A reader wrote to ask if there were any books that could help her understand the design basics in a simple way. I suggested The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type, as this book contains the basics along with terminology that helps the beginner feel more confident about their budding design work. If anyone else has some other suggestions, please comment!

Ballistic Publishing is proud to announce EXPOSÉ 5, the fifth annual book celebrating the creative talents of digital artists worldwide (You can purchase EXPOSÉ 4: Digital Art in the Know Universe, shown at left, at Amazon’s discount price…). EXPOSÉ is the digital art industry’s premier publication, featuring the finest digital artwork the world has ever seen. Images can be created in any 3D or digital illustration application. Photoshop and digitally manipulated photography is also welcome. We are interested in digitally-created fine art, whether it be 2D or 3D, for commercial use, or personal satisfaction. Numerous categories. Deadline: 26 February 2007. View all guidelines, examples of past winners, and entry form at the Ballistic site.

I ‘met’ Bruce Lawson online several years ago when he was with glasshaus, a publishing company that produced books on web standards, usability and accessibility. Although we lost touch several times over the years, I still look to him as a sort of touchstone on what the Web community is up to in the U.K. Currently, Bruce is conducting some rewrites on previously published books and tech reviews on other books. But his true calling remains all about Web accessibility and standards, just as it did during the glasshaus days. This is why he can be found at The Web Standards Project as an Accessibility Task Force Member.

Before you produce an opinion that Bruce is all business and that he’s possibly an accessibility bore, you might visit his blog. His true character shows through his Website, which is entitled, simply, “Bruce Lawson.” Who is this guy? What makes him tick? I wanted answers to these questions and more… Read the rest of this entry »

New Masters of Poster Design: Poster Design for the Next Century - by John Foster, 2006

After adding a few contests to this site, I know that the majority of the competitions are focused on poster design. This type of design incorporates illustration more often than photography, and usually always includes typography. While you could browse through older books about posters, why not take this one on - it’s a new and scrumptious look into poster designs for the “next century,” even though it looks at posters from the immediate past in a definitive collection. What makes this book different is that writing is involved, and Foster’s take on the work contained within this book is definitely insightful. Read the rest of this entry »

lynda.com Announces Release of After Effects 7 and Flash 8 Integration 2.5 hours of training in top motion graphics applications…

lynda.com, the company that specializes in self-paced career and computer training in digital media and design, today introduced After Effects 7 and Flash 8 Integration. This video training course demonstrates how to combine professional motion graphics from Adobe After Effects 7 with interactive applications created in Adobe Flash 8. From discussing the differences between Flash and After Effects to showing how to seamlessly import and export vector animations from each application, instructor Lee Brimelow explains everything involved in using the two applications in unison. The tutorial covers working with third party plug-ins, exporting QuickTime from Flash, using the Audio Spectrum and Audio Waveform effects, and creating special effects in After Effects for use in Flash. Exercise files accompany the tutorial. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, you slugged it through design school where you learned about typefaces like serif, sans serif, ornamental…the works. While you know the difference between Bauhaus and Arial, you still don’t know how to design a typeface. Designing Type can rescue you, especially if you need to design a typeface in a hurry for a client who demands something to go with his product line…

Author Karen Cheng, associate professor at the University of Washington’s Visual Communication Design Program in Seattle, teaches type design and typography. The lessons that she includes in her book are so simple that you can understand the type designer’s process almost overnight. Cheng states, “There is no single, ‘correct’ process for creating a typeface. The methodologies of individual designers are as unique and varied as the designs themselves.” Read the rest of this entry »

A report released on 6 June by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute finds that at a time of rapid globalization, most U.S. states don’t even try to provide young Americans with a solid grounding in world history. That’s why books like Arabic for Designers are more relevant than ever for designers to read and to absorb for today’s globally competitive market. Arabic is currently used in 23 countries and is spoken by over 300 million people. Although feelings about Arabic cultural integration may still be colored by events like 9/11, western businesses have sought to expand brand recognition to appeal to Arabic speaking people. Read the rest of this entry »

Stencil Graffiti Capital: Melbourne by Jake Smallman, Carl Nyman. What has happened to turn Melbourne into a stencilled graffiti capital? When did this happen and who is responsible? Furthermore, why stencils? Isn’t the use of stencils a bit of a cheat? Stencil Graffiti Capital answers all these questions and more with a visual celebration for several artists and the themes which dominate their work. Interviews with the likes of Civilian, Dlux, and Ha-Ha illustrate how and why these artists live in, moved to, or visit Melbourne to practice their street art. Full-page and double-spread visual treatments within the book illustrate the artists’ basic themes, which focus on politics, symbols, love/sex and war/death. Read the rest of this entry »

I finally got around to reading “The DaVinci Code” when it came out in paperback. My parents objected (my mother now is reading it “out of curiosity”), I received stares from big-haired women in public when I toted it around, and - in the end - I wondered what all the fuss was/is about. It’s a novel based on some fact, and a good novel at that…although I thought the ending was a bit stretched. I’ll see the movie if it isn’t banned in my town, because I like Tom Hanks, and because I’m a huge fan of John Langdon. No, I don’t mean Robert Langdon, played by Tom Hanks. I mean John Langdon, professor of advanced typography and logo design in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

What does John Langdon have to do with “The DaVinci Code”? John is the master of the ambigram, also known as an inversion, where a graphical figure that spells out a word not only in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation. John’s ambigrams, or his play with words, symbols, and typography are exemplified in his book, Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigrams. Look at the book upside down, if you can, and you’ll see “wordplay” is just as legible at 180 degrees as it is right-side up. Read the rest of this entry »