This post was originally posted on August 5, 2013 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
A little math problem for you…
One 15-minute PowerPoint1 presentation has 5 slides. Another 15-minute PowerPoint presentation has 15 slides. Which presentation is shorter?
Obviously, both are 15-minute presentations. They are the same length.
But time and again, I talk to people who reduce the number of slides in their PowerPoint because they want to make the presentation “shorter.” They think that if they have fewer slides, they will talk for a shorter amount of time. Often, they don’t take material out, as much as they condense it on the remaining slides.2
That’s completely the wrong way to think about it.
Next time you have a presentation, think about how long you have to present and build your story to fill the allotted time. Then create an appropriate number of slides to support your presentation. You may have more slides and move through them quickly. Or only a handful of slides.
But remember that the length of your presentation has almost nothing to do with how many slides you have.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This applies to you even if you are using Keynote, Prezi or a PDF. ↩︎
I’ve seen people cut slides and have their presentations grow longer, rambling as they try to squeeze in all that they’ve “cut.” ↩︎
This post was originally posted on June 23, 2013 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
A small Hamilton type case
I’ve mentioned before that my dad is always on the lookout for type and printing antiques for me. Recently he found a small Hamilton type case. I’m familiar with large cabinets, but this case is much smaller. It’s about 17 inches high, 9 inches wide and 12 inches deep.
I did a quick google search and couldn’t find any other cases this size. I’m guessing this case was intended for a hobbyist. It would only fit a few small fonts of type. Hopefully I can find out some more about it…
UPDATE! My friend Nikki Villagomez happened to run into some folks from Hamilton at HOW and asked about the case. The last two digits of the serial number indicates that it was made in 1929. Also, it probably wasn’t intended for type and was instead made to hold metal spaces used in typesetting. But they hadn’t actually seen a case like this before so they were just speculating. If you know more about this amazing find, post in the comments below.
Made in the USA by Hamilton.
Each try has 25 divisions. Y and Z shared a spot.
You can still see the pencil marks denoting where the individual letters should go.
This post was originally posted on January 21, 2013 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Mom and me in August 1976. Yes, that’s me with the crazy curls.
I was about to graduate from college and was at home telling my Mom about my decision to be a designer. For most of my college career, my major had been journalism or public relations. But near the end of my college career, I fell in love with design and changed my major. Mom was normally the most supportive person in the world, but that day, she was skeptical. “Bob, you don’t exactly handle criticism well.”
Michael Bierut came to speak at an AIGA South Carolina event several years back. I remember him talking honestly about the challenges of pitching work to clients. It was the first time I could remember a “rock star” designer expressing that sometimes, you are limited by a client.
It resonated with me. As designers, I think we often fall into the trap of thinking that our solution is perfect and flawless and that the client should just trust us. But it doesn’t always happen that way, even for famous designers.
His point in telling the story is that he understood Futurebrand’s challenges with the UPS redesign. But I took something else from it: No matter how large and well-respected you and your firm are, you still have to convince a client that your solution is right for them. Sometimes, you will fail.
I have students and friends that absolutely explode with frustration when their work is criticized. Or when clients ask for significant changes. But this is part of the job and part of the environment that we live in today. This is part of the career we have chosen. We have to deal with the criticism as constructively as possible and move on.
Futurebrand released a redesign of American Airlines last week, replacing the iconic Massimo Vignelli mark. Personally, I love the redesign. (And I love the original.) Commentary from designers seems to be split and there are many who are harshly criticizing it. Even Massimo Vignelli. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can’t please everyone.
My mom was very astute to realize that if I was going to be successful as a designer, I needed to understand that criticism is part of the job. I’ve worked really hard to deal with criticism in a positive way and to encourage others to do the same.
My oldest daughter is very creative and interested in design or art as a career when she grows up. I’ve thought about what advice I’ll give her about criticism if that’s the route she takes. I’ve settled on this:
You are a designer. Criticism is part of the job. Accept it. You will not always win. That’s okay. If there’s a better solution, find it. Stay focused. Keep creating. Love what you do.
This post was originally posted on January 13, 2013 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
After my dad retired, he got into antiques. Knowing my love for type, design and printing, he’s always on the look out for something unique. Over the years, he’s found a bunch of great wood and metal type, type drawers and other printing materials.
A 100-year-old litho stone. The logo for Carlisle and Co., a San Francisco printer. Note the name of the company in the feathers.
Before Christmas, he sent me an email that he had purchased my Christmas present, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was. The auction listed the lot as “printing stones” and no one really knew anything about them. He had one for me, but to get it, he had to buy the entire lot. 11 stones in all.
I knew immediately that he had litho stones. But I wasn’t prepared for how remarkable they were. (If you don’t know about stone lithography, here’s somebackground.)
Each block is limestone and about 10 x 12 inches and about 2.5 inches deep. They weigh around 30 lbs. each. They are marked on the side with a red identification number.
My Christmas present had a large Native American illustration on one side and stock certificates on the other side.
I didn’t see it at first, but the feathers of the head dress spell the name “Carlisle and Co.” A quick Google search and I was able to find A. Carlisle and Co., a printer still in operation and currently located in Reno. Thanks to a corporate history published on their 100th anniversary in 1953, I was able to find out a lot about the company, the Indian and the stones.
The “Carlisle Indian” was drawn by the wife of the founder, Eleanor Majors. Interestingly, her father was one of the co-founders of the Pony Express.
Carlisle (and several companies that they acquired over the years) were located in San Francisco for over 100 years.
Carlisle was a top producer of government and corporate printed materials. Most of the stones are letterhead and stock certificates. Some of the stones are in Chinese.
Based on the dates on these stones, they look like the art is from the early 1920s. Some of the stock certificates are dated from even earlier.
Several different designs are on each stone. Both sides of the stone are used.
I have no idea how these stones made it from San Francisco to an auction in South Carolina. I’m assuming at some point they were given to an employee who then moved east.
The corporate history, A. Carlisle and Company: The First Hundred Years is an amazing look at the history of printing, detailing the process with lots of photos of old equipment. It’s been scanned and made available through the University of California. If you are interested in printing or design, check it out.
I’m going to try to research the other stones. I’ve actually only seen 2 of the 11 stones. They are an interesting snapshot of the growth of industry in California at the turn of the century. I’ll post pictures and background on them here as soon as I can catalog them all.
This post was originally posted on November 5, 2012 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Laser cut InShow logo
AIGA South Carolina’s InShow design awards were held last weekend. The award is always a cube — constructed from a different material every year.
I’ve been involved in the design and assembly of cubes in the past, designing the junction box cube in 2008 and helping with the pillow cubes last year. So I was really excited to design this year’s InShow cubes.
Maria Fabrizo was creating the supporting materials and was taking a rustic approach. Over the years, I’ve created a small collection of rejected cube prototypes. One prototype that I had experimented with previously was a wood block, made from a 6x6 timber cut into cubes. It seemed like a perfect fit for the theme.
I looked at a couple of different ways to add the logo and winner’s information to the blocks and settled on a plan to fabricate face plates and bolt them onto the solid blocks of wood.
The face plate — laser cut and engraved.
I used Ponoko to laser cut and engrave the face plates, cutting the InShow logo into a sheet of bamboo plywood. And the cutting and engraving were done at one time so personalization was really easy.
Ponoko is a really interesting service — just upload an EPS file and they cut your design into a material of your choice. And they provided great service and support. (I’ve used Ponoko before. See my 2009 blog post about building a book shelf with their service.)
Once we got the face plates, we just had to screw them onto the cubes. Brynley Farr from ByFarr Design was able to get some awesome remnant wood from Southland Log Homes and had it cut into cubes. In all, we assembled almost 70 cubes.
The face plates were screwed onto a solid block of wood. Check out the awesome wood grain on the side.
On the best of show and the special judges awards, the background of the InShow logos were painted — red for best of show and gold for the special judges award. (Check out this blog post from Fuzzco who won 10 cubes including best of show.)
This post was originally posted on January 2, 2012 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Finally, after at least 4 years of using the Sketchbook B name for my personal projects, I have letterhead and envelopes.
Once the cornerstone of a corporate identity, letterhead and envelopes are becoming an endangered species. Digital communication is replacing written correspondence. And many people just print from a word processor with a logo at the top. (I personally think this has to do with how impossible it is to figure out how to load letterhead into a laser printer.) Pre-printed letterhead has become a luxury.
I printed business cards earlier in the year, but I hadn’t even considered doing letterhead and envelopes. I just don’t send that much written Sketchbook B correspondence.
I started reading Letters of Note and Letterheady and was inspired to start working on concepts. Something that would work for small quantities. Maybe a stamp or a label. But I couldn’t quite settle on something I was happy with.
One day, I was helping clean out a cache of old materials at the office and ran across a bin of old media – CDs, SyQuest drives, Zip disks, 3.5 inch diskettes and even 5.25 inch diskettes.
The 5.25 inch disks brought back memories of my Commodore 64. Using Print Shop for the C64 was the first time I used a computer to create and print a “design.” And it was likely the first time I ever thought about typefaces.
I had found my inspiration:
I took the dimensions of a 5.25 inch floppy disk label and worked up a concept. I’m sure at some point in the not-so-distant past, a floppy disk label was part of the standard corporate identity package.
All of the type in the system was initially designed with Fontstruct and later refined with other software. SbB Periodic is used for the address information and SbB Dradis for the logo.
The labels are odd dimensions - you can’t exactly buy precut labels that size anymore - so I had a local vendor print them on crack-and-peel on their Indigo press. I ordered a small quantity of Pop-Tone Sour Apple paper and envelopes from French.
On the letterhead and envelopes, the label wraps around the paper so the address is on the back. And the label can be used on folders, CD cases, binders and more.
This post was originally posted on November 10, 2011 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I was excited to help with the assembly of AIGA South Carolina’s InShow award for this year. Every year, the InShow “cube” is made of different materials or themes. Aluminum, concrete, cardboard, faux-quarium, ceramic, wood block, junction boxes, faux-cheese, a wrapped present and now…
The pillow cube was one we always wanted to do, but we never had the time to manufacture them all. So when Frances Grosse told me that they were going to finally do fabric cubes, I volunteered to help sew them. Frances picked out the fabric and patches and then she, Maria Fabrizio and I sewed cubes. The tags were created by Harrison Croft and pinned to the cube. (They aren’t in the picture above because these cubes are leftovers…) Definitely one of my favorite cubes.
Also: See my post from 2008 that details the process for making the junction box cubes.
This post was originally posted on July 5, 2011 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I’ve been wanting to get Sketchbook B business cards for a while. And I wanted to use my own fonts for the identity system. I’ve played around with several different looks, but never pulled the trigger and ordered them. Finally, my new cards are printed and they use two typefaces that started life on Fontstruct: SbB Dradis Alpha and Periodic.
I just released the SbB Dradis family. It’s an odd experimental display typeface that can be used without spaces in between the letters. I’ve updated the masthead on the site with a new Sketchbook B logo in Dradis.
Periodic is a monospaced, pixel font with old style numerals that I designed to be used in print. For most designs, visible pixels are a no-no, but I think they add some texture and interest. I’m using a version of Periodic that I’m still tweaking. It’s a refined version of the one I quietly released on FontStruct. Once I finish polishing Periodic, I’ll release it here.
This post was originally posted on September 29, 2010 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I purchased my iPhone just over three years ago. In fact, I purchased it the day Steve Jobs announced the $200 price cut and I snapped up a 4GB model from my local AT&T store that afternoon.
This was a big change for me. I had never really paid for a phone before. I got whatever Nokia was free with the plan… And I rarely used texting, camera or data.
When I first got the iPhone, it seemed like everywhere I went, I was demoing the phone. Everyone wanted to zoom in on maps and flip through pictures.
Several days after I got my new iPhone, my youngest daughter was born. And from the hospital, I took pictures and emailed them immediately to friends and family. (In fact, when my wife went into labor, I found myself without a watch and used the stopwatch to time contractions. It remains the only time I’ve ever used the stopwatch.)
Initially, I wasn’t interested in the camera. I had a high quality SLR and point and shoot. But I found time after time, when I needed a camera, the iPhone was with me. And the high end equipment wasn’t. I got lots of great candid shots with the iPhone.
I also stopped carrying my iPod. While I couldn’t store all my music on the 4GB iPhone, I was able to sync the stuff I listened too most. And found myself slowly using my iPod less and less.
Deteriorating
The first sign that my iPhone was starting to show it’s age was that after about two years, the speaker developed a minor issue where it was hard to hear when there was a lot of background noise. It wasn’t a deal breaker, but occasionally, I was frustrated. I contemplated replacing my iPhone with a shiny new 3G or 3Gs. But I didn’t.
A few months ago, I dropped the iPhone. I had dropped it previously without serious damage, but this time it hit just right… and the face cracked. It still worked. But now, a new phone was going to have to happen soon. At the time, the iPhone 4 was just out and with the reception issues, I decided to wait a little bit. After all, it still functioned fine. Plus the idea of replacing my reliable old iPhone made me a little sad.
A few weeks later, I dropped it again. This time, the screen didn’t crack. But the side bowed out a little bit. The side with the volume was bent so that the volume down button was constantly depressed. So the phone would turn the volume down at random times. My iPhone was no longer functional as a phone. It was time to replace my iPhone.
My new phone
I stopped into an AT&T store and upgraded. A shiny new iPhone 4. Shockingly they had some in stock and the transfer was painless.
The phone is faster. The screen is better. The camera is better. I don’t have to deal with slow data speeds. My reception is better and I haven’t had any of the antenna issues that are so well documented. In every way, the new iPhone is a better device. But, just a little bit, I miss my original iPhone.
How we relate to tech
I’ve had a lot of computers. And iPods. And other gadgets. But the iPhone is the first piece of technology that I’ve had with me constantly. I can take my laptop or my iPad with me, but I don’t always have it. I carried my iPod frequently, but if I forgot it, no big deal. However, my iPhone was indispensable. For 3 years, I carried and used it every day.
As gadgets become more portable, they become more a part of our lives. iPhones - and other smartphones - are becoming an integral part of how we experience, document and remember the world around us. My iPhone was with me for a whole range of monumental events over the last three years - my last year as president of AIGA South Carolina, numerous trips and vacations and the birth of my child. And often it was used to take pictures, make arrangements, get directions and even time contractions. And for that reason, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for my slow, well-worn first generation iPhone. (Even if I love my new phone…)
This post was originally posted on April 9, 2010 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I teach a college class on Visual Communication twice a week. So that means that twice a week, I pack up my laptop and haul it to class. It’s not that heavy, but since it is our main computer, taking the laptop wasn’t always convenient. So I figured I’d try using my new iPad (with the VGA adapter) and Keynote for the lecture.
Building the presentation
I’m really impressed with Keynote for the iPad. I was able to create a very simple presentation on the iPad in about 30 minutes. It’s intuitive and very easy to use.
Please note: This version of Keynote cannot do everything that the full version of Keynote can do. There are limitations - typeface selection, limited customization of templates, difficulty importing existing presentations. And the way you sync documents is exceptionally clumsy.
If you are wanting to build an amazingly complex presentation, you’ll need to do it on the Mac. If you need to access an existing library of Keynote or Powerpoint presentations, I’d stick to using the laptop. But for building (or importing) a simple presentation, it’s nice. And considering that it’s $10, I’d say it’s well worth the price.
Hooking up to the projector
The VGA adapter looks pretty simple. Plug it into the dock connector, connect the VGA cable and you are good to go… And for the most part, it is that simple. Be aware that when working from Keynote, video projection doesn’t start until you hit the play button.
When the iPad is in presenting mode, your slides show through the projector and the iPad has a simple forward/back control. And you can simply tap to advance. If you push and hold on the iPad touch screen, a faux “laser” pointer pops up.
My only complaint is that the slide thumbnails are so small. In my classroom, the screen is behind me and over my head, so I occasionally had to turn around to see what slide was being presented.
A screenshot of the presentation screen for Keynote on the iPad.
Will I do it again?
Absolutely. I use relatively simple presentations for my classes. So Keynote is perfect for how I’m using it. Plus not having to lug my laptop to class is nice. I’m optimistic that Keynote will continue to improve on the iPad… But as a lightweight presentation setup, the iPad is absolutely a winner.
This post was originally posted on February 5, 2010 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
NOTE: While this page may have useful insights, be aware that it was published more than 10 years ago and may not be relevant for current software versions.
I’m primarily a print designer. So when it comes to linked files in InDesign, I need to know two main things – what is the color space of the linked file and what is the resolution of the file. InDesign CS4 makes it easy to find this info. If you click the arrow in the lower left hand corner of the Links Panel, you’ll see a link information box that gives you all sorts of data about the selected link including color space, actual PPI and effective PPI. (Actual PPI measures what the resolution of the file in its native form. Effective PPI calculates the output resolution based on how it is scaled within InDesign.)
It’s great and very handy, but you can only see one link at a time. And if you are trying to scan a document quickly to find low-res or RGB files, you still have to click on each link. Thankfully, Adobe offers another option. On the Links Panel, go to the flyout menu and select “Panel Options.”
Select “Panel Options” from the flyout menu…
…and you can fully customize the appearance of your Link Panel.
Here you can customize what information is shown in the Link Info Box AND you can add information to show up in the Link Panel itself. Very handy for scanning a document quickly.
Link Panel showing color space and effective resolution.
This post was originally posted on November 12, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I went to Subway last week. I don’t typically eat at Subway, but there is one by my office and I didn’t have much time for lunch. As I walked in, on the door, there was a window cling encouraging me to order soup with a combo. When I got in line, I looked up and there on the menu was an ad encouraging me to order soup. At the register there was another sign.
So I ordered soup.
I grabbed a seat. And realized I didn’t have a spoon. I looked up by the straws and napkins. There were forks and knives, but no spoons. So I asked the woman behind the counter – the same woman who sold me the soup – if they had any spoons. After asking another employee, she confirmed that they had no spoons in the restaurant.
The big picture
It seems both silly and odd that a franchisee would go to all the trouble of putting up all the signs and ads and then mess up something as simple as having spoons.
But I think this type of thing is very common in business. Often, we see people obsess over seemingly insignificant details, only to completely overlook a major issue. They work on the details and lose sight of the big picture.
As designers, we see this a lot.
Clients spend time and energy critiquing minor elements of a design, but often forget to shore up the logistical issues that support a campaign. Marketing and design are critical, but so is customer service and support. Think about my Subway story for a second. The marketing worked. I entered the store. And I purchased soup. However because of a minor – but critical – oversight, I was a dissatisfied customer.
Social media and a lack of spoons
Right now, social media is all the rage. Everyone seems to be talking about how social media can help their business. Worrying that they’ll be left behind if they aren’t on Twitter or Facebook. Consultants are aggressively selling social media services.
But I fear many of these folks are losing sight of the big picture. Social media is a tactic. And yes, it can be an effective and powerful tactic. But as companies develop their social media plans, they cannot forget that it is just the beginning of the customer relationship. Strategically, you need to think through the entire customer experience. What are you going to do with your customers after you reach out to them through social media? How do you want to engage your customers on a continuing basis?
I’m not saying social media is bad or that it isn’t important. There are absolutely uses for social media in business and marketing. Just remember that the social media tactics are only the beginning. You and your company need to prepare for a long-term customer relationship.
Or in other words, when you decide to sell soup, make sure you are ready to provide spoons.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on October 6, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
NOTE: While this page may have useful insights, be aware that it was published more than 10 years ago and may not be relevant for current software versions. Sadly, links to other resources might be broken.
I received a file containing 100 pages of information in a table. The table needed to be placed into InDesign. No problem…
Well, of course there was one problem. Randomly, the lines began with spaces. Not every line, but most lines. So the left edge of the table looked ragged. So how do you take out random spaces at the beginning of text? In a table? Without doing it manually? (Because I have much better things to do than going through a 100+ page document line-by-line…)
What is GREP?
In InDesign CS3 and CS4, you can choose to do GREP find and change. GREP is a text search function originally written for UNIX. Basically, it lets you look for patterns and allows you to do find and replace based on those patterns.
So back to the random spaces…
What I had was a pattern. Find all spaces at the beginning of the paragraph and replace with nothing. GREP was the perfect solution.
Next to the find and change fields are flyout menus (marked with “@”) that give you shortcuts to all of the variables. For example, go to “Locations>Beginning of a Paragraph” and InDesign inserts a “^” into the field.
So I typed “^ ” (there is a space after the ^) in the “Find what” field – which tells InDesign to find one space at the beginning of any paragraph. I left the “Change to” field blank, clicked “Change All” and several thousand instances were changed instantly. Without having to go through line-by-line…
EDIT: Above, I set up the search with the ^ (to find the beginning of the paragraph) and a space after it. And while it works, a reader pointed out correctly that a better search would have been “^\s+” which would have found one or more spaces at the beginning of a line.
What else can GREP do?
I’ve used GREP to replace dashes or periods at the beginning of lines. And GREP is perfect for standardizing the formatting of a phone number across an entire document. GREP is amazingly powerful and you can build a GREP search for anything with a pattern. I’ve only scratched the surface…
You can save queries to be reused. (Several sample searches – including a phone number formatting query – are already saved as a sample searches in InDesign. It’s located at the top of the dialog box.)
InDesign also lets you apply GREP-based character styles – for example, telling it to find all prices in a document and apply a particular style.
It’s probably not for everyone.
You aren’t going to need GREP find/change unless you are doing some pretty heavy duty, long document work like magazines, catalogs and directories.
I’m pretty sure most InDesign users aren’t doing that kind of work. But if that type of project comes across your desk, keep in mind that GREP might be a great – and time-saving – solution for your project.
More resources
Want to learn more about what GREP can do for you? If you do a search for GREP, there are lots of resources out there. Two that I have found helpful:
This post was originally posted on July 29, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
So let’s say you have a long text to place into InDesign – a magazine article or a training manual. In talking to some friends who are InDesign users, many of them place the text one frame at a time. But it can be so much easier than that…
Enlargements of InDesign’s text placement cursors. The cursors (and functions) change depending on what additional modifier keys are pressed. From left to right: Manual (default), Semi-Autoflow (Option/Alt), Autoflow (Shift) and Fixed-Page Autoflow (Shift + Option/Alt).
Default behavior…
When your cursor is loaded with text in InDesign, you can place the copy by clicking or by drawing a text box. You load your cursor by going to File>Place or by clicking on a text frame’s overset indicator (the red plus in the lower right “out port”).
If you click on the page, a text frame is created to fill either the page margins or a single column. (You set the margins and column settings when you open a new document.) If you draw a text frame, the text fills the new frame.
One more thing to note about the default behavior. When you are done placing the text, the tool reverts back to what it was before you went to File>Place. So if the Rectangle Tool was selected when you loaded your cursor, after you place the text, the tool becomes a rectangle again. Most of the time, that’s exactly the behavior you want.
Hold down the option key…
(Or the Alt key for you Windows users) If you are placing a long piece of text, you may want to draw a few text boxes and have the story flow between them. In this case, the default behavior of reverting back to original tool is irritating because it forces you to keep switching tools.
However, if you hold down the option key, the cursor stays loaded. You can continue to click or draw frames and the copy with automatically flow between them.
Or the shift key…
So let’s say you have a long training document that’s going to be several pages. When you place the copy, you keep having to add pages and link the text frames. If only InDesign would add the pages and frames for you…
Well, it can. Hold down the shift key when your text is loaded and click. InDesign will autoflow the copy, adding pages and text frames for the entire length of the copy.
Note: If you hold down the shift key and try to draw a text box, the default behavior kicks in and the tool reverts to what it was before you placed the text.
Use the shift key and the option/alt key together…
If you hold down the shift and option keys at the same time and click, InDesign autoflows the copy for that spread only, but it leaves the cursor loaded. If you draw a new text frame instead of just clicking, the copy doesn’t autoflow, but the cursor does stay loaded.
This post was originally posted on July 18, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
So I’ve been at TypeCon 2009 in Atlanta for the last day and a half. Here are some of the highlights from preliminary workshops and the first full day of sessions.
Historical Calligraphy – This workshop focused on the calligraphic roots of modern letter forms. To demonstrate the process, the instructor, Joey Hannaford – covered the walls with paper and we experimented with letterforms on a large scale with foam brushes and tempera paint. A really engaging way to teach the relationship between historical and modern forms.
A great way to teach the calligraphic roots of modern lettering. On a large scale…
Hatch Show Print – I’ve seen Jim Sherraden’s lecture twice before when he visited AIGA South Carolina. He has expanded his normal presentation and it’s more inspirational than ever. He’s a great guy and the presentation is amazing.
Gail Anderson from SpotCo – Gail gave a delightful talk about her love of type and her history. She also gave a preview of her upcoming book with Stephen Heller, New Ornamental Type, and showed some fascinating typographic videos done by her students. Great presentation.
The “Playroom” – Local Atlanta printer Jessica Germaine brought in her gear to allow TypeCon attendees to experiment with letterpress printing. We were able to use three small presses and a selection of metal and wood type.
Printing my notecards on a small letterpress.
Jessica walked us through all the details and helped with the process. I was able to select and set my type and made some Sketchbook B notecards. I’d never had an opportunity to work with letterpress and the whole experience was amazing.
My completed notecards.
Coming Up – I’m looking forward to the next two days of sessions. Lots of stuff on the schedule, including… Armin Vit from Under Consideration will be talking about the TypeCon identity for this year. REM’s Creative Director Chris Bilheimer (and a former AIGA South Carolina speaker) was added to the agenda. Also on the schedule is a two hour panel discussion on web typography with a various foundries and designers. I’ll post more highlights as the weekend progresses.
This post was originally posted on July 6, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
A few months ago, I came across Ponoko, a New Zealand-based online fabrication service and marketplace. People make everything from jewelry to furniture. Ponoko offers a marketplace where people can sell products or plans.
I decided to make a small bookshelf for my office based on a bookshelf I made in Shop Class in the seventh grade. After signing up for a free account, I downloaded the “Making Guide” that explained the whole process.
My bookshelf, assembled, with an assortment of books and DVDs.
Basically, you upload an Illustrator EPS with your cuts and pick your material. They laser cut the material and ship it to you. Using their template, I marked my cuts on an Illustrator file. You use different line colors to mark cuts and burns. Once I was done, I uploaded the file to their server and selected materials. Materials include various types of wood, acrylic, metal, felt, leather and cardboard.
I had one minor problem when ordering. I planned to have the piece made at their San Francisco shop to save on shipping. So I designed the shelf to use 6mm bamboo that was only available from the San Francisco shop, but when I went online, I could only use the New Zealand facility which didn’t have the material I wanted. (The San Fran shop is relatively new and I’m assuming, slammed.) So I had to change to another 6mm material - an Italian Poplar plywood - and pay a little extra for the shipping.
A close-up of the laser burning, The edges are darker from the laser cutting. The “B” is burned in at medium strength.
It was a few days before they started processing the job. But when they started working on it, everything progressed quickly. And once the shipped it, it once took three days to get here from New Zealand. (And I didn’t pay for express shipping.) Total time from order to arrival was about two weeks.
I opened the box and started to assemble it. When assembling, I figured out that I made a couple of very minor measurement errors that made a couple of pieces a tight fit. A little sanding and filing and everything fit.
Based on the prototype, I’m going to make some changes to the design. The slots need to be slightly bigger. And with heavier books, there is some slight bowing, so I’m going to modify the support under the shelf. (Or look at a thicker material).
If you are interested in designing and creating 3-D objects, I highly recommend looking into Ponoko. The online experience and process is very well thought out. Everything is documented so it’s very accessible to designers who maybe aren’t familar with the fabrication process.
Update on 2009-07-08 13:10 by Bob
So, it’s really easy to switch to the San Francisco location… I was just looking in the wrong place. I just published a follow-up post to explain how to switch between fabrication locations.
This post was originally posted on June 1, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
One of the defining design characteristics of a ship in the Star Trek Universe is the forward viewscreen. And in the J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek, the entire concept of the viewscreen has also been reimagined.
By looking at how our vision of the future has evolved, we can often learn more about how we as a society have changed. And I think by looking at how the concept of the viewscreen has changed over the last four decades, I think we can draw some conclusions about how we have changed as culture and where we are going.
The new Enterprise viewscreen display various data, including speed. Image via startrekmovie.com. Copyright Paramount/CBS.
The Original Viewscreen
In Gene Roddenberry’s original Star Trek TV Show, the view screen was primarily a giant screen showing the outside. Very rarely, the screen would be used to show scientific data.
A rare instance of the original Enterprise using its viewscreen to display data from the ship’s computer. Image via Memory Alpha. Copyright Paramount/CBS.
At the time, in the late 60’s, that concept was enough to seem futuristic. TV’s were still a relatively young technology. A screen that size providing live pictures with the ability to show content from the ship’s computer… That was the future. Computers were room-sized devices with limited capabilities. The whole concept would have seemed very advanced.
The expectation was that interaction with a large viewscreen would be passive. It was something to watch, more like a TV than a computer interface.
To the big screen and back to the small screen
When the Star Trek series moved to the big screen in the late 70’s and into the 80’s, the viewscreen concept was only slightly refined. The expectation was still that the viewscreen provided a passive experience. Some odd touches were added, like a digital clock over the screen.
Nothing says the future like a digital alarm clock. Image via Memory Alpha. Copyright Paramount/CBS.
With the success of the movie franchise, Star Trek: The Next Generation launched into syndicated television. Because the series took place even further in the future, they took the established concepts and “enhanced” the technology. The viewscreen evolved, but only from a technical level. The screen was now “holographic.” (Note: I’m assuming this means the images were more realistic.)
The way the crew actually used and interacted with the screen was still passive and static. And through the three series that followed, the viewscreen never really did much more than provide pretty pictures.
Reimagining the Viewscreen
When Abrams and crew started work on the reboot, they faced a challenge of honoring the style of the past and while projecting a modern, futuristic feel:
We had the weird challenge of having to take a 43 year old vision of the future and make it a current vision of the future. I wanted the movie to feel as tactile and tangible and as real as possible, but given what our computer interfaces are like now, its preposterous to assume that hundreds of years from now there won’t be some version of holographic screens and things that seem almost ubiquitous now in science fiction.
-Abrams in an interview with Memory Alpha
We as a culture have evolved to expect more from our “viewscreens.” Many of our TV channels have crawls and information graphics. Look at what CNN produced during the elections or what ESPN News does on a daily basis. Our computers provide constant updates. Even our cars and phones have interactive interfaces. We expect modern screens to do more than just show us pictures. We expect them to inform us.
The new Enterprise viewscreen displaying a warning. Image via startrekmovie.com. Copyright Paramount/CBS.
That old concept of a passive viewscreen has been discarded in the new Star Trek movie. The giant viewscreen acts as a heads up display for the ship. Warnings, current speed, the health of the away team, status of the ship and more appear over the top of the screen. And the information that is provided is contextual, only appearing when needed or applicable.
We have become a viewscreen culture
Looking at the new Star Trek viewscreen, it feels futuristic. And what that really means is that it feels like a radically advanced version of where we are now.
I think that we have become a viewscreen culture. We have become comfortable interacting with screens in a way that wasn’t comprehended in the late 60’s and wasn’t fully understood even in the 80’s and 90’s. In fact, we are more than just comfortable. We now expect our screens to provide us information and feedback.
As the web, digital television, phones and computers evolve, our cultural expectations of the screens and surfaces around us with continue to change and evolve. We as designers are already starting to see this. People expect more from their web sites and other digital interfaces. They expect these tools to interact with them. To provide the information they need when they need it.
What designers need to remember is that this is just the beginning. People will continue to become more and more comfortable with screen-based content. And we must continue to push the limits of the medium to provide the interaction and capabilities that our society is beginning to expect.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
This post was originally posted on May 5, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that in InDesign CS4, you could use nonbreaking hyphens and spaces to control bad breaks in phone numbers and proper names. And you can, but this week, I discovered an even easier technique.
Step one: Highlight the text you want to keep together.
Step two: Go to Character Palette and from the flyout menu, select “No Break.”
And that’s it. I’ve looked back and this feature is in CS3 as well. It’s probably been there all along and I’ve never noticed…
This post was originally posted on May 5, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I had the privilege of moderating the AIGA South Carolina Web Panel discussion a few weeks ago. The panel featured a number of local web designers and developers - Gene Crawford and Jay Berry from Period Three; Matthew Smith from Squared Eye; Jason Beaird, Greg Lunn and Ken Seals from Cyberwoven; and AIGA SC Vice President and hired gun James Miller.
We had a really fascinating discussion about trends in web design and how web designers work. A few quick reflections:
Continuing education. The web is constantly changing. And for web designers, that means that they need to keep up with the most current techniques and methods. Most use internet resources to keep up with new concepts and the web design industry has essentially created a virtual cooperative to share information online.
Personally, I think this commitment to continued learning and sharing is one of the most fascinating parts of the web development community. I feel like the online print design resources are focused mainly on inspiration. The web community has managed to merge the inspiration element with technical knowledge and information on best practices. There really seems to be a dedication to improving the quality of the industry as a whole.
Side projects. Pretty much everyone on the panel has a side project. Matthew has Pattern Tap. Gene and Jay have Unmatched Style. Jason has Publix for Pennies. As I look around at other established web professionals, they all seem to have developed side projects as well. The goals for these side projects are very rarely profit. These projects are essentially client-less projects that allow for exploration and experimentation. A chance to use the skills that you have learned to contribute back to the community in some way.
(Honestly, we really don’t have an equivalent to these side projects in the print design world. The printing process is so expensive, you really need to have some sort of client to foot the production bill… Our closest parallel is probably working pro bono.)
IE6 sucks. Really, if you are still using Internet Explorer 6, upgrade now. Firefox and Safari are fine options. And free…
Client relationships. In the print world, client relationships are often simple transactional affairs. There is a project beginning and a project end - usually resulting in a deliverable of some sort. In the web world, you have to find a way to deal with the ongoing maintenance of the site and other issues like hosting and email. With web work especially, a good contract is vitally important.
The panelists were going to pool a number of resources and publish them online. I’ll link to them as soon as the list goes live.
This post was originally posted on March 17, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I tend to use a lot of solid color blocks in my designs. One of my favorite tricks in InDesign CS4 is to create a type of vignette using the “Basic Feather” effect. (You can actually do this in CS3 as well.)
Sample of boxes with and without the vignette highlight.
Create two boxes, one on top of the other. The top box should be slightly lighter than the one underneath it. For easier editing, make the rear box a little bigger than the one in the foreground.
Apply the Basic Feather (Object > Effect > Basic Feather) effect to the top box… and instant vignette. Adjust the size of the feather, noise, choke and corner types to tweak the look.
The options dialog box for the “Basic Feather” effect. (Click the image to see the box at full size.)
I used Photoshop for this effect for years, but every time you changed the size of the file or area, you had to go back to Photoshop and render a new file. The InDesign method is faster and more flexible.
And in case you are wondering, I’ve sent files to press with this effect many times without problems. Adding a little bit of noise will limit any banding you might see on press. I’ve got a few other variations on this using photos and blend modes that I’ll try to post soon as well.
This post was originally posted on March 16, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Journalism was my first love. Eventually, working with newspapers led me to my love of design and to my current career. The newspaper will always have special significance to me.
But the newspaper as we know it is dying.
I tell my students every semester that newspapers have survived the introduction of radio, television and 24-hour news coverage. They’ve changed and adapted, but newspapers have survived. But with the closing of the Rocky Mountain News and significant cutbacks in the newsrooms around the country, the verdict is out on whether the newspaper industry can survive the growth of the internet.
The only way for the industry to survive is for the journalists to become entrepreneurs.
How did we get here?
In the not so distant past, newspapers were locally owned (and often family owned) businesses. Their primary objective was to serve and educate their community. Newspapers were a primary advertising outlet and were profitable.
Corporations started gobbling up these papers to form massive media conglomerates. They used their size to leverage efficiencies and become more profitable. With size also comes the inability to change easily and respond to competitive threats - like the internet.
As more and more readers got connected to the internet, subscriptions started to drop. And as subscriptions dropped, revenues from ad sales decreased. This forced the papers to cut back on staff and the size of their publications. The perceived decrease in quality causes more people to drop subscriptions… and the death spiral continues.
So what is next?
The continued decline of the newspaper will leave a void. Newspapers are excellent at providing in depth and investigative reporting. And local papers provide news that you can’t get from national or regional outlets.
Where there is a void, there is demand. And where there is demand, there is opportunity.
Many of the journalists getting laid off across this country are brilliant, capable people. And most of them have a love for what they do… It’s not a job, it’s a calling. They’ll want to continue to cover the news.
To continue to cover the news, they will need to become entrepreneur journalists. Starting their own outlets and news services. Figuring out where the demand is and creating a product that readers and advertisers will embrace. Creating products that marry the internet with the printed page. Finding a business model that will be profitable and serve the community they are in.
Unlike their corporate counterparts, these entrepreneur journalists can be agile and quick to adapt. They can experiment. Like all startups, many will fail. But someone will figure out how to adapt the newspaper to today’s competitive environment and be profitable. And eventually, the industry will be reshaped and the newspaper will survive.
It just won’t be the newspaper as we have grown to know it.
This post was originally posted on December 22, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I’ve owned three Apple laptops… a Powerbook G3, a G4 iBook and now a new MacBook. Digging through my attic looking for Christmas wrapping paper, I came across the old laptop boxes. The comparison to the new packaging was pretty amazing and the size difference was especially dramatic.
Apple touts the new, smaller box size as an environmentally-friendly feature. Smaller boxes and packaging use less resources to create and transport. But when comparing the box to the packaging from the last few generations, it really is impressive to see the change.
From left to right: MacBook (2008), iBook (2004) and Powerbook G3 (2000)
From the side, you can really see the size difference between the boxes.
I also pulled out my old Powerbook G3… honestly, it’s still a pretty impressive design, but compared to the new MacBook, the thing is massive. I may post a few more detailed comparison shots later. I think it’s interesting from a design standpoint to look at the progression of elements like latches, ports and trackpads. Here’s a shot with all three laptops stacked…
That Powerbook G3 on the bottom looks massive compared to the newer models.
This post was originally posted on December 8, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Design competitions are a common grassroots tactic to encourage involvement from readers, volunteers or supporters. Asking for designs from the public involves them in the creation process. With the advent of the Internet, seeking out designs and allowing online voting is easy and further builds a connection to the product or movement. The side benefit is, of course, cost savings.
Professional design organizations like NoSpec and AIGA warn that design competitions are often a form of spec work. An attempt by a client to get design services without compensating fairly for the work provided. Spec work lessens the value of design because it treats it as a commodity instead of recognizing the time and effort that goes into providing design solutions for business.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of design contests and side with NoSpec and AIGA on the matter. But I also understand the PR side of the argument. Design contests are not going away. (In fact, with the growth of social networking, they are more popular than ever.) But professional organizations have a valid point. Contests are asking for designers to work with no guarantee of compensation and the quality that results from these contests is often subpar.
An Acceptable Framework?
I came across a competition the other day that provides a framework for what I think is an appropriate way to build a competition. When I posted my Polaroid/iPhone article last week, I linked to Save Polaroid, a site dedicated to ensuring that someone continues to manufacture film for Polaroid instant cameras. They have a t-shirt design contest that they have clearly thought through and that I think provides a fabulous structure for when a contest is appropriate.
Its goal is to provide issue awareness. Save Polaroid is a volunteer, grassroots organization. They are using the contest to raise awareness about the importance of instant photography and to advocate for companies to continue to support the industry. I think motivation matters here. Yes they are going to print shirts and yes, they hope that they will see some profit. But the main objective is obviously not profit; it’s engagement and promotion.
Contest is for a one-off design. This contest is for a t-shirt design. To me, in this case, a t-shirt design is a fairly simple thing. It does not require a massive understanding of the industry or strategy. And it will have a limited shelf life and a limited run of less than 100 shirts.
It’s not like a logo for a company. Or a license plate for a state. These things need to designed with a clear understanding of strategy and planning and would be inappropriate for a contest. But in the case of a one-off design, like a t-shirt, I think it can be appropriate.
They provide compensation for the winner(s). It’s not cash, but it is a prize. The prizes - a Polaroid camera, film, limited edition posters - all reinforce the contest’s connection to the issue.
All rights remain with the creator. All rights to all designs, including the winning design, remain with the creators. Most competitions do not address this, but this is a key issue.
If an artist is going to design something for no or limited compensation, the artist should retain the rights. Many contests do not clearly spell this out. And some require the artist to turn over all rights as a condition of entering - even if they don’t win. In a contest like this, all rights should always remain with the artist. Anything short of that is unacceptable.
Moving Forward…
I think this provides a functional framework for an acceptable design contest - part of grassroots effort to promote an issue, one-off design, appropriate compensation and responsible treatment of artist rights.
And who knows… I may just submit a design or two.
To learn more about the problems with spec work, visit NoSpec and read the official AIGA statement on spec work.
This post was originally posted on December 1, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Kodak Instant Print of a future art director on his Big Wheel. (Taken with an iPhone.)
Everyone loves Polaroid prints. The shape and format is iconic. The quality wasn’t that great. You couldn’t really enlarge or frame the prints. And the camera itself didn’t offer anything that even remotely resembled bells and whistles. But the great thing about Polaroids was that the moment you took a picture you were ready to share it.
The iPhone and other camera phones are becoming the modern equivalent of the Polaroid instant camera.
The photographer in me hates my camera phone. The iPhone camera has 2 megapixel image quality, no flash, no zoom, no control over exposure. My digital SLR is far superior as a camera. And yet, I still take pictures with my iPhone all the time. Why?
It’s because I want to share what I’m shooting. Right then. I take a shot of something and I’m able to email it to someone, post it to an online gallery or Facebook. I’m not planning on making prints or enlargements. I’m not expecting great lighting.
I am capturing a moment and sharing that emotion immediately. Just like with the Polaroid.
This post was originally posted on November 29, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
InShow is AIGA South Carolina’s annual design competition. While most design competitions have plaques, statuettes, acrylic blocks and other mass-produced awards, InShow has the “cube.”
Every year, the cube is manufactured from a different material. It’s been aluminum, concrete, cardboard, acrylic, ceramic and wood and is always roughly 5 inches.
The final prototype for the 2008 InShow Cube.
This year’s cube
The cube for the 14th Annual InShow was manufactured out of electrical boxes and carriage bolts.
I actually built the prototype for this year’s show as a backup for last year. The wood cubes had been shipped, but there was a slight possibility they would not arrive in time for the Gala. So I went to Home Depot and assembled a quick prototype from off the shelf parts. Something we could assemble quickly if the wood awards did not arrive.
However, the wood cubes did arrive in time, so the electrical box prototype was saved for the 2008 show.
Original prototype with duct tape hiding gap in the center and black labeling.
The challenge of the custom award
I was at least partially involved with the last five cubes: cardboard, acrylic, ceramic, wood and now electrical box cubes. And I’ve learned a lot from the process. There are several specific challenges to building a custom award.
Find a material. For the InShow cube, we use a new material every year. And every year, we go through a bunch of concepts and ideas. The cube needs to have a certain aesthetic value - after all it is an award - so the material needs to look nice when completed. And budget is an issue, too. An expensive material or process can completely throw the budget off.
The parts for the electrical box cubes came off the shelf from local hardware stores. We debated a few finishing options - like using duct tape to hide the gap between the boxes or some different combinations of parts. But in the end, we went with the cleanest execution of the concept.
The last five InShow cube prototypes.
Now make 60. It’s one thing to make a prototype. It’s another thing entirely to make 60 awards. Whatever concept you settle on has to scale. Building 60 cubes can be a massive undertaking, especially if you don’t think it through completely. Part of the design process is figuring out the most efficient way to build a larger quantity.
However, 60 is also too small of a number to be efficiently produced using a large-scale manufacturing process. So much of the work is done by hand.
The only scale related issue with the electrical box cube was finding enough electrical boxes. This is not a commonly used box size and is not stocked in large quantities. And with 2 boxes per cube, we were looking for 120 boxes. I had to buy all the stock at three different hardware stores to find enough boxes.
Whose award is it? The hardest and most time consuming part of building a custom award is personalization. The award has the name of the winning firm and title of entry. We also have a handful of judge’s awards that need to look a little different than the regular award.
I used a Dymo 3-D label maker to put the names on the awards. On the prototype, I used black labels and spray painted a black InShow logo. I wanted the label to look more intentional and so I experimented with different combinations. I finally settled on silver labels - which meant I had to spray paint the completed labels. I was a little more time consuming, but I felt the more subtle effect from silver labels on the silver box was worth the extra effort.
I changed the color of the InShow logo from black to dark gray (although most people still thinks it looks black). The special judges awards sported magenta logos - an accent color we picked up from the Call for Entries mailer.
Four prototype faceplates for the awards.
So what’s next?
I have no idea.1 Lots of concepts have been thrown around, and every year, it becomes that much harder to find another concept. But inevitably, someone will come up with a material and an execution that will work.
Okay, I have a few ideas. And even a few more prototypes… ↩︎
Laser cut InShow logo
The face plate — laser cut and engraved.
The face plates were screwed onto a solid block of wood. Check out the awesome wood grain on the side.
A screenshot of the presentation screen for Keynote on the iPad.
Select “Panel Options” from the flyout menu…
…and you can fully customize the appearance of your Link Panel.
Link Panel showing color space and effective resolution.
Enlargements of InDesign’s text placement cursors. The cursors (and functions) change depending on what additional modifier keys are pressed. From left to right: Manual (default), Semi-Autoflow (Option/Alt), Autoflow (Shift) and Fixed-Page Autoflow (Shift + Option/Alt).
My bookshelf, assembled, with an assortment of books and DVDs.
A close-up of the laser burning, The edges are darker from the laser cutting. The “B” is burned in at medium strength.
Kodak Instant Print of a future art director on his Big Wheel. (Taken with an iPhone.)
