…you want to edit every single sentence on your blog and social media networks to avoid widows.
–noun
3. Printing.
a. a short last line of a paragraph, esp. one less than half of the full measure or one consisting of only a single word.
b. the last line of a paragraph when it is carried over to the top of the following page away from the rest of the paragraph. Compare orphan (def. 4).
I’m in the process of organizing my life and figuring out a timeline for my goals. Now this mainly is in relation to my fitness level and my plans for grad school. I hit my main fitness goals in terms of just becoming healthier and active, but now I’m trying to actually be a fit badass. And as for graduate school, I keep eyeing the SCAD Hong-Kong campus that is set to open Fall 2010.
But when I try to think of design goals, it become a little less clear what I can do. There are no quantitative results. I can’t say, “I want to be able to press a 24kg” in design. Creative genius comes from something inside that can’t be captured in tangible results. So how is it that I hit goals in my design, especially when I want to become a famous designer?
I could tell myself to do a new website layout once a month. Or, do three full drawings a week. Make 1 poster a week.
But does practice really inspire creative genius? I may get better technical skills, but will I really become better at concepting? I’ve learned this about myself – my talents are strongest in seeing an idea and improving upon it, making it practical and rational. I am not as good with coming up ideas completely unprovoked. So, will my creativity grow through immersion of myself into design (even moreso)? I am not sure how much more I can do in that regard. Or is it that I am too logical, and that it hinders my creativity? But some of the most creative people of our past were being logical, too – Newton, Einstein, Descartes. So hopefully this is not my problem.
Design is how I view the world. Before a woman, before a libertarian, before a Platonic-Taoist-Buddhist, before a Libra, before a goober, and even before a human, the way I see things is through design. I recognize every color and every shape and how they interact with each other. I comment on everything that has aesthetics and why these objects hold such properties. I think in fonts and images. I imagine stories without words but just pictures. I take note of signs and posters before the rest of the surroundings. My emotions get tied to design, eliciting a growl every time I see Comic Sans or Papyrus misused. Is this not enough immersion?
I just wonder what it takes to make an impact on the design world. I think the only thing I can do is present logic into the field to bring a balance between something innovative and creative but also marketable and practical.
All this aside, I come to remember my situation when I told people from high school what I was majoring in – they could not believe the valedictorian wasn’t a doctor, or physicist, or something extraordinary like that.
But really, if you know me, you know I’m doing what I am supposed to be. That’s all I can ask for, that I figured it out the first time, and it still makes me happy.
Hermann Zapf, one of my favorite geeky typographers
http://www.inquisitr.com/30880/why-coke-beat-pespi-for-the-last-100-years/
Although there are numerous reasons why Coca-Cola remains the top competitor, I like seeing this timeline. Although there have been some faulty mistakes by marketing departments, the essential brand and logo have not changed.
I feel like this is what illustrates good branding and its impact. Coca-Cola is timeless and an internationally recognized brand. Pepsi is now internationally known but is not as classic.
Also, Pepsi’s latest rebranding attempt has faltered in trying to up its image. Not only does the logo remind me of design from 2005, it will not be able to survive another ten years. When design tastes change, AGAIN, they will have to create another logo. They have to waste money on something that won’t do them any good.
It’s like when Tropicana changed, and people freaked out and stopped buying. The brand DOES matter when it comes to sales, even if it isn’t blatantly evident.
<? php
function endofDay()
{
echo “THANK GOD JESUS”;
}
echo “kill me “;
?>
<? php include(“massicGINandTONIC.php”); ?>
So beautiful...
Wachovia has finally updated their login page to a secure server. Ever since I first signed up with them, I kept sending harassing emails about this lack of security.
It’s common knowledge that 128-bit encryption is necessary for any online transactions and to provide assurance to online shoppers that their information is safe. Wachovia, however, did not have this on their login page. This information is essential to protect – if someone can get your login information, they can then hack into your account. They will be able to access your checking, savings, and make transactions. In this world of online banking, this a grievous error.
So, about ten harassing emails and a year later, Wachovia is finally up to speed where they should be. The login is still on the homepage, but you are already on a secure server. This change gives me a sigh of relief. I solely access my bank online, and this helps me tremendously.
In conclusion: https always is need for any login using a password. Banks should be the first to do this.
A computer science friend of mine recently asked me a bunch of questions regarding my web development practices. Here they are:
Q: Do you hack up the javascript on pages as well as all the badass art creation and CSS magic?
A: I do some Javascript. I try to avoid it as much as possible, though, as it’s hard to determine a user’s environment, and many people still have Javascript turned off. The sites I work on don’t have very specific targeted demographic, so I have to try to design en mass. The things I do in Javascript are photo galleries or preload images and such. Now, if it’s a more complicated site with a narrower audience, I allow for more Javascript.
Q: How do you design your sites to be compatible in all the browsers?
A: Browser compatibility is one of the worst and frustrating things ever, that is if you build a site entirely in CSS. Unfortunately you have to do hacks for each browser and a LOT of testing. you can do an if statement in the HTML to redirect to browser-specific CSS, especially for IE6 (that one is the hardest one to get css to render correctly). Dreamweaver has a handy browser-compatibility tool now to check while you code. There are also sites that allow you to input a url and they will screen capture what it looks like in all the browsers. I recommend this.
Q: Other than Photoshop what kinds of tools do you use?
A: As I do both print and web work, I use the whole Adobe Suite. For web specifically, I use Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash. I’ve tried Fireworks but couldn’t get into it. I use Transmit as my FTP program (one of the best GUI interfaces I’ve found). I think that’s about it.
Q: Where can I see some of your work?
A: http://www.alisoncarrier.com is my portfolio. I’m in the process of updating the site, though, so it doesn’t have my most recent work.
Q: Do you deal with the backend app coding at all or is there a dedicated team for that?
A: Backend coding depends. For my freelance, I do a lot of it. PHP is one of my favorite languages to work in, so I try to take every opportunity to do so, especially if it involves mySQL databases. At work, though, I do mainly front-end stuff, just because of the breadth of projects I’m working on. After that we use freelancers to do backend stuff.
Q: What are most of your sites powered by? PHP on Lamp stack? ASP.NET? Ruby on Rails?
A: PHP all the way. I am a big fan of any open-source, so I tend to use that in my sites. Freelancing, I’m dabbling in ROR, but don’t have much experience. I’m also trying to dabble in Drupal as well.
Hope this enlightens those about what goes on in a web developer’s head. If you have any graphic/web questions, feel free to post them!
I often find myself wondering which is better for web-design and usability? Minimalist layouts or cool graphics? I do like both. I find both aesthetically pleasing. However, when it comes down to it, which really is better for the user?
I am generally a proponent of “form follows function”, so if the design element does not make sense in the user experience, then it should be thrown away. But then I wonder if I am too into the world of HCI to even create creative web design? Is this a problem that other designers face? Which is better, the function or the form?
This reminds me of typography theory. Is type allowed to be cut up and mashed around to become illegible? Or is the only purpose of type to be able to convey the message in words, and thus must be presented in its form?
cabedge.com
There is something beautiful about this minimalist design in its practicality. There’s a message, and navigation. Practically nothing else exists. This is the total user-experience. They will be able to find the links with great ease, and the cross-browser-compability of this design is perfect. Also, SEO is best at this stage since search spiders can read through these links.
Now on the other side of the spectrum is the grungy, more “realistic” designs from the Web 2.0 crowd:
web 2.0 grunge example
Awesome graphics. Cool feel. The vintage, ripped look is very trendy. But when you look at this from a usability and SEO standpoint, it falls short. I wonder if they have Google Analtyics installed to even track their site to see if they are getting hits? The links are images – without alt text. If the images didn’t load, the user would not understand that they were missing part of the layout. The layout isn’t CSS breathable – which doesn’t bother me too much, as its not trying to reach a huge demographic. However, and this is the biggest thing, is that no text copy exists on the home page. How the hell are people going to be able to search for this site unless they specially type “painisgood hot sauces”? This is what I feel a lot of web 2.0 designers forget…that the site is a practical tool for businesses – and it should have all the practical applications in its structure.
Can there be a synthesis of the two? Can you have a fully optimized, easy-to-navigate, and cross-browser compatibile grungy design? What do you readers think? Are there good examples?
I am under the impression that there is a time and place for each style of design, and it all depends on the client. But perhaps this is just me wandering around as a style-less designer?
Ok, so forget my intial plan for this shit. I am going to post everything and anything I want that pisses me off – MAINLY related to design and computers and such.
First off, yes, there are hundreds upon hundreds of posts regarding Mac vs. PC. But I often get this question, as I am both a graphic designer and web developer. “Are you a mac or PC person?” And the answer is…
Neither.
Nope, neither. I’m tired of people assuming you have to be on one side of the fence. For me, it is advantageous to be able to perform well on BOTH platforms, not just program for one. There is an understanding you gain from the immersion of yourself with these OS’s. You can understand better how a user reacts in her environment, which then leads to better HCI handling. WHAT A CONCEPT.
No, I do not just program on a Mac and test it in IE. I don’t think that is enough, even just for web. If you don’t know how the normal user interacts with Windows and then IE, then you become a less-credible developer.
Pros of a Mac: I like doing graphic-heavy things on my Mac. I use my macbook pro for Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. I prefer Macs for this because I like the colors on the screen which are rendered more beautifully than any LCD monitor I’ve ever owned (and are LCDs even up to displaying the same color standards as CRTs once were?).
Cons of a Mac: I do not know where the fuck anything goes. I feel in less control of organizing and it makes me not want to use it. I don’t get to chose where my programs are installed. I cannot micro-organize and clean up the mac as I would like. And goddammit, the fucking right-click. That Chinese dude (who is in my kungfu family, btw) who invented right-click for a reason. I should not have to buy a new Logitech mouse to acquire something that the OS INCLUDES. I should also not have to hit TWO buttons to “Right-click”. The absurdity of it irks me greatly.
Also, I don’t like that no one knows their Mac needs maintenance, just like a PC does. It can acquire worms and trojans – people just don’t usually make them to target macs, because bank software and privvy information is most likely found on a PC.
Also, I HATE HATE HATE their proprietary hardware. I can’t just build a machine and install Mac OS…no, I have to purchase their overpriced whole fucking computer. Need to upgrade? *Throws out the old computer* You need a new laptop! I love how everyone claims that Microsoft is a monopoly, yet it’s just software, people. You have the choice on what kind of computer to buy, and whether or not you want to install Windows or Linux. YOU HAVE A CHOICE. And if you believe everything those Mac commercials tell you, I will personally beat your head.
Pros on PC: I have always used PC for developing and for fun. I am a gamer and I used to be constantly upgrading my system for the best gameplay. This platform is what games are made for, with this technology. And as I am OCD in some regards, I am able to understand exactly what is going on with my computer. When it doesn’t work, I generally can fix it. Plus, I love that I can have multiple hard drives in my box, one with a faster RPM that I load all my programs on, and the larger one with a slower RPM with all the media files. It just makes sense!
Cons: Mainly colors and aesthetics. Yeah, it doesn’t look as pretty as Mac (although I am looking forward to Windows 7!), I realize that. Plus, if you don’t know much about computers, you can’t just go to an Apple Store if you have problems. Plus, viruses suck dealing with. And if you forget to defrag for a month, it takes forever.
Conclusion: Until these two are combined to create The Perfect One Machine, I will be using both. I like both, I hate both, and both groups who are specifically for one or the other can go to Linux hell.
This blog is an assortment of topics, ranging from design to life to rants. Reader beware.
