implemented by some of the most frequented and notably well-designed sites on the internet such as Apple and Amazon. He dissects the common centered 3-column layout, an early popular convention used by such sites, pointing out the flaws in design and usability. Another typical convention many news sites make the mistake of doing is mimicking old-school newsprint layout. According to Rutledge, these sites fail to see that the difference between mediums (print vs. web) should be reason enough to change die-hard habits of design and layout. His points are well taken and it’s a surprise that even award winning sites Amazon and Apple are still hanger-ons—especially in this Web 2.0 day in age.
Check out his criticism and solutions to these design problems.
I Have a lot of Usernames and Passwords
Posted on September 28, 2007 by C Lin
Culture, Tech | 1 Comment
Months ago, I was joking with a co-worker about the idea of hiring a personal assistant just to update all of the social networking sites that I’m registered for. It was a joke then. But now I’m seriously wondering how it is I’m able to keep up my Delicious, Flickr, Twitter, Pownce, LinkedIn, Myspace, and Facebook accounts. Not to mention the dozen other sites I have accounts for, but don’t qualify as social networking sites per se.
Logo for Czech Republic
Posted on September 19, 2007 by C Lin
Advertising, Design, Process | Leave a Comment
As a designer it’s not everyday that you get to design something cool or even very important in the grand scale of things. So just imagine what it would be like to have the responsibility of branding an entire country on your shoulders. Where would you even begin?
Anke Weckmann, Illustrator
Posted on August 21, 2007 by C Lin
Art | Leave a Comment
My latest discovery is of the German illustrator Anke Weckmann. She has a very cute illustration style that is reminiscent of the late Margaret Kilgallen. The feel of her work has a hint of San Francisco’s Mission area’s streets as well as an impression of Yoshitomo Nara’s cute-but-deadly mantra. Her drawings are lovely; the coloring muted and beautifully subdued, and the images are always neat and tidy. Weckmann has a sharp sense of humor and is unafraid to show it, and yet her drawings manage to have a tinge of awkwardness to them that is hard to describe.
